Hello from Kent, UK

Submitted by Tim Ingram on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 07:54

Hello, my name is Tim Ingram from Faversham, Kent, UK. I have been a member, with a couple of hiccups, from 1987. Gardening in the dry south-east of England, I have become fascinated by dryland alpines and was inspired by the beautiful book published to follow the Alpines '86 Interim Conference. I joined the NARGS primarily for the Seedlist (I was running a Specialist Plant Nursery at the time) but have become more and more attracted by the articles in the Quarterly Journal, especially since my main interest has always been gardening with and propagating plants, rather than displaying them (which is such a strong feature of the AGS in the UK). More recently I have become fascinated by the Umbellifers of North America (especially species of Lomatium), which puts me in a select camp of the few! Some strong plants of L. columbianum flower on a winter covered raised bed in our garden and are setting seed well this year for the first time. How many gardeners can I convince to grow this species?! There are are few other nurserymen who specialise in dryland plants in the south of England, notably Graham Nicholls, who is a wonderful grower, and Parham Bungalow Plants in Devizes. I think there are huge opportunities for people to grow more of them, especially in sand beds and the like, which can appeal to keen gardeners of any age and are really successful and easy to make.

My interests in plants are broad and our garden quite large and mature with a good collection of woodland species as well as alpines and bulbs but I have only recently become more won over by the web after being ambivalent about the mass of (often fairly useless) information that is posted on it. I find the srgc and nargs sites particularly stimulating and am very grateful for the hard work of those who plan and run them.

One of the most magnificent plants in the garden at the moment is Yucca whipplei (grown from seed), along with several Dasylirion species imported with a friend from Yucca Do Nursery. I wonder how long they will take to flower?!

Love the website by the way - it feels very welcoming and has obviously had a lot of thought put into it. I wish the Rockies weren't quite so far away!

Comments


Submitted by IMYoung on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 09:17

Tim wrote:

...... my main interest has always been gardening with and propagating plants, rather than displaying them (which is such a strong feature of the AGS in the UK).

........ I find the srgc and nargs sites particularly stimulating and am very grateful for the hard work of those who plan and run them.

Jim McGregor of the AGS said at the recent Alpines 2011 conference that the area of the AGS website with all the show results and league tables was one  of the main areas of interest on the site..... such concentration on the competitive results of the shows and in the exhibition of plants and are of little import to  SRGC members, even those who do enjoy exhibiting some plants in competitive shows.... a clear difference in ethos between the organisations.

SRGC certainly finds its website and Forum to be a good tool to give all members a feeling of greater inclusion in the affairs of the club, even if those members are many thousands of miles away and the recent opening of the NARGS  forum to non-members, too, will, I hope, also prove beneficial to recruitment.
I'm sure both SRGC and NARGS  the Web Teams are pleased to read your comments, Tim, thank you.


Submitted by Booker on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 10:28

Welcome Tim ... it seems we just can't stop meeting in person and in cyberspace!!!


Submitted by Barstow on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 12:22

Hello Tim! I'm also a Lomatium lover although haven't been successful with that many yet  :'( - nudicaule and utriculatum have grown best of the 10-15 or so species I've tried so far. Am excited to have germinated Perideridia gardnairi for the first time... Why not start a Lomatium/Umbellifer thread and I'll chime in...


Submitted by Hoy on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 14:18

Hi Tim! I can't say I am a Lomatium lover but I have tried to grow some! And I can certainly be persuaded to grow more!

Btw, I found this plant in Kenya, Mt Kenya. Do you know if it is a Lomatium?


Submitted by RickR on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 18:43

Welcome to the forum, Tim!  I think your "lots of useless information on the web" comment can be echoed by most of us, regarding many sites.  While gleaning pertinent, concrete details is cumbersome at best in such places, NARGS, SRGC, and similar sites are refreshing.

Never gave Lomatium a second thought.  Hmmm...


Submitted by Mark McD on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 21:00

Greetings Tim, welcome to NARGS Forum.

I share your enthusiasm for rock-garden-sized Apiaceae, and have long admired both Lomatium and Cymopteris when I've seen the both in photos and during my Western American travels years ago... some are truly superb.  In case you haven't explored Western American Cymopteris, I gathered up some links.  Also, go to CalPhotos and search on Lomatium to find some truly outstanding ones.

fruiting heads on Cymopteris cinerarius
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0908+0697
flowering Cymopteris cinerarius, fantastic foliage
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0908+0696

Cymopteris gilmanii
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+1210+1537

Cymopteris globosus
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0306+0913

Cymopteris multinervatus
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+1004+0875

Cymopteris purpurescens
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0310+1410
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0308+0075

Some Apiaceae that I've seen photos of, in places such as Kazakhstan, and in New Zealand and Australia, show these are fantastic foliage plants, with strangely beautiful flowers.

I look forward to hearing more about your plant interests. :)


Submitted by Tim Ingram on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 01:55

Many thanks for all your kind replies. I have long wanted to put together more information on the umbellifers around the world, especially the smaller and alpine species, so now I am more encouraged! The picture from Kenya is not a Lomatium, which are entirely North American (as far as I know - maybe some go a little further south). However, on searching the web I found the same plant imaged under the name Haplosciadium abyssinicum, which is as much as I know about it (see http://caesara.com/Kenya%20TanzaniaFlora.html). It illustrates one of the great features of the family, viz.: their wonderful foliage. I may be tempted to start a thread for the family -certainly the more herbaceous species have quite a following amongst the cognescenti in Britain and Europe, but few gardeners seem to know about the American species.


Submitted by Barstow on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 02:17

McDonough wrote:

In case you haven't explored Western American Cymopteris, I gathered up some links. 

Mark - I wish you hadn't told me about this genus! Another highly collectable group.  Somehow I've completely missed it, despite the fact that these plants were a common food source amongst a number of native american tribes...  Are there any higher elevation species that are likely to be able to handle my climate?

So, where to get seed?


Submitted by Tim Ingram on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 03:48

Dear Mark,

Thank you for pointing me to the images of Cymopterus - they really are exquisite plants! The only one I have grown is C. terebinthinus, a much larger species with yellow flowers, which grew well for several years. I have tried a few smaller species from seed but so far not managed to keep them going. Graham Nicholls, who grows so many North American alpines beautifully, always jokes with me for trying these umbels (he doesn't mention them in his book). However, he pointed out that there is one pictured on the cover of his book! So they are neglected by gardeners. Anyone seeing those pictures of Cymopterus would be converted I think!


Submitted by Hoy on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 04:08

Tim wrote:

Many thanks for all your kind replies. I have long wanted to put together more information on the umbellifers around the world, especially the smaller and alpine species, so now I am more encouraged! The picture from Kenya is not a Lomatium, which are entirely North American (as far as I know - maybe some go a little further south). However, on searching the web I found the same plant imaged under the name Haplosciadium abyssinicum, which is as much as I know about it (see http://caesara.com/Kenya%20TanzaniaFlora.html). It illustrates one of the great features of the family, viz.: their wonderful foliage. I may be tempted to start a thread for the family -certainly the more herbaceous species have quite a following amongst the cognescenti in Britain and Europe, but few gardeners seem to know about the American species.

OK, Tim! Thank you for your work! I could have done it myself but have been too lazy - and I thought it was a Lomatium without checking. Seems that Haplosciadium abyssinicum fits or is a close relative!


Submitted by Mark McD on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 08:18

Tim wrote:

Dear Mark,

Thank you for pointing me to the images of Cymopterus - they really are exquisite plants! The only one I have grown is C. terebinthinus, a much larger species with yellow flowers, which grew well for several years. I have tried a few smaller species from seed but so far not managed to keep them going. Graham Nicholls, who grows so many North American alpines beautifully, always jokes with me for trying these umbels (he doesn't mention them in his book). However, he pointed out that there is one pictured on the cover of his book! So they are neglected by gardeners. Anyone seeing those pictures of Cymopterus would be converted I think!

Glad you like the cymops, I find many of these Apiaceae fascinating, even if my garden is personally bereft of any.  I had to pull out Grahams book to refresh my memory of the cover, and sure enough there's a taller Lomatium there (or at least, I think its a Lomatium).  He was obviously going for the impact of Penstemon rupicola with stunning scenery in the background.  
I started a topic on Apiaceae:  http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=666.0

@Trond: I like the Haplosciadium abyssinicum plant, most unusual foliage, as with many Apaiaceae, worth growing for the foliage alone. I'm glad Tim ID'd it, I would never have known what genus it belonged to otherwise. :)


Submitted by Hoy on Sat, 04/30/2011 - 15:00

McDonough wrote:

@Trond: I like the Haplosciadium abyssinicum plant, most unusual foliage, as with many Apaiaceae, worth growing for the foliage alone. I'm glad Tim ID'd it, I would never have known what genus it belonged to otherwise. :)

I agree Mark! I found it on several sites on the mountain and it always made me go down on my knees!