Lamium

Lamium eriocephalum, also from slides. 

Lamium garganicum, digital. 

All are absolutely gorgeous!   Lamium eriocephalum is adorable, in the same muppet-like way as Eriophyton wallichii, though more floriferous!

http://zvetki.ru/image/659_1590.jpg

Not very long lived, unfortunately. At least for me. But they reseed. Until one year, when they don't. 

I've always thought of Lamiums as not being well suited to a dry climate such as yours, Bob.  I'm obviously wrong about that!

Really nice stuff!

Scree plants, I think, from Turkey. I guess the "accepted" name of L. armenum is L. garganicum var. armenum. Regular garganicum does very well in the crevice garden at DBG. 

I've never tried Lamiums, perhaps I should, lovely little plants.

I get the impression that in the U.K. one can simply pop round to the nearest alpine nursery and pick up several of each species. Or possibly request some seed from one of the growers at a show. (I try to avoid looking at the show pages in the AGS and SRGC bulletins so as not to be jealous.)

Seed lists from collectors in the Czech Republic used to offer these back in the 1990s. It's probably not safe to look for seed in the wild these days. Sigh. 

[quote=Nold]

Not very long lived, unfortunately. At least for me. But they reseed. Until one year, when they don't. 

[/quote]

Yes, that's the way it goes.  Will I ever learn to collect seeds for myself?  Or propagate some backups?  It's something I know I ought to do but growing things I already have seems kind of boring.  

Love those lamiums.  

I'm really bad at seed collecting, too. I always thought I would have a trough full of Physoplexis comosa, and there would be seedlings forever, but after last winter, there is nothing. (I don't know what happened.) Maybe that's one of those learning experiences. 

[quote=Nold]

I always thought I would have a trough full of Physoplexis comosa, and there would be seedlings forever, but after last winter, there is nothing. (I don't know what happened.) 

[/quote]

A trough full?  Wow!  Better to have loved and lost than never to have managed to grow those cuties!

The plants were there for twenty years, blooming and reseeding. But I lost a number of plants last winter that had been here for a quarter century. 

[quote=Nold]

I get the impression that in the U.K. one can simply pop round to the nearest alpine nursery and pick up several of each species. Or possibly request some seed from one of the growers at a show. (I try to avoid looking at the show pages in the AGS and SRGC bulletins so as not to be jealous.)

[/quote]

Alpine nurseries few and far between in this part of the UK Bob. I've just had a quick search of the SRGC Forum and apart from Lamium armenum which figures in a few Show pictures, and L. orvala which has a few growers (Tim Ingram for one ) there isn't a lot of information. Jozef Lemmens in Belgium has grown L armenum var. sintenisii. From the RHS Plantfinder only Aberconwy Nursery (the finest alpine nursery in the UK to my mind) in Wales is shown as growing L armenum.

Judging from the superbly-grown plants featured in the show section of the AGS bulletin (which I read cover to cover), the U.K. has alpine nurseries on every street corner........

That's what I would have imagined too!  

I think you you wouldn't need many more were you to count the specialist alpine nurseries in England on toes and fingers!