NARGS Rock Garden Quarterly: Winter 1997

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Rock Garden Quarterly

Bulletin of the North American Rock Garden Society

Volume 55 Number 1 - Winter 1997

Alpine and rock garden plants hail from all over the world and many enthusiasts dream of visiting them in their native habitats, hoping to gather more information on how best to reproduce the conditions the plant has evolved in, while others dream of growing "impossible" plants from environments they can't possibly replicate. This issue is full of plant-related travels to Africa and Japan, to one's own back-yard and up onto the roof-tops of Manhattan to visit rare Arctic plants.

Features

Living Souvenirs: An Urban Horticultural Expedition to Japan
by Carole P. Smith

Carole P. Smith writes of her journey to Japan and of making connections with fellow members of NARGS and APS who generously made her trip the more memorable. Ms. Smith was able to see several private and public Japanese gardens as well as visit nurseries there, and writes of bringing back a fascinating array of plants, such as Glaucidium palmatum, Arisaema sp., Paris verticillata, the white flowered Lysichiton camtschatcense and several Hosta. For armchair travelers and gardeners interested in bringing plants back from foreign lands as souvenirs the article provides many valuable tips and insights. Illustrated with sixteen photographs and drawings of Japanese gardens, gardeners and plants.

Primula seiboldii: Visiting and Growing Sakurasoh
by Paul Held

Paul Held, too, visited Japan to fulfill "my dreams of going to Japan to see the primrose called sakurasoh." An experienced grower of P. seiboldii with a singular North American collection of nearly 250 forms, Mr. Held was delighted by the responsiveness of fellow enthusiasts in Japan and was guided by them to Tajimagahara Field, outside the city of Urawa, where P. seiboldii grows wild, as well as to visit the garden of Mr. Torii, author of the only complete book on the species and its cultivars and keeper of the world's largest collection - some 500 plants kept in 6" pots in a garden measuring only 20' by 60'. Mr. Held discusses variations in flower and also the cultivation of this plant, quickly becoming popular in North American gardens. Many illustrations show petal variations and details of P. seiboldii in Japanese and American gardens.

Paradise Regained: South Africa in Late Summer
by Panayoti Kelaidis

More travel, this time to South Africa, where Panayoti Kelaidis investigates wild plants and flowers found there in March. Several species of Kniphofia, Androcymbium (a relation of Colchicum), "the tiniest Osteospermum I had ever seen," and wild "thick clumps of the specialty of the region, Dierama grandiflorum, with lavender flowers over 3" long." A fascinating account of a plant-finders' tour, illustrated with numerous photos of plants in situ and in the garden.

Erythroniums: Naturalizing with the Best
by William A. Dale

Mr. Dale began his collection with Erythronium oregonum, found growing wild on his property, and over the years he has successfully grown expanding, naturalized colonies of E. tuolumnense, native to central California, E. citrinum, E. hendersonii, E. dens-canis, E. revolutum as well as other hybrids. A dozen close-up photographs illustrate the article.

Geographical Names: European Plants
by Geoffrey Charlesworth

Provenance, knowing where a plant came from in the wild, can offer many clues to its garden success. Geoffrey Charlesworth here looks at information one can gather from plants named after places, and also of what one should be suspicious of. A humorous article filled with a breadth of knowledge.

Gentiana scabra: Musings from a Rock Garden
by Alexej Borkovec

"Of the many battles which the rock gardener fights every year none is fiercer than that of space," begins Alexej Borkovec's article on Gentiana scabra, a herbaceous autumn blooming alpine perennial which, despite having seeded itself throughout his garden, is always welcome. "You can't go wrong with G. scabra, and you can never have too many of them," he writes.

Phyllodoce: A Supra-Sphagnum Way of Growing
by Phil Zimmerman

Phil Zimmerman gardens with alpine plants on a roof-top in Manhattan and here discusses the cultivation of the certifiably difficult Phyllodoce, an Arctic native. Having grown Dionaea, Drosera and Sarracenia in living sphagnum he decided to give Phyllodoce a try, even though is natural habitat is "on arid mountain-sides and rocky habitats." His experiments were successful enough to encourage him to try other alpines in live sphagnum.
Cover: "Oenothera caespitosa at dusk" by Dick Van Reyper, features a watercolor rendering of one of the increasingly popular Evening Primroses, glowing against a ruddy landscape of canyon rocks in its native habitat. This low growing species, suitable for the rock garden, is commonly called the tufted white evening primrose.

Fall 1996 Issue

	Living Souvenirs: An Urban Horticultural Expedition to Japan by Carole P. Smith Carole P. Smith writes of her journey to Japan and of making connections with fellow members of NARGS and APS who generously made her trip the more memorable. Ms. Smith was able to see several private and public Japanese gardens as well as visit nurseries there, and writes of bringing back a fascinating array of plants, such as Glaucidium palmatum, Arisaema sp., Paris verticillata, the white flowered Lysichiton camtschatcense and several Hosta. For armchair travelers and gardeners interested in bringing plants back from foreign lands as souvenirs the article provides many valuable tips and insights. Illustrated with sixteen photographs and drawings of Japanese gardens, gardeners and plants.
	Primula seiboldii: Visiting and Growing Sakurasoh by Paul Held Paul Held, too, visited Japan to fulfill "my dreams of going to Japan to see the primrose called sakurasoh." An experienced grower of P. seiboldii with a singular North American collection of nearly 250 forms, Mr. Held was delighted by the responsiveness of fellow enthusiasts in Japan and was guided by them to Tajimagahara Field, outside the city of Urawa, where P. seiboldii grows wild, as well as to visit the garden of Mr. Torii, author of the only complete book on the species and its cultivars and keeper of the world's largest collection - some 500 plants kept in 6" pots in a garden measuring only 20' by 60'. Mr. Held discusses variations in flower and also the cultivation of this plant, quickly becoming popular in North American gardens. Many illustrations show petal variations and details of P. seiboldii in Japanese and American gardens.
	Paradise Regained: South Africa in Late Summer by Panayoti Kelaidis More travel, this time to South Africa, where Panayoti Kelaidis investigates wild plants and flowers found there in March. Several species of Kniphofia, Androcymbium (a relation of Colchicum), "the tiniest Osteospermum I had ever seen," and wild "thick clumps of the specialty of the region, Dierama grandiflorum, with lavender flowers over 3" long." A fascinating account of a plant-finders' tour, illustrated with numerous photos of plants in situ and in the garden.
	Erythroniums: Naturalizing with the Best by William A. Dale Mr. Dale began his collection with Erythronium oregonum, found growing wild on his property, and over the years he has successfully grown expanding, naturalized colonies of E. tuolumnense, native to central California, E. citrinum, E. hendersonii, E. dens-canis, E. revolutum as well as other hybrids. A dozen close-up photographs illustrate the article.
	Geographical Names: European Plants by Geoffrey Charlesworth Provenance, knowing where a plant came from in the wild, can offer many clues to its garden success. Geoffrey Charlesworth here looks at information one can gather from plants named after places, and also of what one should be suspicious of. A humorous article filled with a breadth of knowledge.
	Gentiana scabra: Musings from a Rock Garden by Alexej Borkovec "Of the many battles which the rock gardener fights every year none is fiercer than that of space," begins Alexej Borkovec's article on Gentiana scabra, a herbaceous autumn blooming alpine perennial which, despite having seeded itself throughout his garden, is always welcome. "You can't go wrong with G. scabra, and you can never have too many of them," he writes.
	Phyllodoce: A Supra-Sphagnum Way of Growing by Phil Zimmerman Phil Zimmerman gardens with alpine plants on a roof-top in Manhattan and here discusses the cultivation of the certifiably difficult Phyllodoce, an Arctic native. Having grown Dionaea, Drosera and Sarracenia in living sphagnum he decided to give Phyllodoce a try, even though is natural habitat is "on arid mountain-sides and rocky habitats." His experiments were successful enough to encourage him to try other alpines in live sphagnum.

MeetingsQuestions?PublicationsSeeds BooksGardensSlides & VideosLinksSite Map

Rock Garden Quarterly

Bulletin of the North American Rock Garden Society

Volume 55 Number 1 - Winter 1997

Features

Meetings Questions?PublicationsSeeds Books Gardens Slides & Videos Links Site Map