Image of the day - 2012

And I wonder why western alpines don't do it Newfoundland!  Ours are currently encased in ice....had 65mm of rain two days ago so the remaining 1-2 feet of snow is pure ice.  On the plus side, my crevice garden seems to be in a wind zone where no snow gathers so they are completely snow and ice free.  I might just have the right place for drylanders!

cohan wrote:

Todd wrote:

And I wonder why western alpines don't do it Newfoundland!  Ours are currently encased in ice....had 65mm of rain two days ago so the remaining 1-2 feet of snow is pure ice.  On the plus side, my crevice garden seems to be in a wind zone where no snow gathers so they are completely snow and ice free.  I might just have the right place for drylanders!

Todd, when I lived in Toronto, I used to explain the difference in winter (in part) this way- in Alberta, cold and wet are two completely different seasons! (not always exactly true  in fall, but as a general rule..) I'm not as dry as Lori is here, either.. for some things I think need to be drier I am also trying to build more sharply sloped beds for wetter periods; time will tell how well I succeed!

Here cold (or cool - we never have a proper winter as the monthly mean temperature never drops below 0C) and wet always are the same season. In fact we have a long (half year) spring and then a long fall. No real summer and no real winter.
Our summes are far to cold for many species and our winters are to mild and wet for others :-(

I was thinking more of the North American west coast natives in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia....

cohan wrote:

Ah, but Trond- there must be many species well suited to the year round moderation? NZ alpines? things from wetter parts of southern South America? alpine South Africa, and of course many Asian things?

Yea, of course! But many of those species have been hard to come by - the nurseries here in west have the same plants as the nurseries in continental east have. NZ plants are almost not to find at all. It is also more difficult to import from abroad as we are not a member of EU. Seeds are the only practical option.

RickR wrote:

I was thinking more of the North American west coast natives in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia....

Plants from these areas have not been more available than NZ ones, you know. The big garden centers all have the same - and most people go for roses and other common, big-flowered shrubs and perennials. Although it is many gardens in Norway it is rather few with a more specialised interest. Only the last few years some more interesting often one-man enterprises of online providers of special plants have popped up.

Trond, I feel your pain in regards to the rather limited number of alpines we can successfully grow compared to many other parts of the Northern hemisphere.  I can get access to some interesting alpines, but they often do not make it here.  I have a plan though.  My crevice garden is small enough that I could place a sheet of plywood over it in winter, keeping the plants dry beneath.  I have inverted pots over some plants in the past and it worked great for protecting the fuzzies.  Why not do it on a larger scale! (yes, I'm desperate to grow westerners and Turkish delights!)

Todd,
Why restrict light?  Would you have access to large double glazed units that are being replaced by local householders?  These could be incorporated into a simple timber frame stretched over your beds thereby giving light, insulation and protection from rain and snow.  The units are also weighty enough not to be lifted across your garden by gale force winds.  Many householders are quite happy to dispose of intact old units as they aren't easy to recycle.
Also try local manufacturers, they often have incorrectly measured or scratched units to dispose of.

Todd wrote:

Trond, I feel your pain in regards to the rather limited number of alpines we can successfully grow compared to many other parts of the Northern hemisphere.  I can get access to some interesting alpines, but they often do not make it here.  I have a plan though.  My crevice garden is small enough that I could place a sheet of plywood over it in winter, keeping the plants dry beneath.  I have inverted pots over some plants in the past and it worked great for protecting the fuzzies.  Why not do it on a larger scale! (yes, I'm desperate to grow westerners and Turkish delights!)

Yes, Todd, I have an idea where and how to build a place for alpines craving drier conditions. However I have to complete some other projects first ;)

Booker wrote:

Todd,
Why restrict light?  Would you have access to large double glazed units that are being replaced by local householders?  These could be incorporated into a simple timber frame stretched over your beds thereby giving light, insulation and protection from rain and snow.  The units are also weighty enough not to be lifted across your garden by gale force winds.  Many householders are quite happy to dispose of intact old units as they aren't easy to recycle.
Also try local manufacturers, they often have incorrectly measured or scratched units to dispose of.

I built my greenhouse of used double glassed very big and heavy windows! A huge job but fortunately I had the neighbor's son  (a champion weightlifter at that time ;D ) to help me carry them!

With our unusually mild sunny and snowless winter, I expect we'll have a much earlier spring season this year, unless we finally get whacked by some real winter weather.  In one of my troughs, the buds on an unnamed draba are already starting to swell, as are Townsendia rothrockii buds.  Checking photographs from spring 2011, here's my Draba species flowering on 04-09-2011, with the winter reddened foliage of Penstemon  breviculus in front of it.  I bet the draba will be in bloom one full month earlier this year.

Lori, I saw the Aubrita canescens in Wisley's new crevice garden t\last April.  It definitely made my "want" list.  I especially liked the foliage.

Looks like you have almost as much snow as I do....yours is fluffy...mine is pretty much ice!

Cohan, I kinda like the "celestial" shots.  ;)

We just got 3-4 inches of wet stuff.  Our winter has been very, very dry.

Not much snow here either (it is at our mountain cabin as the spring is underway at home). The snow that is is fluffy and don't carry even a mouse (a little exaggerated) lest a man with ski.

Spiegel wrote:

Lori, I saw the Aubrieta canescens in Wisley's new crevice garden last April.  It definitely made my "want" list.  I especially liked the foliage.

Likewise, Anne!
Lori, they look great in your rock garden,
cheers
fermi

Steve, I am familiar with windy coastland but the shrubs here usually are quite flattened by the wind and not exotic plants like Coprosma apes ;)

An example is the common juniper (Juniperus communis):

Lori wrote:

Cohan, yes, the tight rosettes are the Sedum lanceolatum.  
Steve, I don't actually grow Sedum lanceolatum - that picture is from the wild (the neighboring eastern slope Rockies where it's a common plant in the alpine-subalpine), where it does bloom well, as in these photos (also from the wild):

Lori, although you say you don't grow this Sedum, I think it is a worthy rock garden plant! It reminds me of S reflexum which is wild but nevertheless I grow it at my summerhouse together with other sedums. (Sorry no pictures of reflexum - have to mend that). so here are some others instead:
Sedum album, Sedum spurium (red), Sedum spurium (white), Sedum unknown gracile.

Jandals wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Steve, I am familiar with windy coastland but the shrubs here usually are quite flattened by the wind and not exotic plants like Coprosma apes ;)

Trond-The locals call the Coprosma "Monkey Scrub" because when they grow in dense thickets the only through is over

Monkey Scrub! I've heard of Monkey Puzzle ;) (In fact it is some big ones down in the town ;D Maybe they should refurbish and plant some Monkey Scrubs  :o)

cohan wrote:

all nice Sedums, Trond; if I've seen a white spurium, I don't remember it... I have a pink one, and I may have seen yellow?

S spurium comes in all colours from white through pink to red but not yellow. The yellow is probably S hybridum or some other yellow flowered species.

Newfoundland has its fair share of wind-stunted conifers too....we call them "tuckamore".  Here is a stunted version of Picea glauca.

I wish I could grow these Turkish lime-lovers...between the rain and acidic soil here, it is a lost cause.  I really can't take advantage of Halda, Pavelka, et al.  I need someone to collect and sell seeds from acid-wet zones of the Himalayas!  I'm sure Trond would agree!

Todd wrote:

I wish I could grow these Turkish lime-lovers...between the rain and acidic soil here, it is a lost cause.  I really can't take advantage of Halda, Pavelka, et al.  I need someone to collect and sell seeds from acid-wet zones of the Himalayas!  I'm sure Trond would agree!

Certainly, Todd! Do we start a business? - or arrange our own trip someday?  ;)

We have at least one resident moose at our BG.....he ate all the flowers off our Sorbus cashmeriana last year and coppiced most of our willow collection!

No moose here, just too many deer.  Snowing now and covering the few things I photographed.  They are more than a month ahead.

Forgot the crocus sp which has naturalized over many years and always blooms at the same time as the eranthis.  Anyone know for sure wht this one is?

It's the European Mountain ash that has the fuzzy buds.  The outer bud scales of the American species, at least the two in Minnesota (Ss. americana, decora), are smooth and often sticky.  Inner bud scales are a bit hairy, but not fuzzy.

In late October, I've seen wild Mountain ash in central Minnesota and northern Minnesota, long after leaves have dropped.  The glistening, almost translucent red berries look so scrumptious, but I have never seen any evidence of bird consumption.  Perhaps they will come later in the winter. 

I have no idea if this is true, but I recently read on another forum that bird brains are programmed to look for red berries in the early part of the season, and blue in the latter.  Anyone ever heard of this?  (Todd?)

My hellebores still aren't budging, despite the warm weather.  Ann, how did you get the leaf stems to frame the flowers in the photo so perfectly?  :D

Love the eranthis.  Did you plant them all, or are they naturalizing?

All I have are the early pussywillows, but they are caked in ice now....

Spiegel wrote:

Forgot the crocus sp which has naturalized over many years and always blooms at the same time as the eranthis.  Anyone know for sure wht this one is?

Looks very similar to C tomassianus which I have and it blooms at the same time as eranthis here too. Here's a picture from last year. It is too cloudy here these days so the flowers do not open.

RickR wrote:

It's the European Mountain ash that has the fuzzy buds.  The outer bud scales of the American species, at least the two in Minnesota (Ss. americana, decora), are smooth and often sticky.  Inner bud scales are a bit hairy, but not fuzzy.

In late October, I've seen wild Mountain ash in central Minnesota and northern Minnesota, long after leaves have dropped.  The glistening, almost translucent red berries look so scrumptious, but I have never seen any evidence of bird consumption.  Perhaps they will come later in the winter. 

I have no idea if this is true, but I recently read on another forum that bird brains are programmed to look for red berries in the early part of the season, and blue in the latter.  Anyone ever heard of this?  (Todd?)

Can't believe all bird species are programmed like that - but some sound reasonable.
Here the birds take the white berries of Chinese mountain ash early in the season and blueberries (both American and European) as soon as or even before they ripen. Common mountain ash and relatives (whitebeam) are taken throughout the fall and so are the blue Aronia berries.

BTW I have some nice Sorbus species around here if anybody is interested in seed (have to wait though).

Thanks for the crocus i.d., Trond.  I thought that was what it might be.
Rick, the eranthis has been naturalizing for a while now but some years I've helped it along.  I dig up a small clump while in bloom and place it in the vicinity of the others.  Now it's a large carpet that goes right over the front cliff (that part it did on its own!).  The hellebore is growing in a raised bed and at this time of year I can walk around and choose the best photo op, which was what I did.  Later on that wouldn't be possible.  This has never bloomed here before early April.  This winter has been a non-event depsite the fact that it's snowing at the moment.