Image of the day - 2012

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General Alpines

Moderator note:
With a new year comes a new thread! Here is the first post in "Image of the Day - 2012", which continues on from:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=24.1560
Edit by Lori

Lori wrote:

Nothing in flower here either but with each day a second or two longer now, here are some mountain scenes and some local alpines to make us yearn for spring! Happy New Year, all!

Lovely pics Lori

Hoy wrote:

Lori, your pictures always make me feel guilty - guilty of sitting lazy in the sofa instead of getting out there where the diamonds are to be found ;)

I know how you feel Hoy ...well sort of :) Here i'm stuck finishing off a job for a client spraying with a knapsack around 5000 newly planted natives ,all the while i'm itching to get back up into the hills --anyway regardless of the work situation i've decided i'm away botanizing next weekend.

Here's a wee beauty-- Brodiaea terrestris with thick looking almost succulent like petals .Enjoying the dry warm conditions of the last 3 weeks .

Cheers Dave.

Comments

tropicalgirl251@gmail.com's picture

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 8:39pm

The weather is very wet now. Rain in the forecast for the next two days. I am attaching some pictures taken before.

tropicalgirl251@gmail.com's picture

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Wed, 05/23/2012 - 8:19am
Hoy wrote:

Krish, the Primula looks more like veris than elatior.

thanks for correcting Trond.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Thu, 05/24/2012 - 10:46am

Good colour, Krish! Some things are growing here now, though we've had some cold wet days too!

tropicalgirl251@gmail.com's picture

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Thu, 05/24/2012 - 7:16pm

Thanks Cohan. The weather has improved a lot. Frost warning tonight. I went outside and took pictures of the different primulas.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Thu, 05/24/2012 - 11:13pm

You're doing very nicely with the Primulas, Krish :) P veris red is very nice! I have an auricula flowering now- a sort of faded plum shade; I think somewhere I mentioned planting two last summer, one flowered in fall and disappeared over winter! just about a foot or less away from the plum that is doing nicely now... I'll be looking for more of them...

tropicalgirl251@gmail.com's picture

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Sat, 05/26/2012 - 9:38pm

Hi Trond the Primula elatior is from NARGS seeds i got year before last. I  have planted 5 of them at different sites and all of them are growing nicely.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Sun, 05/27/2012 - 9:51am
WimB wrote:

Ramonda myconi

Looks great! Is this in your woodland garden, or what kind of substrate?

WimB's picture

WimB (not verified)

Sun, 05/27/2012 - 10:36am
cohan wrote:

WimB wrote:

Ramonda myconi

Looks great! Is this in your woodland garden, or what kind of substrate?

Thanks, it's growing in a small trough, substrate: 1/2 peat-based potting soil, 1/4 leaf mold and 1/4 coarse riversand!

John P. Weiser's picture

John P. Weiser

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 6:29am

Here is a little study in contrasting textures.

Pictured are Eriogomun umbellatum, Yucca brevifolia, Hieracium lanatum, Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa var. coloradensis (larger cactus), Cylindropuntia whipplei (white spined cactus lower center), Penstemon grandiflora
(lilac flowers lower center), Cylindropuntia viridiflora (far left), Crepis bakeri (right side of rock)

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 7:55am

An excellent photo for beauty and study, John. :o  I really like it when the photographer lists what is in the picture.  Otherwise, it's just another photo, colorful and interesting and all, but not nearly as meaningful and with a low education quotient.

And the remnant seed heads that peak up from the bottom of the pic are what?
They still make a nice show!

John P. Weiser's picture

John P. Weiser

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 8:47am

Thank you Rick.

Along the bottom edge of the photo are the reminants of Erigeron compositus, the leaf tips of Agave utahensis var. utahensis, and the pad edges with flower buds of a Opuntia phaeacantha.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 2:41pm

The sun and warm weather the last week have caused a lot of development in the garden. A little cooler now but still sunny. Several rhodos are in flower, among them is Rh bureavii. Also the Wisteria do flower now. However, I never get the impressive flowering you sometimes can see on pictures from more southern latitudes. The last one doesn't grow in my garden though. Mountain azalea (Loiseleuria procumbens).

John P. Weiser's picture

John P. Weiser

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 3:02pm

Trond

Hoy wrote:

How do you weed among the cacti?  ;)

Very carefully!! :rolleyes:
I actually don't have much of a problem with weeds. When I started this garden I was very very diligent in killing all the weeds and disposing of the mature ones. Over the years the seed bank has been depleted to the point that very few of the none airborne ones come up. I do how ever have to pull a few of the dandelion relatives especially one we call 'Prickly Lettuce' (Lactuca serriola) and every once in a while  'Annual Cheat Grass'(Bromus tectorum) that got tracked in on my boots.

 

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 9:50pm

All nice ones, Trond :)

John, the thought of a mostly weed free garden is very impressive to me! I understand the idea of killing the main weeds, I wonder how long for the seedbank to expire? Dandelions I could never be free of, the countryside is all yellow now, and soon the air will be full of fluff! Also, while I don't consider natives to be weeds, they do still grow places I don't want them too, including poplars and willows that seed in everywhere from blown seed, and many many other things that birds  plant, from spruce through all the native and domestic berries, etc, etc-- so even if I were to wipe out the garden weeds(from the days of livestock), I'd never be free of weeding!

John P. Weiser's picture

John P. Weiser

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 10:27pm

Cohan
Of course living in a dry climate and in the city limits plays a significant role in the numbers of weeds I have to contend with.

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Wed, 05/30/2012 - 6:37am
Weiser wrote:

Along the bottom edge of the photo are the reminants of Erigeron compositus...

Those old seed heads are very ornamental compared to mine (pictured below), and big, too.

             

(Also pictured is Echinocereus coccineus.)

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:25am

Your coccineus is looking great :) If I ever manage to keep any Echinos alive here, I'll be happy!

tropicalgirl251@gmail.com's picture

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 11:46am

Here are some plants from the rock garden taken today

Merlin's picture

Merlin (not verified)

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 6:03pm

Wow, been away for quite sometime and am just now catching up on the list. Some very nice pictures to drool over. I managed to be gone while many of my favorite plants flowered and went to seed, and even the seed set was not so great on some do to a wet cool spring here. i did go out and snap a few quick pics of what is playing in the garden today.
Dianthus rupicola, enjoying its it's last year infesting my garden(i hope)

DYC, the local form of E. linearis

C. reginae just coming into flower

Sphaeralcea coccinea just getting going

talinum spinescens

there are a bunch of penstemons going too but they are just variations on a theme.
Jim Hatchett, Eagle Idaho

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 6:24pm

Beautiful, Jim!  So that's what Talinum spinescens is supposed to look like?  Boy, would you ever laugh to see mine. I think it's time I finally give up on it!

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 6:26pm

Very nice, Krish!  I've never been able to grow Armeria worth a darn (despite soem people in wet climates seeming to be able to grow the same ones even in regular soil - I don't get that at all.)  Yours look great!

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 7:32pm

Okay, I broke out laughing when I googled what DYC meant - "damn yellow composite". :D :D :D

  Where have I been?  I had no idea horticulturists had their own twitter lingo!
----------------------------------------
Anyway, I really wish I could visit everyone's gardens.  All these photos are so enticing!

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 8:28pm

Looking delightfully hairy, here is Eremostachys speciosa, today... 

Even the flowers are hairy!

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Sat, 06/02/2012 - 12:43pm
RickR wrote:

Okay, I broke out laughing when I googled what DYC meant - "damn yellow composite". :D :D :D

  Where have I been?  I had no idea horticulturists had their own twitter lingo!
----------------------------------------
Anyway, I really wish I could visit everyone's gardens.  All these photos are so enticing!

You are welcome anytime, Rick!

Lori wrote:

Looking delightfully hairy, here is Eremostachys speciosa, today... 
Even the flowers are hairy!

It really is speciosus, Lori! (And I don't mean the name ;) )

I usually like the normal forms of a flower more than the double ones. But once, many, many years ago, I got some seed of Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow' descendants of which still is "weed" in the garden.  This one is one of the nicest in my opinion:

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Tue, 06/05/2012 - 4:18pm

For those in dry climates , let me show off Primula chionantha subsp. chionantha and P. chionantha subsp. sinopurpurea.  Both grown from seed and now flowering for their 4th year.

Amy Olmsted's picture

Amy Olmsted

Tue, 06/05/2012 - 6:31pm
Todd wrote:

For those in dry climates , let me show off Primula chionantha subsp. chionantha and P. chionantha subsp. sinopurpurea.  Both grown from seed and now flowering for their 4th year.

Those are truly lovely Primulas Todd!! And I think I have seed for them from the APS exchange....I see one more pot to sow this week-end! Are they easy growers? And I'm assuming very hardy at least to zone 4?

Tim Ingram's picture

Tim Ingram (not verified)

Wed, 06/06/2012 - 12:31am

That Eremostachys is just great Lori. I've sown seed but nothing has come up - I must persist with it. Every year seems to bring different excitements and this year I have a lot of Asclepias species germinating. I'm not sure how easy they will be to grow on but will have to work on finding places likely to suit them.

This Triteleia is flowering on a raised bed at the moment. The flowers, especially those blue anthers, are really appealing and I must remember to collect seed.

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Wed, 06/06/2012 - 3:24am
AmyO wrote:

Todd wrote:

For those in dry climates , let me show off Primula chionantha subsp. chionantha and P. chionantha subsp. sinopurpurea.  Both grown from seed and now flowering for their 4th year.

Those are truly lovely Primulas Todd!! And I think I have seed for them from the APS exchange....I see one more pot to sow this week-end! Are they easy growers? And I'm assuming very hardy at least to zone 4?

Amy, they are not the easiest...need moist, organic-rich soil and not too hot.  They are hardy in zone 5 for sure...zone 4 probably if suitable snow-cover.  I got my seed from the AGS.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Wed, 06/06/2012 - 12:29pm

Todd, impressive primulas! I've tried chionantha several times but they are shortlived here.

Tim, that Triteleia is nice!

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Thu, 06/07/2012 - 8:53pm

I'm envious of your primroses, Todd - I can't even manage to get P. x beesiana into a second season here (though I was again tempted to buy a couple last weekend).

Stunning colour variation on the Tritelia, Tim!

tropicalgirl251@gmail.com's picture

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Sat, 06/09/2012 - 2:37pm

It is raining all day. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow too.

tropicalgirl251@gmail.com's picture

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Sat, 06/09/2012 - 2:39pm

oops.Forgot to attach the pictures taken today

Todd Boland's picture

Todd Boland

Thu, 06/14/2012 - 2:52am

been miserable and cold here for 2 weeks.  The sun broke out yesrday and the oxalis responded.  Here is Oxalis 'Ione Hecker' and Patrinia siberica.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Fri, 06/15/2012 - 12:27am

Been a lot of wet here too, and not actually cold, mostly, but below seasonal often along with the rain for the last several weeks... This morning was pleasant and clear, and managed a quick (before the rain moved in again) bike ride to photograph Dodecatheon flowering in the thousands :) Back to pouring tonight...

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Sat, 06/16/2012 - 12:39am
cohan wrote:

Been a lot of wet here too, and not actually cold, mostly, but below seasonal often along with the rain for the last several weeks... This morning was pleasant and clear, and managed a quick (before the rain moved in again) bike ride to photograph Dodecatheon flowering in the thousands :) Back to pouring tonight...

Cohan, I can't see the Dodecatheons ???

Krish, I like the Echium! Is it perennial or biennial?

Todd, I have given up those sunloving Oxalises :-\

Today it is raining but that's appreciated as it was getting rather dry (by my standard, not by some of yours though  ;) ).

Merlin's picture

Merlin (not verified)

Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:28pm

A few of the plants in bloom today out in the garden.
Sphaeralcea caespitosa var. williamsiae

Lilium vollmerii

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:20pm
Todd wrote:

Trond, I cannot for the life of me grow these blue corydalis...I don't know what I'm doing wrong. :(

Well, if you find out, tell me 'cause I can't grow 'em either!

Pardon the poor quality Blackberry photo, but I was astounded to see a clump of Cypripedium parviflorum along the bike path last week; I've only ever seen a single plant with a single flower in this park system, once, many years ago and miles away.  Other people had noticed this plant too, judging from the bent and trampled foliage around it (after looking at it myself, I fluffed up the yellow sweet clover and various other weeds around it to try to restore its cover a little!)... and so I was even more surprised to still see it intact this morning after the weekend!  

It was particularly surprising to see it in the area where it was... once a  treed coulee with natural springs and a stream, but sadly "improved" many decades ago (i.e. by channeling the springs and stream into a storm sewer, paving it, planting weed trees and lawn grass, and letting weeds take over what was left - yeah, let's hear it for progress!   :rolleyes: )

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Tue, 06/26/2012 - 2:09pm
Todd wrote:

Trond, I cannot for the life of me grow these blue corydalis...I don't know what I'm doing wrong. :(

Sorry to hear that, Todd, but I don't think I can help you :-\  I do nothing special and some grow well and some don't!

Lori, a lovely sight! I have seen the native C. calceolus only twice.

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