What do you see on your garden walks? 2013

Seems the weather isn't quite what it should be. Today a lot of airports are closed to to snow storms :-\ but we have sunny and calm weather but cold of course.

Dave, a pretty Linum anyway! Hope the Primulas survive!

Dave,
droughts and floods are a way of life here in Oz, :-\
Whether it's climate change or just the cyclical nature of things we still have to cope with it.
This is another bulb which looks after itself in our garden - Lycoris elsae
cheers
fermi

Fermi, I wouldn't mind having such plants looking after themselves in my garden!

Beautiful Lycoris; I have tried a couple times to establish Lycoris in the garden, all I ever got was sparse foliage a couple years and then gone.

Nice colour of that Platycodon! I have only grown the common blue one, have to look for this now!

Toole wrote:

...these days i seem to be drawn to any unusual or new colour break ,of just about any horticultural worthy plant ---now if i could only get my hands on some yellow Galanthus   :-*;) ;D

Cheers Dave.

Dave, what you might be looking for is one of the "non-white snowdrops" ;D (this is a real term used by some Galanthophiles).
See this topic:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=1287.new#new

Not much to see, still very cold but some of the spring plants do show a little more!
Corydalis bracteata (I think), Eranthis hyemalis and Crocus tommasinianus :-\

The garden is coming alive, though the weathermen are forecasting a "final winter blow" for later today.  I snapped a couple of pictures before everything gets trounced.
-- A double hellebore from Ernie and Marietta O'Bryne (2004), whose seedlings are all double
-- Olsynium douglasii grown from Ron Ratko seed (sown 2007)
-- Crocus vernus albiflorus from Jerry John Flintoff, peeking through Trillium kurabayashii leaves

A really exquisite form of hellebore, Claire.

The happy looking Olsynium clearly shows its relation in the Iris family, with its stigma and 3 anthers.
No luck when I tried it from seed last year. :(

Toole wrote:

Very interesting Mark. I think I'd need to see the 'apricot' snowdrop in person before i could pass a judgement.

I admit to having a few common 'drops' however I've decided my pockets are too shallow and my horticultural interests too wide to worry about aquiring every little variation that pops up ....(other than a good yellow).That being said i can perfectly understand the frenzy that occurs when a so call colour break occurs because i'm exactly like that with Trilliums--( i know I'm not well  :D ).

Cheers Dave.

That's the problem Dave, waiting for a "color break" to occur in Galanthus. So far I haven't seen evidence of any "color breaks", aside from white drops with variations of green or yellowish markings, and in the case of so-called "yellow snowdrops", pea greenish yellow peduncles.  I love snowdrops, but I do believe there is a large degree of wishful thinking out there in the Galanthus community.

Roland, as I've already mentioned in your Facebook posting, I really like that green Anemone, its a color break ;D

That Anemone blanda would blend well into my woodland!

Here is Eranthis hyemalis which started blooming and has been on and off covered with snow ever since.  Unlike Crocus tomasianus it's no worse fpor the wear.

Beautiful pink glow inside Edrianthus pumilo is remedy

but the cure for March is:

:)

I thought this was interesting; nothing quite like the various colors plants take on when they yet again experience the sun. This Vitaliana primuliflora has become an oddish brick red orange (with variations!).

I posted several pictures of this area last year; 'The Rock'. I think the gorgeous large foliaged Acantholimon at the upper left corner of the photo did not come through winter well. The best looks to be A. litwinovii (far right center) this year. Perhaps the small needles and pedigree got it through an exposed winter. Among the green things in the middle left of the photo is Gypsophila aretiodes that nearlly died of drought last June. I threatened to move it away from The Rock but did not. It survived. Water is important!  :) The darkest plant pictured is a Globularia pretty well burned up but the color is not that of charcoal. It is still alive. A smattering of Androsaces (bottom of photo) will cheer everyone up in a bit. Not the coldest, but a tough winter was had by all.

Certainly not the coldest winter, Michael, but it does seem to be dragging on.  I think the birds have migrated back to their winter quarters.

We have had and still have the coldest winter - and nothing better in sight but sun, no wind and freezing temps. In fact I am longing for a real spring shower! (But the soil has to thaw firstly!)

Merlin wrote:

It seems the cold weather has slowed things down in my garden. Here are a few in bloom on March 27.
Douglasia nivalis

Jim, that's a really nice Douglasia nivalis form.  It's one of the earlier things here to blooom, but nothing is happening yet.

Here are some views of the rocks at Snowdrop time. The only thing blocking critical veiw of the Great Ranges at this time of year is an old Fothergilla. I may begin to slowly piece it out of there this spring. I may not. There's a couple of young Sugar Maples too along the back of the property I consider cutting for the benefit of the rock gardens; but, then again, most people alive today would prefer the maples (syrup; of course!).....choices. Choices. It won't be long before larger perennials obscure the rock works and it will be summer.

Snow that slides off the north eve of the house tends to linger. I think this is when the Saxifrages that live here are happiest. The first photo is a large pieced S. irvingii-jenkense. The second photo is from directly above a crevice bunnery.

It's again time to get things done in the garden.

Nice, Lori. I had Bulbocodium for several years but they disappeared. Think I have to try again!

Gene, I am impressed! Especially of the Epigaea from seed, I have tried a few times without success :(
Does the Ribes sanguineum flower before the leaves emerge?
Your spring is well ahead of mine. We struggle with the same kind of weather we have had for months: sun, dry desiccating air and night frost. All my evergreen plants suffer badly although I have started watering them in the frozen soil :-\

externmed, nice crocuses and peony! is the peony from seed?

Gene, you are not that far away from me but your plants are at least a week ahead of mine.  Gorgeous displays!

externmed wrote:

Crocus from NE Massachusetts- NE USA. The best, Crocus tommasinianus roseus was planted in hard clay sod, by chipmunks, but after they ate 97%. Paeonia cambessedesii is in a frost-free room and put outdoors in morning sun for the summer.  Forecast 63F high 23F low this week.  17.5C/ -5C  Somewhat normal unsettled spring weather.

Wow! Crocus here are well and truly gone before the peonies are in bloom! Amazing to see them together like that!
It's autumn here and it shows

Sternbergia sicula
Lycoris aurea
Nerine fothergila "Major'
Brunsvigia gregaria
Crossyne flava in seed
Lycoris elsae
cheers
fermi

externmed wrote:

Hoy wrote:

externmed, nice crocuses and peony! is the peony from seed?

Hi Hoy,
Sorry I think the Peony was from a commercial source.  I have some Peony seeds doing a warm treatment now.  The only Paeonia I have germinated myself are from seeds I collected  (seeds die relatively quickly?).  Even then it's a long warm treatment followed by 3 + months at cold then growth at warm.  Paeonia cambessedesii, from warmer Southern areas including Crete, might take less stratification?

Yes I think peony seeds die in a year or less. At least they germinate easily the first winter when sown fresh but are difficult to germinate later. When I sow peony seeds I either place the pots outdoors or in a cold greenhouse.

Gene wrote:

Hoy, we are having a very dry warm spring in the Pacific NW.  The previous three springs were very wet and cold.  So I am getting caught up on a lot of gardening chores this spring.

The Ribes sanguineum flowers before the leaves emerge.

We are still in the spell of winter :-\ We have had one of the coldest and driest springs for 160 years. A lot of sun though but very cold nights like a montane inland climate.
Got one inch of sleet tonight - the first precipitation for several weeks. A lot of evergreens are badly damaged and even Crocuses struggle to survive with very small flowers.

My R sanguineum always has started leafing out when flowering.

Fermi, I am jealous! I don't think any of those gems are fit for y garden!

Gene, some good stuff there, although it is Ribes sanguineum that really catches my eye, its now on my "shrubs list" :D

Charles, pretty Crocus shots, attractive with the pine needle thatch.

Fermi, what festive floral fireworks to finish the fall season, fabulous! :o

Mark, I second your opinion on Ribes sanguineum, both the standard pink/red cultivar, and the alba form such as 'White Icicle'. Joy Creek nursery in Oregon carries several cultivars:

http://www.joycreek.com/Ribes-sanguineum-White-Icicle-526-017.htm
http://www.joycreek.com/Ribes-sanguineum-King-Edward-VII-526-010.htm
http://www.joycreek.com/Ribes-sanguineum-Brocklebankii-526-015.htm
http://www.joycreek.com/Ribes-sanguineum-Variegata-526-011.htm

Brocklebankii strikes me as a bit too bright, though I haven't seen the plant in person. Somehow have to find a source for King Edward VII and White Icicle,  here in Atlantic Canada (or find a way to become a source!).

Although the redflowered flowering currant is quite common here, the other forms are totally absent. Can't understand why. I would love to get 'White Icicle' in my garden!