What do you see on your garden walks? 2013

What with Fermi's Lycoris and Dave's Lapageria it feels like summer might not be too far away after all (although I've never had success with either of these). Spring is at last on the move, with the star plants probably being some of the tuberous anemones that seed around on the sand beds, and I couldn't resist showing the American Synthyris stellata too, which has been in bud since mid-February waiting for warmer weather.

Nice to see the flowers, all! Nothing yet here- I was excited to see some exposed soil for a while, though it was all covered up again the other day...lol
I did have some busy days working on a long area on the forest edge behind the house that is going to get some development for food gardens (hugelkultur and other permaculture approaches) as well as some native and dryland plantings.

Anne - love the hellebores- I managed to kill the free ones I got as supermarket leftovers last year, before I could get them outside, but I just got three more yesterday the same way, so I will have to be more attentive with these ones until it's warm enough to start hardening them off outside- many weeks of frost yet here...
Tim- interestng Anemones! what do they do foliarly?

A group of mixed Erythronium species and hybrids:

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After you've grown Erythroniums from seed for a while, you will need a place like this for mystery plants.

Some of them have very dark mottling on the leaves:

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Does anyone know if this is a named hybrid?  I looked up White Beauty, and it does not have mottling this dark.

Gene and Claire - wonderful plantings of erythroniums. After many years I am beginning to get them self-sowing a little and hope to get drifts like that in a few years time. I do have one plant of E. californicum, grown from seed, with really good leaves just as they start growing. Great plants.

Cohan - the anemones have palmate cut leaves but go summer dormant very quickly, so never make large plants - effectively they are 'bulbs'. A few people have managed to establish them in short turf (at Blackthorn and Ashwood nurseries for example) and they look stunning like this en masse.

Trond - I've also tried Synthyris a couple of times before and not kept it in the garden - so fingers crossed - but it's a very lovely woodlander (would have thought it would do well with Clintonia?).

The saxifrages are in a cool crevice trough in a friend's garden - I find they burn off very easily but these are sited perfectly. In another part of the garden is probably the best plant of Helichrysum coralloides I've ever seen - I wonder how it compares with plants in Nature?

Tim, those leaves are a match for mine, no question.

Each brief, hopeful period of melting has been followed by another snowfall here... another 20cm is forecast for today, phooey!  
Bulbocodium vernum is looking bedraggled from all the repeated snows and melts.   There have been a few scattered crocus, scilla and puschkinia in bloom over the last 3 weeks... at least that's some encouragement!  
Puschkinia; Corydalis nobilis; pretty rosettes of Townsendia parryi (the colour difference between these seed-grown plants is interesting);  buds on a saxifrage planted last year:
     

This early-bird Pulsatilla vulgaris has been in stasis the last week... I'm sure it would open if the sun would just come out!

Far ahead of here, Lori! I've realised, though, that all of my spring flowers so far are in rather slow, or at best, medium-late to melt parts of the property-- I'm giving a lot of thought to those south/west edges of spruce trees/woods through the property, which are free of snow many weeks before the middle, and weeks more before the shady places.. Of course early exposure means much more exposure to cold, but worth experimenting.. I did notice some bulbs poking up today- crocus or snowdrop- they seem very pale, so I think they may have actually started before the snow was gone over them! Meltwater from the rock garden above must have thawed the ground.... And I think I see signs of growth on a couple of Polemonium boreale in various beds- not sure if they will be ready to flower this year...
It's been snowing here all day, but just starting to accumulate, as it was melting on the ground (except on the still significant white areas!)
They've reduced our forecast now- to 5-10cm today and flurries for the next 3 days (was for up to 25cm by tomorrow..)...

Every year I buy one plant that shouldn't survive in the open here in Iowa; as a result I have a secret cigar box containing labels I no longer need, but also have some pretty odd plants growing in my garden. Maybe my biggest surprise is the return this spring of last year's flyer: Scoliopus bigelovii, endemic to wet spots in coastal California. I lived for a number of years in Berkeley and San Francisco, and hiked a lot in Marin County, where there are a number of colonies. I have it growing in peaty soil in a large tub with some drain holes drilled in the bottom. It was up this spring while there was still some patchy snow on the ground, and it smells like a dead mouse that had rolled in orange zest. There are always a few gnats flying around it. It's pretty (very) iffy for this climate (especially our hot summers), so I'm calling it a guest for now.

It's great to hear that Scoliopus is hardier than one might expect, Don.  It's a very intriguing plant and one I'd certainly give a try to (despite the odds against) if I ever come across it.

Scoliopus is one I'm interested in too, so we're rooting for you!

Some overviews of my rock gardens today- some of them were free of snow recently before a couple of new snows, other parts had not yet fully melted out.
Several of these were just built last year, so not many plants, or only very small ones.
I've put them in a couple of distinct parts of the property- dry and wetter especially- to hopefully suit different groups of plants.. album here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151562468549015.1073741827.5...
I'll just select a few shots for here..

1- part of the 'Rockies' new 'dry' beds- sharply sloped and in the dry end of the yard; berm at the back (left) for non-rock plants and to help shelter from the north.. this area was mostly bare some time ago, except for some of the lowest areas. excavated between beds to hold water temporarily as a reservoir.
Interesting: Polemonium boreale planted on a high dry spot emerged green weeks ago, then old leaves all yellowed, seems to have new growth in core, last I looked; same species on beds in front of house, which did not melt as soon and so missed the coldest nights, have remained mostly green since emerging from snow.
2- in the front of the high beds are lower but gravelly 'foothills' and dryland beds
3- view of 'Alp 1' semp etc bed in front of house planted year before last; this bed was bare before
4-Jovibarba allioni in Alp 1
5-Waldheimia tomentosa in Alp 1- doesn't look like much now, but seems to have lots of live growing points..
6-Townsendia parryi in Alp 1; this one was just flowering in mid/late October when the snow came; not sure if that means it will die now?

Looks good, Cohan.  The rounded "river rock" gives a different sort of character; looks very much like glacial washout - I like it!  Looking forward to seeing it again when more is visible.

cohan wrote:

6-Townsendia parryi in Alp 1; this one was just flowering in mid/late October when the snow came; not sure if that means it will die now?

Townsendia parryi has been perennial for me (which is good!) so I assume the same for your plant.

Continuing,
1-Alp 2, also in front of the house, and based on Sempervivum et al, but this time named forms. This was also  bare before recent snow, though the bottom/back only very recently.
2- One of the Polemonium boreale in this bed
3-Prometheum (Rosularia) aizoon - couldn't find much hardiness info on this when I got, but it has survived outdoors here for several years, first year in the ground now..
In the wetter end of the yard, these beds have not yet been fully exposed, though the upper parts were before recent snows.
4-Himalaya 2 built last year, lightly planted, but there are several Viola species, Geum montanum etc.. some (most?) of the Violas flowered last year already, so hoping for a nice show this year..
5-Looking toward the north side of Himalaya 2 (dimpled look where rocks had melted out before surrounding soil; I'm looking more at how the beds will look buried in snow as part of the overall design!); foreground is a combination berm/trench where I plan to plant some mostly native wetland plants and meadow species mixed with edible plants; the branches are part of winter cover to keep mulch/soil in place on the steep sides

Thanks, Lori! This is the kind of stone left here by glaciers, so that's what I have to work with without spending money, and so I've tried to aime for sort of a glacial till/moraine kind of look.. Visually I'd rather have even more rocks, but I have to make them stretch...lol
Good to hear about the Townsendia- esp since it came from seed from you :)

here are some pictures taken today from my garden. Still lots of snow around  to the house. These pictures are from the south side where the snow is gone a little bit.
Dianthus simulans
Dianthus haematocalyx
Draba aizoides

more pictures

Spectacular, Mark!  Lovely to see what spring, delayed or not, brings to your garden.  The dark purple Corydalis is extraordinary.

Anne- I grew the Waldheimia from seed from Pavelka (without looking it up, hope that's right...lol) I think the data is:Zanskar, Baralacha Pass, 4800m (again without digging for the info, that's from an email from someone I sent seed to...lol).. so yes, high alpine.
I got exactly one seedling from the original seed, it was planted out in 2011, a tiny thing, and flowered (1!) last year and did very nicely, apart from being munched by slugs for a while till I realised what was going on and put some bait out. It's in a pretty basic bed with a lot of semps etc, built from sod and native clayey loam with rocks and gravel in upper layers, and sloped for further drainage, so I hope it doesn't stay soggy, but at the same time I doubt it ever really dries out. Of course it doesn't have to deal with heat- we just barely hit 30C a few times last year, although the bed is in front of the house, so it should be warmer than some spots. Sun most of the day in summer, but probably not early morning, nor late afternoon/evening.
Panayoti has mentioned they have not been able to grow it there either... I got some seed from that one flower, so I will try to start some more, but wish it had been a pink flowered form :(

Krish- good to see spring coming there- sounds like much of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have had a much colder and snowier winter than us.

Rick- enthusiasm is the word- just to see plants exposed from the snow is a big deal here- growing and flowering can come later...lol

Mark- nice collection of Crocuses you are getting there! The colour on that Cory is very nice too!

Trond- glad to hear my beds remind you of moraines- that's what I was aiming for :)

Good to see your spring is finally getting going, even if late.. the 'dead' grass is what we always have in spring..

Wonderful to see spring really getting going and I go with all the comments about Mark's garden - some beautiful bulbs (I've never seen a form of Corydalis solida so dark), and what is it you need to grow Helleborus niger? Most gardeners here fail with it although its hybrids do very well.

In the last few days the temperature has soared to nearly 20°C in the shade and it is as though plants have been released from hibernation! The first flower opened on Pulsatilla grandis on Sunday, Trillium hibbersonii is flowering demurely on a raised humus bed, and for the lovers of the weird the Mandrake (Mandragora officinarum) is doing its thing. A new plant to me, Scopolia carniolica (just obtained from Beeches Nursery) also has a few flowers. Roll on the alpines on the sand bed which should be getting going before too long.

Anne- the seed for the Waldheimia may not have been that fresh, the ages of the seed are listed by the Czech vendors, but I don't remember now what it was for that one; that one seedling was tough though- survived indoors for some time, and a long time in the pot outdoors before I got it planted in ground.. I haven't yet sown my own seed to see how that is..
Maggi- thanks- its nice to see the plants emerging, should be some more evident growth soon :) I do have crocus noses in one bed :)

Tim- great stuff- I have seed outdoors of Scopolia-hoping for good things.. I agree with Rick- the Mandragora is interesting.. I remember some discussion about it on SRGC, but I don't have any clear mental image of what the plant overall looks like.. will have to look into hardiness etc..

Great stuff Trond! I remember that excerpt from Harry Potter very well. There is an autumn species (M. autumnalis) too, but I don't know it, and an extraordinary plant from China, M. caulescens with black flowers that may just hover in cultivation.

A few things in bloom:
     

Allium ovalifolium var. ovalifolium emerging:
 

And a cute little mouse who got tired of waiting for the birds to drop seeds in the composter and, instead, is getting his sunflower seeds right from the source:
 

Anne - I've just been reading about Epigaea repens growing at Camla (a garden made in the 1930's near to Ingwersen's Nursery). Very beautiful to see it growing in a garden now. Most UK growers must keep it in a pot.

For Rick - this is a close up of the Mandrake flowers now they are fully opening. Really quite attractive for a relative of the potato!

Lori- nice leaves on the Allium! is the bird feeder right up against a fence? Does that mean you don't have squirrels?

Anne- you are in full swing now :)

Tim- very nice flowers on the mandrake :) looks like nice foliage too- seems flat? I still have to look it up, I chose not to refer to Harry Potter for botanical information..lol

Really nice to see crocus naturalising like that - looks like a perfect spot on a sunny slope. I will try to remember to save seed from the Mandragora.

cohan wrote:

Lori- nice leaves on the Allium! is the bird feeder right up against a fence? Does that mean you don't have squirrels?

The bird feeder is suspended overtop the composters which are against the fence... Seems a good way to manage all the sunflower seed shells and spilled seed.  Yes, we do have introduced grey squirrels -black phase mostly - and unfortunately don't get any native red squirrels (i see them in the coniferous woods along the river).  They don't do any significant harm, in any case.