What do you see on your garden walks 2014?

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Seems it is a dull season, not much activity at this forum at the moment! Are you covered by snow, blown away by wind or damaged by wildfires?

The season has started here although it is not much to boast about. February has been very mild so far (not a single degree of frost till now!) but the rain has poured down in stead. Not like in GB but more than enough. When the rain stops for a moment it is still not enough light for the flowers to open and barely enough to take pictures!

Snowdrops, snowflakes and crocuses are all up and showing colour but don't open properly!

Comments

Trond Hoy

Many rhododendrons are now in

Sat, 05/10/2014 - 12:14am

Many rhododendrons are now in flower. Here are some of the smaller ones:

Seedlings. The first one is from seed from the botanical garden in Oslo the second one is from Bergen.

Two species but I have forgotten the names and didn't bother to try and find them!

Lori S. (not verified)

Wow, your garden is looking

Sun, 05/11/2014 - 3:09pm

Wow, your garden is looking fantastic, Trond! Here from the opposite end of the gardening spectrum, I'm glad to report that our snow has melted... ;-)

At this time of year, such lushness can only exist in a greenhouse here. In DH"s greenhouse, Nymphaea 'Colorado' and 'Attraction' have their first blooms; the tender roses have beautiful fresh foliage - e.g. Rosa 'Sheila's Perfume':

Outdoors, here is Pulmonaria altaica and a cute seedling of Cortusa matthioli; Anemone blanda; Paeonia anomala:

More Pulsatilla patens; Jeffersonia dubia; Primula elatior ssp. meyeri; Primula marginata 'Sheila Denby':

Trond Hoy

Thanks Lori!

Mon, 05/12/2014 - 3:21am

Thanks Lori!

It may look better than it is, I do not show you the weeds! The lushness is also great for snails and slugs. I hunt and kill 50-100 almost every evening

Your garden looks very interesting and special too!

Is the rose 'Sheila's Perfume' and the Primula 'Sheila Denby' named for the same person?

Lori S. (not verified)

Hoy wrote:

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 7:56pm

[quote=Hoy]

Is the rose 'Sheila's Perfume' and the Primula 'Sheila Denby' named for the same person?

[/quote]

I doubt it but it's not something I would know about!

Jeffersonia dubia:

Trond Hoy

Lori S. wrote:

Fri, 05/16/2014 - 1:15am

[quote=Lori S.]

Hoy wrote:

Is the rose 'Sheila's Perfume' and the Primula 'Sheila Denby' named for the same person?

I doubt it but it's not something I would know about!

Jeffersonia dubia:

[/quote]

Well, I didn't expect an answer either . . . .

Nice Jeffersonia! I am still waiting for mine to achieve any greatness.

Claire Cockcroft

I never expected to see

Sat, 05/17/2014 - 11:20am

I never expected to see Primula aureata in my garden, but this little seedling appeared out of nowhere with its maiden bloom. I can't find any record that I ordered the seeds.

I've grown a lot of nomocharis from seed over the years, but never had a white one before. Another maiden bloom.

This candelabra hybrid has Primula japonica as one parent. Perhaps P. cockburniana added some farina to the mix?

Gordon Tingley

Lori-Love that Jeffersonia!

Sat, 05/17/2014 - 5:10pm

Lori-Love that Jeffersonia! Ever since learning about it here in the forum, it has been on my want to grow list. I have tried it from seed once, but think the moist packed seed rotted in transit before arrival (from the last seed exchange). I haven't found it in any local nurseries either... will have to try again.

Trond Hoy

Cockcroft wrote:

Fri, 04/25/2014 - 11:18pm

[quote=Cockcroft]

......

As for Erythronium americanum, it is situated in a very sunny spot that stays fairly dry in the summer. It comes up, blooms, sets seeds if I hand-pollinate, then disappears for the rest of the year.

...Claire

[/quote]

Thanks Claire. My plants are in a shady area beneath some shrubs. Maybe I should move them (the Erythroniums I mean).

Gordon Tingley

Claire, you have a wonderful

Tue, 04/01/2014 - 4:35am

Claire, you have a wonderful collection of Trilliums (including Pseudotrillium). It was interesting to see one of your Pseudotrillium rivale with four petals.... I wonder if this is just an oddball flower, or if the trait would appear more regularly in seedlings from that bloom?

Trond Hoy

Claire, your Pseudotrilliums

Sat, 04/05/2014 - 12:58am

Claire, your Pseudotrilliums are beautiful! I have some seedlings from your seeds now but no flowers yet!

I also have a patch of Erythronium americanum but although they spread they don't flower. What do they lack??

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Here is the Erythronium

Sat, 05/03/2014 - 7:11pm

Here is the Erythronium sibericum

Editor's note: Hi, Krish. Thanks for trying again! You will get it with a little practice.

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Richard T. Rodich

You do show the neatest stuff

Sat, 05/17/2014 - 9:52pm

You do show the neatest stuff, Claire.

- - - - especially that Primula aureata!

I wondered about these Fritillaria meleagris, since they were a no show last year. But they are back!

Taraxacum pseudoroseum and Mertensia alpina

Corydalis nobilis

Leibnitzia anandria volunteered in a pot of Phyteuma orbiculare seedlings

Draba polytricha still in its original seeded pot from last season.

Lori S. (not verified)

Wow, Claire! The only "odd"

Sat, 05/17/2014 - 10:32pm

Wow, Claire! The only "odd" seed that germinated here seems to be a moss rose... you've sure got a better class of weeds there. ;-) Fascinating plants, and it's neat to see the hybrids and variations popping up.

Gordon, here's an update on Jeffersonia dubia - I can send you seeds later on if you PM me with your address.

A seedling from last year of Pulsatilla ambigua/turczaninovii(?); last year's seedlings of Primula denticulata:

Pulsatilla halleri ssp. slavica 'Alba'... or so the seed packet claimed? Hmmm, I'll have to pull out the new Pulsatilla book and compare; Primula allionii x auricula 'Aire Mist';

Corydalis solida; Pulsatilla halleri:

Trond Hoy

Claire, your weeds are really

Sun, 05/18/2014 - 12:07am

Claire, your weeds are really remarkable! I have ordered Primula aureata seeds several times but nothing germinated. Maybe I should just have thrown them around!

Nomocharis is always eaten by snails and slugs and disappear quickly.

Rick, nice plants! Do the pink dandelion spread around? What's your Jeffersonia like now by the way?

Lori, that Jeffersonia dubia truly is amazing!

Just a few from my garden walk yesterday.

Not so many showy perennials now but the rhododendrons are in full flower. Here are two (can't remember the names as usual) near the house.

The dainty unknown Oxalis do better and better!

Richard T. Rodich

I remember how you

Sun, 05/18/2014 - 8:28pm

I remember how you "complained", Lori, that you Jeffersonia was never so spectacular, but this year it has sure out done itself!

My nice multipetal form is still healthy, but still recovering (apparently). Since it was so vigorous before, I am surprised at how slow it has been bouncing back. I've been finding a lot of seedlings (from my other normal J. dubia) under my Salix ealeagnos shrub/tree.

The Taraxacum pseudoroseum hasn't flowered enough for me to let seeds just flit away in the breeze. I've collected everything and given them away. By the way, Trond, the Impatiens sp. seed you sent me all came up this spring, after I planted them last spring!

Iris lutescens 'Campbellii' and Uvularia grandiflora

Deinanthe caerulea and Peltoboykinia watanabei

Seed pods of Calycanthus floridus still linger, and Salix schraderiana is the very last willow to bloom (May 1), after all the others are done. Well, I guess excluding the fall blooming species.

Last fall I had culled a bunch of rejects from my lily hybridizing and the bulbs looked so yummy. I had put them in a bucket in the garage to save and eat, and subsequently forgot about them. They began sprouting in late winter, so I covered them with an inch or two of soil and grew them on for kicks. I snipped off all the non-blooming sprouts and this is what they look like now:

Lori S. (not verified)

What? Me? Complain? :-)

Mon, 05/19/2014 - 5:12pm

What? Me? Complain? :-) Yes, my Jeffersonia dubia has developed into a lovely plant. I started moving seedlings around last year.

Chionodoxa and Iris reticulata; Tulipa tarda; Tulipa cv.; Tulipa urumiensis (or what is sold as it, anyway):

Trollius laxus; some Fritillaria meleagris not yet ravaged by lily beetles; Hacquetia epipactis:

Lathyrus vernus 'Gracilis'; Muscari latifolium:

Claire Cockcroft

Lori, your pictures are great

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 8:00am

Lori, your pictures are great. I love seeing your plants -- your garden is so much later than mine, I get to enjoy the early spring plants all over again.

I researched where I might have received the Primula aureata seeds. I think they came from Betty Lowry, who ordered several kinds of primulas from the ACE expedition and also from various collectors of wild seeds. All of her seeds, stored in the refrigerator, were ordered in 1994-1995. I tried a few a couple of years ago, when this primula germinated. Many that were sown in January of this year have also germinated. I guess primula seed stays viable a lot longer than I expected. And no, Trond, none of the primula seed was scattered around; it all went in carefully prepared and tended pots.

Does anyone know how to find the list of plants that were collected from the AGS China Expedition of 1994? Several on Betty's list are "Primula sp." and I wonder if folks learned later what they actually were.

Richard T. Rodich

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

Tue, 05/20/2014 - 8:54pm

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

Another pic of Peltoboykinia watanabei, one week later.

Deinanthe caerulea and Dienanthe 'Blue Wonder'

The Jeffersonia diphylla seeds you sent me, Mark: the seedlings are starting to show their non-rounded leaf edges.

The lily on the left is a seedling hybrid of L. tsingtauense. Below J. diphylla, normal foliage.

Syneilesis aconitifolia emerging.

Trond Hoy

It is a lot of colour in the

Wed, 05/28/2014 - 1:12pm

It is a lot of colour in the garden these days but the flowers don't last long due to the warm and dry weather we have now.

Here are 3 plants which have opened the last days.

Eomecon chioanthum, a Rocoe species and a blue Corydalis, maybe elata. Some of the blue ones are very similar.

tropicalgirl251... (not verified)

Beautiful plants Rick and

Fri, 05/23/2014 - 11:47am

Beautiful plants Rick and Lori

Lori S. (not verified)

Thank you, Claire! I'm glad

Fri, 05/23/2014 - 8:06pm

Thank you, Claire! I'm glad our long winters can at least help someone relive springtime... it's a magical season, indeed!

I've posted your query about the plant list from the 1994 AGS China Expedition as a separate topic, where I hope it will attract some attention. I could also post it at the SRGC forum, if you wish (if you don't participate there yourself)?

Looking great there, Rick. What a wonderful little forest of Syneilesis - looks like an invasive of trolls! The foliage on your Peltoboykinia is beautiful. The seeds you sent me germinated very well, but I think I lost the seedlings to my own lack of care, letting them dry out (doh!)

Richard T. Rodich

The Syneilesis "forest" is

Thu, 05/29/2014 - 2:05am

The Syneilesis "forest" is quite dense. I wonder what this jumbled jungle is going to look like next week!

Saruma henryi is blooming at a normal time this year.

Some veronicas survive in unexpected environments. Here find V. schmidtii in my limestone driveway, and V. oltensis in heavy clay.

Veronica prostrata 'Heavenly Blue' and V. peduncularis 'Waterperry'

An unknown aurea leaf carpet type. Really nice.

Iberis saxatilis Pygmaea is quite a gem at only 8.5cm wide.

deesen (not verified)

A nicely eclectic selection

Thu, 05/29/2014 - 12:04pm

A nicely eclectic selection Rick.

Lori S. (not verified)

Penstemon nitidus:

Sun, 06/01/2014 - 8:07am

Penstemon nitidus:

Richard T. Rodich

Wow Lori, quite spectacular!

Sun, 06/01/2014 - 5:54pm

Wow Lori, quite spectacular!

Taken in dim light, so not so detailed:

Allium maximowiczii 'Alba' and an Aquilegia kuhistanica decendent.

Antennaria rosea ssp. confinus and Iris sintenisii ssp. brandzae, and the Polyganatum verticillatum(?) behind has flower buds for the first time in six years from a one gallon pot!).

Campanula moesiaca buds seem to almost glow. Polyganatum 'Snow Egret'.

Scilla litardierii. And I never noticed the lobes on the petals tips of Sisyrinchium. Sisyrinchium montanum var. montanum.

Trond Hoy

Nice Penstemon, Lori!

Mon, 06/02/2014 - 2:28pm

Nice Penstemon, Lori!

You have a lot of stuff you too, Rick! I'm especially jealous on the Syneilesis and Saruma you showed. The slugs forbid me to grow those.

On my shed roof: Scutellaria alpina. A safe one to grow and flower! New to me: Biennial Corydalis linstowiana from seed this spring.

Rob Broekhuis

Allium cristophii is always

Mon, 06/02/2014 - 7:17pm

Allium cristophii is always photogenic; as is Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'.

In the rock garden, Aquilegia desertorum is new to me. A nice one!

Lori S. (not verified)

Lovely plants, all! This

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 9:33pm

Lovely plants, all! This time of year is magic here - the air is deliciously fragrant with the scent of chokecherry and apple blossoms. I wish it would last all summer!

I love that mix of yellow with burnt orange on the columbine, Rob. Thanks for posting, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Rob Broekhuis

I'll try to remember to post

Wed, 06/04/2014 - 7:24pm

I'll try to remember to post back here once in a while. Always something new, though not always in the rock garden. By the way, notice the plants behind the columbine? Yet another stand of P. hirsutus! Which looks quite pretty this time of year, but I wish it weren't quite so prolific. If I don't watch it, the entire rock garden turns to hairy penstemon in a few years...

Rob Broekhuis

A pairing in our messy "rock

Thu, 06/05/2014 - 7:33pm

A pairing in our messy "rock garden annex" area, with (to the best of my knowledge!) Scutellaria orientalis ssp. oreophila, Salvia nemorosa 'Marcus', Sedum sieboldii, Sedum dasyphyllum var. glanduliferum, and Raffenaldia primuloides. Nice to see they all survived - three months ago the area was piled high with five feet of compacted snow.

Lori S. (not verified)

Looks lovely!

Tue, 06/10/2014 - 9:48pm

Looks lovely!

An interesting plant from seed last year... Salvia nutans:

Viola canadensis:

Trond Hoy

Looking forward to see the

Thu, 06/12/2014 - 9:19am

Looking forward to see the colour of that Salvia although the shape is nice also!

I have some seedlings of what I thought were Viola canadensis. The flowers look is the same as yours Lori but the leaves are much narrower. Do you know whether the leaves can vary?

Fuchsia magellanica is in flower now and that is the earliest I have seen here. Usually I have to wait till July/August.

Lori S. (not verified)

I've never seen Viola

Thu, 06/12/2014 - 7:59pm

I've never seen Viola canadensis with narrow leaves, only with quite broad, heart-shaped ones. A couple of references I'm looking at say "ovate to reniform", pointed at the apex, and may be over 3" wide.

Trond Hoy

Here is a picture (out of

Sat, 06/14/2014 - 11:33pm

Here is a picture (out of flower at the moment) but you can see the leaves. I got an email telling me it could be Viola lanceolata, which seems plausible.

Trond Hoy

The roses are very early this

Sun, 06/15/2014 - 11:15am

The roses are very early this year. Some have already passed the summit but others are in full flower now.

Here is the first flowers on a seedling of a species rose, Rosa webbiana, from China. Grown from Chadwell seeds planted a couple of years ago.

It has to be moved next winter because it soon outgrows the space here in the kindergarten.

Lori S. (not verified)

A nice rose. Is it fragrant?

Sun, 06/15/2014 - 3:54pm

A nice rose. Is it fragrant? Once-blooming?

Unless I'm wildly mistaken, and some toothy-leaved invader has filled the spaces, Scrophularia macratha ("red birds in a tree") seems to have wintered over, and is taking on the upright form it should have (as compared to the very lax, recumbent stems of the plants when I bought them late last summer - that's what indoor growing does. A lot of nurseries keep plants indoors here, due to hail danger, I guess.)

An odd yellow-flowered Ranunculus(?) I planted(?) last year - must figure out what it is:

Dracocephalum nutans; Lithospermum ruderale; Verbascum atroviolaceum - a compact, shiny leaved species; Phyteuma charmellii, in bud:

Pulsatilla vulgaris - these big old plants are magnificent, especially in seed - only a few still in bloom; Anemone canadensis, which I have still not got rid of (this year, maybe); Doronicum orientale; Pleurospermum szechenyii:

Clematis alpina - seedlings of what was supposed to be 'Pamela Jackman' though wasn't (turned out to be a double, rather than a single flower):

Claire Cockcroft

"Anemone canadensis, which I

Mon, 06/16/2014 - 9:25am

"Anemone canadensis, which I have still not got rid of (this year, maybe);"

Good luck on that one, Lori. Anemone canadensis showed up one year and looked so lovely in the seed pot that I planted it out, not knowing what it was. Five years later, I finally dug the last of it out. Round-up is not a product I use in the garden but I made an exception in the case of R. canadensis. Its thread-like roots sprout at every node. That's a shame, because it's a beautiful brute.

Lori S. (not verified)

Cockcroft wrote:

Mon, 06/16/2014 - 7:11pm

[quote=Cockcroft]

"Anemone canadensis, which I have still not got rid of (this year, maybe);"

[/quote]

Yeah, isn't it? Mine showed up on its own too. Given that it's out in the hell strip (dry, lousy soil) between the fence and the sidewalk, it was even rather nice for a while having something that was happy to grow there. At the same time, I'm a huge sap for letting it stay because I knew it was wildly invasive... no one's fault but mine.

By "getting rid of it", I really meant "starting the multi-year war against it and, possibly, eventually, by devoting every weekend to it, getting rid of it somewhere within my lifetime", LOL!

Longma (not verified)

Dactylorhiza, Eremurus and

Thu, 06/19/2014 - 7:33am

Dactylorhiza, Eremurus and Epipactis are all doing very nicely this year. Credit goes to our warm moist springtime,

Trond Hoy

Longma wrote:

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 10:43am

[quote=Longma]

Dactylorhiza, Eremurus and Epipactis are all doing very nicely this year. Credit goes to our warm moist springtime,

[/quote]

Nice, Ron! I have two or three orchids in flower now but the dry weather isn't to their liking so I don't show them!

Trond Hoy

Rick, the Saruma seeds are

Sun, 06/22/2014 - 10:57am

Rick, the Saruma seeds are probably dispersed by ants?

I don't like caterpillars in my flower bed so usually I kill them as soon as I see them - except those I recognize as butterfly larvae.

Have a lot of butterflies in the garden now - when the wind isn't too strong. The warm and dry weather seems to be to favored by them as long as they have food.

The Kiwi plant (Actinidia deliciosa) also seems to like the weather. I have never seen so many flower so early in the year! Hard to picture though - high above my head and hidden in the foliage.

Another blue Corydalis is in flower in the shade of the shrubs.

Richard T. Rodich

Hoy wrote:

Wed, 06/25/2014 - 7:41pm

[quote=Hoy]Rick, the Saruma seeds are probably dispersed by ants?[/quote]

I've always wanted to check that out with the saruma seed... if they have elaiaosomes or not. But I've only gotten this far...

This is fun: Astragalus sp., wild seed from Utah.

More stuff in the garden:

Coryphantha vivipara - flowers bloom for two to two and a half days.

23 June

24 June

Thalictrum dasycarpum, male and female.

Not sure if this is significant, but on my plants, there is a difference in foliage: male and female.

Penstemon cobaea

Penstemon cyananthus

Saxifraga crustata hybrid, Aquilegia saximontana, Symphyandra armena (or Campanula....)

Longma (not verified)

From Western China

Wed, 07/09/2014 - 5:53am

From Western China Notholirion bulbiferum.

Toole (not verified)

Longma wrote:

Sat, 07/12/2014 - 3:05pm

[quote=Longma]

From Western China Notholirion bulbiferum.

[/quote]

Very nice Ron .

Shot out yesterday for a quick trip to Maple Glen ,a 25 acre private garden, to view the their Galanthus display .Although peak flowering will be towards the end of the month I managed to find a few clumps in bloom.

Lori S. (not verified)

Ah yes, I can just barely

Sat, 07/12/2014 - 3:55pm

Ah yes, I can just barely make out a few in bloom there... LOL! Looks wonderful!

Spring again in your part of the world and the start of summer here.

Toole (not verified)

Lori S. wrote:

Sat, 07/12/2014 - 5:27pm

[quote=Lori S.]

Ah yes, I can just barely make out a few in bloom there... LOL! Looks wonderful!

Spring again in your part of the world and the start of summer here.

[/quote]

Trond Hoy

Nice to see spring flowers

Sun, 07/13/2014 - 10:13am

Nice to see spring flowers again but I am prepared to wait a few months still to see them in person!

I've wanted to grow and tried Notholirion in my garden but never successed with it. Think the slugs have it on their menue.

I have not tried Penstemon up here at our mountain cabin but maybe some would make it like this Castilleja (miniata?) flowering for the second time now.