What do you see on your garden walks?

The Cyclamen has chosen to hide itself, Lori! But you have an immense number of plants flowering all the time. Here some plants grow to immense dimensions instead. They swamp the smaller ones.

Here are some examples:
1) Impatiens glandulifera grows to 3.5-4m. I remove hundreds every spring but they sprout from "millions" of seeds in the moist climate here. I started with 3 plants. I regret that very much!
2) In the Impatiens forest when I look to the sky.
Next postI. glandulifera is annual, this one (not sure of the name) is perennial. Not more than 2" but spreading steadily outwards and swamping smaller neighbours.
3) Aralia something makes 2m canes every year down in my bog.
4) Lysimachia nummularia looks modest but cover all neighbours in short time. It can also grow into smaller shrubs. I use it as groundcover under rhododendrons and other shrubs but it has also occupied parts of the lawn and many beds.

I must have been asleep while working with those pictures (that means I am often sleeping, not the first time this).
Not the showiest of plants, but here you are: Impatiens unknown species.

PS. The Cyclamen is very nice, mine haven't started to grow yet. But I have mostly hederifolium and coum.

Lori, I also grow Lallemantia canescens.  It looks so terrible now, as many of my alpines.  This year has been a most trying year for them: a drought in early and mid spring, and rain rain rain all summer!  Yesterday six thunderstorms rolled through in just one day! (temps were lowered to 85F day-70F night)  And humidity hadn't dropped below 70% for a week plus.

Iris suaveolens seems relatively fine in the ground, but in pots the foliage is nearly gone, although I do find that the rhizomes are still in tact.  Same with I. reichenbachii. 

I have never had such an infestation of earwigs.  This is my first flower of Dianthus callizonus from seed sown late this spring. And Gentiana tibeticus.  Already the insect has found them.  The Vernonia sp. only grew 8ft this season.

RickR wrote:

I have never had such an infestation of earwigs.  
The Vernonia sp. only grew 8ft this season.

Rick, earwigs love the hot, humid conditions that multiple thunderstorms create ;D  Your Vernonia only 8'?  How tall does it grow regularly?  Mine is just coming into bloom (Vernonia novaboracensis), looking like your plant, and it is at 8' right now, but has not grown taller in the past.

Lots of interesting plants shown in this thread, I'm behind in participating and commenting.

Normally 9-10 feet.  I don't have a clue which species it is. 
Is there a way to differentiate Vernonia spp.? 
It came from the garden of a man in our rockgerden society.  He doesn't know its identity either,
and doesn't remember where he got it.

Lori, you posted the same link I was going to post, literally a few seconds before me :D  Might Rick's plant be V. gigantea?
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242417438

By the way, anyone interested in good "Ironweeds", Vernonia lettermanii is a much smaller fine-leaved plant, with beautiful narrow leaves like Amsonia hubrectii.  I don't currently have it, but it is on my watch list.

I know I had tried to key the vernonia many, many years ago and gave up.  Maybe eflora was not up or that part finished, I dunno.  But why I hadn't thought about it recently, is a Homer moment (doh!)

So...

What the heck is up with eflora's glossary???  I look words up, there is a page for said word(s), but no definition...
It's not my FF browser, I tried IE and seamonkey(yeah okay it's about the same as FF).  I get this: http://www.efloras.org/glossary.aspx?term_id=12970

Anyway, after learning new and reviewing old definitions, like scaberellous, scaberulose, phyllary, pappi, pannose, urceolate, involucre, obconic, subulate, cypselae, etc., keying was surprisingly easy!

Definitely Vernonia gigantea.  Everything fits.  I looked at the descriptions of all the other species listed, and nothing comes even close in size.  The two largest (fasciculata and flaccidifolia) have other traits besides size that don't match.

I just thought now, what if it isn't North American?
Yow. An investigation for another time.

Rick, just checked the eFlora glossary, man is that useless or what?  Instead I googled and used wikipedia to define "pappus":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappus_%28flower_structure%29

Now that you learned all those botanical terms specific to Asteraceae, you'll be a pro for further taxonomic sleuthing in Asteraceae. I don't know a couple of those terms either, I had better do some research.

Glad you arrived at an ID on your Vernonia... someone sent me seed of V. gigantea a few years back... I wonder what I did with the seed?

That's funny what you say: "what if it isn't American?".  Good point, there are only 17 described for Flora of North America, but according to a wikipedia link: "Vernonia is a genus of about 1000 species of forbs and shrubs in the family Asteraceae", also found in South America, Asia, and Africa, not to mention the abundant hybrids... you have you're work cut out for you!  You can probably assume however, that your plant is N. American.  Also, some members of the genus in other countries might be ascribed to other genera at this point?  A search on Vernonia species at www.ipni.org comes up with 38 screens of species!!!

Forgot to say that I'll certainly save you seed, Lori.  I grow Inula ensifolia 'Compacta'.  I grew one of the large species of inula from seed, but they were aphid magnets.  Amazing how they tolerated the bug, though.

I can't say that late summer is a high point (nothing can match April, May and June in a rock garden!) but my garden continues to have lots of little gems blooming and the overall effect of the alpines is very soothing this time of year and verdant. Amazing how our gardens sustain us! I'm off to Kazakhstan for almost a month, leaving my garden with my wonderful girlfriend, Jan Fahs. It is comforting to hear rain early this morning and hope she gets periodic rains to help maintain this rather extensive collection while I'm gone (can you hear me being a tad nervous?)...

I bought a new camera for my trip, and these are some of the first shots I took yesterday AM: I will be thinking of you all during my travel, although I doubt I will have many chances at internet cafes, and when I do I'll have to spend the time checking in on work and family, so this really fun stuff will have to wait a month! Meanwhile, here's a few glimpses of my Quince Gardens on August 23: the images should be labeled!

1  Adiantum venustum
2  Allium togashii
3  Arum italicum 'Marmoratum'
4  Bulbinella ex Drakensberg
5  Daphne jasminea
6  Escobaria albicolumnaria
7  Hedeoma ciliolata
8  Inula verbascifolia
9  Pyrrhosia ex Mongolia
10 rock garden in AM

Very nice, Panayoti! You are lucky to have someone looking after your garden when away. When I come home my garden is completely overgrown. Remarkably how fast and big things grow when they get plenty of moisture.

Your garden is looking great Panayoti!

Not too much happening in the garden because of extreme drought this summer.  We had some rain last weekend (actually quite a bit of rain) and some things are already trying to green up.  One thing that's been constant is Zinnia grandiflora.  Have to love this plant - it's a late starter and then blooms without stop until hard frost.

That does seem to be a feat with the Osteospermum, congratulations!

I've been impressed with the tenacity of Asyneuma limonifolium as well.  I had it for many years in a pot, until it blew off the patio during a storm, and all I could find was the empty pot!

Spiegel wrote:

Not too much happening in the garden because of extreme drought this summer.  We had some rain last weekend (actually quite a bit of rain) and some things are already trying to green up.  One thing that's been constant is Zinnia grandiflora.  Have to love this plant - it's a late starter and then blooms without stop until hard frost.

Spiegel, I have never seen this Zinnia before. Is the creeping habit normal or due to drought? I would like to have a close-up of the flower too, if possible!

It's planted towards the bottom of a slope so gravity seems to have lent a hand.  Also, it is never watered except by nature.  Perhaps it would be more upright with water and better soil?  It's growing here in a very limey, lean scree.  It's found in Colorado and Kansas and southward.  It's been growing here at least seven years and it did take some time to establish.  Spring here is normally cold with lingering frosts so it isn't touched as far as trimming back before mid-May.  I'll try and post a close-up of the flower sometime this weekend.

Thanks  Anne, I must try this one at my summerhouse!

Here are some other plants flowering now in my garden:

1&2) Fuchsia magellanica grows to a huge shrub during the summer and flower throughout the fall.

3&4) Phuopsis stylosa starts flowering in the summer  but produces a dense mat with new shoots flowering from August till the frost comes.

5&6) Tropaeolum ciliatum has not as flamboyant flowers as it sister T. speciosus but a modest habit climbing in the Rhododendrons.

7) Phygelia capensis is a faithful bloomer from July onwards.

Hoy wrote:

Spiegel wrote:

Not too much happening in the garden because of extreme drought this summer.  We had some rain last weekend (actually quite a bit of rain) and some things are already trying to green up.  One thing that's been constant is Zinnia grandiflora.  Have to love this plant - it's a late starter and then blooms without stop until hard frost.

Spiegel, I have never seen this Zinnia before. Is the creeping habit normal or due to drought? I would like to have a close-up of the flower too, if possible!

As promised, if a little late.  Close-up of Zinnia grandiflora flowers.

Spiegel wrote:

As promised, if a little late.  Close-up of Zinnia grandiflora flowers.

Thank you, Anne! Charming flowers not unlike Tagetes.

The drought continues with temps back into the high 80sF but some cooler weather in sight for the end of the week.  No rain forcast for the week, though.  The garden is quiet but the one rain we did have inspired Phlox pungens to start reblooming and frshened up some other plants.  Just a few shots of plants in the crevice gardens.
1.    Coronilla minima
2.    Phlox pungens
3.    Astragalus utahensis
4-5. Eriogonum umbellatum humistratum
6.    Eriogonum ovalifolium

Lori, I have found this to be true for a number of the western phlox such as Phlox kelseyi (I have had as many as 4 flushes of bloom during one prolonged season), Phlox pulvinata (not as often), Phlox pungens (often) and Phlox hendersonii (rarely).  It's almost like the plant takes a rest and a combination of timely rain and a lot of sun pushes it  to rebloom.  It doesn't seem to hurt the plants at all.  Phlox pungens and Phlox kelseyi do this every year, but this year P. pungens is just coming into rebloom for the first time.  Our summer has been tremendously hot and dry and that probably had a lot to do with it.  We have only had one rain of any note in three months and that was fairly recent. 

Today (or actually yesterday) I found this one still blooming in the garden. Erodium manescavii flowers for months but only few flowers at the time. It also self sow moderately.

Skulski wrote:

Serratula coronata

Cool Serratula!  Can you tell us about this one, I think most of us are only familiar with Serratula seoanei, the little pink fall-blooming rock garden staple.

The genus Serratula is almost unknown to me. Only one is native (S. tinctoria) but very rare and not a gardenworthy plant would I say.

Here are what I saw this morning taking a stroll in the jungle:

1) The ivy, Hedera helix, makes flower buds in the fall and flower throughout the winter. Blue berries develop in the spring.
2) View of the lunch place. It is almost swamped by plants like the strong-growing Kiwi (Actinidia deliciosa). It is from seed and do not set many fruits.
3) The girl's doll's house and my greenhouse. Although I remove 1000s of balsamines, they are everywhere.

In bloom now and grown for years as Allium senescens v glaucum.  Mark, please correct if this is wrong.

I fell in love with the Orostachys spinosa. Is it from seed too?
Then I certainly will try it!

I think this species is self infertile.  I had one bloom this season with thousands of flowers and plenty of pollinators, yet only a few capsules seemed to develop and I couldn't detect any viable seed.  However, this was, in general, a terrible year for pollinating.  Beginning at the end of June, it's been very wet here. 

True to form, only a skeleton remains of that orostachys.

Rick, you mean they are monocarpic and don't grow baby rosettes?

Lori, your garden is looking wonderful.  The Lupinus is specially beautiful.  When does your garden (as a rule) start shutting down for the winter?  When do you usually have your first killing frost?

Trond, I had expected babies to be produced when the Orostachys spinosa flowered, but it didn't (!)  Come to think of it, years ago I had another unknown species of orostachys that flowered and didn't make offsets, too.  Hmmm. 

Anyway, I don't worry about it, because for some reason Orostachys spinosa tends to break up into many plants if I grow them in smaller pots.  I have lots.  In fact, this is the first times it has bloomed for me, and I've grown them since 2004!  The one that bloomed was from seed started in 2007 (not by me).

Thanks both. I thought that Orostachys normally made offsets.
I can't understand way this plant is not for sale here - they sell the same 10 types of Sempervivums every year.