Not all species hybrids are keepers. This one is a chance hybrid of Veronica rupestris 'Heavenly Blue' and Veronica gentianoides. It's about 4 inches tall.
Fantastic stuff, John! Do you water much of your garden? I'm quite sure you've told me before, but I forget... I love Antennarias, and grow some local natives and not quite locals as well--a couple in the rock garden, and some grow around the yard as well.. outside of a constantly weeded rock garden, I'd never be able to keep them totally free of taller plants, but they still form nice mats, the locals at least tolerating shade as well...
Gee, this thread has certainly come alive lately! And with a plethora of worthy plants and photographs!
My excuse for posting is that we need more "common" plants:
Rick, I support your first statement :o And your second statement too, however what is common one place isn't necessarily common another place! Furthermore a nice picture of a "common" plant is always worth its space.
Overcast today and I am working on a wall but had time to a little stroll in the garden.
I have planted several anemones, here are two. The labels say demissa and palmata but that is wrong. In the background a red Meconopsis flowers from seed last year. It is very punicea like but not quite.
Another favorite genus is Maianthemum. These species are also unknown. I have several similar but not identical plants. The flowers are nothing to boast of but the leaves are great and they get nice red or orange berries in the autumn.
Some polygonatums are favored by the slugs but these are left almost unharmed. The first is Polygonatum verticillatum and the second is an unknown species that attain a height of several feet.
Wow, away and traveling for work this past week, I feel like I'm missing out on the "garden walk" action, great stuff!
@John: I love the Eriogonum caespitosum form with red-orange buds, stunning. In your 6th photo showing a meandering garden path, that path looks dangerous... impalement from the right-hand side a likely possibility ;) Your dryland garden looks amazing.
@Lori: you showed us Dianthus myrtinervius ssp. caespitosus before, which made an indelible impression here, great having a second look with the plant looking better than ever to remind us how unique and desirable this species is, worth growing for the foliage alone which looks more like a choice dwarf Hebe than a pink.
@Rick: I've been looking for more yellow-leaved or variegated plants as occasional accents, I like the Astrantia very much, I'm not familiar with that variegated form.
@Trond: good looking Polygonatums, I have to be careful, this is another area I could easily delve into and become utterly distracted with ;D Glad to see Diphylleia sinensis, I have some fat seedlings pushing up on this one.
@Lori (2): Going back a full page, great pics and plants, must try Tulipa urumiensis.... I'm a true Tulipa species fan, and they seem reasonably successful growing them from seed. I keep seeing photos of Taraxacum pseudoroseum, which I lust after... sorry to report Stephen that seedling of this and T. pamiricum fried in last years drought and no sign of them this spring. The Veronica bombycina ssp. bolkardaghensis gets my vote as one of the prettiest alpine plants ever!
@Anne: Ooh, Eriogonum douglasii having a small flowering spectacle... I've never been able to flower this... looks great in that crevice.
This spring has seen "explosive flowering", it's been hard to keep up, and I've missed some of it while traveling and working/commuting crazy hours. Here is a smattering of plant views taken recently, excuse the dark lighting from a stretch of cloudy rainy days.
Left: view of Cypripedium parviflorum v. pubescens and blue Pulmonaria clones and unnamed seedling forms. Right: Daphne 'Fritz Kummert', incredibly fragrant and scenting the garden.
Left: Dianthus microlepis var. musulae, typically shy flowering, this year with more flowers than normal. Right: Fothergilla gardenii - closeup of bottlebrush bloom.
Left: Two views of Halesia tetraptera 'Rosea', the best it has ever flowering, dripping with flowers from bare wood. This is actually a couple potted plants, allowed to sit in my so-called "nursery area" way too long, the trunk probably now as large as the small plunged pot that it is in :rolleyes:, I've not been good about getting potted trees and shrubs planted out into the garden in a timely way.
Left: Houstonia caerulea garden path vignette. I plan on popping this most obliging native plant all along nooks and crannies and along garden paths; they flower for months and are utterly charming. Driving to Maine way week, these grew by the millions along the highway; I was tempted to stop and take a closer look, but didn't. Right: Trillium grandiflorum 'Multiplex' coming into bloom, I really must divide this, it's about 25-30 growth points, but I'm afraid to do it!
Left: Trillium grandiflorum in pristine bloom, with the large foliage of Trillium vaseyi on the left. Right: Trillium lancifolium - with unique declined narrow leaves, and upright narrow maroon red flowers. Some of the plants in this photo are seedling plants. In the upper right you can see a couple stemless T. decumbens.
The sun is finally out today, and it's a weekend day, YAHOO, off to the garden!
Overcast today and I am working on a wall but had time to a little stroll in the garden.
Let me guess... a wall to be planted with alpines? ;) Sounds interesting, either way!
Hoy wrote:
I have planted several anemones, here are two. The labels say demissa and palmata but that is wrong.
The very crisp white one is especially nice, whatever it may be. I suspect I have lost my Diphylleia... at least I don't see it yet (though, realistically, many things have yet to emerge)... it's pretty dry for it here in my yard (I realize that after seeing on this forum what they ought to look like!)
Wow, Mark - it's great when you get some time in the garden!! Terrific plants! Thank you for the correct spelling of Tulipa urumiensis... I thought it was "uremiensis" for some reason (probably the spelling used by the bulb vendor)... I have corrected the previous post. It's odd that trilliums are just blooming there when they are just starting here too... I would have thought your area would be far ahead with them.
Is the very modest (to say the least) veronica you showed similar to V. serpyllifolia, or is it even less flashy?
Lori, I didn't know there was such a wild veronica here! I have never seen it before, so I can't compare, but it might be that. Curious though, that it has made its debut right along with the Vernoica 'Heavenly Blue', if it is indeed the wild weed. I suppose if I find another plant of same, then V. serpylifolia is the most probable ID. It could be hard to explain why there would be no variation in hybrid siblings. I do grow a near albino Veronica gentianoides so white would not be out of the question in a cross.
It's odd that trilliums are just blooming there when they are just starting here too... I would have thought your area would be far ahead with them.
We've had a long, cool spring, so the trilliums are lasting a very long time, I have many species in bloom, the T. lancifolium plants have been in bloom for about 3 weeks, and they still look fresh.
Thanks, Mark. What a fabulous display of trilliums! I can understand your reluctance to try to divide the double!
Looking back through the postings... I just realized, Amy, that you have a triple-flowered Fritillaria meleagris in your photo: http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=274.msg8914#msg8914 I seem to get twin ones fairly often but I don't think I've seen triplets... does it happen often?
Trond, what an amazIng clump of Calceolaria biflora! http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=274.msg8966#msg8966 Those in cold zones may be intrigued and encouraged to know that I had this plant overwinter once... I must try it again.
Looking back through the postings... I just realized, Amy, that you have a triple-flowered Fritillaria meleagris in your photo: http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=274.msg8914#msg8914 I seem to get twin ones fairly often but I don't think I've seen triplets... does it happen often?
I too had missed that one, never has seen a triple flowered Fritillaria meleagris let alone a double. By the way Amy: some really fine photos you've shown us, I particularly like the front-on flower view of the Asarum. Lori: posting back-links such as you've done is a good way of catching up to messages several pages back... thanks!
Spectacular flowers Mark! You are weeks ahead of me...still no leaves on the trees here...yet my Trillium grandiflorum is open too.
My first ever 'homemade' Rhododendron hybrid has finally bloomed after 6 years from seed. It is a cross between R. oreodoxa and R. 'Carmen' (this one is R. sanguineum X R. forrestii). All three are currently open. The parents are shwon first, then the hybrid.
Wow, how satisfying to see the first bloom on your hybrid, a strikingly rich color... congratulations! What's the foliage like on the hybrid, is the plant habit low as in 'Carmen'. Nice to see the parents and then the child :)
Many years ago, when in my completely obsessed Rhododendron days, I was particularly smitten with the low or dwarf red hybrids, like 'Carmen' and 'Baden Baden', with those glossy near black-red waxy bells flowers, or some of the odd black-red, orange-red color forms of R. sanguineum. In my old garden (at my parents house), the conditions were a bit more favorable for rhodies than here. I still love the rhodies, however anything but the so-called "iron-clad" rhodies here are subject to unfriendly climatic conditions in my garden: too hot, dry and sunny in summer; too open, exposed and windy in winter.
Nice, Todd! A few from here... Draba sp.(?) (white flowers) battling it out for domination of a trough with Androsace primuloides 'Chumbyi'; in another trough, Draba paysonii ventosa with yellow flowers:
Hmm, I had this labelled as something else, but it must be one of the Erigeron aureus seedlings from last year...
Pulsatilla campanella:
Anacyclus maroccanusEdit: Erigeron sp.:
Another pic of Shoshonea pulvinata, just to show that the flower stems do not elongate, as I thought they might - very compact, indeed.
Phlox kelseyi:
A small honeysuckle, Lonicera zaravschanica... not too exciting so far:
Potentilla nivea, purchased last year from the CRAGS plant sale... (I acquired a couple of native alpine potentillas so I could study them and try to figure out what I see in the wild here).
Good stuff Lori, Potentilla nivea and Phlox kelseyi are both very choice items! In the domination struggle, I'm rooting for Draba paysonii, a charismatic alpine draba to be sure :) I only know Anacyclus depressus (not reliably hardy here), but the few thumbnail photos found of A. maroccanus I've found show a plant with only a few petals (ligules) and the usual highly dissected foliage... can't tell what the foliage looks like on your plant, but based on the numerous narrow ligules I think it is actually an Erigeron.
I only know Anacyclus depressus (not reliably hardy here), but the few thumbnail photos found of A. maroccanus I've found show a plant with only a few petals (ligules) and the usual highly dissected foliage... can't tell what the foliage looks like on your plant, but based on the numerous narrow ligules I think it is actually an Erigeron.
Doh! I think you're right. As I remain disconnected from my photo library (despite having got everything moved over onto this new hyper-space-drive computer I bought >:(), I'll have to take a pic tomorrow to show you. The foliage is slightly unusual but not highly dissected. Prior to it blooming, I thought I had found a photo purporting to be A. maroccanus that the foliage seemed to resemble but I can't find it now. Yeah, sure does looks like an erigeron...
Loving all the pictures. Lori, the Shoshonea pulvinata is marvelous. Is this the first time you've grown it? A few pictures of what's going on in the garden. First picture is of Oxytropis besseyi using a mat of Erigerone scopulinus as a seed bed.
Rick, those are interesting seedpods on Draba borealis. No, mine is definitely not that (unfortunately).
Anne, I just planted Shoshonea pulvinata last year, bought from Beaver Creek at the CRAGS plant sale; I have not grown it before. Your pictures are wonderful! Great to see the sorts of plants that I hope to grow! Hmmm, think I need to get rid of some old perennial plantings that no longer interest me greatly, and put in sand beds for Astragalus and Eriogonum...
Papaver kluanense, a seedling that was very kindly given to me last year; Draba ramosissima; rollers on Jovibarba hirta:
Mark, here's the foliage and another close-up of the probable erigeron/Anacyclus maroccanus-imposter:
I think it's not hairy enough for E. compositus. It's rather like Erigeron trifidus (which can be white or mauve, apparently): http://www.wildgingerfarm.com/Erigeron.htm
I'm showing this one again because it's even cuter today now that it's fully opened. ;D ;D Didymophysa vesicariaprobably Braya linearis:
Perennials in the garden... Lathyrus vernus and Lathyrus vernus 'Gracilis'; Rheum palmatum var. tanguticum emerging through Omphalodes verna; Bergenia cordifolia (2) - an extremely tough and easy plant here:
Stunning plants Anne and Lori. Lori, you are jumping ahead of me...my Lathyrus vernus are just showing buds. I have tried Phlox kelseyi several times but is always rots in winter.
Rick, in regards to my hybrid rhody, I have 6 other seedlings...another will bloom in the next day or two but the rest will have to wait for another year. Mark, the hybrid is more upright like oreodoxa with oreodoxa leaves but blooming at 18 inches, it will be much smaller than the oreodoxa parent which was 5 feet before it started to bloom.
A few other plants in bloom.....Rhododendron keiskei, R. racemosum, Erythronium White beauty with Fritillaria meleagris, Ranunculus montanus, Pulmonaria Miss Moon and Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White
Wow, Todd - the rhodos are amazing. I must say it's pretty neat to hybridize your own!! (We are down to one rhodo here... 'PJM' was the only other one, that lasted for about 12(?) years, gradually being swamped by perennials, and finally succumbing when it was moved last summer. Oh well, it's much better yet that I can enjoy yours!! :D) Ranunculus montanus seems very much like R. eschscholtizii, at least on a cursory level... wonder how they differ?
A lot of great plants here! I realize that if I want to grow more of that kind of plants I have to remove my woodland and expose the nice bedrock (I know it is nice with lots of cracks and shelves etc) underneath the 1/2' layer of soil! However, I am not sure I am ripe to do that :-\
I observed Anacyclus in Morocco some years ago when I walked in the Atlas mountains. Sorry, but only oldfashion slides :( However they don't look like your plant, Lori. Yours look more like this from Turkey:
Todd, nice rhodos and your cross seems to be very gardenworthy! I have never deliberately made such crosses with rhodos but I do grow many OP plants from seed. Some are very nice.
Anne, that Anthyllis is marvellous! I have never seen that colour before in Anthyllis.
Lori, you asked about the wall somewhere, can't find it though. But anyway it is unfortunately no wall for plants except on top of it. I have built a new step and have to make a new wall too as a kind of demarcation!
No planting pockets (too much shade from the rhodos) but I think moss and ferns soon invade ;)
I have to add a remark about the weather. Last night we had very bad weather with strong wind and rain and when I came home from work this evening I found a lot of damaged flowers. Leaves, buds, twigs and flowers are literally torn off the plants! The rain and wind had stoppet but the light was very gloomy and the clouds had a unnatural colour. It was ash from the Grímsvötn volcano on Iceland :o
Between ash in Norway, floods in the Mississippi and tornados in Missouri, I feel fortunate to live in my cool and rainy part of the world.
I say the same thing all the time, Todd! Even fires, droughts, and floods that have been in Alberta have not affected my immediate area... (knock on wood! but we aren't so prone to those things here) ..my line is that we have a lot of miserable, but not too much deadly!
Hoping all the best for those in the path of storms and ash!
From the seeds you sent me, Rick, Pulsatilla turczaninovii - still flowering very sparsely - I don't grow them as well as you do, but I still enjoy them very much! Terrific plant!
Euphorbia capitulata, not a traffic-stopper, but I think I understood from the SRGC forum a while back that it was reluctant to bloom in cultivation, so for whatever it's worth, here it is. ???
Pulsatilla campanella:
Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi:
A very furry and wet Hieracium villosum:
And what will be the first to bloom of the many self-sown Penstemon nitidus in the front yard!
Continued... Actaea rubra; Arabis caucasica(?) - 2 photos; Schivereckia podolica - this plant can look quite spectacular when grown lean (so I wonder why don't I do that? ??? )
Phlox multiflora, not exactly living up to its name... ;D
Pulmonaria 'Apple Frost', 'Trevi Fountain' and 'Baby Blue' - the last one is amusing with one pink and one blue flower:
Bergenia 'Eroica':
Drawing to the end of Pulsatilla vulgaris season...
I like that Euphorbia a lot! I think even my myrsinites may not have made it through the winter :( it was still in a sunk pot along with everything else though, so I will try again when I can get it right into the ground.... I think I got it locally, so I should be able to find it again..
Actaea rubra in flower! (nice patch, by the way!) I don't think they've even emerged here-- I wasn't looking for them when I was out today, but didn't notice them either, and there are a lot in the bush...
I like that Euphorbia a lot! I think even my myrsinites may not have made it through the winter :( it was still in a sunk pot along with everything else though, so I will try again when I can get it right into the ground.... I think I got it locally, so I should be able to find it again..
I weed out many E. myrsinites every year (I like it but just don't need that many)... could save some seedlings/young plants for you if need be... or some seeds if I get out there with a catcher's mitt on a hot day!
I like that Euphorbia a lot! I think even my myrsinites may not have made it through the winter :( it was still in a sunk pot along with everything else though, so I will try again when I can get it right into the ground.... I think I got it locally, so I should be able to find it again..
I weed out many E. myrsinites every year (I like it but just don't need that many)... could save some seedlings/young plants for you if need be... or some seeds if I get out there with a catcher's mitt on a hot day!
On the coldzone group, someone used little mesh drawstring bags (I'm guessing a few inches long) from the dollar store for seed catching, looked like a good one to try.. seedlings would be cool, but I have a feeling postage would cost as much as buying them, assuming I can find them offered again.. I don't know how Canadian mail order places manage shipping without costing more than the plants... Its possible I still have some seed from a few years ago when I got some from Kristl-that was the year I broke my wrist and couldn't do any digging, basically lost the whole gardening season, along with a bunch of seedlings :( (should have been able to maintain them without getting them in the ground, but made some other errors!)
BTW, I did see an Actaea up--its one that is growing in an old overgrown bed with iris and daylilies--its prob 8 inches or more up, but nothing unfurled yet..
Lori, your Pulsatilla turczaninovii is coming along nicely. It is a slower grower for me too. Although, considering your naturally green thumb, I kinda expected you'd do better than me! ;D Maturation will come. You'll see.
Love the Bergenia 'Eroica'. I'm not familiar with bergenias at all, but with the hanging bells, that must be a cross or at least not cordifolia.(?) Got any info on that?
I never realized Actaea rubra had such nice flowers...
Skulski wrote:
...Pulmonaria 'Baby Blue' - the last one is amusing with one pink and one blue flower:
The stark contrast seems to be the norm for the cultivar, but not in equal mix. I took these photos of Pulmonaria 'Baby Blue' a few weeks ago. The plant is just finishing bloom now.
Rick, yes, I hope my P. turcz... will someday look like yours!! (I think it will take about a hundred years!) Very nice pulmonaria. I will have to research your Bergenia question... I have assumed they were all B. cordifolia but i really don't know.
No new alpines in bloom today, oh well.
Erysimum nivalis 'Mountain Magic'; Aubrieta deltoides'Blue Indigo' (a redundant name!); a mislabelled Erigeron - I like this one best in bud; Aubrieta canescens, from seed last year.
A cliff-hanging Erichtrichium pauciflorum ssp. sajanense, from seed last year; despite being from rather specialized habitat (serpentine screes/unstable schists - Northern Greece/Albania), Campanula hawkinsiana seems tolerant and hardy - all the seedlings I planted out last year in various places have wintered over; buds on Erigeron aureus from seed last year (they also bloomed last year in a few months from seed, which was very nice of them!)
And from the perennial garden, Doronicum orientale:
Lots of colour, Lori! I like the pinks and blues-- we are fast approaching the season where yellow is a dubious colour here--the countryside will soon be swathed with it.. :rolleyes:
I like the Pulmonarias shown recently, too... how large are the plants?
Trond, the view from your terrace is tremendous - we don't have lakes, or mountains, or rain(!) in Kent, so it is great to imagine them in the minds eye. It is nice to see the two Pulsatillas in Lori's pictures (campanella and turczaninovii). I have only grown the latter but the whole genus are amongst my favourite plants. Does anyone grow georgii which has much paler flowers (almost silvery-blue like vernalis) but the same neat ferny leaf. This I think I had originally from Josef Halda seed.
Lori, those fluff-bud Erigerons are wonderful. I'm sure everyone who sees them can't resist a fondling touch!
Cohan, I have grown Pulmonaria 'Baby Blue' since 2004 in a fairly dry partial shade. It has never grown more than 9 x 14 inches, but still looks a bit out of place with Epimedium diphylla 'Rosea' and Epimedium x youngianum 'Niveum' as neighbors.
Tim wrote:
Does anyone grow georgii which has much paler flowers (almost silvery-blue like vernalis) but the same neat ferny leaf. This I think I had originally from Josef Halda seed.
I have some Pulsatilla georgica in still in pots. Some have all white flowers, some more creamy with very pleasing blue-gray/silver petal backs. Why I haven't got a photo of the nicer looking bicolor type beats me!
Comments
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Fri, 05/20/2011 - 9:10pmGee, this thread has certainly come alive lately! And with a plethora of worthy plants and photographs!
My excuse for posting is that we need more "common" plants:
Podophyllum hexandrum
Primula polyneura
Astrantia major 'Sunningdale Gold'
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Fri, 05/20/2011 - 9:30pmIris reichenbachii and Draba rigida var. bryoides
Not all species hybrids are keepers. This one is a chance hybrid of
Veronica rupestris 'Heavenly Blue' and Veronica gentianoides. It's about 4 inches tall.
cohan (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Fri, 05/20/2011 - 11:24pmFantastic stuff, John! Do you water much of your garden? I'm quite sure you've told me before, but I forget...
I love Antennarias, and grow some local natives and not quite locals as well--a couple in the rock garden, and some grow around the yard as well.. outside of a constantly weeded rock garden, I'd never be able to keep them totally free of taller plants, but they still form nice mats, the locals at least tolerating shade as well...
Rick--nice Iris, in particular :)
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Fri, 05/20/2011 - 11:29pmVery nice, Rick! You certainly don't need an "excuse" for posting! :o Glad you got the digital camera.
Is the very modest (to say the least) veronica you showed similar to V. serpyllifolia, or is it even less flashy?
Tim, in this set you posted a few days ago (http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=274.msg8885#msg8885), what are the thistle-like plants under the potentilla?
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Fri, 05/20/2011 - 11:59pmJohn, a stroll in your garden would take a very, very long time :o :D :o :D
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 12:09amRick, I support your first statement :o And your second statement too, however what is common one place isn't necessarily common another place! Furthermore a nice picture of a "common" plant is always worth its space.
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 5:20amOvercast today and I am working on a wall but had time to a little stroll in the garden.
I have planted several anemones, here are two. The labels say demissa and palmata but that is wrong. In the background a red Meconopsis flowers from seed last year. It is very punicea like but not quite.
Another favorite genus is Maianthemum. These species are also unknown. I have several similar but not identical plants. The flowers are nothing to boast of but the leaves are great and they get nice red or orange berries in the autumn.
Some polygonatums are favored by the slugs but these are left almost unharmed. The first is Polygonatum verticillatum and the second is an unknown species that attain a height of several feet.
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 5:30amI found I had two species of Diphylleia: sinensis and cymosa!
Diphylleia sinensis
Diphylleia cymosa
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 6:10amWow, away and traveling for work this past week, I feel like I'm missing out on the "garden walk" action, great stuff!
@John: I love the Eriogonum caespitosum form with red-orange buds, stunning. In your 6th photo showing a meandering garden path, that path looks dangerous... impalement from the right-hand side a likely possibility ;) Your dryland garden looks amazing.
@Lori: you showed us Dianthus myrtinervius ssp. caespitosus before, which made an indelible impression here, great having a second look with the plant looking better than ever to remind us how unique and desirable this species is, worth growing for the foliage alone which looks more like a choice dwarf Hebe than a pink.
@Rick: I've been looking for more yellow-leaved or variegated plants as occasional accents, I like the Astrantia very much, I'm not familiar with that variegated form.
@Trond: good looking Polygonatums, I have to be careful, this is another area I could easily delve into and become utterly distracted with ;D Glad to see Diphylleia sinensis, I have some fat seedlings pushing up on this one.
@Lori (2): Going back a full page, great pics and plants, must try Tulipa urumiensis.... I'm a true Tulipa species fan, and they seem reasonably successful growing them from seed. I keep seeing photos of Taraxacum pseudoroseum, which I lust after... sorry to report Stephen that seedling of this and T. pamiricum fried in last years drought and no sign of them this spring. The Veronica bombycina ssp. bolkardaghensis gets my vote as one of the prettiest alpine plants ever!
@Anne: Ooh, Eriogonum douglasii having a small flowering spectacle... I've never been able to flower this... looks great in that crevice.
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 7:37amThis spring has seen "explosive flowering", it's been hard to keep up, and I've missed some of it while traveling and working/commuting crazy hours. Here is a smattering of plant views taken recently, excuse the dark lighting from a stretch of cloudy rainy days.
Left: view of Cypripedium parviflorum v. pubescens and blue Pulmonaria clones and unnamed seedling forms.
Right: Daphne 'Fritz Kummert', incredibly fragrant and scenting the garden.
Left: Dianthus microlepis var. musulae, typically shy flowering, this year with more flowers than normal.
Right: Fothergilla gardenii - closeup of bottlebrush bloom.
Left: Two views of Halesia tetraptera 'Rosea', the best it has ever flowering, dripping with flowers from bare wood. This is actually a couple potted plants, allowed to sit in my so-called "nursery area" way too long, the trunk probably now as large as the small plunged pot that it is in :rolleyes:, I've not been good about getting potted trees and shrubs planted out into the garden in a timely way.
Left: Houstonia caerulea garden path vignette. I plan on popping this most obliging native plant all along nooks and crannies and along garden paths; they flower for months and are utterly charming. Driving to Maine way week, these grew by the millions along the highway; I was tempted to stop and take a closer look, but didn't.
Right: Trillium grandiflorum 'Multiplex' coming into bloom, I really must divide this, it's about 25-30 growth points, but I'm afraid to do it!
Left: Trillium grandiflorum in pristine bloom, with the large foliage of Trillium vaseyi on the left.
Right: Trillium lancifolium - with unique declined narrow leaves, and upright narrow maroon red flowers. Some of the plants in this photo are seedling plants. In the upper right you can see a couple stemless T. decumbens.
The sun is finally out today, and it's a weekend day, YAHOO, off to the garden!
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 8:47pmLet me guess... a wall to be planted with alpines? ;) Sounds interesting, either way!
The very crisp white one is especially nice, whatever it may be.
I suspect I have lost my Diphylleia... at least I don't see it yet (though, realistically, many things have yet to emerge)... it's pretty dry for it here in my yard (I realize that after seeing on this forum what they ought to look like!)
Wow, Mark - it's great when you get some time in the garden!! Terrific plants!
Thank you for the correct spelling of Tulipa urumiensis... I thought it was "uremiensis" for some reason (probably the spelling used by the bulb vendor)... I have corrected the previous post. It's odd that trilliums are just blooming there when they are just starting here too... I would have thought your area would be far ahead with them.
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 10:36pmLori, I didn't know there was such a wild veronica here! I have never seen it before, so I can't compare, but it might be that. Curious though, that it has made its debut right along with the Vernoica 'Heavenly Blue', if it is indeed the wild weed. I suppose if I find another plant of same, then V. serpylifolia is the most probable ID. It could be hard to explain why there would be no variation in hybrid siblings. I do grow a near albino Veronica gentianoides so white would not be out of the question in a cross.
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sat, 05/21/2011 - 10:38pmTrond, how tall is your Polyganatum verticillata?
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 3:28amRick, it is 60-90cm/2-3ft.
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 8:23amWe've had a long, cool spring, so the trilliums are lasting a very long time, I have many species in bloom, the T. lancifolium plants have been in bloom for about 3 weeks, and they still look fresh.
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 8:36amThanks, Mark. What a fabulous display of trilliums! I can understand your reluctance to try to divide the double!
Looking back through the postings...
I just realized, Amy, that you have a triple-flowered Fritillaria meleagris in your photo:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=274.msg8914#msg8914
I seem to get twin ones fairly often but I don't think I've seen triplets... does it happen often?
Trond, what an amazIng clump of Calceolaria biflora!
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=274.msg8966#msg8966
Those in cold zones may be intrigued and encouraged to know that I had this plant overwinter once... I must try it again.
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 9:01amI too had missed that one, never has seen a triple flowered Fritillaria meleagris let alone a double. By the way Amy: some really fine photos you've shown us, I particularly like the front-on flower view of the Asarum. Lori: posting back-links such as you've done is a good way of catching up to messages several pages back... thanks!
Todd Boland
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 12:59pmSpectacular flowers Mark! You are weeks ahead of me...still no leaves on the trees here...yet my Trillium grandiflorum is open too.
My first ever 'homemade' Rhododendron hybrid has finally bloomed after 6 years from seed. It is a cross between R. oreodoxa and R. 'Carmen' (this one is R. sanguineum X R. forrestii). All three are currently open. The parents are shwon first, then the hybrid.
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 1:19pmWow, how satisfying to see the first bloom on your hybrid, a strikingly rich color... congratulations! What's the foliage like on the hybrid, is the plant habit low as in 'Carmen'. Nice to see the parents and then the child :)
Many years ago, when in my completely obsessed Rhododendron days, I was particularly smitten with the low or dwarf red hybrids, like 'Carmen' and 'Baden Baden', with those glossy near black-red waxy bells flowers, or some of the odd black-red, orange-red color forms of R. sanguineum. In my old garden (at my parents house), the conditions were a bit more favorable for rhodies than here. I still love the rhodies, however anything but the so-called "iron-clad" rhodies here are subject to unfriendly climatic conditions in my garden: too hot, dry and sunny in summer; too open, exposed and windy in winter.
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 3:30pmTodd, that's a whole lot of flowers for the maiden bloom season! And what a fantastic result! How many more siblings are there to come?
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 7:54pmNice, Todd!
A few from here...
Draba sp.(?) (white flowers) battling it out for domination of a trough with Androsace primuloides 'Chumbyi'; in another trough, Draba
paysoniiventosa with yellow flowers:Hmm, I had this labelled as something else, but it must be one of the Erigeron aureus seedlings from last year...
Pulsatilla campanella:
Anacyclus maroccanusEdit: Erigeron sp.:Another pic of Shoshonea pulvinata, just to show that the flower stems do not elongate, as I thought they might - very compact, indeed.
Phlox kelseyi:
A small honeysuckle, Lonicera zaravschanica... not too exciting so far:
Potentilla nivea, purchased last year from the CRAGS plant sale... (I acquired a couple of native alpine potentillas so I could study them and try to figure out what I see in the wild here).
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 8:54pmGood stuff Lori, Potentilla nivea and Phlox kelseyi are both very choice items! In the domination struggle, I'm rooting for Draba paysonii, a charismatic alpine draba to be sure :) I only know Anacyclus depressus (not reliably hardy here), but the few thumbnail photos found of A. maroccanus I've found show a plant with only a few petals (ligules) and the usual highly dissected foliage... can't tell what the foliage looks like on your plant, but based on the numerous narrow ligules I think it is actually an Erigeron.
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 9:34pmDoh! I think you're right. As I remain disconnected from my photo library (despite having got everything moved over onto this new hyper-space-drive computer I bought >:(), I'll have to take a pic tomorrow to show you. The foliage is slightly unusual but not highly dissected. Prior to it blooming, I thought I had found a photo purporting to be A. maroccanus that the foliage seemed to resemble but I can't find it now. Yeah, sure does looks like an erigeron...
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 9:42pmOops, I forget to include the link I found for Anacyclus maroccanus
http://www.teline.fr/gallery/asteraceae
Note: the links don't work, so one can only go by the thumbnail images, but I found a couple images using the "back door"
http://www.teline.fr/gallery/images/asteraceae/anacyclus_maroccanus/anac...
http://www.teline.fr/gallery/images/asteraceae/anacyclus_maroccanus/anac...
http://www.teline.fr/gallery/asteraceae/anacyclus_maroccanus/anacyclus_m...
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Sun, 05/22/2011 - 10:03pmLori, I can't even pretend to be a Draba expert, but could your white one be Draba borealis? I think the seed pods were quite interesting.
Draba borealis
Anne Spiegel
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 4:49amLoving all the pictures. Lori, the Shoshonea pulvinata is marvelous. Is this the first time you've grown it?
A few pictures of what's going on in the garden. First picture is of Oxytropis besseyi using a mat of Erigerone scopulinus as a seed bed.
Anne Spiegel
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 4:52amAnd some eriogonums.
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 8:19amRick, those are interesting seedpods on Draba borealis. No, mine is definitely not that (unfortunately).
Anne, I just planted Shoshonea pulvinata last year, bought from Beaver Creek at the CRAGS plant sale; I have not grown it before. Your pictures are wonderful! Great to see the sorts of plants that I hope to grow! Hmmm, think I need to get rid of some old perennial plantings that no longer interest me greatly, and put in sand beds for Astragalus and Eriogonum...
Papaver kluanense, a seedling that was very kindly given to me last year; Draba ramosissima; rollers on Jovibarba hirta:
Mark McDonough
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 10:05amLori, the baby rollers perched ready to rock and roll, are too cute!
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 12:02pmMark, here's the foliage and another close-up of the probable erigeron/Anacyclus maroccanus-imposter:
I think it's not hairy enough for E. compositus. It's rather like Erigeron trifidus (which can be white or mauve, apparently):
http://www.wildgingerfarm.com/Erigeron.htm
I'm showing this one again because it's even cuter today now that it's fully opened. ;D ;D
Didymophysa vesicariaprobably Braya linearis :Perennials in the garden... Lathyrus vernus and Lathyrus vernus 'Gracilis'; Rheum palmatum var. tanguticum emerging through Omphalodes verna; Bergenia cordifolia (2) - an extremely tough and easy plant here:
Todd Boland
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 2:51pmStunning plants Anne and Lori. Lori, you are jumping ahead of me...my Lathyrus vernus are just showing buds. I have tried Phlox kelseyi several times but is always rots in winter.
Rick, in regards to my hybrid rhody, I have 6 other seedlings...another will bloom in the next day or two but the rest will have to wait for another year. Mark, the hybrid is more upright like oreodoxa with oreodoxa leaves but blooming at 18 inches, it will be much smaller than the oreodoxa parent which was 5 feet before it started to bloom.
A few other plants in bloom.....Rhododendron keiskei, R. racemosum, Erythronium White beauty with Fritillaria meleagris, Ranunculus montanus, Pulmonaria Miss Moon and Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 9:50pmWow, Todd - the rhodos are amazing. I must say it's pretty neat to hybridize your own!! (We are down to one rhodo here... 'PJM' was the only other one, that lasted for about 12(?) years, gradually being swamped by perennials, and finally succumbing when it was moved last summer. Oh well, it's much better yet that I can enjoy yours!! :D)
Ranunculus montanus seems very much like R. eschscholtizii, at least on a cursory level... wonder how they differ?
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 12:17amA lot of great plants here! I realize that if I want to grow more of that kind of plants I have to remove my woodland and expose the nice bedrock (I know it is nice with lots of cracks and shelves etc) underneath the 1/2' layer of soil! However, I am not sure I am ripe to do that :-\
I observed Anacyclus in Morocco some years ago when I walked in the Atlas mountains. Sorry, but only oldfashion slides :( However they don't look like your plant, Lori. Yours look more like this from Turkey:
Todd, nice rhodos and your cross seems to be very gardenworthy! I have never deliberately made such crosses with rhodos but I do grow many OP plants from seed. Some are very nice.
Anne, that Anthyllis is marvellous! I have never seen that colour before in Anthyllis.
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 1:55amLori, you asked about the wall somewhere, can't find it though. But anyway it is unfortunately no wall for plants except on top of it. I have built a new step and have to make a new wall too as a kind of demarcation!
No planting pockets (too much shade from the rhodos) but I think moss and ferns soon invade ;)
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 12:58pmI have to add a remark about the weather. Last night we had very bad weather with strong wind and rain and when I came home from work this evening I found a lot of damaged flowers. Leaves, buds, twigs and flowers are literally torn off the plants! The rain and wind had stoppet but the light was very gloomy and the clouds had a unnatural colour. It was ash from the Grímsvötn volcano on Iceland :o
Todd Boland
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 4:14pmBetween ash in Norway, floods in the Mississippi and tornados in Missouri, I feel fortunate to live in my cool and rainy part of the world.
cohan (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 4:40pmI say the same thing all the time, Todd! Even fires, droughts, and floods that have been in Alberta have not affected my immediate area... (knock on wood! but we aren't so prone to those things here) ..my line is that we have a lot of miserable, but not too much deadly!
Hoping all the best for those in the path of storms and ash!
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 7:58pmAfter the second day of rain in what is forecast to be a week of rain, here are a few soggy offerings.
Bug's-eye view of Dracocephalum palmatum:
From the seeds you sent me, Rick, Pulsatilla turczaninovii - still flowering very sparsely - I don't grow them as well as you do, but I still enjoy them very much! Terrific plant!
Myosotis decumbens, starting to open:
Euphorbia capitulata, not a traffic-stopper, but I think I understood from the SRGC forum a while back that it was reluctant to bloom in cultivation, so for whatever it's worth, here it is. ???
Pulsatilla campanella:
Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi:
A very furry and wet Hieracium villosum:
And what will be the first to bloom of the many self-sown Penstemon nitidus in the front yard!
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 8:14pmContinued...
Actaea rubra; Arabis caucasica(?) - 2 photos; Schivereckia podolica - this plant can look quite spectacular when grown lean (so I wonder why don't I do that? ??? )
Phlox multiflora, not exactly living up to its name... ;D
Pulmonaria 'Apple Frost', 'Trevi Fountain' and 'Baby Blue' - the last one is amusing with one pink and one blue flower:
Bergenia 'Eroica':
Drawing to the end of Pulsatilla vulgaris season...
cohan (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 8:24pmI like that Euphorbia a lot! I think even my myrsinites may not have made it through the winter :( it was still in a sunk pot along with everything else though, so I will try again when I can get it right into the ground.... I think I got it locally, so I should be able to find it again..
Actaea rubra in flower! (nice patch, by the way!) I don't think they've even emerged here-- I wasn't looking for them when I was out today, but didn't notice them either, and there are a lot in the bush...
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Tue, 05/24/2011 - 8:30pmI weed out many E. myrsinites every year (I like it but just don't need that many)... could save some seedlings/young plants for you if need be... or some seeds if I get out there with a catcher's mitt on a hot day!
Trond Hoy
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:58pmI prefere ash to flooding and tornadoes! The ash clouds have disappeared now and only some flights were cancelled.
cohan (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 2:13pmOn the coldzone group, someone used little mesh drawstring bags (I'm guessing a few inches long) from the dollar store for seed catching, looked like a good one to try.. seedlings would be cool, but I have a feeling postage would cost as much as buying them, assuming I can find them offered again.. I don't know how Canadian mail order places manage shipping without costing more than the plants...
Its possible I still have some seed from a few years ago when I got some from Kristl-that was the year I broke my wrist and couldn't do any digging, basically lost the whole gardening season, along with a bunch of seedlings :( (should have been able to maintain them without getting them in the ground, but made some other errors!)
BTW, I did see an Actaea up--its one that is growing in an old overgrown bed with iris and daylilies--its prob 8 inches or more up, but nothing unfurled yet..
Todd Boland
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 5:24pmGreat show Lori! I'd say you are 10 days ahead of me now. Actaea is budded but a week or so from flowering, but my P. campanella is open too.
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 5:46pmLori, your Pulsatilla turczaninovii is coming along nicely. It is a slower grower for me too. Although, considering your naturally green thumb, I kinda expected you'd do better than me! ;D
Maturation will come. You'll see.
Love the Bergenia 'Eroica'. I'm not familiar with bergenias at all, but with the hanging bells, that must be a cross or at least not cordifolia.(?) Got any info on that?
I never realized Actaea rubra had such nice flowers...
The stark contrast seems to be the norm for the cultivar, but not in equal mix. I took these photos of Pulmonaria 'Baby Blue' a few weeks ago. The plant is just finishing bloom now.
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 8:05pmRick, yes, I hope my P. turcz... will someday look like yours!! (I think it will take about a hundred years!)
Very nice pulmonaria.
I will have to research your Bergenia question... I have assumed they were all B. cordifolia but i really don't know.
No new alpines in bloom today, oh well.
Erysimum nivalis 'Mountain Magic'; Aubrieta deltoides 'Blue Indigo' (a redundant name!); a mislabelled Erigeron - I like this one best in bud; Aubrieta canescens, from seed last year.
A cliff-hanging Erichtrichium pauciflorum ssp. sajanense, from seed last year; despite being from rather specialized habitat (serpentine screes/unstable schists - Northern Greece/Albania), Campanula hawkinsiana seems tolerant and hardy - all the seedlings I planted out last year in various places have wintered over; buds on Erigeron aureus from seed last year (they also bloomed last year in a few months from seed, which was very nice of them!)
And from the perennial garden, Doronicum orientale:
cohan (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 10:27pmLots of colour, Lori! I like the pinks and blues-- we are fast approaching the season where yellow is a dubious colour here--the countryside will soon be swathed with it.. :rolleyes:
I like the Pulmonarias shown recently, too... how large are the plants?
Tim Ingram (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:13pmTrond, the view from your terrace is tremendous - we don't have lakes, or mountains, or rain(!) in Kent, so it is great to imagine them in the minds eye. It is nice to see the two Pulsatillas in Lori's pictures (campanella and turczaninovii). I have only grown the latter but the whole genus are amongst my favourite plants. Does anyone grow georgii which has much paler flowers (almost silvery-blue like vernalis) but the same neat ferny leaf. This I think I had originally from Josef Halda seed.
Lori S. (not verified)
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Thu, 05/26/2011 - 5:16amCohan, the taller pulmonarias get to about 12"-15" here.
Richard T. Rodich
Re: What do you see on your garden walks?
Thu, 05/26/2011 - 6:35amLori, those fluff-bud Erigerons are wonderful. I'm sure everyone who sees them can't resist a fondling touch!
Cohan, I have grown Pulmonaria 'Baby Blue' since 2004 in a fairly dry partial shade. It has never grown more than 9 x 14 inches, but still looks a bit out of place with Epimedium diphylla 'Rosea' and Epimedium x youngianum 'Niveum' as neighbors.
I have some Pulsatilla georgica in still in pots. Some have all white flowers, some more creamy with very pleasing blue-gray/silver petal backs. Why I haven't got a photo of the nicer looking bicolor type beats me!
Pulsatilla georgica from NARGS seeds ex.
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