Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Robert on August 01, 2022, 07:19:19 PM
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Akke,
I was very pleased to see your recent posting. I enjoy the unique differences in regional horticulture/agriculture. For me, it is incredibly fascinating to see and learn about the tremendous diversity of plants that gardeners grow in their respective regions. How their gardens and plants adapt and respond to the climate and differing cultivation methods is very enlightening.
I understand getting busy. The most important thing is that you, your garden, and what is important to you are okay! I have been very busy working in our Sacramento garden and at the Placerville property. I have many ongoing and new breeding projects in various stages of development. It is all very exciting! There is so much to share both now and into the future.
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Our Sacramento garden is lush and in full production.
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The old standby summer perennials are at their peak, as well the common annual species such as Zinnia elegans and Tithonia rotundifolia.
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I have a number of ongoing breeding projects with many of our California native species. Here it is 1 August and this line of Aquilegia formosa is still flowering with more flower buds waiting to open.
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This line of Gila capitata is still flowering and has lush green rosettes of basal foliage. In a cool climate this might not be a big deal, however in our extremely hot, dry climate this is not the usual growth or flowering pattern for this species. This is one example of the regional plant evolution and development I enjoy greatly.
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I have a number of long-term tomato breeding projects that I am working on. There are thousands of tomato varieties, however climate and other variables are changing. New, highly regional varieties that are well adjusted to the changing circumstances are primary goals. This applies to ornamental species too, at least in our garden.
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In our area, commercial strawberries taste terrible and are crunchy like a carrot. I am breeding strawberries that taste great, are tender, juicy, and thrive in our garden.
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New apple varieties need to be developed that taste great, store well, yet thrive with fewer chilling hours. Lack of winter chilling is now impacting commercial fruit production in the Central Valley of California. Pistachios, Apricots, and Peaches are just some of the fruit types that are being impacted.
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Creative breeding of new Citrus varieties also has great potential in the world of sustainable, regional, micro-agriculture.
As you can see, I have many diverse breeding projects in the works, including many that involve ornamental species.
Later this week I will be visiting the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I am hoping this will be a productive and fascinating trip.
Currently another surge of subtropical moisture has moved into our region. The skies are overcast with an occasional drop of rain. Not enough to wet anything, but we can always hope for more. It is also fairly hot and humid. Traditionally we can get monsoonal moisture this time of the year, so this is not completely unusual.
Well, this is the current news from our California garden.
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Echinacea 'Butterfly Kisses'
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Helenium autumnale MARIACHI 'Salsa' PBR
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Achillea ptarmica 'Xana' and Bergenia ciliata
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Helenium 'Fuego' PBR
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What a beautiful Echinacea Herman, I must look out for that one.
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Combining bulbs and annuals seems a good idea in the big containers for now.
After nearly three years, Allium beesianum is flowering (got them as bulbs) and enjoying evening sun.
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Nearby very late-sown Eschscholzia caespitosa is keeping it company.
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Like most of Europe, the wheather is hot and dry, 30C and no precipitation, at the moment. In my area fresh water is still available but in other parts of the Netherlands, water shortage is a serious problem.
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Akke,
Thank you for sharing the photographs. The Allium is quite beautiful. Are you sure about the Eschscholzia caespitosa? Eschscholzia caespitosa almost always has cauline leaves. In our garden, I have never had Eschscholzia caespitosa cross with E. lobbii, however hybrids with E. californica have been reported. In addition, The Jepson Manual lists 10 species of Eschscholzia that are native to California. Then there can be undesirable genetic drift or genetic contamination if seed lines are not maintained well. Sometimes it seems difficult to put a correct name to a plant. I have this challenge often enough. Maybe this is part of what makes gardening fun and interesting.
I know that you are very busy, however I am hoping that other Forumists can share their observations and insights into how drought and high temperatures are impacting gardens and (especially) agriculture in Europe. Drought is currently impacting parts of the corn (maize) belt in the U.S.A. I am attempting to understand how climatic change is impacting agriculture.
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It bloomed for the first time from seeds brought from Japan in 2019 :)
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Lilium leichtlinii var. maximowiczii
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It looks like the Lilium leichtlinii var. maximowiczii that is in commerce. I don't think it is the real botanical species, though.
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Herman, 'Fuego' and 'Salsa' are looking very nice and compact. :)
Here Heleniums are also starting to flower. The earliest are already flowering but the later ones are still in bud.
My 'Siesta' is taller this year than earlier. We got a lot of rain in July (76mm in my garden) so that is maybe why they grow taller.
Also other perennials are looking good now.
I have an old Rudbeckia laciniata which seeds around and grows 2,5m tall. Is it the same species which Robert grows?
Aconitum orientale is also a tall variety flowering right now in part shade.
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Plants are looking good also in shade beds, though it is almost +30 also here, much too hot to me when I am not used to these kinds of temperatures.
Last picture is Deinanthe caerulea which surprisingly survived last winter when many plants died around it.
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It looks like the Lilium leichtlinii var. maximowiczii that is in commerce. I don't think it is the real botanical species, though.
You are wrong, I got the seeds from a botanical garden in Japan when they were visiting there...
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Herman, 'Fuego' and 'Salsa' are looking very nice and compact. :)
Here Heleniums are also starting to flower. The earliest are already flowering but the later ones are still in bud.
My 'Siesta' is taller this year than earlier. We got a lot of rain in July (76mm in my garden) so that is maybe why they grow taller.
Also other perennials are looking good now.
I have an old Rudbeckia laciniata which seeds around and grows 2,5m tall. Is it the same species which Robert grows?
Aconitum orientale is also a tall variety flowering right now in part shade.
Yes Leena, I like the Mariachi group of Helenium, they stay very compact (lower than 50cm).
You are lucky to have had regular rain. Your garden looks great!
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Hi Leena,
Your garden looks great! It appears to be very lush and full of flowering plants.
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Yes, it is Rudbeckia laciniata that you see in our Sacramento garden. It is a major focal point in your garden during mid-summer. It blooms for many weeks, and thrives despite 40 C daytime high temperatures.
Currently I grow our California native Helenium bigelovii. In our garden, it and other Heleniums need division and freshly compost-amended soil done frequently otherwise they decline and eventually die out. They bloom for a long period of time and it is worth the effort to cultivate them.
[Jasmin]: While I enjoy everyone’s pictures and discussion, I particularly thank you, Mr. Mylemans for such lovely pictures. Your Heleniums are lovely, especially with weather conditions being so strange. Every picture of your garden you submit is exquisite. Stephan B., you also submit superb images. Your L. leichtlinii v. maximowiczii is indeed lovely. Maggi, sometime ago you posted pictures of I think it was Anton’s garden, and he felt apologetic about the yellow watering hose. Given the weather, I actually found its inclusion appropriate. We here are more accustomed to this dry and 40-degree weather, but witnessing California style weather--drought, temperatures, and fires--in Europe is shocking. The sharing of ideas, of resilience, is the heart of gardening. Hope nourishes the soul.
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This year I did a grow-out of Tithonia rotundifolia next to the Rudbeckia. The flowers are magnets for butterflies. Pictured is a Fiery Skipper atop a flower.
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There are orange-red and yellow flowering forms of Tithonia rotundifolia. I am making progress breeding a bi-colored flowering form that I like. Next year I will be able to do 100 plant grow outs. This is very exciting and should look fantastic.
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Salvia coccinea ‘Brenthurst’ is coming into bloom. I started them in late this season, however they might be perennial in our climate. There are many interesting possibilities.
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I am also making good progress with the Meso-American Salvias. F2 generation plants of Salvia guaranitica and Salvia chiapensis are coming along well, as well as a number of very interesting hybrids. For the most part, the Meso-American Salvias grow extremely well in our climate.
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This is one of my best Erythranthe hybrids to date. It has been blooming non-stop all summer, is reasonably compact and has a good flower color. It propagates easily from cuttings.
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Strongly perennial and plants that will repeat bloom all summer is a goal with my Erythranthe guttata type hybrids. I have a great deal of diverse genetic material to work with and hopefully some creative ideas.
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Nothing prevents me from working with commonly grown plant species. It is 40 C and this is how one of my new Delphinium elatum hybrids is performing in the extreme heat. We have numerous local native Delphinium species. There are so many possibilities with plant breeding.
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Ranunculus occidentalis var. occidentalis is completely dormant during the summer. This variety is intolerant of summertime irrigation and needs to be kept completely dry during the summer. Pictured are some of my F2 and F3 generation Ranunculus occidentalis hybrids that remain in growth all summer and are tolerant of summer irrigation. More are on trial in the open garden. I am hoping these new hybrid prove successful. They will add a new dimension to our early spring garden.
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Zinnia elegans is another extremely commonly grown plant. There are a number of other commonly, and less commonly grown Zinnia species. For me, plant breeding makes growing such common plants fun and interesting. In addition, the garden looks great when there are large grow outs blooming. There are still many unexplored breeding possibilities with very common plant species. The professionals are frequently limited in what they are allowed to do by their employers, leaving all sorts of possibilities for amateurs.
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This is just a portion of our weekly August harvest from the Sacramento vegetable garden/permaculture.
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Despite 38 C to 40 C plus temperatures this week, there is a hint of autumn in our garden as the first Cyclamen hederifolium flowers start to emerge.
A lush and prolific garden is possible despite extended weeks of extreme heat (like 38 to 40 C or more), drought and other climatic/weather challenges. Our garden is looking fabulous! Yes, I know I am crowing, but anyone that can garden can do this despite extreme challenges, and have much enjoyment in the process.
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Does anyone in the UK want seed of Iberis Masterpiece? I think every flower on our many plants has set seed. Just PM if you need any. For those who don't know it 12 to 18 inches tall and sometimes 18 inches across.
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This is the first flower of my Convolvulus cataonicus from wild seed
collected in 1600m in the Sofia region of Bulgaria. Wonder how these
plants behave in the future.
These Saxifragas and Acantholimon hedinii survived the hot conditions
until now. A. hedinii is one of the smallest in the genus, grows very slowly
and this plant did not flower until now.
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We never had such a dryness in the meadow garden and we fear for some
total losses in the future. Many plants which grew good in former years look
rather bad and probably need replacement with more dryness resistant plants.
Cyclamen hederifolium appears rather late and we hope for more.
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You are wrong, I got the seeds from a botanical garden in Japan when they were visiting there...
Oh, sorry! I didn't see that you had identified them at the bottom of your post. I thought you were asking for an ID. At any rate, I'm glad now that I misidentified it. Otherwise we would not know where the seed came from! Bravo!
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Hi Rudi
Just a quick note:
I saw the photographs of your woodland garden. It will be interesting to see what comes back. You might be surprised! The keeper plants will have a greater degree of resilience and will be well worth saving.
I think I saw a wilted Phlomis fruticosa in one photograph. I have this species up at our Placerville property. It looks wilted and near death each summer with no irrigation. It was 105 F (40.6 C) at the Placerville property today. So far this summer there have been 21 days with daytime high temperatures 100 F (37.8 C) or above, and 51 days with daytime high temperatures of 90 F (32.2 C) or above. There has been only 1.7mm of precipitation this summer. This is very typical here in our part of California. Our Phlomis fruticosa has survived 10 summers with conditions like this, or even more extreme, with little or no supplemental irrigation. It looks terrible each summer until the rains return or I have pity and give it some water. Some summers it received zero irrigation. With water it perks up immediately.
Good luck with everything. There is likely a silver lining to the situation.
P.S. Do not give up on the ferns. They might come back too!
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Rudi, I sympathize with You, in our region it´s probably even worse. It´s puzzling to see all plants in Robert´s garden looking so fresh, and a delight to see plants I grew here still flourishing in Leena´s garden. Deinanthe, for instance, grew here like mad for at least 10 years, and I was able to give away many clumps. Since about 10 years they are declining if not disappearing at all. One may compensate the drought by watering, but it´s the hot winds we face since about that time their leaves cannot cope with.
One of the few annuals surviving this year: Trachymene caerulea, together with a few flowers of phlox.
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Asteromoea mongolica, a plant of doubtful naming, but nice flowers.
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Eupatorium ´Bartered Bride´ required no watering, to my surprise.
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Two years ago, a friend sent me seed of Habranthus robustus var. biflorus. Perhaps I´ll have to wait for the second year of flowering to see a second flower on the stalk?
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Hedychium ´Assam Orange´has nice flowers, but regularly produces seed that looks attractive, too.
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We have had little rain in the past few weeks. That changed on Sunday and Monday when we had 24 hours of steady rain which soaked into the ground. We have had more rain overnight. There should be signs of the rain doing good over the next few days. It may be too late to help plants which flower earlier. The small streams which had almost dried up are now running at near average levels. The temperature is also much lower than it has been lately. 22oC with a fresh breeze.
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Hi Ian,
It all sounds like good news. In our part of California recovery from drought would take decades, perhaps longer. Occasional seasonal flooding and a few extreme precipitation events will not change our overall long-term hydrologic trend.
Your photographs in your regular thread are captivating. Both Jasmin and I follow your thread on a regular basis just to see the fascinating insect and wildlife photographs.
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It is very sad to see dried out plants in the gardens with many regions suffering of extreme drought this summer.
Like Robert mentioned, some may just be dormant and will resume growth in the fall or next year.
In parts of Ontario it is very dry as well. I say 'parts' because it is such a large province and it's not been dry everywhere. During a short trip 4 hours towards north, everything was looking lush and green as usual. So, we cannot generalize.
Having a small garden I can afford to water once in a while and in any case it is interesting to observe and learn how various species behave. To my surprise Lobelia siphilitica, L. cardinalis and few other species that usually like to have their feet wet are OK, not at their best but even producing few flowers.
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Also Sanguisorba caandensis which otherwise prefers moist locations in the wild has adapted well.
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Sanguisorba tenuifolia 'Alba' just starting now but seems to do well.
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As a note, various species in the shade performed worst despite the occasional watering: Roscoea auriculata is in flower but struggling, few Trilliums have gone dormant very fast and Trautvetteria almost didn't grow at all.
Deinanthe caerulea, like Mariette mentions is indeed very sensitive to drought.
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Despite the dry conditions in most places, there’re a lot of lovely pictures. Leena and Gabriela, I really enjoyed to see your gardens looking good. Mariëtte, the plants you show look fine even suffering from lack of rain, both you and Rudi seem to need some.
Hopefully many plants will recover, nice to have someone around with experience, Robert. Thanks for showing your harvest, I like your combination of ornamental and vegetable garden. At the same time, I wouldn’t like to experience your temperatures.
As this normally is rain season, July has been pretty dry here, just 31 mm of precipitation at the official weather station nearby. Until yesterday weather in August didn’t improve the situation., then drops of rain came steady and gently down. Not enough to restore ground water level, but more is expected.
The southern and eastern part of the Netherlands surely need more water, probably more like Belgium, Herman?
Concerning agriculture there’re more regional and local differences, northern part is better of again, the ‘IJsselmeer’ has 50 milllion m3 of fresh water stored for watering crops this time, after previous drought. Raising the water level there is probably a bit more complicated than it sounds though. Even here, a hundred kilometres away, the current in the canal is very noticable. Most farmers will be allright, nature, public green (brownish) and private gardners could use more rain.
In my neighbours container, there was a pleasant surprise.
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Colchicum bivonae ‘Glory of Heemstede” showed up. Planted and flowering late last year, it looks odd now as I associate it with autumn.
Leaves of my Eschscholzia are very different from E. californica you showed before and growing around here, Robert.
A picture of how thin and wiry. my leaves are.
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Beginners description; the leaves are not on the flowering stem like E. californica , they begin at ground level more like a basal rosette.
The seeds are from a commercial biological seed company, with a mostly standard collection.
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Akke,
Sometimes I see unfamiliar characteristics in a few of the California native species photographs that you post. Eschscholzia caespitosa is an example. A mislabeled seed package is a possibility, thus my questions. However, gene expression can be altered by environmental variables, think transcription factors or the modification of histones. Pink Cornus kousa varieties are white, or nearly white, in our part of California due the activity of transcription factors modifying gene expression. I am continually amazed with plants, learning about them is unending.
I also want to thank you for the information concerning the current developments in your local agriculture. I know that you are extremely busy and I did not want to engage you unnecessarily. I was hoping for current information from others. Anyway, the information was very informative. It appears that some of the agricultural systems have made contingencies for drought and excessively dry conditions. In the U.S.A. there is a great deal of dryland farming with no backup irrigation for dry periods or drought. Half of the continental U.S.A. is currently experiencing drought.
Gabriela,
The plants and the information you share always impress me. Thank you.
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@ Gabriela: Thank You for Your information about Trautvetteria! I´ve lost this species twice, and now I think I know why!
On the other hand, Sanguisorba canadensis has never been watered here, but thrives undiminished since more
than 10 years, self-seeding around.
@Akke: We´re living close to the Dutch border, about 20 min to drive to Venlo or Roermond - so rainfall is similar to that in the
south-eastern Netherlands - about 20 mm in July and 16 mm in August, till now. Plants in pots are regularly watered
and do look alright, of course. In this case Salvia confertiflora, Bouvardia ternifolia and Hedychium ´Tara´.
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Francoa ramosa, still in a pot, looks fine, too.
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For contrast, I´ve never yet seen colchicums with tips brown and shrunken by drought.
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´Autumn Queen´looks better, though a bit pale just after emerging. The colour became deeper after a few days.
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A colchicum received as C. bivonae ´Vesta´remains looking pale - I´m not sure whether this one is correctly named.
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Yet there are winners, too: a small collection of tomatoes grown in the green-house and vegetable garden.
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Campanula aghrica from Turkey has survived the extreme heat and drought of the last weeks and months in a trough very well.
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very nice! Perennial or hapaxanth?
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Hi Thomas,
Your Campanula aghrica looks great. What a fantastic photograph!
Hi Mariette,
Salvia confertiflora is one of my favorite Meso-American Salvia species. Yours looks great. Do you keep it in a greenhouse during the winter or start over each spring with a new plant?
As always, the plants in your garden look great. I enjoyed the medley of tomatoes. Do they taste as good as they look?
Your Colchiums might also be suffering from xenobiotics in the atmosphere. I see this type of damage all the time when it gets hot and there is a great deal of air pollution (wildfire smoke and/or other air pollutants). My understanding is that the shortage of natural gas has lead to the use of more coal fired electricity generation. When it is extremely hot ozone formation from polluted air is a very frequent occurrence in our part of California. The damage you see on your Colchiums is very similar to ozone damage on plants that we see here in California. Insect damage is also a possibility. It is hard to tell for sure from photographs, but anyway maybe some ideas to consider.
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very nice! Perennial or hapaxanth?
Hi Robert & Pauli
Thank you very much for the kind words. However, only a small part of the honour goes to me. Because I bought this Campanula aghrica last year at a plant fair for alpine plants. Therefore I cannot say yet whether it is a perennial or hapaxanth. Of course I hope that this little Campanula will continue to delight me for a while.
Cheers
Thomas
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Thomas
The Campanula still looks great. Thank you for sharing the photograph.
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Zephyranthes macrosiphon has been blooming off and on for many weeks now. I have a large batch of seedlings to trial out in the garden.
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The flowers of Zephyranthes jonesii are a nice color, however the flowers do not always open completely. I am hoping that the F1 hybrids with other species will bloom this season, however it is the F2 generation plants I am looking forward to growing out. I have a longer wait on this.
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The first Colchicum flowers have emerged and opened in our garden. This is right on schedule.
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I especially like the flowers and large bold foliage of Colchicum macrophyllum.
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More flowers of Cyclamen hederifolium continue to emerge in our woodland garden.
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Salvia coccinea ‘Lady in Red’ adds a great deal of color to our garden.
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Salvia coccinea ‘Brenthurst’ with a tall single-flowers Dahlia hybrid is looking good.
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Cosmos sulphureus with Helianthus annuus. The plants are all volenteers and look great.
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@ Thomas: Your campanula looks like it feels at home - a very nice scenery! I wish I could grow alpines like that!
@ Robert: I always marvel at Your plants looking so fresh in pots and garden, I wonder how You manage in a climate that´s possibly similar to ours right now! This is how most lawns look in our area. Hypochaeris radicata was an unfamiliar plant here 10 years ago.
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It´s difficult to find a spot in the garden still looking nice. In this case Tinantia pringlei, Geranium nodosum and Cyclamen hederifolium cope reasonably well with the drought.
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Salvia confertiflora is cut back to 1 m before overwintering in the green-house, which means I´ve got a reasonably tall plant for the background on our terrace in spring, thus avoiding the unpleasant smell of the leaves released when touched.
Regarding the strange damage to the colchicum flowers, I think You´re right suspecting ozone to be the culprit, in accordance with the sunny weather and high temperatures we faced. Obviously, only the very first buds were concerned, the later ones probably taking advantage of a spell of little rain and lower temperatures.
Every year I sow about 10 different varieties of tomatoes, chosen for taste and their ability to cope with the high humidity here, usually exceeding 90 % daily despite the drought. They come from different sources, the red one with yellow stripes and spicy taste is called ´Tiger Striped, USSR´, and available from Gatersleben, an institution meant to save traditional varieties. Some are bought from supermarkets without a name - for instance the yellow ones. The beef tomato in the middle was also of that origin, a yellow one of fruity taste, the seedling with the added bonus of red stripes. Once I got a black tomatoe, which produced a seedling which was partly black and partly red, shown top left. This comes true from seed and ripens earlier than the black ones.
For several decades I was able to grow tomatoes and runner beans true to name from seed harvested here. In recent years, they tend to hybridise - I wonder whether this is due to the climate change.
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Would be surprised if climate change was the sole driver for hybridisation, bees the more likely culprits.
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Mariette,
I enjoyed your account of growing tomatoes from seed. I too have the habit of growing open pollinated tomatoes from questionable sources (the market, gifts from friend, etc.). For example, a friend of mine brought me some Cherokee Purple tomatoes from her son’s garden several years ago. I saved the seed knowing that they were likely hybrids. She had also brought me other tomato varieties from the same garden. I grew on the F1 tomatoes and got a uniform batch of Cherokee Purple like tomatoes. This year I grew on the F2 generation of plants. I was uncertain what I would get, and ended up with a typical batch of F2 plants – plants with a large variety of different characteristics. I did not grow enough F2 plants, so next year I will grow 50 or so plants and do early selection for the characteristics I like. This year I have a few F2 plants that I have selected to grow on as a F3 generation of plants. I do this with ornamental plants and end up with very interesting new plants. Seed exchanges can be a great source for surprise hybrids. Growing on the F2 generation plants frequently yields very interesting new plants. For me, this is very enjoyable. Seed exchanges can have additional benefits depending on how you want to look at the situation.
In our garden, Scarlet Runner Beans, Phaseolus coccineus, seem to outcross fairly easily with other P. coccineus varieties. Scarlet Runner Beans do not like the heat so I have switched over to growing Blackeyed Peas, Vigna unguiculata. They too are inbreeding, however they will outcross with other V. unguiculata varieties in our garden. I solve this situation by using blossom bags to assure that Bumble Bees do not cross-pollinate the different varieties we grow. As a side note, Jasmin and I have noticed both seasonal and long-term changes in the insect populations in our garden due to climatic change. For example, Gulf Fritillary Butterflies, Agraulis vanillae, were never seen in our area, now they are quite common. We have many other examples.
Here in our part of California, brutally hot and dry conditions are a yearly event. Gardeners in our area adjust to the climate or they do not garden. Most do not garden. Our garden looks lush and beautiful because I have made a conscious effort to design resiliency into our garden. All the groundwork – soil preparation, plant selection, irrigation, etc. – is in place to make the garden work despite the adverse growing conditions. It is a constant and ongoing process and there are always new challenges to deal with. Those in Europe who are, or were, experiencing extreme heat and drought can now take steps to prepare for the next round of heat and drought. It will come. It is possible to have a vibrant thriving garden despite extreme heat and drought.
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Robert and Jeffnz,
thank You for Your answers!
Part of the reason for increased hybridising maybe indeed the fact, that with a hotter climate the population of insects partly changed, and more pollinators may be on the wing. Bees were always in our garden, as one of our neighbours is a bee-keeper.
On the other hand I noticed with plants like hellebores and trilliums, that they prefer certain temperatures when flowering to set seed, even when hand-pollinated, as I did for many years with hellebores. When it was too cold or too hot, my hellebores didn´t set seed even when pollinated by me.
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I have had the same issues wiht HP'ing of hellebores, found that warm dry days and midday pollination seems to work the best.