May 2017 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Paul Cumbleton]

I grow both these Phloxes on the crevice garden. P. 'Ochsenblut' (Oxen Blood) is a little darker in shade than P. 'Zigeunerblut' (Gypsy Blood) and both are wonderful Phloxes! You often see in books or articles the comment that P. 'Crackerjack' is the reddest of the douglasii types, but these two newcomers clearly are better. To my eye 'Zigeunerblut' is the reddest, with 'Ochsenblut' being a little more towards burgundy while the old Crackerjack is more going towards purply-mauve. Below is a picture comparing all three, followed by the two newcomers as in my crevice garden, flowering right now.

Paul

[Gabriela]

My most red C.solida is 'Red Lion'.
Also unusual colours are 'Boyar' (C. kusnetzovii x C. decipiens), and C.caucasica 'Borodino', both very difficult to photograph because the colour is so dark. Pictures from yesterday.

Very nice deep red Corydalis! I think C. caucasica cultivars are the ones with the deepest red flowers.

[Gabriela]

I grow both these Phloxes on the crevice garden. P. 'Ochsenblut' (Oxen Blood) is a little darker in shade than P. 'Zigeunerblut' (Gypsy Blood) and both are wonderful Phloxes! You often see in books or articles the comment that P. 'Crackerjack' is the reddest of the douglasii types, but these two newcomers clearly are better. To my eye 'Zigeunerblut' is the reddest, with 'Ochsenblut' being a little more towards burgundy while the old Crackerjack is more going towards purply-mauve. Below is a picture comparing all three, followed by the two newcomers as in my crevice garden, flowering right now.
Paul

All bright and cheerful Paul
Mostly 'Crackerjack' is available here, I may be wrong but it seems a bit different than yours. I will take a picture later, seems that the rains have come to an end.

[Leucogenes]

some impressions from today...

Salix arctophila / Greenland
Polygonum viviparum / europ. Alps
Antennaria aromatica / Montana
Degenia velebitica
Pulsatilla ambigua 

[ruweiss]

I grow both these Phloxes on the crevice garden. P. 'Ochsenblut' (Oxen Blood) is a little darker in shade than P. 'Zigeunerblut' (Gypsy Blood) and both are wonderful Phloxes! You often see in books or articles the comment that P. 'Crackerjack' is the reddest of the douglasii types, but these two newcomers clearly are better. To my eye 'Zigeunerblut' is the reddest, with 'Ochsenblut' being a little more towards burgundy while the old Crackerjack is more going towards purply-mauve. Below is a picture comparing all three, followed by the two newcomers as in my crevice garden, flowering right now.

Paul

The Bavarian Nurseryman Eugen Schleipfer from Neusäss near Augsburg raised these 2 beauties many years ago.
He is a very keen breeder, I think,that his most sucessful plant was Gentiana Eugens Allerbester, the only widely
available double Gentiana until now.
Note: Eugen has no homepage and no E-mail adress.

[Paul Cumbleton]

I grow both these Phloxes on the crevice garden. P. 'Ochsenblut' (Oxen Blood) is a little darker in shade than P. 'Zigeunerblut' (Gypsy Blood) and both are wonderful Phloxes! You often see in books or articles the comment that P. 'Crackerjack' is the reddest of the douglasii types, but these two newcomers clearly are better. To my eye 'Zigeunerblut' is the reddest, with 'Ochsenblut' being a little more towards burgundy while the old Crackerjack is more going towards purply-mauve. Below is a picture comparing all three, followed by the two newcomers as in my crevice garden, flowering right now.

Paul
[
/quote]
The Bavarian Nurseryman Eugen Schleipfer from Neusäss near Augsburg raised these 2 beauties many years ago.
He is a very keen breeder, I think,that his most sucessful plant was Gentiana Eugens Allerbester, the only widely
available double Gentiana until now.
Note: Eugen has no homepage and no E-mail adress.

Thanks for this information Rudi. It is interesting that they were raised many years ago, as I think to most of us in the UK these are relatively new. They certainly deserve to be widely grown.

Paul

[kris]

Extreme weather in our area.
Beginning of April  at -20C (with windchill) and five days ago +30C for 2days  made lots of spring plants  to freeze or burn the emerging buds . Still some survived the harsh conditions.
Corydalis ambigua 

[kris]

Corydalis solida George baker

[kris]

Corydalis solida beth evans

[Leena]

'Beth Evans' is a pink solida which has increased most with bulbs in my garden, so it is very good.
C.ambigua is lovely!!

[WimB]

Oxalis 'Ute' shows it's first flowers

And the Pulsatilla seedheads make for a spectacle too, colours ranging from pale green, to grey and reddish.

[Lesley Cox]

What a wonderful collection of plants on these few pages! The corydalis photos are stunning and the phloxes are superb - they're not in NZ of course - but John's asperula is by far the finest I've ever seen, even including the big plant in ZZ's beauty slope garden, in 2013. My little one is quite reliable and permanent, even long-lived but keeps losing branchlets to birds or weeding or the wind and so never gets to be a large plant. All of you in the north must be enjoying your gardens very much at this time. Thanks for sharing them with us, who are shivering a bit now.

[shelagh]

In October 2014 we won Corydalis Wildside Blue on an AGS tombola. We were assured it would survive outside and so planted it in the mid section of a shady border.

First surprise it didn't die down in the autumn but stayed green all winter and has done ever since however like 'Topsy' it grew and grew. It's a lovely blue ofcourse but it seems to have ambitions to take over the garden. It now tops the Lilium martagon planted behind it. In the picture you will see a 30cm ruler but ofcourse it hasn't stopped there

[meanie]

In October 2014 we won Corydalis Wildside Blue on an AGS tombola. We were assured it would survive outside and so planted it in the mid section of a shady border.

First surprise it didn't die down in the autumn but stayed green all winter and has done ever since however like 'Topsy' it grew and grew. It's a lovely blue ofcourse but it seems to have ambitions to take over the garden. It now tops the Lilium martagon planted behind it. In the picture you will see a 30cm ruler but ofcourse it hasn't stopped there

Makes me want to try them again. The problem that I have is that I forget where they are after they die back and they either dry out or get accidentally dug up!

Allium siculum...........




Scilla peruviana.........

[Robert]

So many beautiful plants out there now! 



Gilia capitata ssp. mediomontana blooming in our garden now. For years I have used Nigella sp. as a (semi-weedy) filler in our garden. I am hoping to replace the Nigella with this Gilia species. So far things are working well.

The original seed came from a somewhat high elevation site in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I am a bit surprised that the ssp. mediomontana has out performed ssp. pedemontana that is native at lower elevations.



Eschscholzia caespitosa - I just scatter the seed around and see what comes up with this California native annual. The slugs wiped out many this year, however some came through and I will let them seed out in place. Here it is with a small Delosperma ashtonii. Eschscholzia caespitosa combines well with spring flowering bulbs, especially California native bulbs.



Calyptridium monospermum - We call the plant "George". I am not sure why, however George is looking great right now with maybe 15-20 flower heads. My wife just came by and said that George is called George because the flowers look like little fishing lures. At another time I will have to explain "George", someone who loved to fish!



Trifolium willdenovii - I am excited about getting this California native established in our garden! I will look great combined with other plants in the garden.



Scutellaria californica - xeric and easy in our garden.