Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Alpines => Topic started by: fermi de Sousa on February 04, 2020, 05:59:55 AM
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In cooler climes Gentiana septemfida must be considered one of the "lesser" gentians but I find that here it's wonderful to get even this single bloom on it after getting it a little while ago from Alan, one of our AGS Vic Group members from further north in Victoria. I figured that if he could grow it maybe I had a chance too!
cheers
fermi
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Gentiana septemfida is a favourite of mine - robust, long-lived plants with its beautiful gentian blue flowers - and easier to please in so many gardens than the spring or autumn gentians!
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I,ve had mine for years and it has many flowers. The soil is ordinary. Last year it did not show itself. It must be suffering from being run over by the car?
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I,ve had mine for years and it has many flowers. The soil is ordinary. Last year it did not show itself. It must be suffering from being run over by the car?
Ohhh! My!! :o Wouldn't you?! (There's often a clue!) ;)
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I grew this from seed in 2017 and it has flowered for me 3 years straight. I did lose the one in the open garden to the drought, but the ones in pots (hypertufa) are doing brilliantly and this year has been the best flowering ever! Continuous blooms since Christmas and still going. It's by far the easiest gentian I've grown.
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Gentiana acaulis 'Alba'
Gentiana acaulis 'Arctic Fanfare'
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Gentiana angustifolia
Gentiana angustifolia ‘Alba’
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Gentiana clusii var. clusii
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Gentiana dinarica
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Gentiana acaulis. Mine seem to be flowering better than usual this year.
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I don't have many Gentianas, but there are two G.septemfida which I have grown from seeds. They flower at the same time now, and the other one has a bit paler colour flowers than the other one. It is possible that I had mixed up seedlings, but the paler one was labeled G.septemfida var lagodechiana. Is there any way to tell which one is possibly var lagodechiana?
First two are the paler one, and third and fourth are from the darker flower (it doesn't look darker in the fourth picture, but it is in reality). I'm so happy these both seem to grow well in my garden.
The fifth picture shows well how Gentiana asclepiadea grows, it also thrives well here. :)
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Nothing like the blue fall Gentians Leena :)
G. septemfida has finished flowering here due to the hot weather and now the G. cachemirica starts (always later).
G. septemfida var. lagodechiana is only supposed to be more compact growing than the species. Flower wise no differences and color can be over a large range of blues.
But with all these Gentians the devil is in the details. My guess is that there is a whole range of hybrids grown under this names, sometimes hybrids of G. paradoxa/septemfida.
Here's G. cachemirica, paler blue than septemfida.
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Super video - in English- from Tromso Botanic Garden - Tromsø arktisk-alpine botaniske hage - on Gentians - with an unusual key to identifying some of these beauties -
https://www.facebook.com/tromso.arktisk.alpine.botaniske.hage/posts/2831081116995855 8)
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Super video - in English- from Tromso Botanic Garden - Tromsø arktisk-alpine botaniske hage - on Gentians - with an unusual key to identifying some of these beauties
I really enjoyed this Maggi, thanks for posting. Very original method to distinguish similar species :) It helps to grow them all to be able to compare the flowers.
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G. septemfida var. lagodechiana is only supposed to be more compact growing than the species. Flower wise no differences and color can be over a large range of blues.
But with all these Gentians the devil is in the details. My guess is that there is a whole range of hybrids grown under this names, sometimes hybrids of G. paradoxa/septemfida.
Gabriela, thank you. My var lagodeciana is more compact than the other one, so maybe it is the right one.
G.cachemirica looks also very nice!
This is Gentiana pneumonanthe, and I thought it would a woodland plant, but obviously I should have planted it in full sun. ::)
Flowering this year for the first time.
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Hi Leena, I don't know if it grows in other habitats elsewhere, but here in the UK it tends to grow in wet heaths. I have just sown some seed of this species as it happens, fingers crossed!
Best wishes, Tristan
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Gabriela, thank you. My var lagodeciana is more compact than the other one, so maybe it is the right one.
G.cachemirica looks also very nice!
This is Gentiana pneumonanthe, and I thought it would a woodland plant, but obviously I should have planted it in full sun. ::)
Flowering this year for the first time.
Hi Leena, here Gentiana pneumonanthe has not a long life. When soil is very moist then it likes full sun, when it is drier then it needs more shade.
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Thank you Tristan and Herman. :) My plant grows in slightly moist soil, where Meconopsis baileyi grows well and G.pneumonanthe tries to reach for light behind it. Quite near Gentiana asclepiadea grows well, and that is why I though also pneumonanthe would like it, but I think it needs more light to grow up, not in the ground.
It is good to know it can be short lived, I hope it flowers next year a bit earlier so that it has time to ripen seeds. Actually, I will have to move it next spring, and if it gets more sun, maybe it also flowers earlier then. :) I am still learning with gentianas. :)
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This is Gentiana pneumonanthe, and I thought it would a woodland plant, but obviously I should have planted it in full sun. ::)
Flowering this year for the first time.
It is very nice Leena. Hopefully it will flower better next year. I also had from the same group a first time flowering Gentiana fischeri. Just like you, I had it with too much shade reason why it performed poorly; I move it in a different location a few weeks ago.
There is always something to learn :) plus the sun/shade conditions in the garden change over time, sometime quite fast.
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The very beautiful Gentiana 'Saltire" from Ian Christie
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The Saltire, or St Andrew's Cross is the Scottish Flag, a white cross X on a blue background
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I'll see your 'Saltire' and raise you a G. farreri 'Silken Star' Maggi ;)
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Some other Aberconwy gentians, some of which I hope will still be alive next year... I don't usually have much success with these but am trying them in damper positions :-\
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G. sino-ornata 'Gorau Glas' (= 'Best Blue" in Welsh, pronounced Gor-eye Glas - glas rhymes with 'ass'). It's also the name of a blue cheese produced on Anglesey but I'm not sure if the Levers had this in mind or not!
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I'm afraid the label for this one got a bit buried - I know it's a womans name beginning with B (Betty / Barbara someone?). Anyway a lovely gentian with slightly smaller flowers than most, but lots of them and with a nice deep colour.
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G. 'Silken Night'. It really is this colour!
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So many gorgeous autumn gentians of the sino-ornata sort.
We used t o grow these rather well, but that was when there was more space in the garden and we could lift and split them every year- they really seem to appreciate going into fresh ground - we now think the best place to enjoy them at their best is in a vegetable garden, where they have space and can have refreshed soil and more food, all the time! They do seem to be hungry plants.
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Ho - thanks for the advice Maggi. Maybe they need yak poo!
We do have some cows wandering around the common at the moment so perhaps I will grab some manure...
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Tristan, they look so special! Maggi, I didn't know either that Gentiana are hungry plants, I don't have many but I love them.
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Video from The Caley ( Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society -
A delightful talk at Macplants nursery with Beryl McNaughton on the propagation and diversification of Gentians ..... and the late Ian McNaughton was a real master at breeding superb plants - nice mention of SRGC too!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKQvekTQISo&feature=youtu.be
youtu.be/OKQvekTQISo
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When is someone going to write a gentian book?
I have three or four books each about campanulas, clematis, dianthus, fuchsias, and more than four about snowdrops. None on gentians.
I am thankful for Herman's website: http://www.gentians.be/index.php?page=home
and Rutgers is maintaining their website though it is no longer being updated.
http://gentian.rutgers.edu
I do like to curl up with a book and a cup of tea, though.
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A new book on Gentians would be very welcome. I have 2 old ones. One is very old, by Mary Bartlett. It was published in 1975. The other was published by Josef Halda in1996. It has beautiful botanical drawings and paintings by his wife Jarmila.
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An out of season Gentiana acaulis
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