Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Ian Young's Bulb Log - Feedback Forum => Topic started by: Ian Y on January 18, 2023, 11:03:57 AM
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The Bulb Log will now appear just once a month here is January's issue featuring Narcissus, Galanthus, Cyclamen and moss.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230118105020BULB%20LOG%200123.pdf
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February sees the garden waking from its winter slumber with the appearance of Eranthis, Galantus, Crocus, Narcissus all featuring in this Bulb Log a few others are also showing their intentions along with a brief discussion on sensations - click the link to reveal all.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230215110351BULB%20LOG%200223.pdf
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Here in the mid-Willamette valley of Oregon, we have been getting a lot of arctic air; which is keeping temperatures in the 30s and 40s F. (-1 to 7.5 C).
My Galanthus and Crocus are showing green shoots; but, no flowers yet. My Eranthus have not yet broken grounnd. I have Erica, Primula, and Cyclamen in bloom; and Ferraria and Iris crestata in bud.
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Hi Ian,
I am definitely not an artist and struggle with beauty and design in our garden. I cannot thank you enough for sharing your insights. Crafting something beautiful in this world is so very important to me. Thank you again for helping me, and most likely many others, along this worthy path.
I have always been aware of the feeling in my feet as I walk in the garden. Why is the feeling of warm summertime earth on my bare feet in the garden so visceral and agreeable? Why do certain scents of foliage say “home”, “California” to me? Through all of this (the totality of our gardening activities) it seems that we can all create a small piece of paradise. Sharing our gardens with others can help expand the borders of paradise beyond their current limits.
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Thanks for your comments Marc and Robert it is always good to hear from you.
Even within Scotland there is a big difference in when plants come into flower a few weeks ago we were seeing images of what is now flowering here while others, like you Marc, are still waiting.
Robert our gardens reflect our own creativity and influences and without doubt my main influence is nature.
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I started photographing plants for this months Bulb during some nice spring like weather but changes came and winter returned.
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Click the link to read.
https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230315103113BULB%20LOG%200323.pdf
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Hi Ian
I enjoyed your latest Bulb Log immensely. Seeing your naturalistic gardening style in action is very inspirational as Jasmin and I continue to develop our garden. A number of scenes from this Bulb Log have a very similar appearance to some of our high elevation meadows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The plants are completely different but the patterns and textures share similarities. I think that I can pull this one off in our garden here in Sacramento, at least with some trial-and-error, and some happy accidents. I find that when desirable plants seed themselves around, most often this creates the most naturalistic and pleasing affect. Sometimes the volunteers need to be removed or moved, however more often than not the volunteers are in the perfect location.
I do have some questions regarding your experience with Erythroniums in your garden. If I remember correctly, at one time you had a colony of Erythronium americanum that spread vegetatively but produced very few flowers? I observe this same trait in some selections of Erythronium multiscapideum both in the wild and in our garden. Both in the wild and in our garden there are also selections of Erythronium multiscapideum that bloom well to various degrees. Have you observed this flowering variability in Erythronium americanum or any other Erythronium species that you grow?
I have observed that the Erythronium species that I grow will self pollenate with reluctance. The Erythroniums species in our garden seem to be strongly but not completely obligate out breeders. Do you have any thoughts or observations concerning the outbreeding preferences of Erythronium species?
[Jasmin]: We very much enjoyed your Bulb Log this month. Happy accidents, when the plants themselves decide to naturalize of their own accord, create the best garden displays.
Perhaps this is a stupid or ridiculous question, but how is it possible to not have ants? Except that our governments would not approve, I would gladly send a small selection of the “nicer”! There are the mid-size/large black ones, which aren’t too bad—they invade before rains, and have a weakness for sugars, but the red ones are nasty biters, and the worst is this itsy, bitsy, little black ant that is much smaller than a flea, but it bites worse than anything. It is very hard to see, but it makes its presence known!
In your dictionary of Scottish terms, can you find a word for the type of snow that has been rained on, but soaked up the water rather than melted? It seems there is a good Scottish or Norwegian word for this. We have plenty!
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Jasmin: the term we use most for any kind of "changed" snow - is Horrible!!
But see some of the over 400 Scots words for snow here: https://www.inquisitr.com/2477038/421-words-for-snow-appear-in-new-scottish-thesaurus
As for the lack of ants - I have no idea - they exist around about us, but not in the garden. We've never seen one in our garden, though I've met some walking up the road outside. It is truly a mystery!
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Hi Maggi,
That was very interesting! Words are my favorite toys!
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Thank you for your comments/questions Robert and Jasmin.
Jasmin Maggi has answered your questions many of the 400 plus Scottish words for snow are regional I know best those in the Doric our regional dialect one word to describe snow turned to ice would be skitie. The lack of ants is a mystery especially when we have created areas of a woodland type habit which you would think should be attractive to ants.
Robert there is no doubt that Erythroniums will produce most seed after cross pollination but selfing may give a smaller number of seeds per capsule.
Yes we have the form of Erythronium americanum the can be reluctant to flower
. What happens is immature bulbs produce stolons with secondary growths and so that cycle is repeated every year with no bulbs growing to maturity. If left to spread flowering bulbs with two leaves will start to form towards the centre of the colony surrounded by masses of single leaved non- flowering ones.
I have experience of a form of E. Dens canis that behaves in this way so can well believe that certain clones of other species could do the same.
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Hi Ian,
The weather has cleared for a few days before the next set of storms is forecasted to arrive. It is a good opportunity to get some gardening done. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with the genus Erythronium and answering my questions.
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Ian,
Viewing your Bulblog, I noticed that we have many of the same species in bloom at the same time. That suggests both similar temperatures and similar tastes.
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Ian,
Viewing your Bulblog, I noticed that we have many of the same species in bloom at the same time. That suggests both similar temperatures and similar tastes.
Mark I have noted a for many years a similarity between plants and timings between those we grow in NE Scotland and the Pacific north west.
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Trying to improve my rather mixed success in germinating Tropaeolum led me back, via the Index, to Bulb Log 33 of 2021.
What a wonderful compilation of experience on germinating geophytes & acclimating them to our local conditions 8)
Many thanks Ian.
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This months Bulb Log looks at some of the flowering highlights of the last four weeks. As winter transitions into spring some Snowdrops flowers hang on and are joined by Eranthis, Crocus, Corydalis and Erythronium among others.
Click the link to view all.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230412102416BULB%20LOG%200423.pdf
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Your garden is looking just glorious at the moment Ian!
I thought of the successive waves of plants you have on Sunday, when I went for a walk through some local woodland to check how spring was progressing. The floral highlight was Oxalis acetosella - there were carpets of it and it has seeded into nooks and crannies in the tree trunks. I wondered if you've ever tried it in the garden? I've read that it's not very keen on competition, so I suppose it might get overwhelmed. It can't be all that delicate however, because I saw it growing with Chrysosplenium oppositifolium (covered in dainty yellow flowers and also looking very pretty just now) and elsewhere it seemed to be holding its own against the various other understorey plants. I wish I could post some photos, but until I can afford a camera or smartphone I can only offer a description.
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Thank you, the garden is looking good with all the new growths and as you probably know my inspiration came directly from the wild and still does.
We have grown Oxalis acetosella in the front garden for many years where it grows in harmony with Gallium oderatum and between them the form a nice carpet. It is another of these wild plants that grows without hindrance to the many other subjects we have growing through them.
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That's very encouraging. If I'm able to collect seeds I'll experiment with it in my own garden.
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Not surprisingly Erythroniums feature in this months Bulb Log which along with Trilliums and many other subjects fill the garden with a mass display of spring colour.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230517101704BULB%20LOG%200523.pdf
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Hi Ian,
Thank you for another inspirational and informative Bulb Log. Your garden at its springtime prime is gorgeous. Maybe this is an understatement.
I have been implementing the gardening principles that you describe in our own Interior California garden. I observe closely our local native plants and plant communities here in California and then attempt to imitate what I see. My efforts seem like a folly, however nature takes over and the results are progressively phenomenal. As one might expect, our garden looks nothing like yours. Mass displays of spring annuals are completely natural here in our part of California. The “dry” appearance of summer is also part of the natural cycle and has its quiet beauty. The textures and scents of our native chaparral plant communities can be easily incorporated into our garden. As with nature, I avoid growing plants as isolated specimens. In our garden plants are planted out into the plant community and become part of the whole. Self-seeding is welcome and encouraged. With the autumn rain and cooling weather brings a new flush of green from the parched ground. As so the cycle continues.
Thank you again for all your efforts writing and posting your Bulb Logs. With nature there is always something new to learn and observe. It is never the same. The results of your efforts show in our ever-evolving garden that seems to increase in beauty with each season. Jasmin and I continue to benefit and learn from your Bulb Logs. Thanks again!
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Thank you Robert and Jasmin you comments are always so thoughtful.
Knowing that my work can help others see nature and a garden as one and the same thing is rewarding and encouraging.
Taking inspiration from me is second hand far better going straight to the source, explore our local environments and learn from the master that is Nature.
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There has been a lot of growth in the garden this month with the ground cover spreading and the emergence of leaf canopy and as always I am guided by nature. Plenty to see in this month's Bulb Log if you click on the link.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230614090755Bulb%20log%200623.pdf
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Hi Ian,
We thoroughly enjoyed your latest Bulb Log. As we understand and interpret your essay, it is more about HOW we view and use the plants in our garden, and less about WHAT plants we have in our gardens.
My (Robert’s) gardening perspective has certainly been evolving. There have been so many wonderful local native plants to get acquainted with and use in our Sacramento garden. They have been here right in front of me the whole time, but in the past it was too easy to get distracted by exotic plants from far away places. I could spend an infinite number of life times getting to truly know and understand our local native flora. With this perspective, each day in the garden is exciting and a new adventure. What will the plants be teaching and showing me today? There is always something new to see and wonder over in our Sacramento garden. For me this is gardening bliss and contentment!
More and more, I look to nature to guide me through the gardening process. Extremely noxious, invasive annual grasses have ravaged our native oak savannah ecosystems. Ripgut Brome, Bromus diandrus, is just one example. Our native perennial bunch grasses were once the dominant grass species in these ecosystems. Now they are rarely seen except in isolated locations. I have been following nature’s example and have been incorporating these native bunch grasses into our Sacramento garden with very satisfactory results. They combine perfectly with our native bulbs and native annual species. It is not surprising that following nature’s cue, the effect in the garden is perfect. At our Placerville property, native bunch grasses are being used to crowd out the invasive species and help reestablish something resembling the original oak savannah ecosystem.
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Taken today, here is a scene from our Sacramento garden. An off type of Eriogonum umbellatum ssp. polyanthum is blooming with the long arching spent inflorescences of our native Purple Needle Grass, Stipa pulchra. In nature, Western Needle Grass, Stipa occidentalis var. occidentalis, would be a more likely companion, but this works. Arctostaphylos, Heteromeles arbutifolia, Rhamnus ilicifolia, other Eriogonum species, Primula hendersonii, and Brodiaea elegans ssp. elegans all share this garden space. They are all extremely common native plants, nothing rare or exoctic, yet they create such a natural and pleasing ambience in our garden.
I am certainly not an artist, but this does not mean I cannot be creative with plants. For me it is the creativity that makes gardening so infinitely pleasurable. Thank you for sharing your garden. It is so different from our Sacramento garden. I am very grateful for this. I learn so much from the infinite and ever changing creative gardens out there.
[Jasmin]: Through your past and present bulb logs I hear a kindred spirit. Robert does not think he is an artist. However, what is the definition, what is the meaning of art and artist in the first place? What is poetry, or any creative endeavor? Is the only acceptable definition Monet? Does Picasso have no place? What about those ordinary arts of spinning, weaving, sewing, cobbling shoes and other handicrafts? Is not home made bread art? In our denatured and disconnected technological age, such skills hold the potential to reconnect us with our humanity, and with the planet just as gardening can and does.
Our stands of home grown grain are beautiful, and it is humbling to my core that such basic sustenance has nurtured humanity and our endeavors to the point we have lost this vital connection with our own survival. Our ancestors did not have so much knowledge when they began domesticating these grains, and evolved them into the varieties that nourished and continue to nourish us. When we make and break bread, or whatever our cultural legacy to these grains, we connect with all that has come before. Returning to some of this heritage is more than symbolic, it is remembering to humble myself before their wisdom, and the beauty and art of life, the gifts they and this planet have bestowed.
I might not want the roe deer in my garden, but I think all our ancestors would have welcomed the addition of venison, the bones, sinews, and pelt into their diet, clothing, and sewing. Nothing would be wasted, and taking too much would not happen—Principles we would do well to recover in our search to aid our ecosystem, for without the earth and her bounty there is no survival for us either.
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Robert and Jasmin I always love you comments - they are always considered and thought provoking.
That you understand and are absolutely on the same path is evidenced in your words "We thoroughly enjoyed your latest Bulb Log. As we understand and interpret your essay, it is more about HOW we view and use the plants in our garden, and less about WHAT plants we have in our gardens."
Everyone can be an artist if they put into practice their inner creativity in what ever medium or performance they want.
Thank you both while art comes naturally to me words do not so my replies will never be so erudite as your lovely posts.
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Click the link for this months Bulb Log but beware there is an artist loose in the garden.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230712173915BULB%20LOG%200723.pdf
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Wonderful combination of Lilium pyrenaicum and Thalictrum species. Any idea which one it might be? Thalictrum minus, perhaps?
I have a similar looking thalictrum - which I think I will try to dig out. It has been in the garden for a few years - maybe 5 or 6 yrs, but this year has suddenly shown signs of wanting world domination. It looks lovely in flower, but is now overwhelming its neighbours…. And I think it might be spreading by stolons….
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Sorry Carolyn we never had a specific name for it we grew it from seed just marked sp.
It is certainly not thuggish here it makes a very good plant neighbour. It has not shown any willingness to increase by seed and I would welcome more of it round the garden.
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Ian, do you ever get seed from it? Some thalictrums, such as dasycarpum, are dioecious. The male plants produce the more spectacular flowers. My cunning plan for this species is just to have one female plant in the garden, to provide just enough seeds for the seed exchange and to prevent mass seeding all over the garden.
I wonder if your plant is dioecious?
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Hi Ian,
We enjoyed your recent monthly Bulb Log and garden tour immensely. It is such a positive pick up and has a genuine positive impact especially when we need a lift. In particular, we enjoy your gardening perspective through the reference points of all the different ways in which you approach art. In some ways it would never occur to me (Robert) to view gardening through the lens of sculpture or other art forms. We have our gardening perspectives, which in some ways are very different; however seeing gardening through many perspectives and reference points can be enlightening and certainly primes our creative gardening endeavors in a positive way.
BTW – This morning I read the June 2023 Global Climate report published monthly by NOAA - National Centers for Environmental Information. Other than June 2023 being the warmest June for the globe in NOAA’s 174 history, I found this bit of information: “With an average temperature 2.5 C above average, the United Kingdom had its warmest June since records began in 1884.”
There is evidence that many species in cultivation and in the wild, including Meconopsis, are at risk as global climatic anomalies increase in magnitude. The mid-Holocene warm period was so different from what we are experiencing today. One significant difference is that 8,000 years ago the steppe-grassland ecosystems of the Sahara and Mesopotamia were still intact providing a buffer from the summertime heat extremes occurring during this time period. (The impacts of the mid-Holocene climatic optimum were a bit stronger in the Northern Hemisphere, and were primarily a summertime event caused by predictable changes in the Earth’s orbit.) I hope more gardeners will consider species and varietal stewardship as part of their gardening practices.
Thank you for providing information on how climatic changes are impacting specific plant species. I am keenly interested in this type of information.
[Jasmin]: I particularly enjoyed the “found” art—driftwood combinations, and the open spaces of meadows with wildflowers. The sight of the mown land was a shock, the lovely herbage given no time to seed out. Your garden is really lovely and restful.
The heat finally arrived here, with over 40 C for some time to come. We will see if we get anything akin to last summer, with that 46.7 C.
I also find rest in your garden submissions. It has been a difficult time for me emotionally and spiritually. I have not been diligent working on my bird care guide; rather, caring for precious Dariya in particular has been my focus. She is not recovered. We keep praying for a miracle, and the answer we keep getting is the gift of time—It is now a little over 10 months. We are thankful.
As with the garden, nothing is forever. All we can do is pause to appreciate and savor the precious moments, and the miracles of life wherever we encounter these treasures—and they are around us all the time if our eyes and hearts are open to them.
There is so much in life we cannot change, and it is too easy to fall into learned helplessness as we are bombarded with all we cannot do or change. Somehow when we pause with these miracles whatever their size or location, suddenly all becomes well in the world. Right now Dariya is napping on my lap, Friede and Naomi are nearby on my shoulder and other leg, and Tovi is sitting on the window frame as sentinel, calling out all the exciting things he sees. There is an extension of the wild into our home. They will never let me forget they are not domesticated despite their breeding, especially when they see the goldfinches and hummingbirds outside, or hear Mr. Dove--or the various hawk species. What the birds outside in the garden do, they do inside our home too, regardless of species. They do make their own artwork.
Through the Forum, you are a neighbor with whom I can visit and the world feels more kind, more beautiful, and more wonder-filled because you encourage me to keep opening my eyes and heart to all the wonders to behold, even when my eyes are bleary from tears and age, and my heart feels trepidations and broken from the many sorrows that face us all in life.
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Thank you once again Robert and Jasmin for your thoughtful comments.
Yes Robert I was worried we were going to get another prolonged hot (for us) dry period the same as last year but fortunately that changed. The heat dome that is causing such high temperatures over southern Europe has stalled the weather system over us so we are getting sunshine and rain most days. The temperatures are moderate on 14th I recorded another video and it was 14.5C much more amenable to a northern Scot. Never mind the plants I could not cope in temperatures into the 40'sC which I know you are likely to experience.
I am pleased to say the Meconopsis are making good leaf growth so I am hopeful they will be with us again and produce more flowers next year.
Jasmin I love the idea that we can be neighbours it is one of the positive sides of digital technology.
I have always employed found art with seaside driftwood and washed up objects being especially attractive to me sometimes they are already complete such as the fish below. The eroded and sea worm eaten bit of wood suggested a fossil fish - I also found the bit of wood used as the base on the beach I just added the dowel to bring the two together.
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If you have not already seen it you may enjoy this Bulb Log from 2017.
https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2017Oct251508925749BULB_LOG_4317.pdf
Keeping our eyes and minds open is something we should all practise across all of life.
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Hi Ian,
Jasmin and I just enjoyed watching your latest Bulb Log Video Diary. You bring up so many good perspectives to consider. I would definitely create a totally different garden if I were starting over with a “blank slate”. The plants selected for this new garden would reflect the dramatic climatic changes that have taken place over the passing decades, as well as incorporate new and innovative gardening techniques to help ameliorate the persistent drought and extreme temperatures (both summer and winter) that now seem to be the new “normal” for us here in interior Northern California. It seems impossible now that 40 years ago I once successfully grew and maintained many Candelabra type Primula species and a few of the tougher Meconopsis hybrids. Oh, how things have changed! ([Jasmin]: Nevermind all the Japanese maples, Rhododendrons, Fuschias, --oh my, the list of plants in the garden!)
However, I too have changed as a gardener, especially in the last two years. Aspects of gardening that I once thought were so very important have little or no meaning for me now. Creating a beautiful garden, creating a vibrant and resilient nature-based garden ecosystem, and continually striving for a deeper understanding of our garden ecosystem and the plants we grow are now top priorities.
These changes have certainly set the stage for my new approach and participation in the SRGC Forum. I feel compelled to write about the changes taking place and our attempts, both successful and not so successful, to ameliorate the impacts these changes bring to our Sacramento garden. I certainly do not have the answers to the extremely complex and difficult gardening dilemmas we all may face into the future, however the Forum seems like a great place to begin a dialog where information and ideas can be pooled together to stimulate creative gardening solutions for the gardening challenges we collectively face. As an analogy this would be like progressing from Newtonian Physics to Special and General Relativity. The “Newtonian world of gardening” will still be widely applicable; however a much grander perspective of “Relativity” will give us the understanding and perspective to bring gardening to a new level of excellence despite a strong headwind of environmental challenges we all face.
[Jasmin]: Although I have endeavored to make my way through past Bulb Logs, I am deeply grateful for the link connection and reference to the 2017 Log. Reading that, and absorbing the images of both “art” and “nature” was absolutely delightful.
Your Found Fish is superb! My first thought was of George, a dear friend and fishing companion of Robert. George is either that fish now, or he is fishing that fish in the great waters of Heaven. My other thought was of the movie BIG FISH, whose main character is very much like George, a “Tall Tale” character whose escapades were only believable because Robert was witness. Fact is stranger than fiction. Life truly lived always seems to include characters and interludes that embody and materialize what others may only dream or imagine, or the unbelievable.
Currently it is 27 C, and it is heating up fast. [Robert – the last two days have broken the daily high temperature records, 107 F (41.7 C) yesterday. Soon I will post some histograms of what is going on here in California. It is extremely alarming and very, very few are prepared for the consequences. Rapidly declining food quality and higher prices are accelerating. Agricultural soil fertility is being lost rapidly.] The humidity has been thick enough to cut with a knife so to speak. While hotter and more humid than our past, I do feel a bit more acclimated to these temperatures, and shocked at what is occurring in Europe. Perhaps in that way, maybe our experiences here so far away can be a guide for others, something to experiment with and we all learn from each other, becoming more creative, better gardeners in the process.
I must tell you how much our birds enjoy your videos; however, during this particular episode Raphael was so excited and jabbering away so loudly there were moments when I couldn’t understand from inability to hear over him. I need to set my own time aside if I want to hear clearly!
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This months Bulb Log sees this weedy gardener returning to his roots.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230816103249BULB%20LOG%200823.pdf
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Hi Ian, I noted that you discussed Tanacetum vulgare in this month‘s bulb log. However, what you showed is actually Senecio jacobaea, which is said to be quite toxic and shouldn’t be touched. Apart from that I agree that it’s a lovely plant..
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Hi Ian, I noted that you discussed Tanacetum vulgare in this month‘s bulb log. However, what you showed is actually Senecio jacobaea, which is said to be quite toxic and shouldn’t be touched. Apart from that I agree that it’s a lovely plant..
Thanks, Tomte- I did tell him..... but ...... his mind was full of Tanacetum!! :P :( :o
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Once again a great log.Campanula persicifolia can indeed become a real weed in small gardens.
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Hi Ian, I noted that you discussed Tanacetum vulgare in this month‘s bulb log. However, what you showed is actually Senecio jacobaea, which is said to be quite toxic and shouldn’t be touched. Apart from that I agree that it’s a lovely plant..
Tomte thanks for pointing my mistake out.
Although I know the different plants I have always muddled their names in my head and that came out wrong this time.
Thanks again to you I have corrected it.
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Once again a great log.Campanula persicifolia can indeed become a real weed in small gardens.
Thank you Yann many plants can become a problem in small spaces and everyone should select what plants are appropriate for their own garden and needs.
Those that run about underground, such as Campanula persicifolia are not always so easy to control.
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Decisions to make, late summer blues and autumn flowering bulbs are some of the topics in this months Bulb Log- just a click away.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/230913105604BULB%20LOG%200923.pdf
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Thank you Yann many plants can become a problem in small spaces and everyone should select what plants are appropriate for their own garden and needs.
Those that run about underground, such as Campanula persicifolia are not always so easy to control.
We have Campanula persicifolia indigenous here. I have never observed running around underground like some other Campanulas.
It grows in small clumps but seeds around a lot. Especially in crevices.
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Hi Ian,
Thank you for sharing your garden through the pages of your Bulb Log. I like the concept of mutual fulfillment; once a month you share your garden through the Bulb Log, I express my sincere appreciation for your efforts and willingness to share your garden each month. I have expressed this thought in the past, however it is worth repeating, our Sacramento garden is very different from yours, yet your Bulb Logs have influenced and enriched our garden over the years. For this we have immense gratitude.
[Jasmin]: I once again enjoyed this month’s Bulb Log. For some time I have been mulling an autumn submission, as I contemplate the dynamics of a changing environment as it intersects with our own personal changes. I have to take some pictures, and show them in comparison to spring, and past years for the full impact of the changes to be seen.
Your garden may include “messes” and “wilderness”; yet always looks inviting and lovely. Most people’s submissions are of plants usually in their prime.
Unfortunately, the truth here is sad, not pretty. Yes, there are lovely things: Cyclamen, and Colchicum are looking well, but some of our most beloved plants are faltering after decades, and I think this is also important to include in the Forum. It isn’t always something we have done, or aren’t doing that makes the plants unhappy. These other factors play their role. Our area just happens to be perhaps more extreme; yet from Mr. Herman Myleman’s comment about 30 C in Belgium a bit ago (8 September 2023, September in the Southern Hemisphere), extremes are showing up everywhere and impacting all our gardening endeavors.
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We have Campanula persicifolia indigenous here. I have never observed running around underground like some other Campanulas.
It grows in small clumps but seeds around a lot. Especially in crevices.
We have it seeding around but in some places it sends out multiple short stolons that give rise to a mass of leaf but not much flowers. The seems to happen most in gravel or rocky substrates.
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Robert and Jasmin I send greetings and thanks for your comments which are always welcome and thoughtful.
It occurred to me very early on in our garden journey that in talks and articles all the plants we were shown were the best and perfect. I decided then that it would have been more encouraging if we were shown the real side of gardening rather than the selected highlights and that is why I will share our successes and failures.
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Robert and Jasmin I send greetings and thanks for your comments which are always welcome and thoughtful.
It occurred to me very early on in our garden journey that in talks and articles all the plants we were shown were the best and perfect. I decided then that it would have been more encouraging if we were shown the real side of gardening rather than the selected highlights and that is why I will share our successes and failures.
Ian,
I like that! I think it's called honesty!
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Click the link to open this months Bulb Log featuring the Autumn flowering Crocus, Colchicum and Cyclamen along with my thoughts on perfection.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/231018110519BULB%20LOG%201023.pdf
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Click on the link to read this months Bulb Log which considers how the recent storms have affected plants and reflects on what goes on underground.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/231115095656231115095438BULB%20LOG%201123.pdf
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The final Bulb Log of 2023 sees the garden full of birds and fallen leaves but the signs of the new year's growth is already showing.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/231220102336BULB%20LOG%201223.pdf
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I like the bird feeder! It certainly adds winter color.