June 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere

[ashley]

Wonderfully crisp photos, as always, Andre.  Your Parnassia portrait is stunning. 
This plant is absent from SW Ireland but I've come across it in the west (Clare, Galway) & in Scandinavia.  Always a treat to see.

[Andre Schuiteman]

Thanks, Ashley. Whenever you find Parnassia, you can be certain that other interesting plants are not far away, especially orchids.


Many late-spring flowers are going over, such as this Deutzia hookeriana. This charming shrub has been in full flower for about a month now. It is sensitive to heat and lost all its leaves in the summer heatwave last year but fortunately survived and sprouted again in the autumn. It was forced to make a lot of new branches for that, and as it flowers from the tips of the branches, it has never flowered as well as this year.

[Gabriela]

Robert - I only obtained seedlings of Castilleja applegatei one year but lost them fast and now I have few seedlings of Castilleja miniata - in a pot, so I should plant them in the ground close to a host but they are very small and I don't know if I should wait or not...

Meanwhile a rabbit cut down two of my C. coccinea plants, from the total of 3
I wish to have more access to various Castilleja species seeds to be able to do more trials, but they are located on the West part of Canada, too far away from ON.

[Gabriela]

The delightful Parnassia palustris is one of those plants that are common in the wild but not often seen in cultivation because they are not as easy to grow as you might expect. You see it everywhere in the Dolomites, for example. Seed germinates well but when you plant the seedlings out in the rock garden they just dwindle and disappear. My only surviving plant, from seed I collected in the Brenta Dolomites five years ago, lives in a pot and is always kept out of direct sunlight, even though it grows fully exposed in nature. Perhaps the fact that it often grows between grass indicates that the leaves prefer some shading.

Parnassia species are always very nice subjects for pictures Andre!
You are right, even in North America where we have native species they are not often seen in cultivation. I also tried them from seeds and had the same experience. Other people that I talked with, mentioned the same pattern: easy germination but then the seedlings mostly stagnate in growth in a pot.
I am thinking that maybe direct sowing would also work well for them, in a proper location.

[Leena]

Parnassia should also grow here in Finland, but I have never seen it.

In my garden big plants are making a show now, peonies, irises and Geraniums. It has been very dry here this year, the last proper rain was in the beginning of May, since then only couple of millimetres of rain in my garden. Cold nights continued until only two weeks ago, night frost were common and I had to cover my vegetable garden with fleece. Then when nights warmed up, also days became 25-30C, but now it is only +20 which is perfect. Forecast says some thunders are coming next week, so I hope it brings much needed rain.

Peonies and irises don't mind the drought, they are fine at least now.

[Leena]

I have had to water my Meconopsis, it has been too dry for them otherwise.
Primula sieboldii does better, and I haven't watered it.
Last picture is Primula 'Inverewe' which I got last year, I'm so happy it survived the winter. I have lost so many candelabra primulas during winters.

[Gabriela]

Beautiful pictures Leena! One wouldn't say that your garden suffers from drought.

[Leena]

Beautiful pictures Leena! One wouldn't say that your garden suffers from drought.

Gabriela, I know! It is a wonder how well most of the plants do.

[Herman Mylemans]

Leena, beautiful garden! Your plants look wonderful. It seems to me that this month in Finland it was not so hot and dry as in Belgium. Now we have had some rain and temperature is more normal (<24°C). But many plant leaves are already damaged and flowers fade quickly.

[Leena]

Leena, beautiful garden! Your plants look wonderful. It seems to me that this month in Finland it was not so hot and dry as in Belgium. Now we have had some rain and temperature is more normal (<24°C). But many plant leaves are already damaged and flowers fade quickly.

Thank you Herman.
We were lucky it wasn't as hot here as over there. It would have been much worse if it was as hot as in Europe.
This week there were couple of thunderstorms and today it has rained all morning, which is very welcome.
Perhaps clay soil has helped and also trees give shade which helps (plants).

[Maggi Young]

Robert,

I would be very grateful for that explanation.  I have been losing many seedlings to transplant shock even after applying Vitamin B1.  Fortunately, at least some of each of my transplants have survived; but, I would still like to cut my losses.

In IRG free e-mag. 162 : 4 new crocus species this month from Jānis Rukšāns & Dimitri Zubov + Soil Blocks for seed sowing from Robert Barnard in California.

Click to read https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/230728091359IRG162.pdf