soil for saxes

[johnw]

Wim - What generous troughs!  Your saxs look as happy as clams.

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

They all look very nice - the trough itself too Wim. There will certainly be flowers.

[WimB]

Here are some pictures of the same trough, seven (of a total of ten) are ready to flower and one is already flowering, so first two pics of the trough and third a picture of the sax which is flowering already, Saxifraga marginata f. milica

[Ragged Robin]

Reading from the top of this thread has made your 'one year and a few months later' post really inspiring Wim - the whole trough is absolutely enchanting and it's great so see the beginnings of your flowerings, many congratulations  

[WimB]

Reading from the top of this thread has made your 'one year and a few months later' post really inspiring Wim - the whole trough is absolutely enchanting and it's great so see the beginnings of your flowerings, many congratulations  

Thanks 

[Lesley Cox]

There will certainly be flowers.

I told you so!

[WimB]

There will certainly be flowers.

I told you so!

 

[gote]

There will certainly be flowers.

I told you so!

Me too 
Göte

[gote]

I am unsure wether this is the right thread but I have a question.
I have no experience of growing in throughs but I find that in my climate I need to grow plants like this on sloping ground or in some kind of crevices.
In mild spells of the winter the soil tends to be still frozen (thus nil drainage) but the snow on top melts and/or it sometimes rains. The result is that water will collect in any pocket or depression and later freezes solid.
This seems to damage many small alpines. Now: a through is but a great pocket where water will collect. I would expect to have 2-5 cm of solid ice at the end of the winter.
Any comments?
Göte
 

[WimB]

Göte,

I can't help you with that, we don't have temperatures which go as low as the temperatures in Sweden. Maybe you can make a trough with insulation?

Here's another sax in that trough which was flowering today:

Saxifraga burseriana var. crenata

[Ragged Robin]

I love the way the flowers pop up from that tight knit cushion Wim - how big will the cushion be?

[WimB]

Robin,

I don't know how big it will get but now the cushion is only 7 cm in diameter.

[Lesley Cox]

I don't know that I can comment intelligently Gote except to suggest that the trough should  have a really free-draining, gritty mixture in it and good holes in the bottom so that while the water is still unfrozen, it doesn't accumulate anywhere and by the time it freezes, there's no "free" water in the trough, only dampness in the compost itself. Building up the surface of the trough should keep water off the surface but in your frozen winter, plants close to the top which become frozen may suffer root damage. I don't know.

[gote]

Thank you both for thinking about the problem.
Unfortunately it is not possible to insulate against the cold. That will only work for the odd cold night in the spring when the daily mean temerature is above zero C. (unless I install soil warming).
This winter we had many days if not weeks when the temperature was hovering between -10 and -20°C
If the soil is frozen, any free water on top will freeze when trying to drain down, much as icicles forms when water moves from above zero to below, and the open spaces will soon be filled.
As I wrote: My general way of handling the problem is to make sure the water can run off the frozen surface. The problem rfers to evergreens. plants that go dormant below surface do not seem to suffer.
Snow is now receeding and exposing Eranthis, Galanthus and Leucojum in flower or at least bud.  I am anxious to se what happens when the hellebores can be seen.
Cheers
Göte

 

[WimB]

And another one flowering in the same trough:

Saxifraga marginata from the Betcho-pass