Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: shelagh on July 03, 2021, 03:10:49 PM
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Well we have crept into July and a rainy day means I have time to post these.
Broadia Queen Fabiola.
Campanula White Clips.
Campanula Wockii Puck.
Campanula lost label.
Correopsis Golden Sphere.
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Erigeron fletti.
Heuchera- a self sown seedling. Not like any other in the garden.
Sedum album coming over the edge of the raised bed.
Sedum dasyphyllum Lloyd Praeger.
Stachys grandiflorum in the border seed from Gothenburg Botanic.
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Sweet Williams or Dianthus barbatus trough.
Veronica and St. John's Wort.
Finally Veronica longifolia First Love.
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Your rainy day is our gain, Shelagh! Some lovely plants there!
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Shelagh,
I enjoy the simple beauty of the Sweet William. :)
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I am settling into my life of retirement. A great deal of time is spent gardening.
While harvesting seed of F3 generation Gila capitata I noticed that a number of plants were repeat blooming. I will keep an eye on this characteristic in next year’s grow out.
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The oriental lilies are blooming and the air is filled with fragrance.
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I grow all of our lilies from seed. There are only one or two named varieties in our garden.
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The Helianthus annuus are starting to bloom. I have always grown sunflowers, so the garden would not be right without them. Simple, but then it makes me feel happy seeing them each season.
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The same is true with Zinnia elegans, the garden would not be complete without them. My mother grew them in our family garden back in the 1950’s. I breed my own varieties these days. This is fun and interesting.
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I grew this lily from seed as Lilium philippinense. I am not so sure, but it blooms later than our other trumpet lilies. It also has been a very tough and persistent plant, a quality I like in lilies.
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I guess I am the resilient gardener-mini farmer. This is a bed of Solanum melongena ‘Long Purple’, an open pollenated variety I obtained from the folks at Ecology Action (Great people and like Masanobu Fukuoka, the real thing! I support them and their work 100%. I cannot say enough good things about this small non-profit organization). They do not offer seed any more, however all the seed I ever obtained from them was of the highest quality and performs exceptionally well in our garden or farm. I am keeping this line going by saving the seed. The bagged flowers prevent cross-pollination. I sibling cross the best plants and keep very careful records of the results (many characteristics).
Next to this bed is a beautiful specimen of Penstemon azureus var. angustissimus. This Penstemon species, from the Upper Sonoran Life Zone in our area, thrives in our garden. I grow a number of different forms from local but differing sites. They are not blooming now but this native species is a gem in our garden, thriving with intense summer heat and little to no irrigation during the hot summer and autumn months.
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Robert
Does your Lilium philippinense have stem bulbils?
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Robert
Does your Lilium philippinense have stem bulbils?
Hi Arnold -
No stem bulbils! In other characteristics the lily does not look like Lilium philippinense. The lily is strong and persistent so I am keeping it for right now. At some point it might be nice to grow a few other hybrid trumpet lilies from seed and see if I get anything different. The plants look good in our garden and are frequently fragrant. My wife and I like fragrant plants in our garden.
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Robert
Good that rules out some of the Chinese trumpets.
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All this summer has been hotter than usual here, today temperature was over 30C which is a lot here when we are not used to these kind of temperatures. Forecast says all July is going to be 4-6 degrees warmer than average, and August may be the same:(.
Because it rained couple of times a lot in June plants are still looking quite good, and many are flowering ahead of normal. Like Hemerocallis fulva which usually flowers in August and it has now already started to flower. White flower is Campanula latifolia.
Some Meconopsis baileyi are still in flower and also Primulas grown as P.x bullesiana, really nice primulas.
Third picture is Lilium pardalinum with hosta, Pseudofumaria lutea and Astrantia 'Star of Fire'.
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Malva moschata seeds around but I like it, both white and pink versions of it.
Also Geranium 'Patricia' is one of my favourites and doesn't seem to suffer for heat and drought.
Last peony to flower here was 'Myrtle Gentry', growing in quite shady spot, but it is over now.
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A very tiny genius by the size of their flowers but not by the number of species: Lappula barbata
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Thanks Yann, they are very similar to Myosotis, same family. Everyone seems to have colourful gardens, I,m still looking for one and miss the plants.
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Thanks Yann, they are very similar to Myosotis, same family. Everyone seems to have colourful gardens, I,m still looking for one and miss the plants.
I'm sorry Ian. I can't imagine what it must be like to be without a garden! At least you have your nature walks.
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Anagallis tenella is flowering nicely in the pitcher plant pots. Although this is a British native the clones in cultivation seem frost tender, so I have to keep it in the greenhouse over winter.
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Geranium palmatum is always a riot (this is part of one plant) and very attractive to bees and other insects. It's short-lived, but self-seeds gently around the garden, never becoming a nuisance. Unlike the other Macaronesian geraniums it is reasonably frost hardy and so should survive in most zone 8 and possibly zone 7 gardens.
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Sometimes you get happy coincidences in the garden and this is not a very good photo of one of them - Campanula barbata and Allium cyathophorum var. farreri. The Campanula is from seed we collected on holiday in 2015, and it seeds itself around the rockery. The Allium was from the seed exchange a couple of years ago and it's an imposter as it was supposed to be A. narcissiflorum. Still, the dark purple and steel blue look good together with the purple slate.
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Allium insubricum. Although slow-growing, this one deserves to be on every rockery.
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Campanula cochlearifolia - beautiful but invasive, it really needs to be kept somewhere it can be contained.
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Nepeta subsessilis is an attractive catmint with large flowers. This is a good form, it also comes in a pasty pink.
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From seed collected on a different holiday, this is Dianthus seguiriana subsp. pseudocollina. The flowers are beautiful but it needs a lot of sun to give its best, and unfortunately it isn't scented. Still a beautiful plant by any standards.
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A white form of Viola cornuta.
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Astrantia carniolica is a charming miniature astrantia from Slovenia. Unlike its cousins, it is small enough and late enough emerging not to crowd out dwarf bulbs and other nice things you may want to grow nearby. It seems virtually unknown in cultivation and I can't understand why. I usually donate seed to the exchange so hopefully it is finding its way around.
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Trollius farreri (not sure if this is a good name, but it's what I received the seed as). Useful as it can be grown with bulbs and emerges after they have finished (this bed is where I grow Corydalis malkensis).
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From seed collected on a different holiday, this is Dianthus seguiriana subsp. pseudocollina. The flowers are beautiful but it needs a lot of sun to give its best, and unfortunately it isn't scented. Still a beautiful plant by any standards.
It is very nice and the best thing is that it flowers now. Last year I sowed seeds of Dianthus seguieri var collinus, could mine be close to what yours is?
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Hi Leena
It is nice to see Lilium pardalinum in your garden (and all your other garden plants). It appears to be thriving in your garden. It is quite lovely.
I thought that you might like to see some of our other native California Lilium species and a few hybrids that I have developed using these species.
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Lilium paradalinum ssp. wigginsii
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Lilium pardalinum ssp pardalinum from seed gathered near Takilma, Oregon during my studies of West Coast Lilium species during the 1990’s.
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A lilium kelloggii hybrid. The hybrids are much easier to maintain in the garden.
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A Lilium parryi hybrid.
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A Lilium parvum var. hollidayi hybrid. It is possible to create tough, long-lived look-a-like hybrids without plundering native seed stocks of rare plant species. Domestic true breeding seed lines can also be created. The native populations of Lilium parvum var. hollidayi have been severely impacted by human activities.
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Lessingia leptoclada F2 – This is one of my preliminary successes. These are the first flowers to open of an F2 line of Lessingia leptoclada. I was able to secure a fair amount of genetic variability in this line. Lessingia leptoclada is an annual species native to California. It is an extremely heat tolerant and xeric species that blooms summer through autumn. With some genetic wiggle room, I will see what potential might exist in this species.
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Arctostaphylos manzanita ssp. manzanita thrives during our hot dry summers.
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The bark of Arctostaphylos manzanita ssp. manzanita is beautiful, as is the bark of many other Arctostaphylos species.
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This is a developing specimen of Arctostaphylos glandulosa ssp. glandulosa in our Sacramento garden.
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This is an exceptional form of Arctostaphylos viscida ssp. viscida – very compact, with very silvery-gray foliage.
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Oryza sativa, rice (foreground). Most likely only a farmer would see the beauty in developing rice plants. Jasmin disagrees: People plant ornamental grasses, why not a food grass? Robert is excited – this autumn he will be planting Ethiopian two-rowed barley and his on strain of rye. Homegrown grain has exceptional flavor and nutritional value. The Flint corn is coming along nicely and Pearl Millet will be planted next summer.
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It is very nice and the best thing is that it flowers now. Last year I sowed seeds of Dianthus seguieri var collinus, could mine be close to what yours is?
Hi Leena, if you got them from the SRGC seed exchange they should be very like this, as I regularly donate seed of this one.
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Hi Leena
It is nice to see Lilium pardalinum in your garden (and all your other garden plants). It appears to be thriving in your garden. It is quite lovely.
I thought that you might like to see some of our other native California Lilium species and a few hybrids that I have developed using these species.
Robert, I love your hybrids! North American hybrid lilies are the best, so much more graceful than many of the overbred forms of the Chinese lilies.
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Hi Tristan
You post photographs of some very intriguing plant species, at least from the perspective of our isolated outpost here in California.
It is amazing what can be accomplished with what is close at hand. Many of our California native lilies grow within a very short distance from our Placerville property (e.g. L. pardalinum, L. humboldtii, L. washingtonianum and L. parvum). We have many native lilies in our garden, both species and the results of my ongoing breeding projects. Now that I have restarted my breeding projects, a new crop of plants can be evaluated each season.
Leena,
I forgot to ask, is the forecast for temperature to be 4-6 Celsius warmer than average?
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Nice to see beautiful plants from all. In SW Ontario it is not too hot anymore and now we get all the rain that should have come in May!
No complaint about it though, since other regions in Canada are struggling with hot weather and wildfires.
Some usual species for early July: Arisaema fargesii, Delphinium fissum and D. grandiflorum, Deinanthe caerulea and a new resident of the garden which I am proud to see flowering - Swertia perennis.
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Swertia perennis, growing at the edge of a bed which remains wet longer when it rains due to the natural gradient of the garden and the clay subsoil.
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Thanks Yann, they are very similar to Myosotis, same family. Everyone seems to have colourful gardens, I,m still looking for one and miss the plants.
Did you move house? Beeing without garden is something for sure i'll be sad. Despite i prefer hiking in nature, a quick access from the living room to a small piece of "recreated nature" is also appreciated.
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Leena,
I forgot to ask, is the forecast for temperature to be 4-6 Celsius warmer than average?
I fear so, Robert - we in Europe and the UK commonly use the Celsius scale rather than Fahrenheit.
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Leena,
I forgot to ask, is the forecast for temperature to be 4-6 Celsius warmer than average?
Yes, like Maggi already wrote. I'm not used to this kind of heat, and I can't do anything outside during the day when it is close to 30C, only in the mornings and evenings. Maybe we people also are adapted to certain temperatures like plants:).
Here (https://www.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/viimeisen-30-vrk-saa)is a chart from the past 30 days in Helsinki (only in Finnish).
Robert, your lilies are wonderful, I especially liked L.pardalinum ssp wigginsii, and your hybrids are so nice! I agree that many times hybrids are much better garden plants than species, and growing your own from seeds adds that they are something special. When growing from seeds there are always surprises and something to look forward.
For some reason my garden seems to suit L.canadense, and also L.pardalinum likes it where it grows. I have mostly martagon lilies, and don't like so much asian hybrid lilies so I have only one orange asian lily which already grew in my grandmothers garden in the 50s. It has value because of it was hers. It would be interesting to grow more American lilies, but there are voles and lily beetles here, so it is always a risk to grow lilies.
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Hi Leena, if you got them from the SRGC seed exchange they should be very like this, as I regularly donate seed of this one.
Mine is from Gabriela's seeds:).
Gabriela, I'm happy you got now rain and your plants look very fresh and good.
Delphinium fissum is interesting looking, almost something like Aconitum but very dense flower spikes. Very nice!
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Nice to see what everyone has going on- some familiar plants and some very different from what could grow here!
We generally had more rain earlier than usual - our rainy time is late May through June, usu into July- it started more like mid-May this year, good mix of warm days and rain through most of June, with the Heat Dome that affected the Pacific coast of North American spilling over the mountains into Alberta also at the end of the month into July.
Here in west central Alberta, we got temps as high as 35C-not an all time record, but matches the old one, and far more days near/above 30 than we've had in a row in my memory; nights 13-17C-high for us, a few 12s per year are all we usually get. Not the 40C days 20C nights of other areas, but high for us as the house could use re-insulating , and of course no AC at home. Still, afternoons were always still nice for me to work outdoors, shade is always pleasant, toward the end of the spell we had good breezes/winds, and nights in the house still cooled off, even not as much as usual- basically several unpleasant hours in the house each evening.
We had rain right up until this weather, and again as soon as it broke a little, so no drought stress here, so far. I only did modest watering a few days (mostly some pots, a bit on some veg beds, and a little cooling on a few alpine/woodland beds, which I can't say was even much needed by the plants, but also gives some moisture for insects). Here are a few randomly chosen flowering things, all July 05, it seems!
Allium cernuum- in the weird ways of modern life, this is a form from near Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, Alberta, but I got eh seed from someone in France! There was a cool fly on it-
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Allium insubricum, seed from forumist some years ago gets better each year!
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Geranium swatense is in a somewhat overgrown, meadowy berm-- can't really appreciate it well in that spot- on the other hand, maybe it would be floppy on its own and better to see the intense pink flowers popping out of other foliage?
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Hieracium intybaceum makes hundreds of flowers in a season, of a nice paler yellow that I really like. However I rarely get to see more than a couple at once fully open- I've realised that may be me, not the plant, since I think they open early in the day at a time I am almost never over where these plants are! This one has a mosquito visiting ( or was it just following me?). for some complex reason involving weather patterns this year and probably last (not because of a dry season, as it has not been) this has been the least mosquitoey year I can ever recall here.
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Saussurea iodostegia is striking for its very nearly black flowers and attractive semi inflated bracts. This year flowers seem scattered, maybe need some good weeding around main plants, but on the plus side there are a number of seedlings around. I think all 3 species in this post came from seed from the same forumist years ago!
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This plant surprised me when I saw flowers last year ( I think) Phyteuma scheuchzeri? I believe--I've had seed of things like this a time or two, but don't recall getting seedlings! This is in a pot with a very different label in an outdoor nursery area..
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Linum lewisii from B.C. seed. Another that flowers mostly in the morning, but cloudy or wet days it holds flowers longer, so I get to see them often enough!
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Mine is from Gabriela's seeds:).
Gabriela, I'm happy you got now rain and your plants look very fresh and good.
Delphinium fissum is interesting looking, almost something like Aconitum but very dense flower spikes. Very nice!
And my seeds came from Yvain, so they went around a lot :) Mine is flowering poorly this summer because I move it last fall, but now it has too much shade, so I'll have to move it again (this happens often in my garden).
Dianthus seguieri ssp. pseudocollinus last year
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This Delphinium is indeed very striking Leena; it is a tuberous species and it takes its time to start flowering but worth the wait. It needs a well drained spot in the garden.
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Yes, that's Phyteuma Cohan. Nice blue on the Linum lewisii.
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Gabriela, that looks so much like D. callizonus. How do you tell the difference? Callizonus seems to be an overall smaller and more compact plant, and the petals don't seem to be as deeply fringed(?) - is that it? I have several types of flowers from different sources that should be Dianthus callizonus. I just assumed it was species variation (or hybridizing).
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Hi Tristan
You post photographs of some very intriguing plant species, at least from the perspective of our isolated outpost here in California.
It is amazing what can be accomplished with what is close at hand. Many of our California native lilies grow within a very short distance from our Placerville property (e.g. L. pardalinum, L. humboldtii, L. washingtonianum and L. parvum). We have many native lilies in our garden, both species and the results of my ongoing breeding projects. Now that I have restarted my breeding projects, a new crop of plants can be evaluated each season.
Thank you Robert. And you too from my isolated outpost in Wales!
Like you I try to use native plants as well as things from further afield, though I think the range of natives we have doesn't really compare to what you have available (there are no Lilium native to the UK for example).
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Allium insubricum, seed from forumist some years ago gets better each year!
Cohan, that's a lovely Allium. I don't know though... it looks slightly off for insubricum - just a bit too vigorous and the inflorescences and flower shape look a bit different. Could it be narcissiflorum I wonder? The two often get mixed up in cultivation. According to Paul Christian you can tell once the seedpods start to form - insubricum stays nodding, whereas in narcissiflorum the pods turn to face upwards.
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Gabriela, that looks so much like D. callizonus. How do you tell the difference? Callizonus seems to be an overall smaller and more compact plant, and the petals don't seem to be as deeply fringed(?) - is that it? I have several types of flowers from different sources that should be Dianthus callizonus. I just assumed it was species variation (or hybridizing).
Rick: to begin with, D. callizonus is a small species, 10-15 cm while D. seguieri grows much taller, there is no way to confuse them.
I don't know what goes around in the trade or seeds exchanges as D. callizonus, because I tried to avoid asking for seeds and for good reason.
This is a species endemic to Piatra Craiului Mountains in Romania. The place is not easy to reach (no cable cars or gondolas out there).
I am sure there are true seeds in circulation somewhere but more often than not probably not of the true species.
Also in cultivation in the garden it may hybridize with other Dianthus, so....
From your pictures, the first one may be D. callizonus but who can be 100% sure? Leaves and other details are used for identification.
You can look at pictures taken in the wild (with locations provided as well) on the inaturalist link below:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/82929273 (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/82929273)
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Cohan, that's a lovely Allium. I don't know though... it looks slightly off for insubricum - just a bit too vigorous and the inflorescences and flower shape look a bit different. Could it be narcissiflorum I wonder? The two often get mixed up in cultivation. According to Paul Christian you can tell once the seedpods start to form - insubricum stays nodding, whereas in narcissiflorum the pods turn to face upwards.
Thanks, Tristan, it was from seed in trade, so always a chance of error! I'll watch for seed capsules, if it makes them, don't remember from past years. I thought it was the opposite that people were trying to get narcissiflorum and getting insubricum instead? maybe i remember backwards!
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Thanks, Tristan, it was from seed in trade, so always a chance of error! I'll watch for seed capsules, if it makes them, don't remember from past years. I thought it was the opposite that people were trying to get narcissiflorum and getting insubricum instead? maybe i remember backwards!
You're right Cohan, that is usually the pattern, but it's likely that both species are about. One nursery website is selling one of the narcissiflorum and has photos of both species accompanying it on its website! They are both lovely plants. I'm trying to increase my insubricum and am on the lookout for narcissiflorum...
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Thanks, Gabriela!
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You're right Cohan, that is usually the pattern, but it's likely that both species are about. One nursery website is selling one of the narcissiflorum and has photos of both species accompanying it on its website! They are both lovely plants. I'm trying to increase my insubricum and am on the lookout for narcissiflorum...
I'll have to watch those seed pods, see which way they point..
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Not my kind of flower- not wild about doubles even, generally, and these crazy multidoubles are rather ridiculous ;) not to mention, with no sex parts, these flowers are useless to insects! This is the largest of several old peonies planted by my mom or aunt many years ago. Most years this one opens some flowers with many more starting to rot before they ever open. This warmer than average year, with perhaps more dry weather in July has suited it well, most flowers I've ever seen open on it.
Poor confused beetles-- it *smells* like a flower...??
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A few views of one of the rock beds in front of the house...
Sempervivums and sedum in flower, Drabas in seed, Scabiosa japonica Ritz Blue, Geranium sanguineum *not* Elke, Allium Papaver etc
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Nice rockery Cohan, it looks really natural.
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Straight out of nature...
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Cohan, Your pics make me sorry for not living in an area where a rockery would look at home!
@ Leena: are You teasing with these beautiful blue poppies lurking in the background?
@ Robert: these hybrids of lilies are very beautiful, and it´s good to learn that they are easier in the garden than the species!
Unfortunately, no such special plants in my garden:
Aconitum ´Stainless Steel´with Clematis mandshurica in the background.
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Digitalis parviflora
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Thalictrum przewalkii HeHeHe 103
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Galega x hartlandii ´His Majesty
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Rosa ´Cottage Maid´, aptly named, doesn´t care about the lots of rain.
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Mariette, yes, the blue poppies were M.bailey, still flowering a week ago but now they are over. :)
You have very nice summer flowers in your garden, I especially liked the Thalictrum and pale blue Aconitum.
I hope the floods we are reading in the news are not very close to you?
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Mariette,
I agree with Leena, your have some very nice summer flowers in your garden. My favorite is Digitalis parviflora. I once grew this species in the Placerville, California garden. In addition, the Aconitum is very nice. I am attempting to grow Aconitum columbianum in our Sacramento garden. They were doing well until a skunk dug the largest plant out of the pot it was growing in. I found the plant on the ground and replanted the bare rooted plant. At least it is still alive.
Concerning the disastrous flooding in Germany, I certainly hope you are out of harms way. There seem to be disastrous weather events occurring throughout the world. The August 2020 derecho that swept across the Midwestern U.S.A., the major dust storms in China/Mongolia, the wildfires in Australia and Western North America and the recent heat wave in Northwestern North America are a few examples. Stay safe! And I hope that your garden continues to thrive.
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Here in California, the consequences of the current drought and years of chronic well below average precipitation are stressed ecosystems. The native oaks, Quercus douglasii, on the Placerville property are becoming drought stressed. The leaves are browning and it is only mid-July! I first noted the stressed oak trees in the Sacramento Valley (Lower Sonoran Life Zone) in mid-June. Now there are many native tress showing drought symptoms in the foothills (Upper Sonoran Life Zone) of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
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Here one can see the progression of drying-yellowing leaves. In a week or two all the leaves will be yellow and brown. The dead leaves tend to cling to the twigs, as an abscission layer never forms as occurs with healthy deciduous trees in the autumn.
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The slopes on the Placerville property are dry, as pictured, each summer. This is normal. Native trees showing sighs of drought stress in July is not normal. Occasionally our native oak trees will show signs of drought stress late in the season, September – October, when the autumn weather continues to be hot and dry.
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This Epilobium canum ssp. latifolia has survived years of neglect at the Placerville property. This species thrives in our Sacramento garden, with or without irrigation.
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Thank You, Robert and Leena! Fortunately, there are no severe problems in the area where I live, but many of the flooded districts are within an hour´s drive. We did have a very wet first half of the year with an amount of rainfall up to the rainfall of all of 2018, which was the extreme on the dry side. The last 3 years were so dry that elders and birches withered - I prefer to struggle with the tropical growth caused by very much rain instead of trying to cope in vain with extremes of heat - we faced 40°C, never known before here, and drought completely new to our region.
There have never been such disastrous floods in inner Germany within more than 100 years, with so many lives lost. Thank You for Your concern!
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Thanks, Tristan, Jeff, Mariette! I can't really say rockeries look exactly natural in my setting-- there is no exposed stone in nature here until you get to the foothills biome, which begins at maybe 40 km away, but really not very rocky until even farther than that... but it is mowed outside the gardens, and I try for a naturalistic look within them, at least!
Mariette-- lovely woodland plants ( I also have woodland gardens, though there are more spring flowers there than other things!). Glad you are not directly impacted by the floods! We had some unusually hot weather this year also, but fortunately not 40C- though other areas did get it- we only got to 35, but more hot days in a row than we are used to seeing.
Now we are getting smoke from fires far away...
Robert- it must be very distressing to see such dramatic and damaging change happening first hand..
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Mid-summer has arrived. Currently daytime temperatures are hot ~ 100 F (37.8 C) with a fairly strong monsoonal flow from the south. For us the humidity is high, but it is nothing like what is experienced in the eastern U.S.A. This July is on pace to be the warmest July on record. The garden is challenged. I am doing the best I can to be a resilient gardener. Finding plants and gardening techniques that work to create a garden that is satisfying and beautiful is my prime directive.
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Lilium henryi thrives in our garden. This seedling is particularly nice.
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Lilium henryi hybrids are tough.
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Some Lilium henryi hybrids are better than others, however they all seem to be heat and virus tolerant.
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When I was young, I read the Mother Earth News (a magazine). Their slogan was “doing more with less”. Being retired and isolated from the horticultural world, this course of action works for me as a gardener. Zinnia elegans is a very common annual species, nothing special, certainly not a rare species or even a rock garden plant. Several years ago I bought a few packs of Zinnia elegans seed at the grocery. I learn a great deal breeding my own Zinnias and they thrive in our garden. I like them and have fun breeding them. For me this is “doing more with less” and making do with what is close at hand.
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Tithonia rotundifolia is another common annual. I breed these too. From one pack of seed I now have a robust line that towers over my head with large red flowers. I have a dwarf line started that only grows 30 cm tall. I am working on bi-colors and yellows. There are heirloom yellows, but I like to see what I can do from one package of generic seed.
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I also breed Dahlias. This is one of my first hybrids. It was easy to do, like x like. I like tall Dahlias…
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… but I like single flowers. There are not many tall single Dahlias out there, so I create my own.
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… so I end up with garden scenes like this – lots of flowers, color, and surprises.
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Habranthus and Zephranthes species do well in our garden. I have just started breeding them. This is Habranthus robustus.
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Zephranthes mesocolon blooms reliably in our garden. Hot weather is not an issue with this species.
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Rhodophiala montana is another species that does well in our garden. I have only one plant, however I have been able to self it. I will most likely be dealing with a genetic bottleneck, but I will see if I get any segregation in the seedlings.
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So, now I have a fresh seed flat with various Habranthus, Zephranthus, Gladiolus, and Dahlia hybrids. There are a few other items such as the selfed Rhodophiala seeds.
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Generally alpine species do not do well in our Sacramento garden, however Dasiphora fruticosa does extremely well. Yes--I know, I know--this species is one of the most commonly planted species in the Inter-mountain regions of the western U.S.A. I like this plant because I gathered the seed near the crest of the Crystal Range (my home turf), and it seems very happy in our garden. Here it is July and it is still blooming. I must be very odd, because I grow and like species like Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana (billions grow in the Great Basin of North America), Artemisia arbuscula ssp. arbuscula, and Artemisia ludoviciana ssp. incompta.
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There does seem to be some extreme weather conditions at the moment. Here in Bury, Greater Manchester (notorious for rain) we have temps of 28/29/30C this week. The greenhouse which Brian has emptied has had temps of well in excess of 120. Sorry for mixed C & F but being old we still use Farenheit but weather reports use Centigrade.
Brian seems to have a watering can permanently attached to his right arm morning and night. Plants which normally flower in mid August are out now.
Rain forecast for weekend and we can't wait.
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Interesting breeding projects, Robert. I'm not generally ambitious enough to deal with annuals-- all that replanting every year! I like to plant things once and be done with it forever...lol but the results much be much quicker for breeding! As for Dahlias, singles are much nicer!
Shelagh- lots of interesting weather all over! Warmer and drier than usual for July here, also, though luckily I have not had to do much watering, I hate dragging a hose around...
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Evening Primrose, Oenothera acaulis lives up to its name. I have never actually seen it opening but it usually happens between 7 and 8 pm and has withered by morning. It is biennial and dies after flowering. It is a long time since I planted the originals but it self seeds and appears most years. There are 3 plants here with one or two flowers most nights but last night there were three.
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Roma- the Oenotheras all seem very appealing, but I wonder whether I'd ever see the flowers...lol Generally for bug reasons in spring to fall, once I come in (6-6:30 usu on days I'm outside working on the acreage) there is no further going out!
I missed posting in June, it seems, but there were of course lots of flowers.. here are just a few from 21-23 of that month..
Gypsophila repens with Saponaria lutea
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Linum lewisii with Castilleja sp
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Papaver alpinum with Gypsophila repens
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Geum, Gypsophila, Papaver, Armeria, Allium etc
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Anthemis 'Sauce Hollandaise'
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Eryngium x zabelii. A couple of years ago I noticed that this seemed to be going backwards, and a little investigation found some crown rot. I dug it up, split the roots and replanted it in several locations. This is the original plant which seems to have grown back from deeper taproots, minus the rot. I have three other plants of similar size now. The insects love it.
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A rose whose label I lost long ago! I prefer the single ones, they provide pollen and nectar for the insects.
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Rosa 'Super Excelsa'
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Clematis 'Jackmannii Superba'. Clematis are very hit and miss here due to the large number of slugs and snails, which can kill them when they are small. Once they get established they seem to reach an 'escape velocity' and don't get attacked. This one has definitely reached this stage! It's growing next to the alpina I posted earlier in the year.
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Another rose whose name I don't know. It scrambles through a Rhododendron and provides interest later in the season. Actually the colour competes with quite a few of the Rhodys!
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Thistledown from the Cirsium rivulare - this doesn't set seed, so no self-seeding problems but the finches will have to find seed to eat elsewhere.
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Campanula lactiflora is very impressive this year. This is a wonderful tall perennial for a woodland edge setting.
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View of the dry woodland border with Astrantia major in the foreground.
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Miniature clocks of Pilosella aurantiaca. This pretty little lawn weed wildflower with orange flowers is delightful. The flowers are good for insects and later the seed is good for the goldfinches.
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Digitalis parviflora is the most genuinely perennial foxglove I know. It's not to everyone's taste (at least, my wife and daughter don't like it) but I like the architectural shape of the spikes.
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A Clematis viticella hybrid.
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Lathyrus latifolius.
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The lawnmower has packed up so I am having to use the scythe at the moment. Actually I love scything - it's relaxing sort of work and you get to feel virtuous too, as there are no fossil fuels and the amount of wildlife that gets killed when cutting the grass is much less. It also makes a much cleaner cut which I think it better for the grass and other plants. The raking up afterwards is a pain though.
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Tristan, it reminds me of my old front lawn.
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Last year I bought a few different lavender varieties to try on a dry slope below the boggy area where the pitcher plants spend the summer (the liner intercepts a lot of rainfall). They did not thrive in our very wet and cold summer last year but are making a nice display this year. I thought some different varieties together might give a more natural effect than the large bloc plantings of single clones. Below them are dwarf tulips which are dormant now. I intend to prune the lavenders hard in spring to give the tulips space and I may also try some Frits there in time.
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'Arctic Snow'
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L. x chaytorae 'Gorgeous'. It has a beautiful silvery leaf as well.
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Very nice Tristan, and a good reminder of how we can diversify conditions in the garden.
I like your lichen-covered rocks too.
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A little bit cooler yesterday and today so out with the camera.
Astilbe Willie Buchanan.
Campanula and Clematis.
Correopsis Bengal Tiger.
Heuchera Marmalade.
First batch of ferns. From left to right Adiantum reniforme, Aspenium trichomanes incisum, Polystichum seitiferum plumosum densum, Cystopteris fragilis, Phyllitis scolopendrium muricatum.
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Second batch of ferns. Asplenium lonchitis, Pteris gallinopes, Adiantum aleuticum, Asplenium fontanum, Polystichum lemmonii and Asplenium fontanum.
Inula ensifolia cmpacta.
Pelargonium trough.
Pritzilago alpina.
Saxifraga stolonifera in the shady border.
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Finally.
Scutellaria Texas Rose.
I've posted Seddum dasyphyllum Lloyd Praeger before in a pot this one is desperately trying to escape from the greenhouse.
Silene Mt. Snowden form.
Another view of the raised bed.
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Shelagh,
Thank you for consistently posting such a variety of attractive plants. I do indeed enjoy the variety of plant species; rock garden species, perennials, etc. that you grow in your garden. Hopefully your garden has received some much-needed rain and there is no need to drag a hose around or carry a watering can.
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In our garden the “Sleeper Bees” gather in clusters under the petals of Rudbeckia ‘Autumn Sun’ each evening to spend the night.
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They also like our California native annual Lessingia leptoclada, spending the night clinging to the narrow stems and small flowers.
With the full moon, the white flowers of Nicotiana ‘Priscilla’ and Nicotiana sylvestris glow in the moonlight. Both are fragrant, especially at night. I would not want to have a garden without such common plant species. It is such a magical experience!
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Thanks Robert. I love the picture of the bees under the Rudbeckia flower. Our R. goldstrum is just budding up bit, it grows so fast it is in danger of taking over the garden. A very vigorous plant.
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Robert, interesting to find where bees stay overnight.
Shelagh, I admire so much your variety of plants and tidy garden! The sunny part of my garden is full of crowded big plants, and I can't give them up to have space for smaller ones. In the woodland beds I can have small plants though.
It has been a dry July, today we are getting much needed rain but before that it has rained only 8mm all July. Plants are looking surprisingly well in spite of drought and hot weather.
This has been a good summer for butterflies and there are a lot of them in the garden.
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I love Phloxes and they seem to do well in my garden. They give much colour to the garden.
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Also Heleniums are my favourites. Most of them are flowering later in August, but the two earliest varietys are already flowering.
I use Mentha longifolia for tea but it is also a good butterfly plant.
Paeonia anomala seed pods are already opening, it is the first peony to ripen it's seeds, with P.veitchii just behind it.
Earlier this week I made a youtube video from my garden, Phloxes, Heleniums and butterflies (in Finnish).
https://youtu.be/3ay-35nVpfU
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Earlier this week I made a youtube video from my garden, Phloxes, Heleniums and butterflies (in Finnish).
Kaunis kesäpuutarha ja perhosia! Thanks for showing us around Leena :)
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Lovely plants Leena. I love the bronze Heleniums best, but everything seems to thrive in your garden. It simply wouldn't be half as exciting if we all grew the same plants.
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Also Heleniums are my favourites. Most of them are flowering later in August, but the two earliest varietys are already flowering.
I use Mentha longifolia for tea but it is also a good butterfly plant.
Paeonia anomala seed pods are already opening, it is the first peony to ripen it's seeds, with P.veitchii just behind it.
Earlier this week I made a youtube video from my garden, Phloxes, Heleniums and butterflies (in Finnish).
Leena, nice video. Beautiful flowers and butterflies. Thank you for showing.
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Goodness me! I have never seen so many butterflies and other pollinators in one place - fantastic numbers and range - your garden is pollinator heaven, Leena, and I think it's perfect! I know your winters are long and often frustrating for you when you see Spring coming earlier to some of us - but when you have such a fabulous garden to enjoy the wait is surely worth it. The film is also terrific and so well done. I don't understand Finnish, but your commentary was so relaxed and natural I just felt enveloped by the beautiful surrounding and able to enjoy it very much!
Thank you!
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Kiitos Ashley:). This summer has been a really sunny summer here. Many plants are flowering ahead of usual, and I'm hoping autumn will be also good and long with asters and colchicums.
Herman, thank you for watching it!
Lovely plants Leena. I love the bronze Heleniums best, but everything seems to thrive in your garden. It simply wouldn't be half as exciting if we all grew the same plants.
Thank you shelagh:). Bronze Heleniums are also my favourites, and I have only in the past few years found how many different ones there can be, and how much flowering time or height of the plants can vary. I have grown some from seeds (though germination is very poor most of the time), and they have been yellow, even when the seeds were from reddish flowers.
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Goodness me! I have never seen so many butterflies and other pollinators in one place - fantastic numbers and range - your garden is pollinator heaven, Leena, and I think it's perfect! I know your winters are long and often frustrating for you when you see Spring coming earlier to some of us - but when you have such a fabulous garden to enjoy the wait is surely worth it. The film is also terrific and so well done. I don't understand Finnish, but your commentary was so relaxed and natural I just felt enveloped by the beautiful surrounding and able to enjoy it very much! Thank you!
Maggi, thank you:). It was quite a long video when not understanding what I said but I'm so glad you were able to enjoy it. I have been learning to take video this summer, but there is still lot to learn, and I can't focus always right, and can't hold the camera steady all the time.
And I have been a bit shy to show my garden when it is so different from most everyone else's garden, and not as tidy as I would like, but I like it.
This summer has been really a butterfly summer here. As you know I'm always waiting for winter to end and don't like so much snow, but apparently last winter was very good for many butterflies with lot of snow, and also this summer has been good for them. I have tried to grow plants which they like, and there are quite a lot of trees around the garden, and many butterflies lay eggs on trees, so maybe they were born here close to the garden. I know some butterflies which eat nettles were born here, because we saw the larva eating them. Also we don't use any pesticides (or other "poisons") so that may help. The downside is that there are also lot of slugs and snails.
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Wow, Leena! Your garden is incredibly inviting! And not just for pollenators - for people, too! People get excited over here when there is just one butterfly in their garden. ::) I liked your talking, also, even though I didn't understand a word you said. Language has always been an interest of mine, and I much preferred listening to you rather than music.
I grow Hemerocallis citrina, too. Mine came from Chen Yi, as "Hemerocallis nana". It is the best tasting daylily flower I have tried so far. And the stem part just behind the petals is the pest part!
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Thank you Rick:).
I wanted to take a picture of my Hemerocallis citrina today, but it is now in the end of it's flowering and no open flowers today.
It is an old clone "found" in Finland and distributed here, and that is why it is called Mirja. It has a very nice fragrance, and before when we didn't have a fence and deer were eating my plants, they left this daylily alone and didn't eat it. I thought maybe it was the fragrance which deterred them.
I have read that daylilies are good to eat, but haven't tried them. Maybe I should:). Interesting about the stem part, I have to remember it.
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Lots of wonderful flowers! Still lots flowering here, though some things may be a little less bountifuly due to more warm days and a bit drier in earlier July (nothing like some other areas)-- though some plants are happy for less rain/more heat! None of them are happy that I'm still struggling to catch up with weeding! The simple fact is that I built more beds than I realistically have time to maintain! In an agricultural area, with lots of natural vegetation also, there is always a lot of blow in of seed, and many aggressive forage plants well established in mowed areas... oh well, thank goodness for close-ups and cropping ;)
Tristan-- I have my Grandmother's old scythe, though it needs maintenance/sharpening, which I have not had the ambition to learn how to do thus far! I have used it at times in areas I was unable to mow or that got really long over the last couple of years.. haven't done any this year yet... I once grew Pilosella aurantiaca from seed, then discovered that it is a prohibited noxious weed in Alberta (just in case, I guess, it is not a weed I've seen-- I see something orange on a nearby field, that makes me wonder, very brief, have to go look sometime)so I had to let them die unplanted :(
A few native Erigerons here--
first (pics 1-3)a plant I'm unsure of, from seed collected in the foothills- the only thing I've been suggested is Erigeron caespitosus, interesting, as it is very different from the other plants, also from wild seed, under that name, 4th pic. Note aphids on the stem, didn;t seem to bother it much. Last is Erigeron speciosus from B.C.
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Also Heleniums are my favourites. Most of them are flowering later in August, but the two earliest varietys are already flowering.
Mine too Leena. Unfortunately the garden here does not really seem suited to them, and the slugs eat them - I also lost a lot to what I think was eelworm. I think it may be a bit dry here in summer. Also the large number of bulbs I grow is a problem as I think Helenium need a situation where the young rosettes in spring have enough light.
I'm growing a few from seed so will keep trying....
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A few more snaps from the garden.
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I think this is Campanula alliariifolia. It came as a rogue from a seed exchange. It's very floppy, almost prostrate so would really look better tumbling over a wall.
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A nice pale pink seedling of Dierama pulcherrimum. I love this but the foliage is very unsightly so have had to remove a few of these from the front garden. In moderation when the foliage of other plants can dominate, they look superb.
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Cyananthus farreri is supposed to be difficult but it's easy here and is making a large clump.
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Eryngium giganteum, Linaria purpurea and Aconitum lycoctonum make a wonderful combination at the moment.
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Echinacea paradoxa. This isn't one of the most striking coneflowers but the flowers are still worth looking at, and are attractive to insects.
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Wolfsbane, Aconitum lycoctonum, I think. This was grown from wild seed collected in damp limestone woodland in Slovenia on holiday a few years ago. It has made a super patch. The old mangle in the background came with the house and we are using it as a garden ornament / clematis support (though the clematis have been a bit slow on the uptake).
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Clematis 'Arabella' scrambles through the wolfsbane.
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Sunset.
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Tristan the old mangle brought back memories of having to turn it for my grandmother many years ago.
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..... and mine too!
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I had to look up mangle in that sense-- only used as a verb or adjective here...lol
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Shelagh,
In our garden, Rudbeckia ‘Gold Storm’ provides a great deal of flower color during mid-summer. I give much thought to our garden design. Flowers are a high priority. I like flowers, and Rudbeckia ‘Gold Storm’ provides a great deal of flower color when the weather is hot and dry.
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Now on with other things…
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I also like Rudbeckia ‘Autumn Sun’. This perennial is also unfazed by our extreme summer heat.
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I will be dividing out ‘Autumn Sun’ and mixing it with tall single flowering Dahlias and various perennial Helianthus species. I know, some of the perennial Helianthus species are weedy, but I like the late summer-autumn color.
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I am making progress with Symphotrichum spathulatum. This California native species enjoys the rich soil in the perennial borders. Although it is from the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains it thrives in our garden and is not bothered by the valley heat.
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This F1 Erythranthe lewisii hybrid is showing great promise. It is male sterile; however I have been able to use it as a female parent. Fertility in both directions will most likely be restored and additional improvements can be made. I am pleased with this clone – so far it has produced many flowers throughout the summer despite the heat.
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This is the F1 generation of the somatic mutation I found on Tithonia rotundifolia last season. All the plants show various degrees of orange-red and yellow pigmentation on the petals. One can do all sorts of interesting things with the simplest of plant species.
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The fruits of plant breeding – Tomato Cosmonaut Volkov as a female parent. This tomato has great flavor.
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Cherokee Purple is another flavorful tomato.
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Freya’s Tears is a cherry tomato. This variety was my first success as a plant breeder. It has a sweet, complex flavor.
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Elena’s Scherzo is another cherry tomato that I bred many years ago. It is very sweet and flavorful. The same plant breeding techniques can be applied to ornamental species, including rock garden species. Now that I am retired, I am making great progress with my breeding projects. In general I work with what is close at hand. Magical things appear – It is a great gardening pleasure.
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Well I have lots of pics of H. citrina. They really are at their best at night.
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Robert, are you breeding hybrid tomatoes or strains?
And if strains, how many generations until they reproduce true from seed?
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Robert, are you breeding hybrid tomatoes or strains?
And if strains, how many generations until they reproduce true from seed?
Hello Rick,
Now that I am retired I am working on open pollenated, open source varietals. With CRISPER and Gene Drive technologies I feel it is vital that the genomes of species remain pure. I have bred hybrid tomatoes in the past. Using single seed descent, 9 generations of inbreeding will generally produce a stable variety or a stable line to use as a parent in a F1 hybrid. There is some wiggle room with this depending on the original cross and there are tricks to speed the process. These days I, more or less, follow this process with some of my own variations.
Open source varieties are varieties that can be used by anyone as long as recognition is given to the creator of the variety. Unlike hybrids or patented varieties there are no property rights. These varieties can be used by subsistence farmers in Asia, South and Central America, or Africa without having to pay patent fees or royalties. The varieties can also be used to create new varieties.
Single seed descent can be used successfully with any inbreeding species. So, this technique could be used with any naturally inbreeding rock garden species to produce a stable variety that will come true from seed (as long as the line remains pure). Inbreeding species frequently benefit from out breeding, so it is important to think about what one wants to accomplish in a breeding project.
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Thanks Robert!
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Well I have lots of pics of H. citrina. They really are at their best at night.
Rick, my H.citrina looks very similar, except yours is much more floriferous. Really nice!
Mine is not in full sun so maybe that is why there were not so much flowers.
None of them are happy that I'm still struggling to catch up with weeding! The simple fact is that I built more beds than I realistically have time to maintain! In an agricultural area, with lots of natural vegetation also, there is always a lot of blow in of seed, and many aggressive forage plants well established in mowed areas... oh well, thank goodness for close-ups and cropping ;)
Cohan, you wrote just how it is also here! Too big garden and too many weeds to keep on top of them. Big perennials are better here because they can compete with weeds better in sunnier part of the garden. Woodland part is much easier to maintain:).
You have nice Erigerons!
Also the large number of bulbs I grow is a problem as I think Helenium need a situation where the young rosettes in spring have enough light.
I'm growing a few from seed so will keep trying....
You may be right about rosettes needing light. Most of my bulbous plants are in woodland part of the garden, in sunny part I have only Narcissus and some Tulips, because every spring (and summer) there is so much weeding to do that it is easier to try to keep the surroundings of bigger perennials free of other plants. If I ever get rid of the worst weeds like ground elder (probably never) then I want also more small bulbs in the sunny garden.
I have sown Heleniums couple of times and they have had very poor germination. Only couple of plants from potful of seeds, but still they are very nice. Maybe the poor germination is because the mother plants were named cultivars, maybe wild species would be better to grow from seeds.
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Leena are there Heleniums that remain lower than 50cm?
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Yes, H. citrina is in full sun in my garden.That pic is actually from many years ago, before I started eating the flowers. Eating the flowers has the added benefit of no dead heading and keeping the plant looking. They are good tasting through the morning hours after the night they bloom (before they begin to shrivel). Also, the buds are not as good as the open flowers.
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Catching up with the postings here - a great video Leena! It is nice to see so many butterflies in one place.
Re growing from seeds: most cv. are hybrids reason why not many seeds are produced; it is hard to find info about the parents, most tall cv. have some blood from H. autumnale.
My Heleniums are mostly finished, the garden decor in sunny areas is dominated now by Echinacea, Phlox, Lobelias, Eupatorium....and Centaurea orientalis which greatly enjoys the hot summer.
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Thanks Gabriela.
Your garden looks so fresh and summery now:).
Leena are there Heleniums that remain lower than 50cm?
Mine are more than 1 meter tall, the tallest 1,7m.
The shortest is 'Siesta' which is just about 50cm. It was supposed to be even shorter so it may be also where it grows.
In MtCuba center trials it was rated very high and said to be a miniature cultivar.
https://mtcubacenter.org/trials/helenium/helenium-siesta/
'Siesta' is here only now starting to flower and will be in full bloom later in August.
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Thanks Gabriela.
Your garden looks so fresh and summery now:).
Mine are more than 1 meter tall, the tallest 1,7m.
The shortest is 'Siesta' which is just about 50cm. It was supposed to be even shorter so it may be also where it grows.
In MtCuba center trials it was rated very high and said to be a miniature cultivar.
https://mtcubacenter.org/trials/helenium/helenium-siesta/
'Siesta' is here only now starting to flower and will be in full bloom later in August.
Thank you Leena! Siesta belongs to the Mariachi series (compact plants), so I will look after them.
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Rick- the H citrina, are really nice! The only day I have is an old orange cultivar first planted on the acreage herein the late 70's early 80's. I dug up most of the old bed as it was where I was expanding a rock garden but plopped a few here and there where they are slowly establishing.. I need to start eating some, as otherwise I mostly think of them as weeds...lol
Leena- the Erigerons are nice- E speciosus and E caespitosus are nice for having fairly long flower life before making seed- I also have the local E philadelphicus which established itself in the gardens and I perhaps foolishly helped it! It can make large plants with piles of flowers, but each flower is fairly short lived and makes seed almost instantly! Very nice in the garden, but better if not near any small plants...lol
Here's an old garden bed, started by my mom/aunt many years ago. They planted the Veronica which covers much of the bed, rugosa rose hybrids in centre; I added some Achillea cultivars around two sides, moved some Lychnis coronaria from elsewhere on the property, and some Symphytum/Comfrey just to one side of the bed. It's right at a turn/corner of the driveway/parking, so in winter it gets a huge pile of shovelled snow, up to 8-10 feet high and several or more metres across! The snow pile usu lasts from late Oct/early Nov into May. In summer it is in flower for months and literally buzzing with bees and other pollinators.
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