Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Seedy Subjects! => Seeds Wanted => Topic started by: Stephenb on August 17, 2010, 12:59:23 PM
-
I'm interested in adding to my collection of Dandelions, Taraxacum spp., in particular T. kok-saghyz (Rubber Dandelion) which I've lost - it comes from the Tjan-Shan valley in Kazakhstan (has anyone collected in that area?)
I have the following already as well as various officinale cultivars:
Taraxacum albidum
Taraxacum faroense
Taraxacum laetum
Taraxacum limnanthes
Taraxacum pamiricum
Taraxacum pseudoroseum
Taraxacum rubrifolium (looks the same as faroense)
Taraxacum trilobatum
Taraxacum variegatum
-
Something I've been interested in but how do you cope with seedlings and blow in seed?
-
I too am interested in Taraxacum. I'm fascinated by garden worthy plants that come from "weed" genera/species. I confess that I have only grown a few dandelions, and don't currently grow any (except in the lawn). But hope that this discussion grows--and that Stephen posts more photographs of species and cultivars.
-
Mark: You cope with them in the same way as wild Dandelions which are everywhere here (deadhead and weed). Not all the species are so aggressive anyway - I wish pamiricum would seed itself more, this one has been very slow to spread. I love Dandelions in my lawn and the young plants are easy to weed out of beds. There are much worse weeds in my opinion...
-
I too am interested in Taraxacum. I'm fascinated by garden worthy plants that come from "weed" genera/species. I confess that I have only grown a few dandelions, and don't currently grow any (except in the lawn). But hope that this discussion grows--and that Stephen posts more photographs of species and cultivars.
-
I too am interested in Taraxacum. I'm fascinated by garden worthy plants that come from "weed" genera/species. I confess that I have only grown a few dandelions, and don't currently grow any (except in the lawn). But hope that this discussion grows--and that Stephen posts more photographs of species and cultivars.
Me too, particularly if they are useful too/ have a story to be told (Taraxacums attract more attention than most other plants in my garden, partly the surprise factor or someone pointing out I haven't weeded recently ;))
Anyway, here are a few more shots of Dandelions in my garden:
2. Taraxacum faroense (a ground hugging species with very dark leaves, a beautiful contrast to the standard yellow flowers)
3. Wild Taraxacum officinale with my son many years ago - Dandelions grow tall here in the land of the almost midnight sun
4. Taraxacum "Pissenlit Coeur Plein Ameliore" picked up as seed in a French supermarket many years ago - I would say it was spectacular in full flower, following the sun it should be called Sunflower...
5. The same plant in virgin colours in the spring after a spell of blanching
6. 2 recent improved vegetable cultivars - UK Thick-leaved (who in the UK is working on improving Dandelions) and Vert de Montmagny Ameliore
7. Taraxacum pamiricum
8. Taraxacum variegatum
Apologies if I've posted some of these before, but here they are all together. The much maligned Dandelion...
-
Interesting to see the "vegetable" cultivars. We eat it regularly, but I haven't searched them out before....
-
Taraxacum rubrifolium (looks the same as faroense)
Hold on while I don my spelling-fussbudget drag...there....ready?
It's correctly spelled T. rubifolium, not T. rubrifolium.
You aren't the only dandelion fancier out there. I've been growing T. albidum for many years and am trying to branch out a little now. Alas, I've never seen even one self-sown white dandelion, more's the pity. I think our dry summer climate and excessively wet winters do not agree with this charming Japanese plant.
Postscript: A few words about Taraxacum albidum. In spite of my dissing it, I have grown it successfully for many years. It's under the overhang of a large deodar (Cedrus deodara) in amongst various spring-flowering bulbs. A fairly shaded location with little direct sun, but reasonably strong diffuse light from the south. Though the site is quite dry in summer, the deodar keeps it from being soaking wet in winter, and thus from rotting. (I have found many Japanese plants cannot handle soaking wetness in the winter in my poorly drained garden.) It flowers modestly and I can get seed from it if pay attention when the seedheads open.
The soil is fairly well drained, at least to the point there's never standing water in winter, unlike much of my garden. The site is close to the house and the soil has been modified by years of dumping spent potting soil on it: all that expensive granite grit comes in handy.
It might grow better if given reasonable summer watering, but it seems to do well enough planted in amongst the small spring-flowering bulbs.
I've often thought that a lawn sprinkled with Taraxacum species of various colors might make a charming scene.
-
good topic! i recently got some seed from wim, pseudo-roseum is thriving already, but alas, albidum didn't come up for some reason, must be something i did wrong... too bad, i was most excited about the white flowers...
i've been thinking i'd like to try the improved veg strains as well, we've eaten the 'wild' ones regularly this summer, and surrounded by agricultural land, they are absolutely everywhere..
i wonder if mark's question was really: how do you tell the sown plants at seedling stage from blown in seedlings of wild/weed species? something i have wondered about myself? my pseudo-roseum were started indoors, so i suppose small seedlings that start later could be weeds, but could be just late starters..the leaves are typical enough... species with different leaves would be easier to tell..
speaking of that, the photo of pamiricum doesn't show--i was looking forward to that one, as it has entire leaves, correct? apart from eating, i am most interested in species that don't look too much like the regular plants-so different leaves or flower colours...
i'm also really interested in a couple of arctic species i have seen one or two pics of--hyparcticum with a paler yellow flowers seems really pretty for example..
here's a view from across the road (typical of many around), showing why my gardens will never ever be free of dandelions....
-
Taraxacum rubrifolium (looks the same as faroense)
Hold on while I don my spelling-fussbudget drag...there....ready?
It's correctly spelled T. rubifolium, not T. rubrifolium.
You aren't the only dandelion fancier out there. I've been growing T. albidum for many years and am trying to branch out a little now. Alas, I've never seen even on self-sown white dandelion, more's the pity. I think our dry summer climate and excessively wet winters do not agree with this charming Japanese plant.
Rodger: Thanks for the correction. I also got this same plant as T. faroense from a different source. I see in the IPNI database that faroense doesn't exist (there's a faroenseforme though). T. rubifolium is however accompanied by a reference about the Faroes, so I'll now rename to rubifolium so that at least I don't spread the confusion further.
T. albidum I'm trying to overwinter for the first time so wish me luck!
-
...speaking of that, the photo of pamiricum doesn't show--i was looking forward to that one, as it has entire leaves, correct? apart from eating, i am most interested in species that don't look too much like the regular plants-so different leaves or flower colours...
i'm also really interested in a couple of arctic species i have seen one or two pics of--hyparcticum with a paler yellow flowers seems really pretty for example..
here's a view from across the road (typical of many around), showing why my gardens will never ever be free of dandelions....
Don't know what happened with that pamiricum picture - I see there were two views and I'm sure I saw it earlier. Anyway, I've reinstated it now at the end and added my variegated Dandelion (which I posted elsewhere recently). I presume this is just a variegated form of T. officinale, but I note in IPNI that there is a species T. variegatum, but last I looked I couldn't find anything about it... I've also had seed of T. officinale album and T. arcticum from Svalbard which is also white (but neither germinated :'().
I've also just planted a few plants from a packet of "Pink and White Dandelions" so it will be interesting to see what they are.
Cohan: That's quite some Dandelion field you've got there. They're quite picturesque in seed too:
-
stephen, that's perhaps and extreme example (the field of dandelions) but not really uncommon around here-since they are nutritious in forage, and (i think) not tall enough to affect cereal crops (of course you wouldn't want them that dense in a seed crop, just for space and nutrient uptake) so they aren't the focus of any specific eradication programs in agriculture; therefor, such vistas are common in season--including huge swathes of yellow lighting up the countryside..so i'm a bit disinclined to use yellow flowering plants (of any kind) in my garden in early summer, since they would just be unnoticeable in the general yellowing of the region!
i have a small collection of arctic dandelion sp (oops!-photos!) i have found online--arcticum (white) hyparcticum (paler yellow flrs, red leaves) and phymatocarpum which seems (i have 2 photos) to have whitey yellow or pinkey yellow flowers, possibly with fewer ray flowers, more open centre, and leaves tending to reddish..all very nice--though who knows if i will ever find seed!
any sources in general for arctic seed??
let us know what comes of the pink and white!
-
Anita and Andrew Thorp with a nursery in Theddingworth in the east midlands UK keep a couple of taraxum - dont remember which and I lost mine :'( I doubt they have a web site though
-
Anita and Andrew Thorp with a nursery in Theddingworth in the east midlands UK keep a couple of taraxum - dont remember which and I lost mine :'( I doubt they have a web site though
Here are contact details for the Thorpes ( from the HPS Rutland site:
http://www.rutnet.co.uk/pp/gold/viewGold.asp?IDType=Page&ID=20408 link broken )
A & A Thorp
Anita & Andrew Thorp Bungalow No 5, Main Street, Theddingworth, Leicestershire, LE17 6QZ Telephone(01858) 880496
-
:o very efficient Maggie :D,
they have a fabulous nursery, :-X as dangerous to me as the East Anglia Bulb Fair, with every weed, rare bulb and collectors item going! ::)
-
I just had a look at what is listed in the RHS on-line Plant Finder under Taraxacum:
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder2.asp?crit=taraxacum&Genus=Taraxacum (http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder2.asp?crit=taraxacum&Genus=Taraxacum)
I see that there are nurseries offering both T. faeroense and T. rubrifolium (under the wrong spelling) - wonder if these errors come from my seed trading activities...
T. albidum is listed by Linn Botanical Gardens and there's another T. "Nettleton" which isn't listed any more by the nursery in question.
The Thorp Nursery sounds like a place to visit - do you just call for an appointment? Do they have a speciality? Is the nursery at the same place as their address?
-
The Thorp Nursery sounds like a place to visit - do you just call for an appointment? Do they have a speciality? Is the nursery at the same place as their address?
PeterT may be able to help with a speciality etc... info I found suggested to phone in advance....... :-\
-
I wonder if Taraxacum carneocoloratum is still getting around in seed exchanges. 30 years ago it was quite popular in the ARGS (now NARGS) seed exchange, for which I'm partly responsible for keeping the momentum going. If ever there was a rock garden dandelion, this was it, a tiny rosette and small semi-nodding bronzy-pink flowers, utterly charming. It's from but a couple mountains in Alaska and Yukon Territory, Canada. The Flora of Alaska by E. Hulten lists this as "extremely rare". Another dwarf species, T. hypacticum is listed, described as having flowers that are white, purplish, or brown, although Flora of North America describes the flowers as: corollas cream-colored to white or pink-tinged distally, outer pinkish-striped abaxially.
T. carneocoloratum
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TACA6
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250067702
distribution map:
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=56302&flora_id=1
T. hyparcticum
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250067704
-
A couple more for my wants list - we need a Dandelion revival! Hope someone has maintained that one. In the link I posted above to the UK Plant Finder (lists most of what is offered by UK nurseries each year), it says that carneocoloratum was last offered in 1998...
-
Adding to the Dandelion Revival 8), here are two endemic dandelion species from Cyprus. Both photos are scanned from Cyprus Flora in Color - The Endemics, and posted here per fair non-commercial use. The first is Taraxacum aphrogenes, which grows in rock fissures just above sea level; probably not hardy, but the foliage is certainly fascinating as is the small stature (up to 11 cm). The second is T. holmboei found in a variety of mountain habitats including gravelly screes at 1200-1950 meters. Stems generally less than 8 cm. While yellow flowered, growing these dwarf rare species could help legitimize dandelions in the garden ;D
-
I wonder if Taraxacum carneocoloratum is still getting around in seed exchanges. 30 years ago it was quite popular in the ARGS (now NARGS) seed exchange, for which I'm partly responsible for keeping the momentum going. If ever there was a rock garden dandelion, this was it, a tiny rosette and small semi-nodding bronzy-pink flowers, utterly charming. It's from but a couple mountains in Alaska and Yukon Territory, Canada. The Flora of Alaska by E. Hulten lists this as "extremely rare". Another dwarf species, T. hypacticum is listed, described as having flowers that are white, purplish, or brown, although Flora of North America describes the flowers as: corollas cream-colored to white or pink-tinged distally, outer pinkish-striped abaxially.
T. carneocoloratum
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TACA6
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250067702
distribution map:
http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=56302&flora_id=1
T. hyparcticum
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250067704
hyparcticum is one i mentioned before, having seen it at this site, where it looks very cute! the other flower colours you mention sound interesting as well, but the cream is very nice..
http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/_ca/www/astahy.htm
photo links are at the bottom of the page..
this is a good site overall for canadian arctic plants...
http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/_ca/
-
Adding to the Dandelion Revival 8), here are two endemic dandelion species from Cyprus. Both photos are scanned from Cyprus Flora in Color - The Endemics, and posted here per fair non-commercial use. The first is Taraxacum aphrogenes, which grows in rock fissures just above sea level; probably not hardy, but the foliage is certainly fascinating as is the small stature (up to 11 cm). The second is T. holmboei found in a variety of mountain habitats including gravelly screes at 1200-1950 meters. Stems generally less than 8 cm. While yellow flowered, growing these dwarf rare species could help legitimize dandelions in the garden ;D
Legitimizing Dandelions? Maybe I shouldn't have come out in the open and declared that I was (hush, hush) growing dandelions with intent!
Concerning Cypriot Dandelions, there have been a number of recent ethnobotanical studies in the Mediterranean countries concerning wild gathered food plants (basically interviews are conducted with old people in remote mountain villages where these traditions have survived). Funding has become available in recent years from EU and national governments due to increased interest in the Mediterranean diet and its health benefits. Traditionally wild gathered food was an important component of this diet. I have one study from Cyprus (Della, A et al, An ethnobotanical survey of wild edible plants of Paphos and Larnaca countryside of Cyprus) and two species are mentioned apart from officinale - T. cyprium (is this not an endemic?) and T. hellenicum (Preparation: Raw, usually dressed with oil, and vinegar or lemon; or eaten fresh with olives, onions and bread).
I have a list of some 7 species which have been positively identified as used in the Mediterranean region, although I'm sure people used any Dandelion that they came across...
-
Legitimizing Dandelions?
BD (Ian Y) thinks his "pet" dandelion Taraxacum officionale is perfectly legitimate and has been these many years......... ::) and points to its repeated appearance in the Bulb Log and even on the cover of IRG to prove it!!
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2010Jul291280437029IRG7_July2010.pdf
The other week a call I answered to the BBC Scotland radio programme ''Beechgrove Potting Shed" was a woman calling to ask a question when Ian was on the panel and she specifically asked after his pet dandelion ;D
-
Legitimizing Dandelions?
BD (Ian Y) thinks his "pet" dandelion Taraxacum officionale is perfectly legitimate and has been these many years......... ::) and points to its repeated appearance in the Bulb Log and even on the cover of IRG to prove it!!
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2010Jul291280437029IRG7_July2010.pdf
The other week a call I answered to the BBC Scotland radio programme ''Beechgrove Potting Shed" was a woman calling to ask a question when Ian was on the panel and she specifically asked after his pet dandelion ;D
A splendid example and sorry I didn't notice it before! I now know what BD stands for too ;)
Does his pet TaRAXacum have a name? May I suggest Rax? Does he take it for walks?
-
RAX mostly just sits quietly, growing lush leaves and giving lots of flowers in his corner of a raised bed. "Walks"..... in the form of spreading seedlings are NOT encouraged ;D
-
i saw that splendid dandelion in the IRG and was wondering what it was--seems to lead a pampered life indeed ;D
btw, there are dandelions surviving in our gravel driveway(last gravelling probably a couple of decades ago or more, hard packed clayey soil, mostly), and they are tiny, flat and reddish, just like arctic species, but i am sure they are just stressed officinale, and with a little water and looser soil would probably look like Rax!
-
hehe,
If only I could get rid of all the Dandelions in my yard I would feel incredibly blessed :) ;D
-
hehe,
If only I could get rid of all the Dandelions in my yard I would feel incredibly blessed :) ;D
i have absolutely no hope of that, barring massive chemical warfare which would wipe out dozens of selfsown wildflower species long before the dandelions would expire! as it stands, i could probably feed several head of cows or horses overwinter on the dandelions in my yard were i to harvest them all!! i just try to keep the common species sort of limited in planted areas....
clover is a much greater bother, i must say :( and equally impossible to eradicate here..