Alberta Wanderings 09

[cohan]

Lovely moody cloudscapes, Cohan, and all so different....so many little gems in the grass - the Sisyrinchium is really cute 

thanks, robin-- you may know Blue Eyed Grass is the common name of Sisyrinchium..appropriate enough... i think it should look really nice in a garden where you can really appreciate the tiny iris-like leaves,pretty flowers, and round seed capsules..

[mark smyth]

Cohan I've been watching a programme about loggers from your area who harvest aspen in the depths of winter. Very hard working guys considering the extreme cold conditions

[cohan]

Cohan I've been watching a programme about loggers from your area who harvest aspen in the depths of winter. Very hard working guys considering the extreme cold conditions

interesting, what were they using the aspen for? not that much good as lumber, too soft..maybe specialty uses..
fortunately the winter daytimes around/below -30C are not too common, though they happen, and lots of days below -10, -20C.. of course its windy days that are deadly and you really have to watch for frostbite of face, hands, feet; if its sunny and still, its not too bad even at lower temperatures..
once it gets really cold, machines and equipment can break down even faster than the humans

actually, i'm going out now to do some harvesting of poplar and spruce that were blown down some weeks ago in the bush surrounding our place, for firewood..starting to get chilly now, though not real winter cold for some time, hopefully....but, sigh1 it is coming!
we were at 32C afew days ago, and today is sunny but chilly--probably less than 15, and much less in the shade..

[mark smyth]

It's used for fine paper

[cohan]

ah! yes, paper makes more sense...
we didn't get too far with our harvesting today, but it's a start! we'll go through a lot of wood over the winter, as that's almost our only heat in this house..

[cohan]

we were talking about chinese calthas in another thread, and i came here to find pics of C palustris to compare: our form seems to have  smoother or at least shinier leaves;
it seems i didn't post any this spring, so here are a couple-
first an early shot of buds and leaves-May 10, showing early foliage which can be quite purply;
second a couple of weeks later, another budding plant, showing leaf texture close up
third a patch in full bloom, in a shady area-sunny spot plants are more compact; leaves have lost the purple, but are still rather shiny..

[Lesley Cox]

Those are very good Cohan. I like the dark leaves with the fat, yellow buds.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

It makes a good combination, doesn't it.  I've never grown Caltha at all.

[cohan]

thanks, paul and lesley--they are a favourite of mine, especially because they are one of the very first wildflowers here--usually in early may, late april in an exceptional year; the first ones poke up out of icey water just a few inches high,at a time when there isnt so much as green grass, so they are very very welcome;
 but there are some in bloom for many weeks, with flowering plants reaching at least 30-40cms, probably more in the shade, and in shady places the leaves get quite large, taking on an almost tropical feel..i thought i had pics of that, but i didnt find them last night...

paul, i dont know about their heat tolerance, but they are plants of at least vernally wet places, so you'd probably need some kind of bog planter for them... i havent actually grown any yet, myself, but there is a nice shady patch of them among willows on my acreage, and many other spots on the farm, and along roadsides..

[Lori S.]

Caltha palustris is actually very tolerant of regular garden conditions, with no extra moisture... perhaps surprisingly, given the conditions that they seem to be restricted to in the wild.  They seem to be quite commonly grown across the prairies, so it seems they can take some heat... though the degree and duration of Australian heat may be something else again.

[cohan]

Caltha palustris is actually very tolerant of regular garden conditions, with no extra moisture... perhaps surprisingly, given the conditions that they seem to be restricted to in the wild.  They seem to be quite commonly grown across the prairies, so it seems they can take some heat... though the degree and duration of Australian heat may be something else again.

yes, probably nothing like the heat paul gets not sure about his night cool down....
certainly here the calthas, and most other wetland plants, unless they grow only right in the water or right at the edge of it, can take dryish conditions in mid summer--in average years, nevermind extra dry ones-all but the deepest parts of sloughs here are totally dry in summer (though likely still moist a bit deeper down)..
some of the ericaceous things (ledum, vaccinium) here (by here i mean on our land) grow on raised hummocks in wettish areas, and often under spruce trees, so they can seem to be on very dry soil, but i bet they send roots down into the moister areas below/between the hummocks (old grown over rotten logs, bases of trees, raised areas beside old cattle trails)

[Lesley Cox]

Yes, calthas will tolerate the general garden conditions as well as loving heaps of moisture. I find C. palustris even will take considerable drought once the thick roots have gone well down. Ideally though, they'd have a pool or streamside to grow in.

[maggiepie]

Cohan, which native geraniums grow near you?
I was looking at your pics earlier today, the Sisyrinchium montanum are really cute.
They grow in my yard here and I dug some up in summer and planted in the garden. Some of them were growing into lovely little mounds before the frosts hit.
I was very happy with them.

[cohan]

helen, i only have G richardsonii right here--i do have a pile of photos that will be an album, and they range from pure white to white with varying amounts of pink veins and staining, to quite pink, and i even photographed some with ragged petals;
this is very common here, it is self sown all over my yard from the wild, i will soon try semi/cultivating them to get some denser stands (although it is a rather open plant, and probably best in mixed stands) and concentrate some of the colour forms..
i sent kristl some seed of the typical types, in the raw form, so its yet to be seen what if anything she can get out of the batch, and i collected just a very few of the other forms that i will try myself..hopefully this coming year i will get more seed of all of them...

viscosissimum grows farther south, i havent seen it in person, and bicknellii is around somewhere, but i havent seen it either


sisyrinchium is another i have a bit of local seed of, and will try sowing, havent done it before...they are  delightful plants and i think would be great in the garden where they could get closer attention...

[maggiepie]

Cohan, I look forward to seeing your pics of G richardsonii, I have yet to see one myself.
I don't think there are any native geraniums around here. 
My favourites of the wildflowers here are bluets, they charm me.
Do you have those ?
I've not tried the sisyrinchium  from seed, it must be easy though as it comes up in the lawns ( which by the way are pretty much like your lawn) and veggie garden.