Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: YakubSigm on May 21, 2015, 09:20:02 PM
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Perhaps the point of rock gardening is just to grow rare, esoteric plants. So, I figured, why not ask?
What strange, bizarre, kind-of pointless things that you waste WAAAY to much time & $$$ on (as judged by an unenlightened one), that you take a delight in its obscene obscurity?
For me, I always wanted to get growing some Oreobolus, but I can never find a source.
http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Oreobolus (http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Oreobolus)
How about yall? : ;D ;)
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I once grew a very impressive ten inch pan full of Primula reptans in full flower and exhibited it at a Southport AGS Show… I don't even know if this gorgeous primula is still in cultivation anywhere … would LOVE to try this gem again.
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Take what looks like the green spidery things that are the remains of the sepals from a few tomatoes. Stick them on plain green stalks. Spray them with essence of sweaty sock and them call them a species Narcissus. Woo hoo, one of my favourite plants. ;D
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I once grew a very impressive ten inch pan full of Primula reptans in full flower and exhibited it at a Southport AGS Show… I don't even know if this gorgeous primula is still in cultivation anywhere … would LOVE to try this gem again.
We're not growing this anymore - but, happily, others are. I saw a pot at a display table at an Aberdeen Group meeting this season.
Jenny Wainwright-Klein ( of the Munich Botanic Garden) has it growing at the Alpine Garden on the Schachen, I believe.
Good to know it is still being grown - it's such a delightful little thing - but I reckon your achievement of getting a big potful on the show bench is likely to remain a very rare occurrence.
Alan Elliot's pic of P. reptans in the wild :
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9543.msg255462#msg255462 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9543.msg255462#msg255462)
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Perhaps the point of rock gardening is just to grow rare, esoteric plants. So, I figured, why not ask?
What strange, bizarre, kind-of pointless things that you waste WAAAY to much time & $$$ on (as judged by an unenlightened one), that you take a delight in its obscene obscurity?
For me, I always wanted to get growing some Oreobolus, but I can never find a source.
http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Oreobolus (http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Oreobolus)
How about yall? : ;D ;)
http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=1065 (http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=1065) Yeah YakubSigm, that's odd!
What I think is odd about my plant desires is that it so hard to just learn to love what you've got! I'm working on it though and I think I am making progress!
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We're not growing this anymore - but, happily, others are. I saw a pot at a display table at an Aberdeen Group meeting this season.
Jenny Wainwright-Klein ( of the Munich Botanic Garden) has it growing at the Alpine Garden on the Schachen, I believe.
Good to know it is still being grown - it's such a delightful little thing - but I reckon your achievement of getting a big potful on the show bench is likely to remain a very rare occurrence.
Alan Elliot's pic of P. reptans in the wild :
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9543.msg255462#msg255462 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9543.msg255462#msg255462)
Looking back through my records, Primula reptans gained me a 'First' at Morecambe Show in 1997; just a 'Third' at Southport in 1997 and a 'Cert' of Merit' (but not a 'First' ???) at Wirral Show in the same year. It must have been considered to be quite easy and firmly in cultivation in those days!!! Just goes to show. Strangely (and frustratingly), I have no photographic record of my achievement … I must have been quite blasé about my abilities in those heady years. Oh how I wish I could reinvigorate those now fading green fingers. ::)
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On the same record cards I discovered a 'First' for Ranunculus enysii, a 'First' for R. haastii and TWO 'Firsts' for R. glacialis … three Red stickers for Myosotis capitata, one for Meconopsis delavayi and one for Androsace spinulifera. Where did that ability go?
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http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=1065 (http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=1065) Yeah YakubSigm, that's odd!
What I think is odd about my plant desires is that it so hard to just learn to love what you've got! I'm working on it though and I think I am making progress!
Lack of space is usually a very strong argument to start being happy with I already have :)
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Maggi, the draw of Oreobolus is it's perfect, dense cushions, such glorious little tussocks... :P Pacific-islander "alpines" are a fascinating bunch.
Primula reptans is stunning. Maybe something to try one day.
Narcissus vird.- now THATS weird! I wonder if it could be used to get green and/or fall-flowering narcissus without the HS-locker perfume.
Variety and novelty are usually big sellers, but I still have a little space left to squander, so whatever goes!
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Maggi, the draw of Oreobolus is it's perfect, dense cushions, such glorious little tussocks...
... that are well known by kiwi hikers . If you want to get across a swamp without getting your feet wet , you use the Oreobolus as stepping stones .
Have just harvested the seed off this magnificent piece of botanical architecture ...
[attachimg=1]
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OK, Steve … spill the beans … what on earth is that?
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Have a look here Cliff : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12515.msg319754#msg319754 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12515.msg319754#msg319754)
Can anyone explain to me the difference between P. alpestris and P. berteroniana ::)
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=2405.msg54981#msg54981 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=2405.msg54981#msg54981) and http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=225.msg5671#msg5671 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=225.msg5671#msg5671)
???
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Many thanks, Maggi … how did I miss that!!!!?
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… how did I miss that!!!!?
Gallivanting in Italy I suspect . It's hard to keep up with ones forum whilst staggering from one restaurant to the next ;D
I'm going to send seed to the SRGC seed exhange as Puya alpestris . I don't really know the difference but that is what the plants came as and the leaves are silver not green
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Gallivanting in Italy I suspect . It's hard to keep up with ones forum whilst staggering from one restaurant to the next ;D
I'm going to send seed to the SRGC seed exhange as Puya alpestris . I don't really know the difference but that is what the plants came as and the leaves are silver not green
'Galavanting'? 'Staggering'? How dare you Mr Newall? Prancing and crawling, please!!!! ;D
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New Zealand seems to be full of weird plants - where does the 'penwiper' plant get its name or Hebejeebie?
This is a beautiful and weirdish Mexican Pine in our garden - Pinus patula - with lots of male parts and just a few female in the centre of the picture. Looks rather wonderful at the moment.
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Tom Hart-Dyke grows Dendrocnide moroides,, or Gympie Gympie, the Queensland stinger. Some say it is the most dangerous plant in the world. He grows it in a cage.
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Tim, where did you get that Pinus patula from? I've always wanted to grow one!
And weird things ??? I don't know what you are talking about. I have only weird neigbours who wonder why I have all that weed in my garden ;)
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Ahhh my beloved Australia, the land where even the plants try to kill you.
I've encountered Gympie gympie in the wild while hiking through the rainforest. Didn't know it was that dangerous. A park ranger told us he'd heard of misguided and desperate tourists accidentally using the big soft leaves as toilet paper! :o A mistake which you'd only make once, and would almost certainly land one in hospital! Red faced AND red bottomed.
Lawyer vine is worse in my opinion... Lethal bl@@dy stuff.
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Trond - I grew it from seed (Chiltern Seed) many years ago. We sold most and had one left with a very wonky stem which I planted in the garden, so it is weird from several perspectives. Our lowest recorded temperature here has been -14°C so it might be worth you trying. Easy to grow from seed like most pines - next to it we have a huge Pinus ponderosa which is also magnificent as the "flowers" develop.
Caiophora and Loasa are good if you like stinging plants! There was, maybe still is, a good plant of Loasa canarinoides or triphylla(?) in the walled garden at West Acre, near Swaffham, Norfolk, which was really striking (and no worse than a nettle which is well established in our garden ;)). Years ago we also grew a climbing Caiophora from seed given to us by Brenda Anderson. So instead of planting a clematis with a honeysuckle why not go South American and plant Caiophora with a Mutisia!
And then there is Robert's 'Poison Ivy' in California...!
(sorry Cliff - Primula reptans is much too beautiful to be accounted weird. Ranunculus haastii must get closer :-\, weird and beautiful).
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How about Umbellularia californica, the Headache Tree. It grows in the Chelsea Physic Garden.
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I have a garden full of weird and wonderful things. A lot of the aroids qualify I reckon;
Arisaema (various)
Arisarum proboscideum (and vulgare)
Biarum davisii
Dracunculus vulgaris
Arum dioscoridis
I have a little collection of Ceropegia in our bathroom. Those are pretty odd!
Ceropegia ampliata
C. succulenta
C. stapeliiformis
C. armandii
C. woodii
C. sandersonii (sadly now deceased)
Stapeliads are pretty weird, I grow Orbea variegata.
My Tropaeolums get comments from visitors, especially T. tricolorum
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Trond - I grew it from seed (Chiltern Seed) many years ago. We sold most and had one left with a very wonky stem which I planted in the garden, so it is weird from several perspectives. Our lowest recorded temperature here has been -14°C so it might be worth you trying. Easy to grow from seed like most pines - next to it we have a huge Pinus ponderosa which is also magnificent as the "flowers" develop.
. . . .
Thanks Tim. I have just ordered some but not from Chiltern, as they didn't have at the moment!
Jamus, I grow some Arisaema too - I thought they where weird before I started growing them but not now!
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I grew Urtica ferox, but lost the plant. Will have to get more from Oratia Nursery http://www.oratianatives.co.nz/. (http://www.oratianatives.co.nz/.)