Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Saxifraga => Topic started by: Matt T on February 11, 2016, 11:15:20 AM
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Have just taken delivery of a small order of Porophyllum Sax's from Mendle Nursery and wanted to share my experience. Ordering was easy, although the website could do with more photographs as many of the cultivars are not illustrated (cross referencing with other online resources is easy though). Despatch seemed to be a little slow, but it turned out that a couple of those I ordered were out of stock. I emailed back with a few substitutes and a parcel arrived quickly. They were very well packaged, potted plants and have come to no harm in transit at all. The plants themselves are pretty good - well grown young plants, some already showing flower buds. Some are perhaps a little loose, but a season in the windy Western Isles and they'll soon form tight, weatherproof buns. I'd have no concerns about placing an order again, especially given that the range of cultivars on offer is fantastic.
PS: Very excited to have the beautiful 'Zlata Praha' amongst them!
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Hello Matt, yes Mendle Nursery is very good and have a good range of Saxifrage and Sempervivum.
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Very nice Matt
Don't know if you saw my post on FB, I had these Kabschia Saxifrages for Xmas, from Bart Moerland at Alpigena nurseries in Holland, a great range and superb plants very well packaged ( I had over 60! 😄). I think he has nearly finished updating the Saxifrage section of his website as well
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I did see you post on FB and was wishing someone would order me such a wonderful present! :)
Bart's website is excellent, and a resource I use all the time - mostly for adding more names to my wish list. I find that many of the cultivars I want are not widely available in the UK, so I may have to send my wishlist to Bart to see what he can supply... after my next payday of course!
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Have just taken delivery of a small order of Porophyllum Sax's from Mendle Nursery and wanted to share my experience.
Plants are always excellent - not been for a while - we used to visit when we went to the large comercial herb nursery nearby. To be honest I was more intereseted in going to Mendle as I always ended up with something I needed.
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It is very difficult to obtain Kabschia Saxes in North America but Mendle Nursery are very helpful. We placed a large order for Kabschia Saxes a year ago and it worked out pretty well even though the plants had to be bare-rooted for import so some did not survive the shipping. Mendle were very accommodating and we now have some cultivars found nowhere else in North America.
The Saxifrage season has started here with wet and warmish weather and many are in full flower. Saxifraga Allendale Charm is available this side of the Atlantic so I have had this one a few years.
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Saxifraga burseriana 'Prince Hal'
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First shot at posting photos. I hope it works! ???
'Marilyn Munro'
'Gemma'
'Karel Capek'
'Pankrac'
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It certainly did work Sue and Very nicely, too!
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Fantastic Sue and a lot further forward than mine are
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A few more!
'Geoffrey Gould'
'Golem'
'Judith Shackleton'
'Allendale Elf'
'Sissi'
( edit by maggi to add plant names so they can be found in the search , Sue)
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Superb plants again Sue and I know I have commented on your labelling before on Facebook ( I think George is responsible ?) just intrigued on your " notes" ?
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Those Saxifrages are spectacular Sue. What potting mix are you using?
Can anyone identify this Sax which has just flowered for the first time? It was grown from seed from the SRGC seed exchange as Saxifraga ramsarica but it clearly is not. Saxifraga ramsarica should have whitish flowers.
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David - Compost mix I have to admit is just a variation on the one I use for almost everything! JI2, composted bark and masses of grit - sometimes a little Dolomitic lime if I remember. Keeping them under cover in the winter certainly seems to help in this part of the country but I move them into frames outside in the summer. At least I have so far - numbers have increased recently so it will be a struggle to fit them in to the outdoor frames. (Call to George, my soon-to-be husband, for more frames!)
Lawrence - George's "notes" on the labels mean that he has gone to the bother of keeping a note in our database of anything interesting written by the seller. Our database used to be on the computer - I have to admit it is now in George's endless notebooks, waiting to be entered! Not enough time in the day for us! :D
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And thanks Maggi for adding the names, will do that in future.
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Something a little different for this morning
[attachimg=1]
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Beautiful!
And a photo of the happy couple? We are all waiting...
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Not sure that many people will recognise us!
[attachimg=1]
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Congratulations!!!
Love the cake! ;D
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That cake is a corker - but the photo of Sue and George is just lovely - the Scottish Rock Garden Club Wedding of the Year!
Wishing you a long and happy life together, gardening all the way!
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Lovely pic. First time I've seen George wearing a tie!
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Saxifraga 'Tvuj Pisen'. Zero input from me, the worst the Western Isles climate can throw at it and this is how it repays me!
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A wee bit of sunshine!
(edit by maggi to rotate second pic)
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Superb plants and all kept so neatly, Sue - you put us to shame!
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Maggi, not sure why one of the photos appeared sideways?
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I swear I will make an alpine house when I retire.. with a solar powered air-conditioner. then I will grow saxifrages like you Northerners. . .
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Maggi, not sure why one of the photos appeared sideways?
Just something that happens sometimes, Sue - we think it's to do with how the pic is saved initially from the camera - not sure. I can usually beat them into submission here!
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Wow! Just like the Saxifraga section from a Botanical Garden - sax-wonderful :)
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A wee bit of sunshine!
That is most impressive alpine house I have seen in a long while - please post more pictures
Where did the plunge benches come from?
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That is a fantastic setup you have Sue. Some cracking plants, nicely laid out and labelled too. Very impressed and inspired!
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Nice setup Sue, do you shade your greenhouse during summer?
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Yes, both the alpine houses have blinds. Up until now I have moved the saxifrages into frames outside but the collection is getting rather large so I'm not sure what I will do this summer.
One or two more
Saxifraga 'Sissi'
Saxifraga 'Your Friend'
Saxifraga 'Your Smile'
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Sax. 'Rembrandt vin Rijn'
Sax. 'Claude Monet'
Sax. 'August Renoir'
The plunge beds came from Two West and Elliot, with some modifications!
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S.'Auguste Renoir' is a beauty, such an unusual color.
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Cracking collection. Can highly recommend the Two Wests plunges, have them in both greenhouses.
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Saxifraga oppositifolia. No cultivational skill on my part, I buy 'em one year, they die the next.
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Apologies for another general shot but they have flowered so well this year.
Sax. 'Paul Gaugin'
Sax. 'River Thame'
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More general shots
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Sue - your "sax-house" is an absolute treat! Superb plants, neatly presented - what a lot of work - but how very well worth the effort I reckon.
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I just love it Maggi. Not sure why they are all doing so well this year. This new alpine house is certainly in a much lighter position than the other one, but who knows really!
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A lighter position may have been just the best boost possible - especially after all the dark rainy days there have been - whatever the reason the results are spectacular and a delight to see, Sue, thanks for sharing.
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No "apology" needed for such wonderful general shots. Your sax house is stunning.
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thanks for posting those shots of the alpine house - it is wonderful
It must take a lot of time and effort to get it to look like that its an absolute credit to you
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This was covered in flowers last year
S. 'Karel Capek'
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Many Saxifraga pictures from March 2016 Show from the KSP in Prague
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=13956.msg354362#msg354362 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=13956.msg354362#msg354362) and also here
https://lawrencepeetalpines.com/2016/03/28/prague-early-spring-alpine-show-march-2016/ (https://lawrencepeetalpines.com/2016/03/28/prague-early-spring-alpine-show-march-2016/)
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Can anyone i.d. this saxifraga? It's in bloom now and the label has disappeared.
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Oops - here it is in bloom.
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maybe a form of Saxifraga burseriana?
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Thank you, I think so too, but I guess it's not possible to i.d. which one from the flowers.
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S. 'Dawn Frost'
S. 'Excellent'
S x poluniniana
S, 'Jenkinsiae'
Sax in tufa
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Sandy Leven's report on the super Saxifraga which won the Forrest Medal at the Hexham Show for Mark Childerhouse on Saturday 2nd April - download it HERE (http://files.srgc.net/Showreports/ForrestHexham2016.pdf) and see lots of the other great plants at the show here http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=14175.0 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=14175.0) in the forum show thread for Hexham 2016.
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Saxifraga oppositifolia in the garden. One of my favourite saxifrages and my visit to see it in the wild recently inspired me to go to the very excellent Aberconwy Nursery and invest in a few more clones.
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Saxifraga x apiculata 'Gregor Mendel'. Very easy, I've had this for quite a while and regularly pull bits off to establish elsewhere.
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Saxifraga sancta. Unfortunately the wet winter killed some of the flower buds.
[attachimg=3]
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Saxifraga oppositifolia. No cultivational skill on my part, I buy 'em one year, they die the next.
Have you tried it in a shady crevice David? It's intolerant of summer heat (!) here in North Wales so it's definitely likely to hate full sun on the English Riviera....
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What a great natural look you achieved in the garden with these Saxifraga Tristan. Especially the way S. 'Gregor Mendel' slides through the rocks - hard to say it is cultivated.
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Thanks Gabriela, it's the sort of look I try to aim for with my rockery in general. The Saxifrages tend to grow that way if you give them the right environment I find the whole effect much more pleasing that way and it's nice to see others do too! :)
Although the rock is a bit recently quarried... hopefully in a few years it will weather a bit.
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Some of the few saxifrage in the garden. Apart from S. oppositifolia in the scree I don,t know the names of the others. img. 1010192 growing in tufa in a tub. img. 1010193 is one from Mendle nursery in a sink. img. 1010194 is S. oppositifolia in the scree with a small Salix reticulata. img. 1010195 is another from Mendle in the scree.
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Saxifraga 'Helvellyn'. Just planted out in the rockery, a new acquisition from Aberconwy.
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Label lost for this white one I'm afraid, from Aberconwy again. Possibly a Coolock or an Allendale (not that that narrows things down much!)
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Sax. 'Alan Martin' - seems to have become very attached to this piece of tufa! I like the red stems on this one.
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Anybody know what this is?
[attachimg=4]
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I think this may be Sax ferdinandi-coburgi.
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
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I have nothing to compete with the beautiful Saxifrages shown on these pages but here is a wee plant of Saxifraga dinnikii growing in a lump of tufa in a trough. The plant is barely 1cm in diameter and is dwarved by its flower.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1662/26256230751_15aab8d438_o_d.jpg)
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Yours is a bit of a rarity though, Steve :) Most beautiful with those translucent petals.
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Now flowering:
Sax. "Martin Luther"
Sax. "Fairport"
Sax. "Valcik"
Sax. corymbosa
Sax. media
Valcik is Czech and means Waltz, one of Jan Buergels hybrids which
he named after dances.
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A good do-er. Sax. burseriana? in tufa. img. 1010226.
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[attachimg=1]
Saxifraga x goringana 'Nancye'
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Some saxes started flowering here
1. Saxifraga burseriana Princess
2. Saxifraga apiculata alba
3. Saxifraga juniperifolia sancta
4. Saxifraga akinfievii (dinnikii x scleropoda) from the Russian Caucasus
5. Saxifraga x megaseaeflora 'Jan Neruda'
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Saxifraga Karl Foster
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Saxes looking good, Oleg - we have found quite a few have suffered over the winter here - just too wet , I think.
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Yes, Maggi, wetness must be a problem. So far I have scored a success with them only in troughs, frozen in winter and not exposed to the scorching summer sun. It is a shame your saxes were damaged in the wet winter. But being such skillful gardeners you are sure to "force"them to survive and thrive
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Some are completely dead, I fear - but thank you for your vote of confidence in our capabilitieis! :-*
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Losses are inevitable, Maggi. I'm still counting winter losses although it feels summer here. One more thing that has survived is Saxifraga x elizabethae, not rare but nice and relyable
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Two more saxes flowering
1. Saxifraga tombeanensis
2. Saxifraga Pygmalion
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I've grown them for some years in troughs but most over the last year or so seem to have rooted at the root - I'd suspect vine weevil but I've never found any larvae. I found that most can then be rooted as cuttings and so I now have a number of pots that I'm not sure what to do with. I might try them in a frame.
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Saxifraga umbrosa flowering here :
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The encrusted saxifrages are flowering now.
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Sax. cochlearis var. minor.
[attachimg=2]
S. 'Winifred Bevington'
[attachimg=3]
S. 'Shimmy'
[attachimg=4]
[attachimg=5]
A hybrid of indeterminate parentage!
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Saxifraga stolonifera 'Cuscutiformis'
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It's now a bit late but I have a wonderful and long flowering of Saxifraga cotyledon.
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Saxifraga fusca
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Some from my burgeoning collection of Saxifraga fortunei cultivars. Apart from one white shown below nearly all of the pink ones are in flower whilst the other white forms need another week or so.
Saxfraga fortunei 'Pink Cloud'
S. f. 'Pink Haze'
S. f. 'Cheap Confections'
S. f. 'Pink Mist'
S.f. 'Shiranami'
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Very nice, David!
Unfortunately they are hard to find for sale here.
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Very nice, David!
Unfortunately they are hard to find for sale here.
If it's any comfort, Trond, they're the devil to keep alive here so perhaps even if you could get them they'd all perish anyway! :D ;)
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If it's any comfort, Trond, they're the devil to keep alive here so perhaps even if you could get them they'd all perish anyway! :D ;)
This explains why they are hard to get! Maybe it is a good thing I can't get them - then I can't lose them!
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A couple more:-
Saxifraga fortunei 'Conwy Snow'
S. f. 'Rokujo'
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My first entry on the SRGC-forum simply has to be about Saxifrages, my favorit genus.
The picture is a collage of flowering Porophyllum Saxifrages in my rockgarden, taken in the last couple of years. (some of you might have seen it before somewhere else).
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Hi David,
a very nice collection of Saxifrages from section Irregularis you have. I have a few myself and have some trouble keeping them happy. You seem to do well with them. What kind of compost do you grow them in?
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Here is a close up of Sax. fortunei Beni Tsukasa
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Hi David,
a very nice collection of Saxifrages from section Irregularis you have. I have a few myself and have some trouble keeping them happy. You seem to do well with them. What kind of compost do you grow them in?
Hello Hans, I used to keep them in a dark North-facing bed (actually in front of a 2m fence) with a peaty compost mix but felt they were too shady. I recently renovated a sunnier raised bed that contained Rhododendrons and Azaleas way past their sell-by-date; took them all out; topped-up the ericaceous soil with a loam based ericaceous soil mixed with composted bark and replanted smaller growing Rhododendrons. I inter-spaced these with my Saxifrages and they do seem to like it. Our Forum mentor Maggi made the suggestion.
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Here is a close up of Sax. fortunei Beni Tsukasa
WOW, I'm on the case ;D
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And here is another, Gokka
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Got Beni from Edrom, Gokka from Hartside.....
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Got Beni from Edrom, Gokka from Hartside.....
These stronger colours and fuller flowers are really lovely.
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Seems to be the way breeding is going in Japan, Maggi, they are becoming very popular over there I understand. Wish I could figure out how to bloom them earlier though, they would look good on autumn show benches in flower. I do show them as foliage plants but these latest ones are fast becoming my favourites!
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Got Beni from Edrom, Gokka from Hartside.....
Cheers Chris.
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Really nice plants Chris.
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Saxifraga cortusifolia 'Rokujo'. The plants I bought from a local seller did well the first year (picture 1), but got worse the next few years. This Spring I decided to divide these plants and plant them out in fresh compost. That seems to have worked well, they are in flower now (pictures 2 and 3).
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They are doing well, Hans. I wonder if these plants may be like some others, for example, Asiatic gentians, which prefer fresh soil to grow in?
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Looks like that might be the case, Maggi.
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Could be, I've not done as well with the cortusifolias as I do with the fortuneis, they seem happy enough in the same pot year after year for me, getting quite big now though, and I'm considering splitting some. What I'd love to know though, is how to get them into flower earlier. They seem to wait for cold spells to start putting up their flower truss, the only one I can get into flower for shows is Sax. f. Fumiko
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Just one Saxifraga fortunei cultivar to flower after this one, S. f. 'Black Ruby'
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Hi David, I've also got this one, but never seen the flowers before, I think it may flower in another couple of weeks, they look lovely on the dark foliage!
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It seems to like flowering under the leaves Chris, I had to tease some flowers out to get the photograph. Nice one though. Just waiting for an order from Hartside! ;D
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Today at the Alpine Garden Society AGM, Adrian Young was honoured with the Kath Dryden Award for his long work with Saxifragas . well done , Adrian - well deserved!
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Adrian Young , left, receives his award from the AGS President David Haselgrove
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Another "Saxifraga" connection at today's AGS meeting was a talk from the Editor of the Saxifraga Society, Razvan Chisu - though his subject was not saxes today - he was introducing the Alpines of Romania, his native country, in advance of a tour he will lead there (http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/tours/forthcoming/Romania+Summer+/144/) for the AGS next year!
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Today at the Alpine Garden Society AGM, Adrian Young was honoured with the Kath Dryden Award for his long work with Saxifragas . well done , Adrian - well deserved!
(Attachment Link)
Adrian Young , left, receives his award from the AGS President David Haselgrove
Very pleased to see Adrian's work recognised with this award.
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Very pleased to see Adrian's work recognised with this award.
Very much seconded.
Last of my small collection of Saxifraga fortunei cultivars to flower this season, S. f. 'Cotton Crochet'. I have to say they've been lovely this year.
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I have never bothered to look for seeds of my Sax fortuneis, but decided to look this year.
I have some in pots which I just brought inside as we are going to have frost tonight.
I can't find any information about seed setting - are they self-fertile? No photos of seed
pods - the Seed Site has none.
I've been waving stamens among the pistils on plants that are still in full flower.
One has flowers that have died, but the centres are still the same size as when the flowers
first opened, about the size of a sphere of millet off my multigrain bagel. Does the centre
swell up if it contains seeds?