Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Lori S. on March 15, 2009, 08:21:38 PM
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The big melt is about to start, after the snowiest winter in many years... the first time in our twelve years here that there has been constant snow cover in some parts of the yard since early December. (I need to remind myself that there will still, almost certainly, be at least one more big dump of snow before it's over... this is often in May but can happen in June. Oh joy! ;))
That being as it may, as the snow leaves, signs of life emerge...
They are still surrounded by the debris of winter, but Saxifraga 'Riverslea' and 'Petruska' are looking well, as is Draba aizoides... (I'm pleased, as those two saxifrages were just planted last year - purchased as plants rooted in blocks of tufa.)
Draba rigida probably looks like death to anyone viewing it in its current state (I would imagine it is quite evergreen in warmer zones?) but it is actually fine... really, it is, LOL!
So, any bets on whether Morina longifolia will make it or not? (What I mean to ask is, is it normally evergreen, or not?)
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great to see those first bits of green emerging :) do these start to do something quite soon after melt?
we have more snow than you, of course, on the warm days we've had (after a couple of days near -40nights and -20Cdays, we had a couple of days around +9 to 11C; the snow starts to go fast, especially near buildings and under trees; still deep snow in the open, and that will be along while going, especially in the shade; i think we can expect quite a few snows yet, some of the heaviest are in spring, historically..
it will be a while yet before i see any plants, though a few more really warm days, and i may see my one modest sempervivum planter..
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Yes, the various drabas... well, depending on the conditions from year to year... have been in bloom before the end of March. We shall see... !
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drabas flowering in march, that would be nice!
i was actually behind the times on my semp planter--i noticed that the front third of it is out of the snow, and the tiny Armeria juniperifolia is exposed--seems good so far--i just bought it locally last year, and really wasnt sure about its hardiness; of course, depending on coming weather, this could be the toughest time, now that its exposed if we have more cold, though we had probably had -20 nights before the snow came in december..
i just got the planter planted in august, and this Armeria was flowering in October, so i am hopeful..
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Surely only for my own amusement, but a few more heartening signs of spring... ;)
In a painfully new bed (still needs top dressing :-[ ), Arabis procurrens variegata, looking much as it did in fall...
Potentilla rupestris nana...
Arabis x sturii...
Buds on Saxifraga sancta var. macedonica... (Okay, I think I've finally shamed myself into committing to dividing the weather-beaten old warrior this summer!)
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Lovely pictures Lori. It's always nice to see gardens and gardener's problems from other parts of the world.
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actually the sax looks pretty good apart from the one little hole..maybe just plant something else in there ;)
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No, Cohan, don't encourage my natural laziness, please! ;D It's been like that for far too long, LOL! I think I'll probably redo the old troughs this year, after seeing the inspiring photos posted at this site!
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No, Cohan, don't encourage my natural laziness, please! ;D It's been like that for far too long, LOL! I think I'll probably redo the old troughs this year, after seeing the inspiring photos posted at this site!
ok then, but you know we will expect update photos ;)
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I'm sure the Morina will be OK Lori. What are the red berries in most of your pictures?
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Then I will be even more encouraged, Lesley! Thanks! The red berries are from a nearby Sorbus, rowan.... (or "mountain ash" to we colonials. :))
Thank you, David - one can be sure I will have many problems to share, going forward, LOL!
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I'm sure the Morina will be OK Lori. What are the red berries in most of your pictures?
Lesley am glad you asked, I was wondering too.
Thought they might be viburnum berries.
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Dianthus myrtinervius ssp. caespitosus
Vaccinium macrocarpon 'Hamilton', showing winter colour (or so I hope ;D)
Have I finally managed to winter over an erodium or two? I'm cautiously optimistic, but time will tell - Erodium cheilanifolium
Erodium chrysanthum
Dracocephalum palmatum
Oooh, I can't wait to see the rest! (And, eventually, assess the casualties, LOL!)
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nice to see those first little bits..
i'm especially interested in the Erodium..i've been wondering about this genus, wrightman lists a number of species, but their hardiness policy, while understandable, is not always helpful...lol
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after -30C last week, we are having a few days around +10C (-6 or 7 overnight)..
this pot(its just a big plastic pot, maybe 14inches sq) is emerging from the snowbank its been in for several months-its beside a path, so has had even deeper snow than what fell--i figured might as well keep it buried til it started to warm up!
these shots were taken on a frosty morning a couple of days back, now even more is showing, including one semp just behind the armeria, probably the whole surface will be out soon..tomorrow we have rain turning to snow forecast :(
Armeria juniperifolia
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I think it is often not reasonably possible for a vendor to guess where a plant may be hardy. I personally prefer to go by my own instincts or faint hopes to try what I feel has a good chance of being hardy here. (Published zone ratings, for the cold end of the scale, I mean, are often so wildly incorrect as to discourage people here from trying plants that are actually perfectly hardy.) The number of instances where intolerance of certain conditions (particularly wet) has been misinterpreted as a lack of cold hardiness seems enormous. Current natural range is a good starting point, but even that only reflect only current conditions in those areas, not the possible variation in conditions that occurred through the "history" of the species. My thoughts, anyway...
Your armeria looks as it should - very nice! What's in the opposite corner of the pot?
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And first flower... the first of the Bulbocodium vernum, on time.
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I think it is often not reasonably possible for a vendor to guess where a plant may be hardy.
Your armeria looks as it should - very nice! What's in the opposite corner of the pot?
i fully agree, and i know that's why, by default, they cant reasonably say much more than 'it grows for us' especially for species relatively new to cultivation, where there also isnt much anecdotal info to go on; ideally, it would be nice to have some idea of native conditions, as you say--often, again, on 'newer' species, that info is virtually unavailable, so it would be nice if vendors could pass along what they know, which of course, is only as much as THEIR sources supplied...lol...and a database of who is growing it where and how would be a real dream---of course, i'm not expecting vendors to be responsible for that, but it would be an interesting program for a vendor to undertake--a feedback database of some sort...
i know zone ratings are dicey, but they can at least give some starting point--depending on the source of the information--i dont put too much stock in the lowest ratings given by those in warmer areas: i have seen sempervivum rated as much as zone 6! when i know many species are fine with zone 2! but if someone who has some knowledge of colder conditions rates one thing as Z2, and another Z5, i will at least try the 2 first--especially now when i am starting from scratch, i will go with surer bets to start, and get more adventurous later...
thank goodness for natives--i know THOSE are hardy...lol--speaking of which, i have seen alberta natives listed as zone 4 plants...lol (for those outside the region, there are a couple of areas in alberta that may be zone 4, but not much of the province--mostly zone 3, 2, and lower..)
i find its VERY tricky living here--in a larger population centre, you could expect to find a number of local growers with at least partially overlapping interests whose experience you could benefit from, at least as far as regional climate, of course nothing is guaranteed from one yard and spot to another, but i dont even know anyone in my REGION growing much of anything i am interested in... you are my nearest contact thus far, and our climates are still quite different, even if experiencing similar extreme minimums..
i think probably what you are seeing in the pot with the armeria is some chunks of native moss that i collected from the yard on relatively exposed sunny spots (what little i my yard could be described that way...) and stuck in several places in the pot; there are also several no name semps which are now nearly all out of the snow, and a couple snippets of garden sedums, at the very back, not yet showing..
i'm going to look more closely at the bulbocodium its a name i know, but very little about the plants...early bloom is a great thing!
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And first flower... the first of the Bulbocodium vernum, on time.
Lovely bulbocodium there Lori. The first flowers of spring are always so special 8)
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Thanks, Ashley.
(Another snowfall started this evening, that promises to drop 10-20 cm of snow... another brief step back into winter, argghh!)
More of my musings, as the new alpine bed of 2007-2008 melts out of the snow...
Some Delosperma spp. are proving to be quite hardy... Delosperma aff. congestum (winter colour; once again, "Thanks, Krystl!" - from seed in 2003); young plants of Delosperma basuticum and D. nubigenum (in its brilliant winter colour), planted last year.
Androsace armeniacum var. macrantha... or so it was supposed to be (grown by a coworker from seed), though I'm not certain now that the leaves match that ID... ?
Heterotheca jonesii
Draba acaulis - looks like it will be quite charmingly furry!
I was curious as to whether Saxifraga longifolia and others in that association would be hardy here. So far, so good for this S. longifolia hybrid...(which, I was relieved to find out, should not be monocarpic, unlike S. longifolia. :))
Veronica bombycina ssp. bolkhardagensis has wonderful silvery foliage and promises to be lovely in bloom!
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Hi Lori- lovely to see your plants in an interlude between snow. Great to see happy and hardy Delospermas- I hope to have some growing here soon. What I wanted to say though was that if the Androsace seed was from a seed exchange it could be anything. I've had seed labelled as A.armeniacum var macranthum before which proved to be very untrue. I have had seed turn out to be A.septentrionalis or a similar species- which is okay but not what I was expecting.
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Thanks, Ashley.
(Another snowfall started this evening, that promises to drop 10-20 cm of snow... another brief step back into winter, argghh!)
lori-i was wondering if you were getting this same snow--ours started in the middle of the night, several inches already; i'm about to go out and start shovelling--lots of paths and long driveway etc... blowing snow later on is likely to be the most troublesome part...
glad to see you have some good news for me for once on hardiness ;) i'm quite eager to try delos too...
simon---you likely already know martin in denmark? he has quite a few delos, i think, and his lows should be near to yours..i think he may even be on this forum....
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hi Cohan I am trying Delosperma seed this year from Alplains Seed in the US- I know they grow quite a few species and varieties at Denver Botanic Garden that seem to be quite tough. I think it's more likely conditions here are closer to the ones they experience- we have snow for 3 months, but can have 3 months with very little rain in summer. I will look out for Martin on here.
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So which delosperma are you trying, Sinchets? When you are talking about your conditions being closer to what they experience, do you mean closer to those in Denver, or in the Drakensbe
urg?
Winter tightens its grip again... 25cm of snow, and not returning to 10 deg C until Friday, ugghh. Well, the snow does set off Rosa rubrifolia nicely, but we've already had more than enough time to appreciate it!
Back to happier days (err, yesterday, that is)...
Saxifraga x elizabethae
Vitaliana primuliflora var. cinerea
Townsendia leptotes, looking very viable.
Sagina x boydii, not looking so good at all.
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Oopps sorry Lori- I meant similar to Denver- the ones i have seed of have no name yet- just ex Sani Pass- I also have Aloinopsis spathulata which will be 1 year old soon and seems to have overwintered well when it reappears between snow storms- it's under snow again this week.
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Yeah, I thought to Denver (but as I don't know your climate, nor much about that of the Drakensbe
urg, I thought I would ask, LOL!)
How interesting... I grew Aloinopsis spathulata last year, and am waiting to see the results.
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hi Cohan I am trying Delosperma seed this year from Alplains Seed in the US- I know they grow quite a few species and varieties at Denver Botanic Garden that seem to be quite tough. I think it's more likely conditions here are closer to the ones they experience- we have snow for 3 months, but can have 3 months with very little rain in summer. I will look out for Martin on here.
you are right, simon, you sound much drier than martin... here's the link, anyway:
http://www.northern-nursery.dk/
here, actually, the bulk of our precipitation is normally in summer: classically in june, though the last couple of summers have been wet all the way through\
beavercreek and wrightmans in canada both offer plants of at least 3-4 species also..
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How interesting... I grew Aloinopsis spathulata last year, and am waiting to see the results.
lori and simon- i'm very interested to hear how you both do with the aloinopsis, this one i had not heard of (hardy species, i mean, i know the genus as indoor plants)...beavercreek was also listing a Crassula species from Drakensbergs, i think..has anyone tried that?
i posted my weather pics to weather now; its snowing again, though worst is supposed to be over; i think maybe we had just abit less than you, lori--maybe around 6inches, though we could get a bit more; we are supposed to be 8C by friday...today was not supposed to be above freezing, but it was definitely melting--not enough to make a dent in the piles of snow, but once cleared, the remnants were melting, and off the car etc..
here is my one showing planter...lol--as of yesterday, today buried again... one of these semps looks a little dicey, but i have never lost a semp before in winter, we will see...
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I haven't managed to find a sempervivum yet that wasn't hardy here... and if I did, I suspect that would almost categorically make it an echeveria, wouldn't it? Well, okay, I'm oversimplifying. ;)
No, have never tried any crassula.
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I haven't managed to find a sempervivum yet that wasn't hardy here... and if I did, I suspect that would almost categorically make it an echeveria, wouldn't it? Well, okay, I'm oversimplifying. ;)
No, have never tried any crassula.
i do wonder about the semp from morocco, atlanticum? not sure of the name, just now, i've never grown it..
..but i've never in the past lost any that i have grown, tough little guys..
beavercreek mentioned the crassula surviving montreal.. i think martin, in denmark, had a species or two of crassula, but his lowest temps are around -20C
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This site may give a pretty good idea of the sempervivum species that people are growing locally.
http://www.parkland-perennials.com/cat/section.php?id=10&sc=0&start=50
Cohan, what sorts of outdoor gardening did you do at your previous location?
Was crassula in a previous year's catalogue at Beaver Creek? I looked but didn't find it. (I'm not deeply interested in succulents, but was curious what species was offered.) I have found various sedums that are not particularly hardy here, and to my disappointment, I have not been able to winter over Chiastophyllum oppositifolium , despite a couple of tries.
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Well hopefully tomorow I will find out if the Aloinpsis pulled through the last lot of snow. I have a fairly shocked looking Fritillaria raddeana which grew to about 15cm in the week between the snows here- we had a hard frost last night and the snow around it had melted. I know it takes frost, but i hope it still looks at least slightly photogenic :-\
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Simon, have a look in the Bulb Log Index to find Frit. raddeana looking flattened and completely awful , having been knocked down by frost when grown outside in a pot for several years...... and then bouncing back upright again! Ian took pity on the poor thing last year and planted it out in the garden..... the buds are showing.... I plan to photograph it just as soon as the lashing sleet and wind stops! ::) :P
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This site may give a pretty good idea of the sempervivum species that people are growing locally.
http://www.parkland-perennials.com/cat/section.php?id=10&sc=0&start=50
Cohan, what sorts of outdoor gardening did you do at your previous location?
Was crassula in a previous year's catalogue at Beaver Creek? I looked but didn't find it. (I'm not deeply interested in succulents, but was curious what species was offered.) I have found various sedums that are not particularly hardy here, and to my disappointment, I have not been able to winter over Chiastophyllum oppositifolium , despite a couple of tries.
i have looked at parkland, lori, i think it was your recommendation last year, or i may have found them in some search, as well; they do have a couple of interesting things (i know semps arent parkland's focus, so i am not criticising them): , but overall, i have found very few north american sources for semps that are very interesting ;i should qualify that-- i have no interest in hybrids or cultivars -of semps or anything else(although, no real purist, i will buy an occasional no name locally); i find geographical forms (preferably with location data) most interesting, and while several north american vendors offer some (and probably some really nice ones) its the same half dozen over and over again, mostly amid long lists of cultivars..
i was actually pleased to see that cavendish semps in ontario has an expanded list of natural forms, this year, and i hope to order from them....
http://www3.sympatico.ca/semps/index.html
beyond that, there are european growers with dozens of geographical forms--i dont expect to grow hundreds of semps, but it would be nice not to have just the same 6 every NA vendor has...lol
i have not had anyplace to garden outdoors significantly since leaving here in 1982! i lived in edmonton for many years, and toronto for the 10 previous to moving back here in 2007, with a year in mtl and some travelling in the middle; i was always right downtown in either apartments or parts of houses, with little or no outdoor space, not even balconies; i did have a big yard once in edmonton, but it was only one season, and a few outdoor pots in a couple of places in toronto, and at the last place i had one outdoor bed--maybe2 x 6 feet, where i grew a few perennials, natives and annuals--but besides being small, it was right on a fairly busy sidewalk, so nothing valuable could go there!
the best of it was a large group of milkweeds that scented the whole area in flower...
the crassula was in the beavercreek listing not too long ago--i'm quite sure it was there since the last official update in august; probably at some point it sold out so they took it off the list; there was no species name listed...
what sedums have not been hardy for you? there are lots that should be, i think, but its such a huge genus(well, according to some it has been divided up..), with wide range of hardiness..
i have a no name--probably some spurium (now Phedimus spurius, i think), pink flowered, from a cutting i got from a motel in british columbia that was one of the very few plants i had here before leaving that actually survived! i'll be trying to give it some more room to breathe this summer..
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For Maggi- the Fritillaria raddeana looked like boiled cabbage first thing this morning- but the sun was shining all day and it seems to be recovered now. :)
Lori and Cohan- the Aloinopsis spathulata was revealed today and seems to have grown a few new leaves under the snow- looking forward to its first flowering sometime soon.
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For Maggi- the Fritillaria raddeana looked like boiled cabbage first thing this morning- but the sun was shining all day and it seems to be recovered now. :)
Lori and Cohan- the Aloinopsis spathulata was revealed today and seems to have grown a few new leaves under the snow- looking forward to its first flowering sometime soon.
good news all around! the aloinopsis is really nice--i cant remember if you or lori mentioned before--did you grow from seed or get plants, and where from?
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The Aloinopsis is about 9 months old from seed I bought from Alplains- I'm excited about it as I have never grown a perennial member of this family from seed before. I've got some Zone 4 and 5 cacti growing from seed which I hope to transplant into this bed soon too.
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The Aloinopsis is about 9 months old from seed I bought from Alplains- I'm excited about it as I have never grown a perennial member of this family from seed before. I've got some Zone 4 and 5 cacti growing from seed which I hope to transplant into this bed soon too.
wow! thats good growth for 9 months!
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I got seeds for mine from Alplains too.
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wow! thats good growth for 9 months!
We have a long growing season here winter the past 3 years hasn't really hit hard until December- so some of the Astragalus and Oxytropis that germinated in the spring flowered in the November of their first year. I read that the Aloinopsis needed vernalising to flower so it really should have had that by now. I have quite a few Penstemon that seem to have bulked up well for 9month old babies and look forward to seeing them do the business this year. :P
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The sedums I'm thinking of that have not proved hardy here for me are Sedum spathulifolium 'Silvermoon', and S. tetractinum 'Coral Reef' and 'Capo Blanco'. (By the way, don't take my experiences as the end-all, Cohan... it may be that someone else is growing things successfully that I failed with, by providing better conditions - you should just try whatever it is you are interested in. Plus, you never know... I might be a serial plant killer, LOL!)
Changing the subject entirely... penstemons are a favourite group of mine (and the conditions here are very good for them), and I'm expanding into more oxytropis and astragalus as well. Simon, are you growing the North American species of oxytropis and astragalus or the European/Asian ones?
Here are a couple of my faves, which are also native plants, though grossly underappreciated They are perfectly behaved for the garden, and long-lived.
Penstemon nitidus - the earliest penstemon to bloom here. They grow in the clay exposures along the river here in the city, as well as into the foothills. These are out in our planted boulevard, etc.. The second photo shows how early they bloom - the rest of the yard is still barren at that time.
Oxytropis splendens - I adore these!
And, by the way, there were 13 robins in the yard tonight when I got home.
So, Simon, I am eagerly awaiting photos and description of your Lamiaceae collection! Are they all alpine, or from a wider range of habitats? I have a few that I love as well!
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(By the way, don't take my experiences as the end-all, Cohan... it may be that someone else is growing things successfully that I failed with, by providing better conditions - you should just try whatever it is you are interested in. Plus, you never know... I might be a serial plant killer, LOL!)
Changing the subject entirely... penstemons are a favourite group of mine (and the conditions here are very good for them), and I'm expanding into more oxytropis and astragalus as well. Simon, are you growing the North American species of oxytropis and astragalus or the European/Asian ones?
i know there are variations between and within gardens that affect survival, nevermind a distance and climate distance such as that between us! however, since i am starting from scratch, really, anything that may have a little doubt cast on its hardiness will just move down the list a bit farther..
penstemons are great---there are a number of natives i have seen on offer, and i was thinking of a couple miniatures from beaver creek to accompany some pediocactus i hope to get...
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We have a long growing season here winter the past 3 years hasn't really hit hard until December- so some of the Astragalus and Oxytropis that germinated in the spring flowered in the November of their first year.
thats a much better growing season than us! of course it varies year to year, but we can have early frosts by mid august, and although we can get some really nice weather in september, we can also be getting some very chilly nights;
the pot of semps and armeria i mentioned before was potted up in early august, and they seemed to get settled well, and the armeria flowered in october, but the semps were closing up tight by then....
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The Penstemons I have are all from Alplains and Ron Ratko- I have quite a few from zones 4 to 6. Most should flower this year, but Pp.pseudospectabilis, globosus, ambiguus and rupicola x fruticosus all flowered in the first year from seed. The Astragalus and Oxytropis are mainly North American as they are more readily available, but i do have some European, Turkish and Middle eastern species as well. Astragalus utahensis was flowering here in November as the first snows were falling 6 months from seed. By the way we have snow again today. :'(
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Penstemon is a genus where hardiness seems to be generally underestimated... one of those where intolerance of wet has been mistaken for lack of cold hardiness. This has however been generally corrected by the zone assessments of Alplains and Beaver Creek. (My sense is that I don't generally agree with the statement that Beaver Creek's zone estimations are overestimations - I think it comes down to conditions - but I would like to do a larger accounting of that before I start proclaiming it loudly.) Still, though, the large number of species that is hardy here suggest that even the more accurate estimations are still generally underestimations.
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Lori, I forgot to add that most of my Lamiaceae are not trully alpine, but i have a few smaller ones I grow on the alpine garden. The first new shoots are visible on a wide range of Nepeta and Salvia, but it'll be a while until flowering. Quite a few flowered last year, but the one I am looking forward to most is Salvia pachyphylla from Alplains- it seems to have come through the winter okay, though the leaves aren't quite so silvery just now.
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Penstemon is a genus where hardiness seems to be generally underestimated... one of those where intolerance of wet has been mistaken for lack of hardiness. This has however been generally corrected by the zone assessments of Alplains and Beaver Creek. (My sense is that I don't generally agree with the statement that Beaver Creek's zone estimations are overestimations - I think it comes down to conditions - but I would like to do a larger accounting of that before I start proclaiming it loudly.) Still, though, the large number of species that is hardy here suggest that even the more accurate estimations are still generally underestimations.
thats good to hear... of course a zone system that only accounts for minimum temperatures--not when they occur, for how long, moisture (also when, not only how much!) can only tell you so much....
i am looking forward to contributing my experience to the knowledge of hardiness, but it will be some time before i have anything to add...lol..
of coures i want to do everything at once, but neither time nor money allow that! i'm going to have to pick a couple of things to focus on, this year, and not totally decided exactly what they will be, but in terms of buying plants, what i am really hoping for this year is an order of semps (along with rosularia and orostachys) from cavendish, and pediocactus, escobaria and a few companions from beaver creek..
then i think i will work on some semi/shade plantings, mainly with natives--a lot of which are already in the yard, but i want more focussed plantings, without the grass, clover, dandelions etc (ok--with LESS of them...lol)
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i have no interest in hybrids or cultivars -of semps or anything else
Don't forget that some cultivars are simply selections from the wild. :)
Good heavens, another coincidence... I have seedlings of Salvia pachyphylla under lights right now... no blooms until next year, though, if the usual course of events for here holds true. :-\
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Okay, I'm bored... there's no immediate end in sight for winter here, so I'm going to jump the gun on Lamiaceae... given that they won't be in bloom here for months.
Some I like:
Dracocephalum fragile
D. botryoides
Lallamantia canescens... I'm surprised to see what seems to be the straight species of this offered as a trough plant - these were 3' tall the first year, and since settled down a little (~2' tall). Is anyone growing trough-sized forms of it?
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Sorry Lori- but Dracocephalums are a mild obsession of mine :P
I haven't seen the dwarf form of Lallamantia, I just have aflouncy big one which flowered forever in its first year, set loads of seed and i s probably hatching plans for world domination right now- such a stunner though. Speaking of which has anyone any idea why Lallemantia stopped being Dracecephalum- given that some of the other Dracocephalums look less like a Dracocephalum than it does? Okay I should stop going by looks alone ::)
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these are all nice, and i have a bit of soft spot for the family, mostly based on some natives--mentha, scutellaria, stachys and a couple of weedier introduced species (that i still like)that all grow around here..
i do know some cultivars are 'natural' finds--i'd even actually be ok with garden selections from wild or controlled pollination seed..but then, really, i'd like it to be named or described as such, eg (to make one up) Sempervivum arachnoideum Fluffy f Mont Blanc --or however it might be structured, i'm sure you get my thrust; but when i see some name such as Sempervivum Fluffy, i just lose interest...lol..even better would be S. arachnoideum f Mont Blanc extra hairy form... but i guess i am not a typical consumer, as thats not how these things are done, commercially....
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i was a bit unsure where to post these--not quite 'flowering now', not quite alpines (though so diminutive they could certainly pass for it!), not shots taken on my alberta wanderings, rather in the garden, though both are native to alberta, so i decided to dig up this thread, since they are really just getting going, and esp since we just had snow again!!
these shots were taken before the snow
Erigeron compositus?
i think thats most likely, the other contender is more alpine, i believe, and this was collected from a moderate altitude in the mountains west of here; i've just been growing it since late summer 07, and this spring it was so compressed/withdrawn when the snow melted, i was worried for it-i needn't have--it is doing very nicely, though still prob less than an inch high; note 5 or 6 buds on it--only had one or two at a time last year..
Androsace septentrionalis
i realised by accident that i have an androsace in my rock garden when looking at species listings at a canadian nursery--looked at pictures, and thought--hmm, that looks familiar! i'm not sure how it came to be there: the species map shows that it could occur in my area, but sunny areas open enough for such a tiny plant (current rosette under 2 inches wide)are really unlikely in my area, and i dont recall seeing it in the wild here (trust me, i scour any bits of green in open areas..lol); it may have seeded in from some local plants i'm unaware of, or more likely came as a plant or seeds i something i brought from the mountains/foothills possibly at the time i got the erigeron etc, or several decades ago when i built the original rock garden, and either it has been reseeding itself there, or seeds survived in the soil, waiting for a redigging and some sun, as this one small corner has got...
i've now read it can become 'weedy if it gets into your garden'...lol--though really, its so tiny, how could it cause trouble? biennial here, i think.. i shall be encouraging it to make a nice little colony if possible..
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Cohan- I always wondered how the Androsace could become a weed too- it is so flimsy- it comes up, does its thing then dies. Okay so it sets lots of seed but they wouldbe so easy to weed out if you ever had the heart to do that. I've had it and similar species/ forms from seed exchanges- wrongly labelled as 'posher' species and also one I bought as A.fedtschenkoana (not sure of the spelling on this one).
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Cohan- I always wondered how the Androsace could become a weed too- it is so flimsy- it comes up, does its thing then dies. Okay so it sets lots of seed but they wouldbe so easy to weed out if you ever had the heart to do that. I've had it and similar species/ forms from seed exchanges- wrongly labelled as 'posher' species and also one I bought as A.fedtschenkoana (not sure of the spelling on this one).
that's what i think--easy enough to pull--but there would have to be a lot before i'd do that--that dont take up much space, so they could only crowd the most delicate things..
..i'd like to get the other species native to alberta--which lori showed before--much showier-A chamaejasme.....i have seen it in at least one catalogue..