Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Saxifraga => Topic started by: iann on November 19, 2009, 12:31:41 AM
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I don't know if this one is too commonplace to be of interest, but I think its a nice plant. It grew so much this year that I half expected it to flower, but it will go at least another year. I also think I have finally managed to establish a seedling in a crack in my wall.
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Grand plants, aren't they? Especially for lovers of symmetry :D I'll bet that seedling enjoys life there.
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Definitely one of my favourite Saxes too !!
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Not common to me but it just went on my wishlist!! ;D
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Ian, Your plant looks beautiful and healthy. Congratulations (also for the seedling)!
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Saxifraga longifolia grows at best one at a vertically crevice, or in the side panel of a trough.
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It's a real beauty Franz !!
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I have a whole potful of seedlings (if true) from AGS I think. Rather than separate them I planted them altogether so they look like a large, multirosetted plant, which of course it isn't. will get a picture in the next day or two.
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Beautiful flower and photo, Franz.
Lesley, don't forget the pic, btw, how hardy are these plants?
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Helen, I don't have the species but have had a couple of hybrids thereof (not monocarpic, unlike the species) that have been hardy here over the last small number of years, if that's any help to know.
Not so spectacular as photos of S.longifolia I have seen in books, where the inflorescence may be up to 1 meter long, but here is an S. longifolia hybrid, blooming at the end of June:\
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Thanks for the pic, Lori, I could live with that one too ;D
Can't even imagine seeing a 1 meter long inflorescence ( new word for me, I wonder how long I will remember it) ::)
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I promised pics ages ago but they've only been taken this morning. As can easily be seen, it is NOT S. longifolia but could, perhaps be a hybrid. There are a number of seedlings in the clump, not a single, multi-rosetted plant. Whatever, it is a good plant and I'll plant it at the edge of one of my new troughs.
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Lovely plant, Lesley
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Saxifraga longifolia comes easily from seed and is not too fussy in our garden. It really likes tufa though. Here is one I planted out last Spring in a tufa wall. Photo taken on Christmas Day.
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I was quite taken with this plant in the Cirque de Troumouse in the French Pyrenees last summer. I made a video of the hike which you can find here:
http://www.mountainflora.ca/Pyrenees_Alpine_Flowers/Cirque_de_Troumouse.html
To get high definition video, click on the arrow in the centre, then click the HD button bottom right and then the Full Screen button to the right of that.
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I'm sure you're right David about it being easy from seed. The problem is to fet true seed, especially from garden collected material in the exchanges. It always seems to be of hybrid origin.
Incidentally, in both AGS and SRGS seed lists recently, Saxifraga 'Tumbling Waters' was listed. So far as I'm aware, TW is a longifolia hybrid, but a sterile one, so wouldn't set seed anyway. Again, surely, the wrong plant is being grown, havested and distributed mistakenly.
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So far as I'm aware, TW is a longifolia hybrid, but a sterile one
Lesley, as usual you are correct . :)
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Lesley:
We have also found that we get hybrids with garden collected seed of Saxifraga longifolia. Funny thing though is that hybrids also occur in the wild. Here is a picture of a longifolia hybrid in Cirque de Troumouse, probably a hybrid with Saxifraga paniculata which was also common on the limestone blocks.
When the plants are just coming into flower at 2200 m in the Pyrenees we found Saxifraga longifolia was setting seed in the limestone canyons at lower elevations, around 700 m. We collected seed by the roadside south of Benasque and I put some in the Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia seed exchange.
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David
I also found numerous hybrids on a cliff near Casteljon de Sos which is not far from Benasque. There was also true S. longifolia growing with it. I have both plants from cuttings growing in a frame but as yet they have not flowered. As I understand it S. longifolia never makes offsets so it is fairly easy to distinguish the different plants. I cannot get out to take pictures as the plants are frozen in the frame at the moment.
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So any seed I might get from the exchanges, be it from garden or wild seed, could produce hybrids? That's a pain as I'd really like the genuine thing. I wonder what the (putative) TW seed is from then, probably an unknown hybrid or rather, a hybrid of unknown origin and parentage.
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Lesley:
About 5% of the Saxifraga longifolia garden seed I have planted has resulted in plants with multi rosettes but the wild seed has all produced single rosettes. The leaves are also more striking with the plants from wild seed. I did not notice any other saxes in the canyon where I collected the wild seed in 2007 (and 2009) so maybe that is why the plants all came true.
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Beautiful flower and photo, Franz.
Lesley, don't forget the pic, btw, how hardy are these plants?
I think they are very frost hardy. I had one for some years until it eventually flowered (72cm).
(Seed source Sündermann in Lindau)
We usually get at keast one night below -20°C
Unfortunately I was unable to collect the seeds.
Some time I will start it again.
Cheers
Göte
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Perhaps if I try it again from the exchanges, I'd better look in the collected seeds section, or I may be able to find a commercial source. While I love the tinier silver and Porophyllum saxifrages and in general smaller is better for me, for some reason the thought of those almost metre long stems is a great attraction. Of course I'll be in my 80s probably by the time they flower. ::)
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My plant in the trough has now emerged from the snow. It had a nice plug of ice in the rosette for a while before it snowed. Temperatures nearby reached -17.6C although only about -15C here. The large plant was completely buried in snow so might have stayed warmer, while the one in the wall was exposed. Both look pristine so I guess they could go a bit colder.
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This year :)
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Almost as exciting as an Argyroxiphium sandwichense! ;D
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A gorgeous sight Iann !!
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Just found this thread. A few years ago we collected seed in the Pyrenees which germinated pretty well. Some came as single rosetteswhilst others as multiples. I am told that the multiples are probably x paniculata. None have flowered yet but one day ......
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What promise, Iann! What is the purple-flowered plant blooming behind it? It looks quite extraordinary too.
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The one at the back is probably S. sempervivum. See here (http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5327.0).
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I think this is going to be good
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It's already looking very special. :D
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Not quite a meter tall, but still pretty.
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My S. longifolia
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Your plant has a much denser panicle, I think?
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Really brilliant Wolfgang. :D
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Isn't it a great species !! :D :D
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Isn't it a great species !! :D :D
It is indeed.... and the photos of the transformation from little rosette to magnificant flowering plant is a really good illustration of the power of these wee plants to introduce a beginner to their magic, don't you think?
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S. longifilia and S. longifolia hybr.
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I might be needing some tips for collecting Saxifrage seed soon, something I haven't done before.
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Easy enough Ian. The seed pods are like little pouches. When they start to discolour, green to brownish, cut off the whole stem and place it on newspaper where the dog won't rush through it, and wait until the little pouches start to open at the tops. It won't be long. The seed will shake out onto the paper and can be guided into a saucer or whatever. Or you can trim off the individual pods one at a time as they begin to open over a period of a week or two and put them into a sieve to get the seed.
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Thanks, that sounds very manageable. The flower spike has filled out very nicely.
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Isn't it a great species !! :D :D
It is indeed.... and the photos of the transformation from little rosette to magnificant flowering plant is a really good illustration of the power of these wee plants to introduce a beginner to their magic, don't you think?
My Scottish is lacking I believe: Wee plant? ;D
Göte
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Sorry Göte..... a translation.... wee means- small, diminutive. :D
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Sometimes :P
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;D
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Don't be rude David. ;D
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Me!! Rude!! Nah. ;D
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Sorry Göte..... a translation.... wee means- small, diminutive. :D
Dearest Maggie That is my problem. Longifolia is the most unwee Saxifraga I know. ;D ;D
Göte
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OH! :-[ Well ,yes, I see what you mean...... I meant when compared to an elephant, of course! ;D ;D ;) :-*
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Within this topic it was mentioned that Longifolia grows well in the side panel of a trough. Do you drill a hole in the side of the trough? It doesn't damage the side wall? Cool idea.