Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: hadacekf on May 01, 2007, 08:12:13 AM
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Here are a few pictures of my rock garden. The size is 42 square meters.
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very nice Franz.
From my garden
Linum capitatum
Lewsia in a vertical crack
Erigeron chrysopsidis
and the flower from a tiny wild strawberry
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Franz, you have a wonderful rock garden and I enjoyed the tour of it.
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Franz, what a delight to visit your rock garden! Of course, one first sees the bright colours and flowers but then there is the pleasure of all those healthy cushion plants, creeping over and through the rocks in the most happy and natural fashion....perfect. A master class in rock gardening!
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What joy that rock garden must give you Franz? 8) It must have taken years to establish it? It just looks so well laid out with plants that just meld together. I must look again at my rockeris and maybe redo them? :-\
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Franz,
Absolutely fabulous. How I would love to have a rock garden like yours. It is really wonderful. Many, many thanks for your photographs, a great treat. You obviously have a tremendous collection of plants and all growing so healthily also.
Paddy
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What a fabulous garden you have Franz !
I guess it would get a first prize in any competition !
It must be quite enjoyable to have a piece of Sachertorte in these surroundings ;D
Thanks for giving us this little tour.
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Wonderful Franz,you must have worked very hard to achieve that effect.My own of which I used to be very proud is more rock than plants.
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Lovely Franz I must try harder
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Franz, Wonderfull garden if you feel like a Holiday I will pay the airfare my Rockery? needs a makeover. ::)
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Thanks everybody for the kind compliments about my rock garden.
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Here's some May Day plants: Ophrys cretica; Serapias neglecta still looking good; Trillium cunneatum; T. decumbens and Gynandriris [Moraea] sisyrinchium.
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Add my compliments and admiration to those of everyone else Franz. A collection in pots is great but it's very special when the plants are growing in a beautifully conceived and constructed rock garden, as they really should be. Yours is wonderful.
Nice insects Anthony - sorry, orchids :D
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Franz, those photos are a credit to you.
How long did it take you to build a garden like that?
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Most members do not like Gentiana. Why? The gardeners in my country love Gentiana. In spit of I will show some photos taken near my garden in the wild. Here are many different forms of clusii in a very small aerea and this is not often so!
And Primula farinosa.
Hans
Austria
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I don't know where you get the idea that most members don't like Gentiana Hans ??? I for one love them - they are what brought me to rock gardening many moons ago !! Their blue is unsurpassed !
:D
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Hans, I think you are mistaken :). I cann't speak for 'most gardeners' but I adore them.
We do find some difficult to keep but have some in the garden and in pots.
At the moment we have a lovely wee Gentian verna being raised in a pot but I am frightened to plant it out for fear of losing it.
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I'm with Luc and David on that. :o If it hadn't been for gentians I certainly would not have become hooked on rock gardening. I can still see the myriads of Gentiana nivalis growing at the side of the road in the Alps back in 1988. Only yesterday I bought yet another (Japanese) gentian for my garden. BTW gentian number three above is a bit special. 8)
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Sorry for the mistake. I have never seen photos and so...
Gentiana grow very well here, only G. verna do not live for a long time.
Some new, but not so spectacular photos (most grown from seed). Does anybody know the correct names?
Erigeron ?
?
a view to my garden: Cyp and Daphnes
Globularia cordifolia
Hans
Austria
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In the third pic is Daphne cneorum. That's a nice clump of Cypripedium calceolus at the back.
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There are some different Daphnes (cneorum - the Upper Austrian Form, cneorum - Sündermann, cneorum verlotii). You see the smallest clump of Cyp calceolus in my garden. Easy to grow because Cyp calceolus grow in the forrests behind my garden.
Hans
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You are too modest Hans. You definitely have green fingers. 8) Me......I'm just green with envy. I have longed to see Cypripedium calceolus in its natural habitat ever since my grandmother told me about it and I saw its picture in the Brooke Bond tea collectors cards in the 1960s.
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We ALL love gentians Hans, Really! Maybe not so many pictures, but if you look back through some of the Southern Hemisphere threads, you'll find quite a lot. I think many people miss good things, perhaps because they think the Southern hemisphere threads have little to offer, but they would be mistaken there.
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Which reminds me that I have a little seed - the first ever - on Gentiana depressa if anyone would like to try it. It's ready now, just 2 capsules, enough for perhaps 3 people. Let me know privately.
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We all love gentians - yes we do but do they love us?
Advice and hints please for growing in the open garden, raised bed, trough, rock crevices or wherever you think best.
While I admire them greatly I have no intention of growing them in pots in the glasshouse.
Paddy
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Allium acuminatum, which I though might flower while I was away, but is still looking good, in its modest little way.
And two Auriculas that I acquired in England, the first at Wisley (starting to go over) and the second at a herb centre. Neither had names - are they identifiable as any particular hybrids?
Chloë
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Chloe, one of the problems with Auriculas (and there are many!) is the similarities between a number of named clones. Were your plants described as 'Border Auriculas' if so this is sometimes used (especially by Garden Centres and non-specialist sellers) as a generic title meaning "I don't have a clue what kind this is".
Hope you enjoyed your time in the UK.
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Hello Ian Minty,
When I was young, I thought that my rock garden from year to year become more beautiful. The opposite was the case. After a high point the rock garden looked each year more badly. I saw that some plants must be very often renewed and other plants became too large. My rock-garden is therefore since 50 years a field.
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Paddy, I grow lots of gentians of the smaller, lower kinds. All are out in the open, no greenhouse here. I grow some (including depressa) in raised beds with full exposure to sun, wind, rain, frost and snow - what there is - and they all thrive. The Asiatic kinds such as sino-ornata and the huge race of species, hybrids and forms which look similar to it, abhor lime while the Europeans, in my experience - verna, acaulis and its relatives - quite like it or at least tolerate it. They all like a moisture-retentive mixture with excellent drainage and I always add grit to everything, on principle. The Asiatics in particular are very happy in pine bark based composts. I think peat is too wet for them. G. acaulis likes hard planting, very firmly bedded in, in a humus and grit rich soil.
For me, they all flower superbly for which I'm very grateful.
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Hello Ian Minty,
When I was young, I thought that my rock garden from year to year become more beautiful. The opposite was the case. After a high point the rock garden looked each year more badly. I saw that some plants must be very often renewed and other plants became too large. My rock-garden is therefore since 50 years a field.
Your garden is beautiful Franz, a testament to many years of great love and dedication. Oh dear, and I have just another 30 something years left :'(
But what you says is true. I find a new rock garden looks its best from about 18 months to 2 years old and then there is a decline. Things need replanting or trimming and a few weeds creep in and perhaps establish. There needs to be division and fertilizing and pest management. The occasional book, catalogue or magazine article will suggest that once planted, nothing more is needed, ad infinitum. Not so. The planting is the fun part and then the work really begins. But hey, I wouldn't change it for worlds.
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I agree Leslie and Franz.Furthermore they never seem to look as good as the original planting in spite of soil enrichment.I had many successes in the past which I have never been able to repeat.Then again my interests have broadened over the years so perhaps I don't concentrate on the rock garden as much as when I first built it fourty years ago.
One plant that doesn't require constant attention is CLEMATIS MONTANA also planted fourty years ago.The pictures don't really convey the enormity of this specimen but it is quite a spectacle each May although usually the middle of May.
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What is that fabulous C. montana using as a support, John?
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What an amazing clematis. I'm about to plant one to hid my neighbour's butchered leylandii :P Here's some more flowering today. Gentiana acaulis; Iris stolonifera; another Iris sp. and Trillium grandiforum 'Jenny Rhodes'.
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If only Clematis were self-clinging like Hydrangea petiolaris, I'd plant it to cover the monstrosity that rivals the the north face of the Eiger (in size, well, from our perspective, anyway!) that is looming over our place on the western side as our neighbours build a really big extension to their house. It's horrible! :P >:( :(
Hans in Austria must be getting cheered up with all the gentians appearing in these pages now... Ewelina has posted pix of some absolute crackers from Prague. In the UK they do seem to be a plant that either likes your garden or not, and if not... then :'(
Trillium 'Jenny Rhodes' is interesting... what is her history?
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Not sure about your iris Anthony. Sibirica group I'd say but those usually have heavier veining at the hafts. Yours is very light, smooth and pretty. Somewhere in the general region of chrysographes/prismatica probably and almost certainly a hybrid. If it were bulbous I'd suggest I. cycloglossa ;D And I do like `Jenny Rhodes.' I know someone else who'd like it too, if only....
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Just made an 'expotition', as Pooh might say, to the greenhouse, avoiding three visiting, and rather fat, mallards and dug out the label. Iris cycloglossa it is Lesley. Will look out the history of 'Jenny Rhodes', but it is a nice pink semi-double with (usually) six petals. Four the last two years it has only had one flower. This year four.
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A sure way to remember if an iris is cycloglossa or not is the scent.... Iris cycloglossa has a truly delicious fragrance. Not that other iris don't have good scents, just that this is a smasher! Rich but not cloying and that fabulous "expensive" note that one never finds in cheap scent!
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Lesley,
Many thanks for your very practical advice on growing gentians. I think I may now invest in some...well seed anyway. I did buy two at the weekend show in Dublin and have taken the chance and planted them out in conditions as you describe.
Many thanks, Paddy
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Some more wee plants. Ophrys scolopax (Woodcock Orchid); O. iricolor (Rainbow Ophrys); Dactylorhiza 'Hyperchromat', which should really be 'seed from...'; Trillium decumbens and T. cunneatum.
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Anthony nice pics and plants :)
Are You able to frow Orphys outside or is it under glas ???
Are the flowers of the Dactylorhiza ex "Hyperchromat" also very dark in flower? Wonderfull foliage anyway so that it self gives the plant a high growing value.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Joakim, the 'Hyperchromat' should have virtually no green on the leaves at all. I don't remember the flowers being particularly dark. The ophrys are in the greenhouse plunge as they have to be dry over the summer.
Cheers
Anthony.
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Great pictures everyone !
Anthony - your Orchids or out of this world !!!
Here's some plants doing well for me in the garden at the moment (despite the drought !!!! - today 35th day or so without rain !!!)
1) Phlox 'Tiny buggles' - well chosen name !!
2) Geranium cinereum 'Purple pillow'
3) Campanula aucheri
4) Aubretia 'Elsa Lancaster'
5) Edraianthus serpyllifolius
6) Lewisia cotyledon
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I think I'd better shut up in future about irises - and most things perhaps. I really was having a joke when I said Iris cycloglossa. It truly does look like a siberian hybrid and I was sure that's what it would be. Thank goodness for labels eh? even buried ones. Needless to say, I apologise profusely.
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Luc, lovely plants. Some planting ideas there for me.
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Lesley two out of two (three) on the latest iris attempt is not bad!
It is allowed to "hedge the bet" is it not?
I still count on You for my unknown irises 8)
Anthony I forgot about the summer rest for the orphys. Would under roof during the summer be enoght or do they need frost free winter as well?
Kind regards
Joakim
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Here some more pictures of my garden.
Phlox Chattahoochee
Chrysogonum virginianum/Dactylorhiza
Speirantha convallarioides
Gentiana angustifolia typ Frei
(This plant flowers yearly since more than
30 years in our sandy soil (sea level 0 m.!)
Rhaphiolepis umbellata
Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’
Brunnera macr. ‘Dawson’s White’
Choisia arizonica ‘Aztec Pearl’
( sorry, cannot give you the fragrance!)
Aurinia saxatilis ‘Flore Pleno’
Amsonia tabernaemontana
Iris, 50 cm. ?? (selected by the late Ernst Pagels)
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and here the last one.
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Sorry Franz but I am very late to this thread. Your rock garden is magnificent and I'm sure your wonderful photos actually do not begin to do it justice! Oh for the chance to emulate such a garden.
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Great plants Luit !!
I'm particularly jealous of that good looking Phlox chattahoochee, for some reason I never succeed to grow it more than two years... Tell me your secret !
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Luit, I am distressed that we are not getting any fragrance! The choisya is lovely and I think the Rhaphiolepis umbellata has a good scent, too? This Rhaphiolepis umbellata is a good plant for near the sea, is it not? Evergreen and quite slow-growing? Makes me wonder why we do not see it more in this country.....perhaps we should start a fashion?!
Mr Pagels' Iris selection is very beautiful, a man of taste, it seems!
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Lovely plants Luit, some of which are completely new to me and I shall be doing some research.
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Edraianthus pumilio
Edraianthus ?
Dianthus alpinus
Leontopodium nivale
Aquilegia ?
Aquilegia ?
Hans
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Luc, the Phlox Chattahoochee has been waiting in a 9 cm
pot for more than 3 years, more dead than alive, before I
was able to plant it on the place where it is now, on the
north side of my raised bed. So I think it likes the poorer
circumstances and maybe needs clipping after flowering?
Maggi, I saw this Rhaphiolepis in a friends garden on the
island Texel, exposed to the NW winds from the sea.
Last year I found it as a bargain with –40% ( typical dutch maybe?) in a gardencenter.
I think nobody would buy it.
Mr Pagels was inded a man of taste, he was the man behind
most Salvia nemorosa cultivars, like Ostfriesland or Blauhügel
and most new Miscanthus.
You can read more about him on pp. 217 of The Garden, April ’07.
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Sorry I am late coming back Maggie but I have been exceptionally busy preparing for a garden visit today.To answer your question about the clematis montana,it is supported by a sycamore tree mistakenly planted when we first came here.Obviously I know more now than I did then.However I decided that I would either kill it or make it useful and they have been trying to outdo each other ever since.I think montana has the slight edge.
Here are a few current performers in the garden.
Acer glade and woodland
Acer palmatum 'Pink Filigree'
,, ,, ,, ,, (close-up)
Clematis 'Pixie' with lithospermum 'Heavenly Blue' on rock garden
Dwarf rodos.pn rock garden
Phlox 'Chatahoochee' on rock garden(strangely enough in full sun)
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and two fabulous japanese tree paeonies.At least I think so.
'Renkaku' (Flight of Cranes)
'Shimane Hakagen (no translation I'm afraid)
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I am enjoying all the garden pix form John and others... all looking good.... but I just ADORE tree paeonies! SO glamorous in their flowers! The whites are so clean and clear, I love them!
Hope your garden visit went well, John... I cannot imagine that your visitors were anything other than enchanted but these occasions can be wearing for the busy gardener!
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Luit, thank you for this information about Herr Pagels... I usually am several months behind in reading "the Garden" !he had a long life.
I cannot rejoice in Pagels work with Miscanthus, since it was a plant of Miscanthus that has damaged our little dog's eye and maybe cost her sight in that eye. :'( Not that I am much of a fan of grasses, as a whole, anyway... but since Lily's accident, I am against them all! There was a miscanthus which had seeded at the foot of a tree down the street and it had been roughly cut back leaving many sharp stems poking out and the poor little dog walked into it in the dark and her eye was badly hurt. We are furious that we did not guess the danger and keep her away, but when one is walking on a fine evening, one does not expect such dangers. How we regret our lack now. It will be this Wednesday that the stitiches that have been keeping the dog's eye closed for the last three weeks will be removed and we will find if this has been successful in helping her eye to mend ??? we can only hope for the best :-\
Poor Herr Pagel, it is not that he made this happen.
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John, I think if your garden had been in Dunblane (inter alia) it would be sold off by the greedy owner and a dozen closely packed houses built on it, passed by the half wits that run councils. >:(
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Thanks for the info on P. Chattahoochee Luit - I will keep it in mind when I give it another try !
Lovely plants and photos John, including the P. Chattahoochee - it makes me green with envy ;D
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'Shimane Hakagen (no translation I'm afraid)
Shimane - Hakugan : it means after my books:"White goose from Shimane"
Greetings
Hans
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Derek, do you recognize?
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Maggi, we really do hope Wednesday will be very positive
for Lily ! Please let us know!
On Wednesday I’ll be of to a Plantfair near Munich, with a
Belgian friend who has a plant-stall there. Expect to meet some
former businessrelations there and a former employee as well,
who has his own nursery now in Austria.
And I hope to find some new plants, of course!
With fondest regards
Luit
Hereby a picture of Salvia nem. Viola Klose, which is slightly earlier than S. Mainacht (syn. Maynight)
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Lily thanks you for your good wishes, Luit!
We hope you will have a most successful trip to the plant fair. It will be pleasant to see old friends and, as you say, there may always be new plants to meet, too!!
This Salvia has a very rich, dark blue, does it keep this colour well until the flowers are over?
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Hi Luit !
I think I can guess who you are accompanying down to Munich ! ;D
Give my regards to Noel and have lots of fun together.
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Ewelina, Glad they are doing well.
Derek.
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A few pictures taken this morning before the rain came (it started about 1130 and hasn't stopped yet!). This is from a newly constructed little rock bed and the plants are quite small but should bulk up nicely in the future.
The first is Dianthus alpinus.
The second Dianthus 'Whatfield Joy' , Potentilla crantzii, and a couple of Saxifraga that have already flowered.
The third Gentiana verna balcanica, and Campanula pilosa yet to flower
The last is Gypsophila repens 'Dorothy Teacher' which is a lot pinker than it looks in the picture.
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David,
Your Dianthus alpinus is not true. It is a beautiful cultivar of D. alpinus.
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Franz, thanks for the correction. It is a nice plant though.
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Hi
Here are some pics from my garden today.
1. A view of the scree part of my rock garden
2. A planted pipe (old style made from concrete), including Phlox kelseyi and Veronica bombycina var.
bolkardaghensis
3. Rhodiola integrifolia var atropurpurea. A nice small Rhodiola
4. Papaver suaveolens
5. Primula daonensis
6. Primula daonensis 'Alba'
7. Daphne circassica
8. Phlox pulvinata
9. Clematis columbiana var. tenuiloba
10. Paraquilegia anemonoides
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Maggi, the Salvia keeps untill the end of flowering the good color.
The good thing with these type of Salvia is , when you cut the
stems of when the flowering is almost over, the plants will in September flower again!
Luc I’m sure we will have fun this week!
That’s no problem with Noel !!
:)
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I especially like the rock garden in a pipe, made to slope down like a real scree. It may be concrete but is so beautifully weathered. Very attractive.
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Great pictures, Geir. Guess I must wisit you again soon and see how you are doing. It would be only fair if you showed us forumers some glimpse from your little water fall as well, don't you think?
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David,
Glad to see your raised bed/rockery work come to such a successful result. Nicely done and lovely plants.
Geir,
Great photographs, many thanks. Love the rockery.
Paddy
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David,
Glad to see your raised bed/rockery work come to such a successful result. Nicely done and lovely plants.
Geir,
Great photographs, many thanks. Love the rockery.
Paddy
Thank you Paddy, but when I saw Geir's rock garden I thought it was time I packed up :-[
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Don't be foolish, David. I really did think it looked very well. I have been renovating a similar patch in my own garden, a rockery/raised bed which I had neglected for the past few years. Some photographs:
Paddy
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I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together and am ready to do more BUT I have utilised all the stone I scrounged from a neighbour's skip and have you seen (a) the prices quarries want for relatively small pieces of stone, and (b) the price my local garden centre want for one piece of stone roughly 27cm x 18cm-£3.99. I need fresh sources of free stone!!!!!
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Paddy
Your garden is simple beautiful. Many interesting plants. Thanks
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Geir,
What fabulous und rare plants grow in a fantastic condition in your rock garden. Congratulations to your success! Thanks for your photographs.
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Come along David (N), your not thinking of buying stone, surely - you 'aquire' it!
From your pictures I am not sure if your house is in a town or the country. If in the country there are plenty of opportunities, both legal & illegal of getting stone for the garden. Farmers with stone cleared from the fields or tumbled down cottages - try to find the farmer and ask first but you will rarely be refused. I don't know who buys stone from garden centres but have noticed how the baskets seem to keep emptying :o
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Franz,
Many thanks for your comments.
Like David, the thought of paying for stone is a thought totally foreign to me. When I need stone I walk the headlands of the fields around me and pick up the stones which would have been thrown there after ploughing over past years. Also, field gateways have all needed to be widened over past years as machinery became bigger and bigger. This lead to piers and ditches being knocked and the stone being shoved to one side - another source of stone. Drain digging leads to more. Local roadbuilding to more still. Buying is out of the question.
Here is a trough in shade on the patio behind the house. It was once the basin of a 'water feature', one puchased at a local garden centre. It was always a nuisance to maintain the pump, keep it clean and running etc as the sump constantly ran dry because the wind blew the flow of water out of the basin. I thought using it for plants would be easier to maintain and far more interesting than a piddle of water in the corner of the patio - always made me feel like going to the toilet anyway. So, I dismantled it and planted it with miniature hostas. Also included are some from a nearby trough and one from the open garden, very small but not a true miniature - 'Golden Tiara'.
Oh, Lemon Delight is also in the open garden though it is a small one but I have bulked it up over the past few years.
When looking at the ones in the trough keep an eye to the gravel as it will give you a sense of proportion by which to judge the size of the hostas.
I will need a second posting to upload all the photographs.
Hosta trough
Hosta 'Cracker Crumbs'
Hosta 'Dawn'
Hosta 'Kakitan'
Hosta 'Lemon Lime'
Hosta 'Little White Lines'
Hosta 'Surprised by Joy'
Hosta 'Tiny Tears'
Hosta 'Wogon'
Hosta 'Lemon Delight'
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And the other ones. By the way David, I bought these from a firm from Devon to the best of my recollection - ordered them at the Chelsea Show the year before last.
Paddy
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OK, Hostas are fine but...here is a plant with which I am really delighted and then some of its relatives.
Paddy
Podophyllum delaveyi flowers
Podophyllum delaveyi leaves
Podophyllum peltatum flower
Podophyllum peltatum leaves
Podophyllum hexandrum 'Majus'
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First of all, thanks for the nice comments on my pics.
David
You really said it; I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together and am ready to do more
To me those words says it all. Thats what make gardening such a great hobby to me. Of course I often see pictures of other gardens and plants that I admire, so there is always some new ideas to reach out for. And just to make one thing clear, pictures like yours David gives me inspiration to go looking for new botanical treasures for my garden.
My situation when it comes to grow alpines is quite unique. I live in a climate that are close to what many of the plants have in their natural habitats. Normally a lot of snow in winter with a following late spring and a lot of cold melting water. And not to forget that I pay about £ 5,5 for 1000 kg of stone. So the question is if not your results are more impressive than mine.
But in the end what matter is what you said. The main thing is that we all enjoy what we do, and keep on give each other inspiration to keep up the good work.
So to all of you folks out there; Thanks for all the inspiration thru the years........and please keep on. ;)
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Lovely plants and pics from everyone, never mind the rocks! I really love all those little limey yellow hostas, especially `Lemon Delight.' 'Kakitan' should be 'Kabitan.' though. And the Podophyllums are super. What amazing leaves on P. delavayi. :o
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Lovely collection of Hosta's Paddy and that Podophyllum is a real stunner ! (completely unknown to me) Always nice to hear how some features in a garden found their origin ! Hating to clean a water pump is as good a reason as any ;D
Always good to see newly started parts of gardens David ! We can use all the inspiration we can get !
As to Geir..... well you have me green with envy - you seem to have half of Jotunheimen in your front garden ! Marvelous.
Thanks all for sharing
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Here's some views taken over the last couple of weeks from my garden :
1 and 2 : Rockery at the front of the house
3 : raised bed at front
4 and 5 : scree at the back with Rhodos and Azaleas at the end
6 : detail of same scree with Phlox 'Tiny Buggles'
7 : rockery against the back of the house - slope facing east
8 : wooden trough with Campanula aucheri - with back lawn
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Luc,
I am pleased to see your raised bed/rockery. It is wonderful and I enjoyed the tour of it. Thanks
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Even after your drought, Luc, your garden is looking very good! A question or two.... do you not fear damage to the house wall from damp problems caused by the rock bed you have raised up the wall in pic # 7 ? What is the tall, blood red tulip in the center of the scree pic #5?
Your rhodos look good, you must have been watering them well!
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Thank you Franz - coming from a connoisseur like you - compliments count double :D
Hi Maggi - thanks for the compliment and answering your questions - I've got the house wall protected by waterproof plates - the feature has been there for some ten years now and no problems so far.
The tulip is T. wilsoniana.
I think the Rhodos (and we) were lucky that the soil contained a lot of winter moisture when the drought started so they coped quite qell - I only watered the bigger specimen just once. I think that if we were to have a similar drought in July or August, dammage would be much more important.
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"I've got the house wall protected by waterproof plates ".
... would you explain a little more to me about this method, please? I think the effect of the raised planting is most attractive.
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Luc, you don't need to go to Prague. You have beutifulest in your garden
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Luc,
Wonderful garden, absolutely beautiful. You obviously spend a great amount of time in it as it seems so well planned, built and maintained with the lovliest of plants and flowers.
As with Maggi, that red tulip certainly caught my eye. It is a stunner. Also building against the wall strikes me as a most unusual thing to do - from the point of view of the danger it might bring to the fabric of the building.
Well done on an excellent garden and thanks for showing it to us.
Paddy
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Great pictures Luc. I shall expect to see Gentiana depressa in there in a couple of years :)
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Thanks for the nice compliments everybody, part of them should also go to my spouse and fellow gardener Rita who is a master in keeping things nice and tidy in the garden !
Maggi and Paddy,
I had seen a similar construction long time ago and found it a good way to add some "height" in the rock garden. I fixed a wooden framework against the wall and then fixed the plates against the framework. As such there's about 1" space between the wall and the plates that protect it from the (possibly) wet soil. It is also facing East and as most of our rain comes from the West, the part closest to the wall is fairly dry. Despite the fact thaét it faces East I call it (slightly exagerated) my 'Eiger Nordwand'... 8)
So far, no problems with the wall...
Ewelina, very nice to say so... but I wouldn't mind a visit to Prague anyway... ;)
I do share your hope Lesley, but I think I know that the marvelous G. depressa is not all that easy to grow... I wonder if I'll manage to give it a home to its liking.
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As ever Luc, behind every good man there is a good woman.
I recall reading a number of years ago an account of a farewell dinner for the President of the British Allotment Association. He was asked to impart what he considered the best advice for any gardener. His reply went, 'No man should take on a garden bigger than his wife can handle'.
Good advice, which I have followed diligently over the years.
Your gardening team certainly seems to be working very well. My compliments.
Paddy
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Thanks Paddy - I shall transmit the compliments to my other half !
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Not exactly flowering now, but I spotted this when digging out a variegated ivy from a half barrel. Dormant buds of Orobanche hederae attached to the ivy roots.
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Anthony,
What an unusual one. Did you plant it or did it come in on the ivy?
Paddy
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Several years ago I bought some seed and sprinkled it on an ivy plant in the garden. I think the first flowers appeared three years later. Since then it has popped up wherever I have ivy. It is even appearing in neighbours' gardens (oops ::)). I probably sprinkled some second generation seed onto the ivy in the barrel a couple of years ago? The seed is like dust so it could easily have blown there?
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Hi again folks
To day I am posting just one picture. It's a nice little Primula flowering in my scree (wet part). I grow this as Primula grignensis. But in John Richards book I can see that he think this might be a form of P. hirsuta (P. hirsuta ssp. grignensis?), and not a separate species. Can someone out there please help me with the correct name for this species.
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A couple of Silenes from seed. First up S. hookerii ssp hookerii from Archibald seed. This is the second year of flowering, some variation in the flowers, more so in the habit (even more so now the snails and slugs got to them in the greenhouse). Then S. hookerii pulvinata from AGS seed (yes really).
Finally, rather off topic but may interest some, the caterpillar of the Scarlet Tiger that relieved me of the need to strim the nettle patch just outside of the garden wall. Funny thing is I've searched for these t known haunts for several years running and here it is literally on my doorstep!
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So Mark,
Will you set about introducing a few good patches of nettles into the garden now?
Paddy
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Mark,
The silenes are very good indeed. Keep the caterpillar at the other side of the garden wall, I think.
Paddy
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Well I already have a couple of patches. One by the frame was very popular with the comma caterpillars last year!
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That's a tremendous pic of a Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula) caterpillar Mark. I've not seen a Scarlet Tiger moth since I used to go on holiday in the South. It's not found in Scotland. An individual Comma (Polygonia c-album), however, was spotted, and photograpphed, by two people last summer on Sheriffmuir, up the hill from me, which is amazing.
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I have some nice pics of the comma caterpillar's which I had not seen until last year.
To get this back a little more on topic, the only species I have a problem is with Yellow Underwing, last two winters a number of the Cyclamen where eaten in the greenhouse until I found the caterpillars by going out at night. Now slugs and snails, that's adifferent matter. I cannot grow any Campanulas outside, even the common ones. In the past week the slugs and snails have eaten Daphne arbuscula flowers, Rhodohypoxis and even the flowers of the common alpine phlox hybrids.
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Mark, if you're not wanting to go down the slug pellet route, going out at night with a torch and an old pair of sharp scissors to snip 'em is quite satisfying. The local birds and other slug eaters can remove the corpses in the morning.
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Geir,
Primula grignensis was described in 1998, but was already know for a long time as one of the P. hirsute- types living on dolomites. P. grignensis is a very tiny plant. I had seen it 1990 in shady places in fissures, where the air humidity is high in the Grigna Meridionale. ( Como province. Italy)
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Hi Franz
Thanks for your reply. I add another picture showing the size and the very marked petioles that are supposed to be found in this species.
My plants are grown from seeds, and after having a closer look I have reason to believe that the first picture I posted not are the true species. Even if the leaves have marked petioles (not so easy to see at the picture), I find the petals a bit to flat. After what I know they are supposed to be more erect as in the picture added to this post (even that a bit hard to see in the picture....but they are). The size of the first plant is also a bit bigger, even if it is smaller than my other Primula hirsuta plants.
Any comments ?
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I can add nothing to aid your researches, Geir, I merely say that I am unfamiliar with this very tiny plant and see why it would be desirable... such small treasures are a real delight. I hope it grows well for you, it is showing every sign of doing so, so far!
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Geir,
Here is a short description of P. grignensis.
The rosettes only 2 – 4 cm diameter in the wild. The leaves are roundly oval. 15 – 20 (very rarely up to 35) mm long and 5-20 mm broad; the base of the blade is very abruptly narrowed into the petiole. The glands are large and brownish, reddish or yellowish. The scape is 1.5 to 5 cm long and carries one to seven, light pink flowers, each with a white centre and a diameter about 2 cm.
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Hi again Franz
Thanks for you description, I will study my plants closer to see how they fit to what you wrote.
Here are some habitants among boulders. Some of them are postet one by one before, but here you can see the whole neighborhood.
Dicentra peregrina x oregana (a fertile hybrid made by Botanical Garden of Gothenburg)
Cytisus ardoinii
Physoplexis comosa (not so big yet, but with a few more sunny days........)
Paraquilegia anemonoides
Clematis columbiana ssp. tenuoloba
Callianthemun anemonoides ( with hundreds of small seedlings in the gravel below ;D)
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Callianthemun anemonoides ( with hundreds of small seedlings in the gravel below ;D)
That is so unfair :(
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Lesley
Would it help if I sent you some fresh seeds ;)
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Here some new pictures from my woodland garden. Most of them taken today.
First a couple of different Anemonella:
1. Anemonella thalictroides 'XXL'. Supposed to be large flowers. Well, everything is relative".
2. Anemonella thalictroides 'Betty Blake'. Green flowers can be nice too! A small new plant but already flowering
3. Anemonella thalictroides 'Cameo'.
Then a couple of Schizocodon (Syn Shortia). I have the privilige to live near the Botanical Garden of Gothenburg where they really know how to grow those. Good for me you are able to buy plants as well!
4. Schizocodon ilicifolius
5. Schizocodon ilicifolius purpureiflorus
6. Schizocodon soldanelloides 'Magnus'. A little later so it is not quite open yet.
And at last one of my favourites that I think ought to be in many more gardens.
7 Uvularia perfoliata.
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The first time I have grown the Bee Orchid.
Ophrys apifera.
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Here are 2 photos of P. grignensis (Grigna, 2000m). A difficult Primula like recubariensis.
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The first time I have grown the Bee Orchid.
Ophrys apifera.
Beautiful flower Derek. I remember seeing these while on holiday near Cromer (Norfolk) over 30 years ago.
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Lesley
Would it help if I sent you some fresh seeds ;)
It certainly would Geir, though I promise you, I wasn't fishing. Not this time anyway :D I'll send my address privately.
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Here are some pics from today - unfortunately most of the violets (my favourite genus) are post flowering
1. Meconopsis cambrica 'Frances Perry'
2. close up
3. Paeonia officinalis - Monte Baldo type
4. Ramonda myconi
5. x Rhodoxis 'Hebron Farm Cerise' = Hypoxis parvula x Rhodohypoxis
bauri
6. Viola cazorlensis
7. Viola spec. (aff. biflora) - Birang Gorge/China
8. Viola portalesia - a shrubby violet from Chile
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I was looking forward to my Viola cazorlensis but it died over the winter.
It's so long since I posted in here if I have at all. Here's a selection
Androsace ?
Androsace ?
Brimeura amethystina
Daphne alpina - close detail
Dianthus 'Whitehill'
Edraianthus graminifolius 'Alba'
Erigeron 'Canary Bird'
Erigeron chrysopsides
Phlox bought in Czech Republic
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and a few more
Rhodohypoxis 'Kiwi Joy' - will there ever be an end to Aphids in 2007?!
Scilla peruviana
Tritonia x2
Tulip that wasnt virused last year. Probable cause visible but no longer alive. Seems like bug sprays arent working this year. How are you controlling them?
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Pulsatilla, finished flowering but still attractive with the silky seedheads.
Martin.
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Not strictly an alpine, but an appealing plant. Perhaps someone can suggest a name as the label has been lost, Lamium ??
Martin.
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Hello, Martin, a warm welcome to you! Super photos, by the way. How sculptural is the pulsatilla? Lovely!
Your Lamium, yes, I agree that's what it is, is another stunning portrait....great detail shown.... but I cannot venture a suggestion as to the species.... sorry! What height is it? That might help someone to identify it.
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Perhaps someone can suggest a name as the label has been lost, Lamium ??Martin.
Looks like Lamium orvala. Lovely thing, about a metre tall with smokey pink flowers and attractive foliage. Compare with this:
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-lifeform=any&rel-taxon=equals&where-taxon=Lamium+orvala
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That looks like the very thing, Diane! Can't say I grow it, but I like the look of it.
Did you enjoy your Czech visit?
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Martin that pic is stunning. 8) Should be in a flower book!
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Thank you for your comments, and thank you Diane for the identification.
Martin.
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Martin, what took you so long to register to the new Forum? We missed you!
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Martin,
Stunningly beautiful photographs.
Paddy
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A view of the garden in the early morning showing one of my wisterias - note the frost on the leaves of the tree peony.
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Martin, what took you so long to register to the new Forum? We missed you!
And has anyone heard from or of Laurence Moon who posted such lovely pictures on the old Forum? I miss him too. He sent me seed of a stunning dwarf Salvia and the little plants are truly gorgeous and woolly.
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A couple of plants taken yesterday.
First Anacyclus pyrethrum depressus.
Allium karataviense 'Ivory Queen'
Allium guttatum
and one from the greenhouse Sprekelia formisissima.
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Anthony you usually comment about snowdrops being ahead of yours but your Wisteria is roughly at the stage as those in my area
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Martin, what took you so long to register to the new Forum? We missed you!
And has anyone heard from or of Laurence Moon who posted such lovely pictures on the old Forum? I miss him too. He sent me seed of a stunning dwarf Salvia and the little plants are truly gorgeous and woolly.
Lesley, he posted a few pictures on 11 April on the Flowering now in April 2007 thread.
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A couple of plants taken yesterday.
First Anacyclus pyrethrum depressus.
Allium karataviense 'Ivory Queen'
Allium guttatum
and one from the greenhouse Sprekelia formisissima.
Mick, nice plants. I especially liked your Sprekelia-one I have not heard of before so I shall do some research.
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Just checking David I may have the spelling wrong. It should be Sprekelia formosissima.
sorry
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Just checking David I may have the spelling wrong. It should be Sprekelia formosissima.
sorry
Mick, not a problem, I had never heard of Sprekelia as a whole!
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Here is Serapias orientalis opening now.
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Thanks for that David, I was living it up with Otto and friends by that time. When I came home there were over 600 emails, most from the Forum so I didn't catch up with everything. I'll have a look now.
Mick, your Anacyclus looks exactly like what I have as A. depressus. Are they the same thing do you think?
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Anthony, Those are amazing flowers. You seem to have an endless display of RUEs - Rare Unusual Expensive.
Something more ordinary from the garden, some dodecatheon in flower at the moment, Incarvillea delavayi and Incarvillea delavayi 'Alba'
Finally, for my wife has insisted I post, as she says ,'a decent plant to this forum.' As you may have guessed it is one of her plants, one she grew herself and of which she is very proud. Working near it in the garden puts one in a certain danger for if as much as a leaf is marked the consequences could be dire.
Here is Mary's Myostidium hortense.
Paddy
Dodecatheon dentatum
Dodecatheon jeffreyi
Dodecatheon meadia
Myosotidium hortense
Myosotidium hortense
Incarvillia delavayi
Incarvillia delavayi 'Alba'
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Paddy, the Serapias is not particularly rare, or expensive if bought as small enough tubers. These grow quite quickly. S. lingua multiplies quite well, but these have yet to. Here is Anacamptis pyramidalis in the greenhouse.
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Just no end to these treasures Anthony.
Paddy
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Mmmmmm I seem to have missed that thread altogether after about April 8th. And 23 pages!! I'll have to go back there.
Luc, it occurred to me that your Ranunculus might be either Trollius acaulis or T. pumilus? Does it have little bulby things, not unlike those of R. ficaria? If not, it isn't R. millefoliatus which can spread about in an alarming way, if happy.
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The orchids are really super. I wish.....
Paddy, tell Mary her Myosotidium is great, just as we like to see it (and a lot better then mine!). Oh for the nice soft moist Irish climate :)
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no Orchids flowering here but spikes are just visiable
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Lesley,
the plant identified earlier on as R. millefoliatus was bought 3 or 4 years ago - I've not checked if it had anything bulblike - I'll have a look when it's in rest - shouldn't be long as it's dying down right now.
Thanks for helping out !
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Lesley - Mick, your Anacyclus looks exactly like what I have as A. depressus. Are they the same thing do you think?
It looks like it could be a synonym found this:
Anacyclus depressus Ball
SYNONYM(S) : Anacyclus depressus Maire, Anacyclus pyrethrum (L.) Link. var. depressus (Ball.) Maire
ENGLISH : Mount Atlas daisy.
at this link http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Anacyclus.html#depressus
Name was checked in the text, picture name saved wrong.
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Paddy, you obviously have the Dodecatheon 'knack' What kind of conditions do you grow them under? I have D meadia and D hendersonii both of which I used to grow in pots under glass (not very successfully) until I ran out of space and planted them out. I now have 2 pretty poor specimens in the garden. Any tips would be useful.
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David,
I grew these dodecatheon from seed - a great way to find out the best place to put a new plant. When plants are ready for planting out I put them in a range of conditions and see how they get on in each situation. After trying them in various situations I find they like a little dampness in the soil and also a good rich soil. Those planted in such a situation have invariably done far better than those planted elsewhere.
A similar experience with Asarum caudatum illustrates this very well. Five plants put out into the garden have responded differently depending on conditions so that one plant has just one leaf while another is a clump three feet by two feet.
So, I suggest that if you have a few plants that you try out a variety of conditions. My experience opts for semi shade with rich moist soil.
Lesley, Mary is here basking in the praise you have sent. She is delighted with herself, like a cat with cream.
Many thanks, Paddy
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Mary is right to be pleased, her Myosotidium is a cracker. It is an extraordinary plant, isn't it? Somewhat unlikely combo of leaf and flower...but the shiny green sets off the blue so well.
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It is indeed an extraordinary plant Maggi, the more so because it comes only from one of the bleakest climates on earth, the Chatham Islands off the east coast of NZ and not anywhere that its rather lush, tropical look suggests. It seems to have rather a lot akin to the megaherbs of the islands of the sub Antarctic.Sadly, there are few left in the wild, accessible plants having been eaten out entirely, by sheep.
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Two odd things from the garden
Arum italicum albispathicum
Sauromatum venosum
then,
Disporum smithii
Disporum sessile variegatum
Smilacina racemosa
Paddy
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Sauromatum venosum outside! You have a different climate to ours.
We grow ours in a pot that is kept in the glass porch in winter (brought indoors if very cold) then the pot goes onto the patio so that we can appreciate the leaves.
It is not quite open yet - pity because I wanted to take it to Aberdeen Show tomorrow ::)
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Geranium renardii, an outstanding garden plant, lovely flowers and great soft velvety leaves.
Martin.
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I got this tree peony from John Amand at the EBS a few years ago and it has two cricket ball sized flowers on this year. Haven't Scooby what it's called, but seem to remember it had a long Japanese name. Any ideas?
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David,
Sauromatum venosum does very well outside here. In fact, I have never grown it in a pot. The only difficulty outside is that it doesn't like to lie in winter wet, otherwise it is perfectly happy and increases well. However, it doesn't last very long in flower. I imagine hoping to have a plant for show is very touch and go. You can just be lucky that it will open on the right day for you, I suppose.
Paddy
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Paddy,
I certainly agree with Maggi's opinion that Mary's Myosotium is a magnificent specimen. I grow both the blue and white forms of the plant. They do rather well here and seed freely. They tend to make most growth in late winter early spring ie, the cooler wetter part of the year. Individual plants are naturally short-lived so it is a good idea to collect the seed and keep a supply of fresh plants going.The seed germinates quite easily.
Contary to Lesley's assertion the Chatham Is do not have the bleakest climate on earth as the nikau palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) grows there. The climate is certainly cool with a lot of rain but it does not get excessively cold. The large leaves of the Myosotidium would be an adaption to the low light intensities ie cloudy days. Chatham Is plants grow well here on the Otago Peninsula. Many are wind and salt tolerant so make useful coastal shelter. A number of endemic Chatham Is plants besides Myosotidium make good garden subjects if you can get hold of them, Aciphylla dieffenbachii, Brachyglottis huntii, Corokia macrocarpa to name a few.
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Martin your Geranium is 'Phillip Vapelle'. G. renardii is white with blue veins. Here they are for comparison. There is a Geranium forum if you plan to post more.
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Hi
Here are some pictures taken to day. Since I live up north I can now start to enjoy plants you folks have posted pictures of some weeks ago..........FINALLY ;D
First out some Gentiana:
1 - Gentiana acaulis 'Alboviolacea'
2 - Gentiana verna - violet form
3 - Gentiana brachyphylla subsp. favratii - collected in the Carpathians (Romania)
4 - Gentiana oschtenica
Then a couple of Ranunculus:
5 - Ranunculus seguieri
6 - Ranunculus parnassifolius 'Nuria Form'
And finally:
7 - Taraxacum pseudoroseum - (PS! not a problem in my garden)
8 - Lewisia brachycalyx
9 - Daphne cneorum
10-Lilium souliei - in bud
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very mouth watering. Every garden during the Czech trip had Gentiana acaulis 'Alboviolacea' growing
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Lovely plants Geir. I particularly liked the Gentians, and the Lewisia brachycalyx. I have just lost my one and only brachcalyx, the second year running this has happened to me.
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Mark, when you grow Geranium renardi from wild seed you will get darker colours. The pale one that you showed is the one most available in the trade and the one we recognise as renardii. The others still have the lovely foliage, I have a beautiful dark one similar to Martins flowering for the first time this year from seed collected from one of the Czech collectors, can't remember who. Well worth looking out for different forms.
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Susan, many thanks for the flowers you sent up with Fermi! On Friday I was pleased to be given a bunch of flowers by Fermi when he arrived from visiting Susan and Julia in Perthshire. Julia had shown him the Explorers' garden in Pitlochry and Susan showed him her garden and her parents' garden,in Pitcairngreen and then took him to see her bulb field.So when Fermi arrived in Aberdeen, laden with the baggage that a world traveller needs, he was also clutching a 'Costa Coffee' cup, with a lovely buch of Tulipa sprengeri and a nice (hybrid?) Iris, along with a beautiful stem of Meconopsis. This bunch was given a vase of water and decorated the Show Secretaries' table in the show hall until yesterday afternoon, when i transferred them home with me. they are now looking as fresh as ever and the Mec, which had drooped a little on its journey from Perthshire, but which stood up more as time went on, is now looking out from a vase, fully open. Thanks, Susan !
As Chelsea Flower Show reigns supreme on the UK TV this week, watch out for Tulipa sprengeri in the gardens and displays... they most likely were sourced from Susan!
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I stand corrected and agree I have only ever seen renardii in gardens. I'd be interested in swapping with you.
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Geir,
I think your small gentian is G. brachyphylla subsp. favratii.
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Hi Franz
Thanks for your identification. I looked up Gentiana brachyphylla subsp. favratii, and the description seems to fit my plant.
Thanks again Franz, I am really grateful to have access to your knowledge thru this forum.
Geir
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Hello,
great pics from all. I enjoy monitoring. Today I want to show you the blossom of various rose bushes in my frontyard. The first roses opened already early in April as posted previously. The major rose blossom which is usual in June is now min. 2wks earlier due to the sunny April.
Big Purple and Oklahoma have a fantastic smell. The others please me of the impressive colors. The bright orange polyantha surrounding the front yard is Price Igor.
Rosenvorgarten.jpg
Rosenvorgarten links.jpg
Rosenvorgarten rechts.jpg
Rose Gloria Dei buds.jpg
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more pics...
Rose Oklahoma.jpg
Rose Big Purple.jpg
Rose Amber Queen.jpg
Rose Caribia.jpg
Rosestamm Snow Ballet.jpg
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more pics. The last one shows a Palomena.
Rose Amber Queen 2.jpg
Rose Gloria Dei.jpg
Palomena prasina on rose bud.jpg
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what a great colour to paint a house and show off the roses so well! We wouldnt get away with that in the dull UK
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I thought I'd get a comment from somewhere about MY comment re the Chatham Is climate. David I don't mind the rain and sleet, even hail and snow. It's the WIND that makes a bleak climate for me. However, I admit it's all anecdotal. I've never been there :)
Geil, you have superb plants, growing superbly. I especially adore the Ranunculus spp. I hope my recently sown seed of R. seguieri germinate. I first fell in love with it in the amazing garden of Mike and Polly Stone, back in 1981. Been yearning ever since.
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Hi Lesley,
The list has only been slightly delayed...am awaiting a reply re: Ourisia....hopefully you will receive tomorrow.
Re: Your love affair with Ranunculus seguieri....have you visited this link in the past?
http://freespace.virgin.net/celia.almond/sp02.htm
Jim Almond's site is absolutely brilliant for show enthusiasts!
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Lots of beautiful pix around again !
Geir, that Ranunculus parnassifolius 'Nuria' gets my first prize ! What a beautiful flower - I remember it drew my attention just as much when you showed it last year !
Here's some from my garden :
1 & 2 : Rhodohypoxis 'Great Scot'
3 : Veronica s. - I've had this for ages - no name alas - does anyone recognize it ? It's abt 15 cm high.
4 : Pleione x barbarae - the last one of my lot for this season.
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Luc, this might be Veronica austriaca Shirley Blue??
Luit
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On a Dryas tenella , which I planted about 30 years ago on my first
raised bed I found a shoot with a very big flower.
Here it is.
On the second photo I show the flower with a 2 Euro coin,
which measures about 2,5 cm.
I hope I will be able to propagate this shoot.
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Luit, that is a giant flower indeed! Good luck with its propagation.
Did you enjoy your trip to Munich? Have you been watching the Giro ? Another day in the mountains tomorrow!
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Armin, how lovely your garden is looking with all these rose flowers so early ( for us ) in the year. There are some gardens with climbing roses, on a south facing house wall, getting warm in the sun which are blooming but not any others yet.
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Referring back to the last page to my post yesterday : Reply #164 on: May 20, 2007, 06:54:02 PM »
here is a pic of the tulips and Iris from Susan's bulb field
[attachthumb=1]
Tulipa sprengeri and an Iris ?
[attachthumb=2]
This next one is a bit fuzzy, but shows the colour well
[attachthumb=3]
a close up of the T. sprengeri
[attachthumb=4]
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A few images taken in the garden this lovely evening.....can any kind person put names to the pretty little Linarias please, both about 7ctms tall?
Androsace foliosa.jpg
Ranunculus parnassifolius.jpg
sunlit Ramonda.jpg
sunlit Ramonda 2.jpg
Paederota bonarota.jpg
Paederota bonarota 2.jpg
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Can't be much help with your Linarias, Cliff, though the second one looks like the sort that often comes free in the pot with any plant from Ardfearn... a pretty little thing indeed and all the nicer for being gratis! I have a vague notion of Linaria xxxxxx tubkahl butthat may be quite off beam.
My Lily Beetle is not so colourful as yours, but she is not as much bother !
[attachthumb=1]
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Thanks for the link Cliff. I've had the occasional short glimpse at Jim Almond's site but I'm a bit scared of it because of the time it will undoubtedly take. I'll dip in from time to time.The R. seguieri is superb!
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The iris is a seedling from another Pacific coast hybrid. I am bulking it up at the moment and need a name - any suggestions?
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Not a bug but a Lily beetle (Lilioceris lilii) Cliff. Fortunately rare in Britain, it is described as a pest in the south [of Europe].
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Anthony - Unfortunately Lily Beetles are not rare in UK. I had them on lilies in Hertfordshire and found one last year here in Derbyshire. As the climate warms they will spread. They also like Frits and other plants.
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I must squish a hundred or more lily beetles here every spring. The adults are attractive, but the slimy grubs (covered in their own poo!) will strip all the leaves off a lily spike in no time. They're now very widespread in southern England.
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Susan,
A beautiful Pacific Coast iris, nice blues. Name?
In the naming game commercialism must be taken into account - a name that will sell is important. 'Baby Blue' perhaps?
'Blue Skies' ?
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Must put a reminder on the calendar to order some of these (tulip and iris) from Susan.
Re: Lily Beetle. Must be global warming as the food supply won't have changed much? My info is twenty years out of date.
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Paddy, the colours of Susan's Iris are creamy yellow and a darker yellow with purple, rather than blue!
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Lilly beetles have been around for decades over here - I must have squashed 20 of them on my Frit imperialis earlier on this year. >:(
As to the name for the Iris, how about : "Susan's blue sundown" ... ::)
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It would be interesting to see how far north lily beetles have reached?
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Anthony, they will soon reach you in Dunblane.
I've read that they travel around 100km north each year!
Will try to find the article again!
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My first observation of Lily Beetles in my garden goes back to 2002. I think I brought them in with some Lilium that I got from a friend in Gothenburg. Now I kill hundreds of Lily Beetles in my garden every year, and I have also been informed that they are a problem further north in Norway. In my garden the Fritillarias seems to be the most popular diet :-\
Geir
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After starting this Lily beetle thread I feel I must contribute to the discussion by confirming that this particular individual (which I shall nickname Savage) is (to my knowledge) the first to be seen in this little hedge-enclosed part of Whitworth, Lancashire. I do have a number of frits and the odd lily but haven't noticed any problem as yet (famous last words, no doubt)!
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mentioning killing things yesterday I managed to kill a nice plump Narcissus fly. A little squeeze revealed some eggs
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what a great colour to paint a house and show off the roses so well! We wouldnt get away with that in the dull UK
Mark, thank you. It was my wifes great idea to have the house painted in sky blue colour.
With the Roses in contrast it's indeed an eye catcher. We like it.
Our house is visible from the main street and we receipt lots of compliments from visitors returning and stop in front of our house. Some house builders copied and it looks we set a local trend...
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Armin, I enjoyed looking at your Roses.
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Susan, what about 'Purple Haze'. Or you could go the whole hog and call it 'Hendrix'!
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Susan, when naming your iris, why not call it something that is distinctive to you, your area or your nursery? Why not `Pitcairngreen' for instance. Then you have something that is identifiable as yours (so you get the credit) and you avoid (even further) confusion caused by adding it to the long lists of 'Blue something' or 'Purple something' which could be anything from anywhere and bred by anyone. There must be a billion 'Blue...' out there.
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Maggi, I had a great trip last week!
I met several former businessrelations and I saw many
(to me) new plants. It was amazing to see from how far
gardeners came to sell their plants. These are all people
who don’t want to grow what the big gardencenters
and DIY markets dictate to grow and for which prices.
Here people will find many interesting plants! ::) ::)
At the moment I don’t have time to look at the Giro d’Italia.
There is so much to do in the garden, like weeding etc.
And the weather is good for planting and I have still many
spaces for new plants.
Here are some pictures of this week:
Geranium ibericum ‘Vital’
Geranium ibericum ‘Vital’ cl.
Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’
Geranium cinereum ‘Signal’
Geranium cin. ‘Super Ballerina’ which originated in our nursery
years ago and which has a nicer flower than G. ‘Ballerina’
Geranium cinereum Seedling 2, which seem to be a cross between
G. cinereum subcaulescens or splendens with G. cin ‘Ballerina’
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most pictures missing ?? Let's try again.
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Thanks for all the suggestions for Iris names, I will have to get round to naming it and distributing it sometime.
Lesley, I have been trying to think of a prefix for any plants that I want to name for ages. The problem is I am gradually moving all my production away from Pitcairngreen and eventualy, hopefully, my house.
Will have to then change the nursery name as I will no longer live in Pitcairn and no longer grow alpines :-\
Mind you moving house is not as easy as down under, you have to build a new one, not just put it on the back of a truck.
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Susan,
Moving house?
So why not call the iris, 'Rambler's Blue'?
Paddy
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The newest delight in our bulb house is Sauromatum venosum, a Himalyan aroid. Pity it could not have flowered a week earlier for Aberdeen Show!
After the 'flower' dies back it will go out onto the patio where it will put up a most extraordinary foliage display.
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Difficult to know where to place this topic but I have plumped for this page.
Many of our forum members are keen plants men (and women of course), but many are also very enthusiastic and knowledgeable photographers. The following link combines the two themes in a truly wonderful way. I make no apologies for recommending this site if you have hours to spare and lips to lick...the photographs and slide shows are breathtaking. Your feedback would be appreciated.
http://www.davidsenesac.com/
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That is an amazing site Cliff but yes, lots of time needed. I'll go back very soon - when I have nothing else to do ;D
Since Fermi, the mainstay of the southern topics is still away, I'm putting a couple of autumn flowering plants here, because it is May after all, even though on the other side of the world.
First Oxalis massoniana which is very good this year.
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Then what I have had for years as Oxalis peninsulare but may more correctly be O. peduncularis. It is almost bushy and is entirely succulent. From the northern parts of South America I think and is not entirely hardy here but otherwise easy to grow. The flower stems are about 22cms long. It doesn't make bulbs.
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I repotted Oxalis laciniata yesterday and found it has increased quite well in the last year. There was a late flower which I discovered was very sweetly scented.
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Lovely images Lesley, thanks for posting...
a few piccies from the garden this fine, sunny evening...
Androsace foliosa
Ranunculus parnassifolius
sunlit Ramonda
sunlit Ramonda 2
Paederota bonarota
Paederota bonarota 2.
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Here's Serapias vomeracea, the Plough-share Serapias. A densely hairy 'tongue' (epichile) is characteristic of this species.
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thanks for the link, Cliff. I want, I want I want .....
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Anthony, what a beauty!
Tell me a little more about it. You are growing it in a pot, I think. Hardy enough for the garden?
Well photographed.
Paddy
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Wet and windy here in Derbyshire. A sad week also, I attended the funeral of a good friend, Bob Straughan. Perhaps better known to AGS members, Bob ran an alpine nursery, Highgates, at Belper for many years.
Some cheap and cheerfull plants to brighten a dull day. Echeveria peacockii, Aquilegia skinneri and a little Dianthus which had sown itself. Sorry about the poor quality, I had forgotten to change ISO setting from 800 to my normal 100. Thought the shutter speeds were high !
Martin.
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Paddy, not difficult in a pot in the bulb house. Needs a dry summer rest and is winter green, like many southern European orchids.
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I like your photos Martin, not only do the plants look good, but they look very artisitic.
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Iris in flower now Blue Sails
Edraianthus pumilio very loose not sure why as it is in a trough out in the open,
and 2 Campanula the first is choruhensis(sorry about the pot David)
Does anybody know the second?.
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Many thanks for the information, Anthony. Your photographs would certainly tempt anyone to attempt growing these delightful plants.
Martin,
I would love to hear of the technique you are using for your photographs. What are you using for your background? Using a flash? Plants brought indoor for photographs? You get the drift.
Paddy
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Hi, I wonder if anyone can identify this Aquilegia? I grew it from AGS seed as A.saximontana, but I think that is blue and white? It's about 4 inches high, might it be A.bertolinii?
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Hello Paddy,
These pictures were taken inside the greenhouse with a black card background and the use of silver foil on a board as a reflector. The camera is tripod mounted and I spot meter, usually underexposing a little. I never use flash for plants, although I have considered investing in a ring flash but never got round to it. I use a Nikon D200 and, for this type of shot, a 60mm Micro Nikkor.
Martin.
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I like your photos Martin, not only do the plants look good, but they look very artisitic.
They do indeed Martin. How do you get that little frame around each one?
I remember Bob Straughn from a visit in 1981 to Highgates and I bought super things from him and his wife then and later by mail when it was so much easier to import. Among others, Bolax gummifera - alas no longer with me.
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Mark, could your aquilegia be A. bertolonii? An Italian species I think, with a quite large flower over small, very neat and quite dark foliage. The spurs curl inwards like yours too. It is about the only species I know that doesn't seem to hybridise with every other (well, maybe the red and yellows don't so much) including the kitchen cat!
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Martin,
Many thanks for the details on the photographs. For glasshouse photography the background card is certainly a good idea. I find that the backgrounds in the glasshouse will inevitably be cluttered with a multitude of pots, odds and ends etc which spoil the shot, so the background card certainly improves that situation. I rarely take my photographs in the glasshouse preferring to take the plant outside and 'pose' it in as natural a position as possible.
Any true photographer would cast their eyes to heaven at my methods of photography. I make use of the 'take many, select one' method and can often take 10 - 20 photographs of the same flower, later discarding the unwanted images.
I am using a Fuji FinePix S9500, one of these cameras which with the aid of digital technology approaches SLR capabilities. It has a viewing screen which can be flipped up for viewing which is a great benefit when photographing plants near ground level. The light metering is a little weak in it I find however - a good excuse to look for a new model, I suppose! The Nikon D200 or one of the Canon range?
Paddy
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Martin, I first visited Bob Straughan in 1987 on a Alpine Nursery & National Trust tour. Little did I think that 10 years later I would be living here. My daughter moved here in 1992 & I would pop over to Highgates every time we visited her. I was very sorry to hear the news of his passing. Still wet & windy!
Wet and windy here in Derbyshire. A sad week also, I attended the funeral of a good friend, Bob Straughan. Perhaps better known to AGS members, Bob ran an alpine nursery, Highgates, at Belper for many years.
Some cheap and cheerfull plants to brighten a dull day. Echeveria peacockii, Aquilegia skinneri and a little Dianthus which had sown itself. Sorry about the poor quality, I had forgotten to change ISO setting from 800 to my normal 100. Thought the shutter speeds were high !
Martin.
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Hello Lesley,
Do you use Photoshop as your editing program ? if so, it is easy to put frames around your pictures. I tend to use a thin white frame first and then a thicker frame. As follows;
1. Select all.
2. Edit (drop down to stroke) then add an amount of 30px, or whatever you are happy with, I normally use white in colour.
3. Deselect. This leaves a thin white border.
4. Go to image and drop down to canvas size. Click this and a box will appear. For my pictures I alter the size to 0.80. Then place your cursor over the colour box and click. The eyedropper tool will then appear, you can pick out a colour from your photograph as a frame colour. When happy with the colour just click ok and the frame will appear.
You can do a similar thing in Corel Paint Shop Pro.
Martin.
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Hi, a pic of my Weldenia candida and some questions. This is a pic from last year (for some reason my camera has a problem focusing on white flowers..must read the manual!). It's a little bigger this year but I'd appreciate some advice on cultivation. I sort of lost my nerve with this after managing to kill the first one within weeks of arrival (I was told I shouldn't have watered it after may but it appeared to be coming into growth rather than dying down). The new one grew a number of additional crowns last summer, I then kept it dry after the leaves died down but this year only one crown came up. It looked as if the additional crowns had failed autumn or winter rather than through lack of water in the spring. Advice?
Another question, off topic I'm afraid. After the storm last night I see our philadlphus has keeled over. I thought it was due to water on the braches and gave it a gentle shake to reduce the weight but it looks move as if it has moved in the ground, maybe it's waterlogged and the wind is coming from a different direction to usual. Advice please?
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Physoplexis comosa and Leontopodium nivale
Hans
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Nice pics! Is L. nivale what they used to call L. alpinum var crassense? I had it once for a short while but never seen it offered again.
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Just managed to snap this Honey Bee (Apis melifera) in the bulb house visiting a Bug Orchid (Anacamptis fragrans). Its head is covered in pollinia.
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Hi, I wonder if anyone can identify this Aquilegia, might it be A.bertolinii?
This is what I have as Aquilegia bertolonii, as you can see, mine is going over now but it looks about right, the spurs and the lighter petal tips. Yours looks a nicer darker blue than mine was.
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Hi, a pic of my Weldenia candida and some questions.
Have you seen this yet Mark?
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=295.0
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Thanks Andrew, I hadn't seen the discussion on Weldenia. Still seems to be some variation of advice on how dry you can keep it in winter though!
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One of the lesser known jewels in the floral crown of Moray is the garden behind Glen Grant Distillery in Rothes. The garden was constructed in the early 1900s and restored some ten years ago. The garden is focused around the Back Burn from where it discharges from a rocky gorge to the valley floor with its orchard lawn. Bog plants such as Gunnera and skunk cabbage grow in the wet water margines and the valley sides are covered in mature species and cultivar rhododendrons. I was particularly taken by a mass of Primula japonica below the rhododendrons and reaching up a side valley.
Entrance to the garden is free but why not include a tour of the distillery in your visit and enjoy a dram of the local product.
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The garden is definitely well worth a visit if you are in the area... you can then come and visit our garden too :) The only snag is that there are no labels on the rhodys and my i.d. ability isn't good enough! In case you don't want a dram there is a restaurant there too but, shades of the Aberdonians we live near, we decided we could survive until we got home for a cuppa and a piece.
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Here's a few more in the garden: a purple form of the Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium sp.); Saxifraga 'Tumbling Waters' just coming into flower; a South American form of Thyme ;) and Phlox 'Waggonwheels'.
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Thanks Martin, I use Photofiltre that's part of my XP system but I've noticed various things like "Crop canvas" which I couldn't make do anything so I'll print your instructions above, then play around a bit and see what's what. My main problem is that while I can point and shoot with the best of them, I don't really know enough about either my camera or my computer to know what questions to ask, let alone what to do! In my next life perhaps... :)
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Sorry 'bout the spelling mistake. Slip of the finger. To my mind, the pic above of Aquilegia bertolonii looks to have too tall a flower. It's always (in my experience admittedly, but always true from seed) about 5-6cms in height, just nicely clear of the foliage.
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Mark, As I said in the other thread, I have all my Weldenia candida outside through the year so they get whatever rain falls but I realize it may not be as much as you have - we could do with a lot more. I'm sure it will be OK outside in winter if kept covered with some fibrous frost cover such as bracken or a bird's nest arrangement of twigs. Again, we get only as low as -3C or 4 though in my previous garden I had to -12 and it still survived OK. I don't think it likes to be arid through any part of the year and certainly it will take masses of water when in growth and flowering, through to late autumn when it dies down. If well watered in early and mid autumn, there will be a crop of new growths of fresh greenery and these can be taken off with the visible ring included and will root as cuttings in sand. I don't cover them but do keep them damp and in my tunnel house over winter. They should sprout when the older plant is showing above ground in late spring.
While I usually think of Tony Hall at Kew as God, in one respect he and I argue. He said Kew had a compact form of the weldenia but I'm sure it was just the usual form but starved of water while in growth and flowering. It wasn't watered much at all, after showing through the pot surface. Potted plants will always grow less in any case, as the roots are very strong and wanting to delve deeper and deeper. Potting restricts the growth. Of course you may WANT a more compact plant, but I'll bet a bob Kew's never had 180 flowers out at the same time, as mine does, regularly.
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That S. Tumbling waters sure does honour it's name Anthony - beautiful !
Your Phlox Waggonwheels seems to be in good shape to - how do you grow it to keep it that happy ?? I never seem to succeed :'(
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Luc, 'Waggonwheels' is just planted at the front of a low, west facing, wall. I've had it a few years and this is its best display yet.
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Thanks Lesley, my plant is in a pot in the greenhouse. I wouldn't have a problem with it being less compact as i grow things like Alstroemerias so I'm ok with something a little bigger than normal alpine fare. I remember reading your article in the AGS bulletin many years ago and it was an inspiration!
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I'll bet a bob Kew's never had 180 flowers out at the same time, as mine does, regularly.
Where's the photograph :D.
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Campanula ?
Cyp tibeticum - a very tall Cyp. which is flowering for the first time after 9 years!
Dact. hybrid - very tall
different Rhodohypoxis
???
Hans
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I'll bet a bob Kew's never had 180 flowers out at the same time, as mine does, regularly.
Where's the photograph :D.
Fair question. I've not taken photos of my biggest plant recently because once the flowers get going, - and most flowers only last a day, very occasionally two - it's such a damn nuisance picking off the dead or dying blooms in order to get an attractive picture. They lie like little flakes of damp tissue or wet feathers on the leaves and have to be tweezed off, in order to get the tube as well as the flower itself. So I've confined myself to smaller plants. But I'll do my best next summer.
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Here's a photo especially for Paul Tyerman:
These are Cyclamen purpurascens grown from PT-seed, sown in
March 2006. Only 14 months until first flowering!! :o
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That's amazingly fast, Thomas.
Good plant.
Paddy
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This is my Phlox adsurgens 'Wagon Wheels' photographed today and the ?new adsurgens 'Mary Ellen'
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Your watch slow Mark? ::)
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At the risk of being pedantic, may I suggest that Phlox `Wagonwheel' should be in the singular? Like Saxifraga or Dianthus `Whitehill.'
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......and twowords (Phlox adsurgens 'Wagon Wheel'). I guess one assumes that a singular wagon wheel wouldn't be of any use to keep us rollin' along?
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Thank you Anthony. You are right, of course. You were very much on my mind last evening when I was watching a wonderful TV programme called - but no, I'll go to the Wildlife thread.
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Here's a photo especially for Paul Tyerman:
These are Cyclamen purpurascens grown from PT-seed, sown in
March 2006. Only 14 months until first flowering!! :o
Thomas,
Congratulations!! Looks like you've got a nice selection of leaf forms, although if they're that young they still won't even have their full markings yet. Looks like that bigger of the flowers might even be associated with that more solidly silver leaf? Glad to see them doing so well and showing so much variation. 8)
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they are good looking Cyclamen babies, aren't they? Perhaps you should have a cigar, Paul, to celebrate! Good to have you back!
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Maggi,
Well perhaps I should have that cigar (except I don't smoke) as I probably WAS responsible for the creation of those seeds...... I do go out and periodically hand (well finger actually) cross-pollinate the C. purpurascens to set seed on them. The species seems to be so uncommon, and I have some nice leaf forms, so I like to share. I'm awaiting some seedlings from seed from Anne W maturing a little more so I can see what their leaves will end up like. I think that they were 'Limone Form' from memory. A whole bunch germinated, but there are only a couple in evidence at the moment so I hope they are still OK. My purpurascens are evergreen, but I am not sure whether the genetics of the seedlings is different enough to have clear leaf loss. I guess I had better unearth and check what bulbs still remain. Fingers crossed.