Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Saxifraga => Topic started by: WimB on March 07, 2010, 04:20:25 PM
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Here are some saxifraga's flowering today in my garden:
Saxifraga 'Golem'
Saxifraga oppositifolia 'Le Bourg d'Oisans'
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Wim, so lovely to see you Saxifraga flowering - nothing flowering yet here!
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Thanks Robin,
it's really strange that they are flowering already. I posted pics of them last year on the 6th of March. Our winter this year has been twice as hard as the winter before that and they are flowering on the same time.
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I have my birthday on the same day each year, regardless of the weather. Christmas too. Strange. :D
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I have my birthday on the same day each year, regardless of the weather. Christmas too. Strange. :D
:D ;D ;D I take it you don't grow outside Lesley. Neither does Christmas, although the trees do. ;) Anyhow, the plants get one year older on the same day also, that doesn't mean their fertile period should be at the same time every year, does it? I expected them to flower later if it's still cold. Not a lot of bees around either, so, if I were the plant I would wait a bit longer...
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Sorry Wim, just being my usual silly self. :D
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wimB:
Your Saxifraga oppositifolia 'Le Bourg d'Oisans' is a very fine form. I have not seen it before. Are the flowers double or is that a trick of the photography? :)
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Sorry Wim, just being my usual silly self. :D
I know... :D :-*
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wimB:
Your Saxifraga oppositifolia 'Le Bourg d'Oisans' is a very fine form. I have not seen it before. Are the flowers double or is that a trick of the photography? :)
Thanks David, The flowers aren't double here's the picture from last year: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3145.msg79159#msg79159.
This is what Ger van den Beuken wrote about it on the forum:
This is the correct name:
Saxifraga oppositifolia 'Le Bourg d'Oisans'
Actually it's an introduction of Kees Jan van Zwienen and brought into cultivation by myself.
In my opinion the most easy and free flowering oppositifolia, probably due to the very low location of 1200 meter in the Ecrins in France where it is found.
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I'll have to give it a try on occasion. :D
Other forms of S. oppositifolia have not been very happy here... I guess occasionally too hot and/or dry in summer. Ger's theory about it's origine might be the correct explanation.. :-\
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Luc:
I have found that many forms of Saxifraga oppositifolia grow well and are very floriferous given the following conditions:
-Shaded by rocks.
-Plenty of light but not direct sunlight.
-Well drained sandy soil with some humus.
These conditions are most easily achieved on a steep rocky slope with a northern exposure. At this time of year they get no direct sunlight at all and in June they might get a little sun for an hour or so.
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Here's a couple of pictures of some of our Saxifraga oppositifolia growing on a north facing cliff.
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Super images of very healthy plants, David.
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Fabulous - and thanks David for the advice, I'm hoping to try growing Saxifraga oppositifolia in my rockery.
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Thanks for the advice David !! Yours look lovely and happy at the same time !
Will have to give it another try ! ::)
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Me too Luc. I'm hoping to get it going in one of my troughs, in a cool crevice.
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Thanks for all your kind comments. I think Saxifraga oppositifolia is my favourite rock garden plant.
It flowers reliably every year.
It likes rocks and forms lovely mats.
It flowers as well in the rock garden as it does in the mountains.
It needs no winter rain protection even in our climate.
It is very simple to propagate by cuttings. The trailing stems are easily snipped and rooted.
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...And thereby hangs a quandary, David!
This beautiful plant doesn't in fact 'flower reliably every year' over here in the U.K.
Admittedly it does prefer rocks and can form quite large mats.
It certainly doesn't always flower as well in the rock garden as it does in the mountains.
I do not, as you say, need to provide winter rain protection and your comments about propagation are correct for this part of the world.
We see some amazing examples at the shows and occasionally in the garden but many growers become exasperated with this magnificent species because it simply withers and dies or just sits and refuses to bloom even in very damp (and cool) areas here in the north of England.
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Cliff:
That's very odd because the climate here is not that different from the north of England. The only differences are the accents and the quality of the pubs. I have the opposite experience (oppositifolia experience?). I can't flower it in a pot but can't hold it back from flowering in the garden. The must be some secret to getting it to flower in a pot. Any ideas?
Admittedly in our garden Saxifraga oppositfolia flowers better in some years than in others. Here's a couple of shots from good years.
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Here in Aberdeen Sax oppositifolia varies in its flowering with strain. The Icelandic form is compact and flowers well every year. 'Theoden' also flowers well whereas the regular spreading form is rather less well flowered .
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I visited Waterperry last week (I live a few miles away). The saxes are looking good, a few are fully out already.
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The Kabschias enjoy the sun and the warm days.
They seem to explode and it is a pity,that all these beautiful
flowers are so short-lived, wished they would last longer.
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Don't forget the "Cushions" thread lads. :D
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5196.0
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Saxifraga fans on west side of 'the Channel' may be interested in these events in Holland...
http://alpigena-saxifrages.nl/OPENDAGEN.HTML at the premises of
Bart and Hannelore Moerland, Nijverdal, Overijssel, The Netherlands :)
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I visited Waterperry last week (I live a few miles away). The saxes are looking good, a few are fully out already.
And what? You forgot your camera? ???
;D ;D ;D
cheers
fermi
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Saxifraga jenkinsae, in a 30cm pot
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Very nice Michael. How long to get it to that size?
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David,nine or ten years at least,I can't remember exactly.
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Thanks for that Michael. If I buy a small one at the South West Show tomorrow I'll be in my dotage before I can enter it ;D
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Just got to this thread. My Sax. oppositifolia hasn't been told it shouldn't bloom reliably, or in full sun, or exposed to everything the Northumberland climate throws at it - drought, torrential rain, hurricanes, and blazing sun. I've no idea where I got this one, but it sure likes it here, in full sun, in a sink with no shade whatsoever and without being given much by way of nourishment either. Mind you, our BD was giving a talk at our meeting two weeks ago and commented, when discussing shade, that all of Scotland is in shade, and we are knocking on the door of Scotland, so I guess that goes for north Northumberland too. What he meant was, we are so far north the sun just isn't strong enough to worry about for many plants. Anyway, here it is in all its glory, and it's been in this location since I re-planted it on moving here in 1995.
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That is a very fine specimen Chris. Be very grateful it loves you. ;D
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Congratulations Chris, a magnificent example of what to aspire to :D
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It is getting colder again, maybe because easter is approaching, but the
plants keep on flowering:
Saxifraga Buttercup
Saxifraga grisebachii, a seedling plant
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I like 'Buttercup,' a lovely clean, clean yellow. :D
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Some Saxifrages from my garden.
Saxifraga-burseriana
Saxifraga-Miluj-Mne
Saxifraga-Allendale-Charm
Saxifraga-Florenc
Saxifraga-federici-augusti (grisebachii)
Saxifraga-federici-augusti hyp. (grisebachii)
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Franz, your rockery is as glorious as your meadow it seems and your Saxifraga are just wonderful :D
Saxifraga-federici-augusti (grisebachii)
Saxifraga-federici-augusti hyp. (grisebachii)
Is there a difference between these two? I just love the shot of carmine red on the stem sitting atop the rosette
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Robin,
The points of the leaves at the flower stalk are more green with the Hyp.
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Thanks for the explanation Franz