learning to love Silene acaulis again

[jonathan trustram]

Silene acaulis is found from Canada to Siberia and from the arctic to the Pyrenees, in my own little world I've seen it on Ben Bulben in County Sligo, in the French Alps, in Switzerland, and on another trip to Slovenia at the beginning of July it wasn't what I wanted to see. Endemics! That's what we want. But alas, too early for this, too late for that - no Primula wulfeniana, no Campanula zoysii. But cowslips! When I overcame my disappointment I saw that they were are beautiful as any rare primula, masses of them on steep rocky slopes below Tosc, with Pulsatilla alpina. And on the gently undulating and surprisingly grassy summit of Tosc, hundreds of mounds of silene in a variety of shades of pink, glowing in the slightly misty air.
If I didn't keep getting the message that my photos have exceeded whatever it is, which I don't understand, it seemed to work before, I would illustrate these notes! help!

[Maggi Young]

Hello Jonathon,

There are restrictions on files sizes and types  for forum uploads. This is stated briefly under the attachments section of the  posting  box:
Allowed file types: doc, gif, jpg, pdf, png, txt
Restrictions: 5 per post, maximum total size 1000KB, maximum individual size 200KB

 this may help : http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=65.msg277317#msg277317

Also there is other advice in the forum on such matters - a search from the "search" button, fourth from the left at the top of any forum page for "Posting pictures to the forum" will also bring a list of suggested reading.

I will email you some further advice, which I hope will be of help.
M

[Tim Ingram]

By coincidence we visited WHG Mann's wholesale alpine nursery today and they grow several forms of Silene acaulis (including a really tight form from Snowdon) beautifully - it is such an appealing plant just for those emerald green cushions, especially since it's so shy flowering in cultivation. Question - does anyone actually get good flowering of this plant? At Mann's grown well in good compost on the nursery they do flower, but still sporadically. As a student many years ago I remember it growing and flowering to perfection in pure volcanic sand in Iceland. There is a great picture of cushions of Silene planted out in Peter Korn's book and I imagine they might flower well in the Swedish climate? Hope to see some of these images in the wild.

[David Sellars]

Tim:   Silene acaulis Snowdon is the only form that will reliably flower for me in the garden.  Other forms provide the odd flower but the Snowdon form flowers profusely all spring and summer.  I took the attached photo today and it still has a few flowers. You can see from the seed heads how much flowering there has been this year.  I grow it in very sharp sand with not much else.

Nevertheless the Snowdon form does not have flowers as large and covering the plant as seen in the wild. We saw this beauty near Sella Pass in the Dolomites last month.

[ranunculus]

David, the form you illustrate so beautifully from the Sella Pass has easily the largest, prettiest flowers we have ever seen on a S. acaulis (and we have seen many thousands of individual plants in the Alps, the Dolomites and, more recently, in western Canada.  So sorry to have missed you on our recent visit. Kind regards, Cliff and Sue.

[David Sellars]

Cliff:  Silene acaulis is quite variable so they are always worth a closer look.  Have you seen the forms on Col Lacroix in the French Alps?  They have huge flowers.  Hope you had some good alpine flower trips in Western Canada.  We were in the Dolomites so I guess we changed places. 

[jonathan trustram]

thankyou Maggie, I'd completely forgotten about the handy resizer, it was on my old computer, but after a struggle I've got it now, so I'll try-
1. cowslips and anemones in the early morning
2. lamb and silene
3. the view from the grassy summit of Tosc, a green oasis
4. hope you're not getting bored...
5. and there were some spectacular patches of petrocallis

[fermi de Sousa]

The Silene of the Lamb!
 
cheers
fermi

[jonathan trustram]

On the same trip to Slovenia in early July I stayed in the refuge at Crna Prst, on the top of a famously flowery ridge. Here are a few pictures from there
1. Geranium argenteum
2. On the ridge, just to the west of the refuge
3. This beautiful potentilla was growing in rock fissures on the ridge and attempting to console me for the absence of P nitida - does anyone know what it is?
4. And this iris which I came across while hunting in vain for the Eryngium alpinum I had been told was growing there.
5. A very different flora is to be found on the long, grassy slopes to the south, including this spectacular Lilium martagon

[jonathan trustram]

a few more pictures from Slovenia, and some questions...

1 quite a few of these helleborines were growing right by the road in Stara Fuzina, near the Bohinj lake. As I lay on my stomach to take this picture in the gathering gloom someone asked me if I needed a doctor.
2 I came upon dozens of marsh helleborines (?) in what seemed like quite a dry, grassy place in the valley, just as I came out of the woods and into the hay fields.
3. there was lots of lovely rhodothamnus on the rocks - ericaceous and likes limestone! Is it hard to grow in gardens?

4 near the edge of the forest at about 1600 metres - what is it?
5 there were so many Clematis alpina, this one scrambling through Pinus mugo

[jonathan trustram]

oh no! how do you turn pictures around? That's not a sideways clematis or a horizontal lily.....
and thanks for silene of the lambs, I like it.

[Maggi Young]

Sometimes a photo seems to appear sideways for no reason - I've turned them for you   

[David Sellars]

3. This beautiful potentilla was growing in rock fissures on the ridge and attempting to console me for the absence of P nitida - does anyone know what it is?

Great photos Jonathan.  I especially liked the Lilium martagon.

The flower shape and foliage are very like Potentilla nitida which is occasionally found with white flowers.  Normally the white form is somewhat pink but yours is a beautiful pure white.  Congratulations!

[Lesley Cox]

Tim, Silene acaulis flowers well and regularly in the cooler parts of New Zealand and the white form even better, in my experience. We also have a form called pedunculata but I dan't grow that so can't comment about its floriferousness.

Why we should have lots of bloom (more than you do?) I can't imagine but I think it happens with a number of plants: consider Gentiana depressa for instance.

[ian mcdonald]

S. acaulis can be found at sea level in NW Scotland and flowers well in many areas.