September alpines

Oxytropis megalantha, blooming in its first year from seed:

Campanula incurva:

A penstemon that I earlier keyed out as P. pachyphyllus(?) is still in bloom:

These are not alpines by any means but, heck, it's September and things are winding down... Silene regia, starting to bloom...

Silene schafta:

I have been informed that these can be light repeat bloomers, but we have not seen it before... Clematis alpina:

A little repeat bloom on Asperula gussonei:

Great show Alta...here is Cyananthus lobatus

Silene zadwadskii...blooming first year from seed

First time bloomer...took 3 years...Saponaria pampylitica

Succica pratensis 'Nana'...been blooming for over a month and still more buds to come

I have had a silene for many years that I grew from NARGS seed that was labelled "Silene asterias", but I have finally ID'd it, tentatively, as Silene zawadskii. A great plant that blooms heavily through late spring-early summer. Todd, could you please show the basal rosette of your S. zawadskii, for comparison?

Scilla scilloides has chosen to bloom this year:

Darn, I have lost my Cyanathus lobatus... it got rather overwhelmed by other plants.
A Silene schafta, now in full bloom:

Finally got a chance to take a few pics. Alta, here are the leaves of Silene zadwadskii

Allium spirale...the second last allium to bloom...A. thunbergii is not even showing colour in the buds yet!

The first colchicum...C. agrippinum

Gentiana Kingfisher

After 4 years, this Gentiana uchiyamae finally flowered!

Hypericum olympicum still has scattered blooms

same with Geranium sanguineum 'Striatum'

and Veronica schmidtiana 'Nana'

I'll end with a woodlander...Kirengoshoma palmata

Gosh, all the flowers look so fresh. We are at about 8 inches below normal for rainfall now. It's fall, and we have had a drop of rain for three weeks.

Well it looks as though the Colchicum agrippinum that I bought on the cheap last fall from Buggycrazy are correctly named. I am quite pleased, as I had wondered if the bulbs would be large enough to bloom this season. But they did have spring into summer to plump up. This one had four flowers (in succession).

I have to say, the water droplets are fake. I didn't even notice the flowers until I was watering, and I'm lucky the water breaker didn't flatten them.

We were quite dry all summer but now the fall rains have arrived with a vengence...last two days hit 70 F but today and tomorrow will only reach 45! Winter is coming! I know the west and mid-west have been really hot this past while...I would welcome that now!

Thanks for posting the second Silene zawadskii photo, Todd - the foliage certainly does look like my plants. (N.B. Did you notice there's a label for Silene dinarica in your photo? I assume none-the-less that you've decided it's S. zawadskii, though. Just wondering, as I mentioned I'd been wondering what my plants were for a long time, and if yours is S. z... then I'll consider it finally settled.) Thanks!

PS The spelling seems to be as I've shown it, rather than "zadwadskii".

Yes, I got the seeds as dinarica but it is not....zawadskii was the ID that seemed to fit best. I've been spelling that wrong for years...and there are a couple of more plants (usually with Russian/polish names) that I also mis-spell...like some russian ligularia that I will not even attempt to spell. LOL!

I love the Colchicum agrippinum. Well... all of these fall beauties!

We've had one of the wetest summers in memory. Most folks lost
their tomato crop this year due to a blight, probably from the constant
damp.

From previous experience, I find that the flies that visit my Escobaria vivipara flowers are not very good pollinators. So everyday, sometimes twice a day, while they were blooming I took a paint brush and hand pollinated each flower. Not that big a deal, as each flower is only open for 2-3 days.

The fruits of my "labor" is rewarding. I read somewhere that the Native Americans ate the berries, and they sure look tempting. But unless I have a good source of info - not gonna do it. If you know of any relating information, I'd sure like to know.

Processing is easy under running water in a fine strainer. Not so great of a pic, but you can see I have a LOT of seed. Even after I send to the NARGS seed exchange, they'll still be plenty to play with. These are from plants grown from seed from the eastern South Dakota border (and the easternmost native colony known). So they are probably the most moisture and humidity resistant strain of the species.

If anyone would like to play with these cactus seed, give me a jingle and I'll send some your way. You wouldn't be "stealing" from someone else who might really want them. They are 50 times easier to germinate than any other cactus seed I've tried, and there are LOTS.

All lovely and still quite a lot in bloom for this time of year. I have a few crocus. This is pulchellus.

Crocus salzmannii erectophyllus in a pot.

Crocus speciosus is blooming now at our Arboretum rock garden.

My fully open Colchicum agrippinum flowers easily survived 23F (-5C).

It's been the worse October ever here...cold and rain nearly every day. Most of the autumn crocus promptly rotted just as they were blooming. The colchicums are slightly better but the persistent winds have battered them too.

So far, this is the 10th wettest October in recorded history (around 150years) for me. But we have been up to 7 inches below normal until Septemberish. For people that had only been watering very minimally (like me) the ground is just soaking it all up. Heck, I was digging and planting my lily crosses today in my clay base soil. The soil looked like it would be chunky, but it's easy to crumble in your hands.

Not an alpine, but the Fibigea clypeata have all taken on an exceptionally ruffly appearance this year. Galanthophile, is this a weed in Europe?

This is a plant I'm not familiar with and I couldn't find many references to it so I guess not! It sounds a bit like what we call Honesty here (Lunaria).

NB. spelling - Fibigia clypeata.
Rick, is that a perennial for you? Interesting plant. I'll have to watch for it in the seedex's.

Galanthophile, honesty (Lunaria annua, Lunaria perennis) is different again, though similar in the effect of the seedpods.

It's been a lousy October here too! The snow started the weekend of Oct. 3, then it just kept snowing constantly for about the next 10 days, with below-zero weather (and as cold as -16 C overnight once.) It finally straightened out enough last week that I could ride my bike to work again, but then we got heavy wet snow again Saturday morning that is still on the ground! The leaves have not had much of a chance to turn colour - most have just been killed on the trees from the cold. Many potential blooms were nipped in the bud! My earliest colchicums started to bloom but then were covered in snow. The late doubles and crocus haven't even shown themselves yet, and I don't know if they even will.

Thanks. I've been spelling that wrong for several years! Sometimes it acts as a biennial, sometimes perennial. Same for Symphyandra armena, I have found.

You can see here why I asked if it is a weed elsewhere. As the common name is Roman Shield, each "shield" will have 10-12 seeds on each side. I gather all the stalks each year, but there is still a lot that fall. I have some volunteers, but not at all weedy. I think I just might have enough seed for you, Alta.

Continuing with the esoteric plants - there is Deinanthe caerulea in my garden. Don't know how I missed posting a pic.

For such a reputedly slow growing species, it's kinda hard to believe that this is the same plant just this past spring http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6577336

It has a curious twist to the stigma.