Thanks Donna, I'm a seed geek so had to ask. The foliage on your E. x versicolor sulphurem is beautiful. I'm smitten with pink blooms for some unknown reason...I was never a pink kind of girl prior to the last few years.
What\'s Blooming
Robin, I never had an epimedium set seed and I grow a few types. I have thought about getting a straight species just for that reason. So I had to google now and found this posted on Lazy S's farm's website:
"Epimediums are self-sterile (they won’t set seed unless pollinated by another plant), and breeding from seed is complicated. The plants cannot be rapidly propagated through tissue culture or stem cuttings, either. Division of a rhizome is the most effective method of propagation. On clumping varieties, however, this process is very slow, so these types of Epimediums command higher prices." Darrell Probst, Horticulture Magazine , "Up and Coming Epimediums"
So maybe I should try crossing and see what happens. We don't know what the "complicated" means and he doesn't offer.
Thanks for the information Loretta. Obviously the boom in number of cultivars through the last decade dictated to me that crosses and growing such crosses from seed wasn't entirely "complicated" but the process could very well be slow.
The fact that you grow a few types with no self seeding isn't a good sign for my team (sigh).
My Rhododendron "Nova Zembla" has finally started to bloom well after 10 years!! Lost a couple early on due to a drought.. Pictures taken today, beautiful...
Yes, that Rhodie is beautiful!
Congratulations, RG! That is a gorgeous color!
Glad I never had very much up or blooming Tuesdsy as the hail done a number on my flowers
I have two viburnum carlesi compactum that I installed last year. Here is one. I had not realized that if I opened my windows I could smell it from 20 feet away. What a treat!
My front yard is in what I call "major bud". When I moved in, this was all grass. Now itt has peonies, nepeta, lilies, daffodil, peonies, roses and what have you.
In the third photo, that little plant makes me smile. It is a variegated japanese kerria that the squirrels consistently chewed to the ground. I could barely see it, and then I read that it suckers. So not only did it survive, but it has the nerve to bloom!
In my back yard, our cool weather has helped the mertensia stick around for quite some time, as the hostas and geraniums (Bevan's Variety) come up.
And epimedium x versicolor sulphurem is blooming. I did a terrible job cleaning it up, but it doesn't seem yo mind!
Thanks for the tour Donna, very nice, I can't wait to see more "major bud"! Lol about the Kerria, now that's hardy! I can't see the terrible job cleaning up the Epimedium, they look perfectly fine to me.
I've got a Viburnum burwoodii 'Mohawk' and can't believe the beautiful fragrance...
It is a good year for blue bells here too.
Lovely viburnums, ladies!
Thanks Loretta.
Gee if I had some foresight, I would have planted some Mertensia.
Do plant mertensia. I put in a couple two years ago, added two, and they are starting to seed. Suddenly I have seven or eight. And with very little care. Realizing that they spread nicely when happy, I don't need to buy more.
Mipii, I was rereading your comment about pink.
I LOVE pink. I was trying to buy pink and white epimediums but they had been mislabled and I ended up with sulphurem. But I came to love it. And Raulston Arboretum has a thing for distributed yellow and variegated plants so I ended up with the quite rare variegated japanese kerria the squirrels so admire as well as one of my favorite plants of all time: Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearls'. So although I am a cool color gal - pink, blue, white, a little red and a touch of fuchsia, I find that a milky yellow can go with those colors beautifully. Someone gave me the foxglove digitalis grandiflora and it worked too.
DG at my former home. It was a gift. Full sun. (3rd pic)
At my new house, hanging out with peony Lady Alexandra Duff, fragaria vesca reugen and Geranium Biokovo. (4th pic)
Are others getting their plants? I just got the most ridiculously huge hellebores from Bluestone! I paid 50% of the retail price.
I got fabulous lily bulbs from Hallson - they threw in extras.
Ridiculously good roses from High Country Roses.
Incredible lilies from Brent and Becky' Bulbs.
I think plants are actually better than they used to be years ago when I was first buying!
I Love Duetzia, I have Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko' that's been battling ants the last few years, it looks like the ants may be winning. Argh.
No orders here yet and I'm in a warmer zone...I feel slighted from Hallson and Bluestone.
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Weeding, do have a bog garden, a pond or water feature?
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I have 2 small ponds that I put in a few years ago using a plastic pond liner.
My peonies are blooming now.
Cool Weeding, that opens up a whole new world for gardening. I hope you're having fun with it. No Peonies here yet, I'm looking forward to some around here.
Bluestone arrived today. Don't feel badly. Other got their orders a while back, if you look at Garden Watchdog.
Last year they ran out of stock on a plant I ordered and gave me a coupon for any plant. I chose a fiercely expensive hellebore. I was so impressed I bought two more at half price, and they are fabulous. That, and a miscanthus sinensis malepartus.
Nice single peony, weeding.. My "Bowl Of Beauty" is blooming today. We need rain, but I hope it doesn't storm and tear up the blooms.
Very nice Atlanta blooms, I hope you both can enjoy them for as long as possible this year.
RrrrrGrrrr, What beautiful blooms , I am a lover of Peonies .I have three in my garden , I think one is Fairy petticoat,Celebrity and Karl Rosenfield These were my pictures from last year.
Very nice peonies, RG. I love the singles.
Oh yes, please show your peonies here. The peony forum people decamped to All Things Plants. Since we are covering whatever is blooming, I would love to see the rest of Wee's species, as well as everyone else's peonies as they come. I too will share, since I have about 15 in major bud. And I promise to share.
And thank you.
Pictures from this past weekend:
#1 Cypripedium parviflorum
#2 Nectaroscordum tripedale, a pretty allium-related bulb
#3 Primula vulgaris Belarina Amethyst Ice
#4 Podophyllum pleianthum
#5 Pulsatilla campanella, almost looks like a double flower.
Love them Wee!
1. Primula acaulis subsp. acaulis 'Quaker's Bonnet')
2. Arabis (DH ran over the tag with the mower)
3. Lamium maculatum 'Aureum'
4. The wonkiest Tulip form in the prettiest pink, lol. (name unknown)
5.Tulip (name unknown)
Very nice. I can't seem to get any of the 'a' plants to survive - arabis, aubretia, aurinia. They're supposed to be easy standards. I'll enjoy yours.
Very nice! You have the "other" Nectaroscordum, Wee. Nice to see it. And lady slippers! I don't think my yard could support that.
Robin, that arabis is a beautiful color. How long do they stay around for you? For me, just a couple of years. And as for lamium, I am not brave enough to plant lamium.
Everyone seems to be able to grow primrose except me! They decline every year until they are gone. Looking forward to the peony show.
What kind of soil do you have Loretta? What are the light conditions where you've tried to grow Primula?
Actually, now I'm not sure if the Arabis is Aubrieta, to answer your question, this is the fourth year in-ground. Both it and the Primula (to my delight) grow into a bigger mass every year.
This message was edited May 5, 2016 10:35 AM
I have sandy soil with good drainage, mostly no clay except for a spot or two. I had them planted in part shade in a couple of different areas. They flower the first year and reduce in size thereafter. They will stick around a few years but won't be worth the real estate. I think its too dry for them but someone suggested that I try them and that they were more tolerant than I thought. I could try and bury them in pots like I do with heuchera and thyme. Maybe that will work. If I come across them...
My Primula, Heuchera and Thyme all grow in mostly clay. I think you're right about thinking it's too dry. You can try sinking the pots or planting in your 'clay' spots or use some of those water crystals in the bottom of your planting hole.
Some of my spring flowers are still giving a show.I cannot wait to go out after these days of rains are over and put in my annuals.
For he pink rhododendron that is blooming so early I would need a picture which shows the leaves better and a close up of the flower Truss. There are not many early pink rhododendrons unless you are a collector.
The flowers on my Viburnum 'Pink Beauty' (OK, they're white).
My native geraniums
Ornithogalem nutans
Deutzia Chardonnay Pearls
Nepeta Snowflake
More blooms.
Allium Purple Sensation
Alchemilla mollis
Fragaria vesca reugen
Geranium Bevan's Variety
Here are my "What's Blooming", I just came in from outside taking these pixs.
Weerobin I enjoyed seeing your Virginia Bluebells with the heliborious. Great combo.
Also enjoyed seeing your other flowers as well.
Very nice Donna and Brenda, yes, very nice indeed!
Ugh, Donna, I think I just passed up on that geranium at a recent garden sale! Why didn't you post it last Friday? It's gorgeous!
Brenda, you have a lot of beautiful combinations!
Rats! I had lots of pictures but they were sun drenched!
One caveat is that this particular geranium goes completely dormant. But what fun it is when it pops up in the spring. And it has a fresh beauty that no other geranium can match!
I had one, ONE, in my yard years ago. It was next to the neighbor's chain link fence, so I moved it. I also started doing a lot of digging in a garden that had been blessed with lots of leaf mulch, but one that had almost no other cultivation. That's when they started popping up everywhere. They grow from tuberous roots and have large, luscious leaves. I must have 50 now. They are easy to move. I also have a lot of Bevan's Variety, which is largely evergreen. I love both plants, since they are bulletproof, and I have spread them all over my garden.