Late March , Early April blooms in the rock garden...

So the season begins, albeit a smidgen early. I've been waiting for others to start posting pictures, but maybe I'm just way ahead of schedule this year.

This last year has brought quite a few deaths to the rock garden. Grrrrr! Live and learn and remeber to increase drainage in a couple of places in the garden or finally make some troughs. Most of my townsendia decided to melt away and turn to slimmy little piles of dead foliage. My Erysimum kotsyanum(sp?) looks more dead than alive but does have some blossoms emerging. I lost quite a few succulents and cacti but that may be more suited to another forum. The one Eritrichum seedling that I managed to keep alive all last summer is nowhere to be found either, but what did I expect. sigh! A handful of other dryland species seedling also failed to make it through this winter. All in all a rather disheartening beginning to the gardening season. This makes me all that happier with those plants that did pull through and seem to be doing well.

So lets start the year of pictures off with this little Phlox hoodii var. canescens. I love, love, love Phlox and have tried to grow several from seed with very little luck. I finally gave in a bought some from Beaver Creek and all have pulled through.

Here is a little Draba sp. that as you can see is all but done blooming. I'd have taken pics earlier but had a broken camera.

I wasn't sure these where still alive when I planted them last fall but they seem to be doing alright. This is Mertensia Macdougallii not quite in full bloom I think.

Here is a very small Lesquerella wardii that is just beginning to bloom.

Draba oligiosperma var. oligiosperma in full bloom.

and lastly Erigeron compactus.

ahhhhh.... thank you! spring is simply teasing us here.
It got warm briefly and now its freezing again. I look forward
to adding some color to your wonderful start of the 2007
collection of bloom!

Tam

Nice alpines Ally..I've never seen that particular Mertensia before..very unique! No alpines in my garden for quite a while yet. I still have 3 feet of snow in parts of the garden, although about half of my rock garden is now exposed. I'm lucky I have some crocus starting to sprout!

Thanks Tammy and Todd. I look forward to seeing the pics of all your great plants as they begin to emerge and bloom this year!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Sweet! Especially the Drabas, Ally.

Lovely, simply lovely!

Corinne

Hello Ally. Your Alpines are so lovely! Thank you for sharing.
The pure white flower of Phlox and the texture of Lesquerella's leaves are especially beautiful!

Thanks Ally! Very uplifting while we are in this cold spell. That Mertensia intrigues me also. Plese to post a picture of it in bloom?

What a nice selection, very good to see some plants in flower.

Ally - beautiful blooms :-) I especially like the phlox - I love, love, love phlox too, but haven't had any luck with them yet. Absolutely beautiful plant :-) Love the others as well - please post a photo of the Mertensia when it's flowers open - very intriguing plant ;-)

Rannveig

Ally, I got here late, but lovely plants. thanks for sharing.

I've been especially busy that past month or so, but hope to catch up with all the posts. Thank you for all the kind comments. I hope to get a few more pictures posted as well but I've been fighting with the new camera and wish I still had my old Nikon.(still in the repair shop)
As far as the Mertensia goes, I'm not sure just how much I really like it. Or perhaps I just have it planted in a less than ideal location, but as the season progressed and it bloomed I was a bit disappointed with it. We had a very dry, hot early spring and I'm wondering if that contributed to the somewhat chloritic, burned appearance of the foliage. The following picture is about the best I was able to manage.

Here is another very small (only 2 1/2" high) plant that bloomed mid to late June. I hope that this and the Mertensia will get larger and look more healthy in coming years. I find myself at a bit of a loss when attempting to grow plants other than those accustomed to sunbaked desert climates. This is Corydalis bushii...

Gorgeous Corydalis Ally :-)

Ally, an interesting mertensia none-the-less. I had a Mertensia paniculata for many years, nestled between roots at an oak's base. 200ft from my parents' house, and my brother dug it up when it was dormant and replaced it with a daylily! There isn't even a garden there. I don't know what possessed him.

My Mertensia pterocarpa flowers, I think, are far less to write home about than your macdougallii. But the plant, with its frosty blue foliage, stays fresh looking all summer long. It is interesting how the foliage "rosettes" each hold a droplet of water after it rains. I tried to get a pic of this, and the glistening of the droplets was even more difficult to portray. Still, this is the best I could do on May 10: