I have been so excited about these plants grown from seed. Last year's photos are posted in the perennial forum here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/706036/ and were growing in pots. This year after a season in the ground, WOW!
Picture quality is only as good as my scanner, but here are five photos of
Pulsatilla halleri ssp. slavica
Number 2:
Number 3:
Number 4:
Number 5:
The reverse color blush on the petal tips is real, not just the sun reflecting.
Now for a question for anyone learned in this genus: I have seen the Pulsatilla vulgaris blooming here in a public rock garden. There seems to be very little difference between the two species. Some of the vulgaris plants have just as little leaf growth at the same stage of bloom as this halleri. My seed came from NARGS. Do I have a true P. halleri ssp. slavica?
Oh, and I'm so excited for you! These are just fabulous.
Beautiful! Mine are just starting to break dormancy...maybe another couple of weeks.
Ah, Leftwood, you are very successful. Beautiful!
Where did you keep the pots last winter?
Indoors or out?
Pots were kept outside undercover, along with 4-500 pots of 2-10 inch sizes. About half of them go to our local Rock Garden Society sale each spring.
Anyone care to take a guess at what the brown needled (that's a clue) thing is in the upper right of the pics?
This message was edited May 4, 2007 2:10 PM
I'll make a stab at an Acantholimon? Mine certainly all look like that this spring! It's been a hard winter in my parts...in fact it still seems like winter!
Not Acantholimon. Flowers are tubular. Foliage like pine needles.
That's a fabulous plant - I love the colour.
This is my vulgaris - supposed to be Barton's Pink but it's white.
A close up view
congrats on growing the pulsatilla from seed! they are beautiful!! a DG friend sent me seed for P. vulgaris 'Red Cloak' so I read up on germination. sounded a bit daunting. here's the instructions I have. any tips?
just cover with vermiculite
bag & place in darkness at 54 deg for 2-3 wks
then pre-chill in refrig for 3-6 wks
return to prev temp
germ can take up to 9 mos
I can see just the slightest hint of pink in that Pulsatilla. I have one that is similarly coloured but perhaps a shade deeper pink flush. At the Botanical garden we have a truly one one.
I think Pulsatilla germination is still quite nebulous. I winter sow them and get marginal results, but results none-the-less. I have not found that seed tails being absent makes a difference. Honestly, I can't see how it could, as you can't get the tail to brake off close enough to the actual seed to be of consequence (in my opinion).
A couple weeks ago I was talking with a gardening friend, and he uses GA-3 and gets good germingation.
I've heard GA gives the best results. It works well with all members of the Ranunculaceae of which many can have tricky germination. I still find sowing in autumn and leaving outside all winter gives the best results for me.
Thanks to you both. I will get the GA, sow outside in fall and hope for the best.
And now Pulsatilla turczaninovii. I don't know why you would remember, but in a photo taken last year of a plant in a pot, the shape of the flower was even more bell-like. And due to the evening sun, the color was just a tinge off too.
This, after a full year in the ground, is probably more representative of the species flower shape. Color is true also.
Oh yeah, and did I say I was excited?
Wow! This one's even prettier than the halleri.
I got one seed to germinate last year and it died. AAAHHHHHH! I didn't know it would look so nice! Like a deep purple-blue version of P. georgica or P. albana.
that's ones a beauty. congrats!
Gorgeous! Must have I think!
Albana has that shape flower too? I have that coming from seed, but it won't bloom this season. I love that form.
I also have to say that there is some flexing of the petals of turczaninovii. And at one time, before the second pic was taken, the largest flower was, for a time, more toward the upright and a flatter faced. But it didn't seem be dependent on sun, or time of day, and it only went "up" only once. It was only that one flower that briefly turned toward the upright. I suspect I will learn more next season about this.
The second, smaller plant began blooming about a week after this first one. It seems to be a carbon copy. Conversely, the second halleri I have bloomed quite differently, but still might be within the norm of the species. I suspect that since the seed came from NARGS, seed was mixed from different donors, and thus the big variation.
Leftwood your collection of Pulsatilla are beautiful. I actually remember your picture of P. turczaninovii from last year because of the blue color of the blossoms. It's been on my must acquire someday list ever since. I'm still trying my hand and germinating P. vulgaris sp. I've had no luck until just this last week or so and had a couple germinate from this winters sowing. I'm quite excited to see what color they will be... how long before Pulsatilla bloom when grown from seed? Now that I've actually germinated some Pulsatilla seed, I may try my hand at some more exotic types this next year. I notice nobody has guessed what that brown needled plant is in the upper corner with your P. hallerii... with the clues you've given I'll guess Penstemon pinifolius.
Galanthophile I have a similarly colored Pulsatilla. It has just the slighted hint of pink to the petals. I'm planning on relocating mine this fall and hope it fairs alright.
I have a little Pulsatilla bungeana var. astragalifolia that bloomed earlier this spring. I'll have to post a picture of it when I get home.
Here is a close up of the flower on P. bungeana v. astragalifolia
That's beautiful too! If you want anything other than vulgaris you have to look very hard here for pulsatilla. But I'm hoping to go to a couple of specialist nurseries soon so will keep looking.
Very nice, Ally. How big is it?
Ally, a very nicely formed pulsatilla flower
with a very ugly name (stragalafolia)!
Oh wait . . . . there's an "A" in front of that variety name.
Nevermind.
Forgot to say, that yes you are right Ally, Penstemon pinifolius. I have P.p. Mersea Yellow and the straight species. Interesting in that even though Mersea Yellow is rather wimpy in comparison, it bloomed a year earlier than the plain species.
Also, my pulsatilla's bloom the third season of growth from seed. But I wouldn't be surprised if others get bloom earlier. All my seedlings have a hard life. I don't start things early under lights, when I winter sow, the only place for my pots is the cold north side of the house, I hardly ever fertilize, transplant later than I could, and it's a wonder they don't fry when I forget to water. All in all, I'm just a lazy gardener, but I think I like it that way.
Thank you gram.. this little Pulsatilla is about 10" tall now.
Thanks for the info Leftwood... that's funny about the ugly name. I don't know if I'd have purchased this plant if it didn't have the var. astragalifolia behind it. that's what drew my interest to begin with.
As far as lazy gardeners go I'm with you, everything you said fits me to a T. I'm trying to get better about potting things up earlier though. I've been taking an hour or so each night and have been transplanting seedlings. It's a real pain trying to untangle all the roots.
add me to the list of the lazy. if there's a shortcut, I'll take it. but I used to try so hard to do everything by the book and I still lost plants. I've learned to relax a little.
A Pulsatilla turczaninovii update:
A few times, I would feel the seedheads to see if they were harvestable yet, and seeds were still tightly adhereing to the flower base. The next day I would return, and the seeds had already blown away! Well that only happened three times, and I tried to check twice a day since the first lost. Really, it's probably just the unusual heat we're having (80-85+ F [27-29+ C]) that is making them ripen so quickly.
But I still have enough seed to offer participants on this forum. Also have some seed of Pulsatilla halleri ssp. slavica, and fresh seed of Haquetia epipactus and Jeffersonia diphylla that I wouldn't want to go to waste.
Send me an email with your mailing address.
