June blooms in the rock garden

well, this is a first...me starting a thread with something in bloom :0)

here's a little Dianthus 'Rachel' (my granddaughter's name)

Way to go Jan! I love dianthus and that's certainly a nice one!
Tam

I'm not absolutely sure this is Dianthus monspessulanus var Sternbergii, but that's what it said on the label. I bought the plant from a rock garden society plant sale, and I think it was grown from seed sent from an Eastern European collector.

This one is labelled Dianthus neglectus, which I believe is the same as Dianthus pavonius, and it matches the description in the reference books. The backs of the petals are a pale, yellowy beige.

That's a cute one! I'm not familiar with the species so can't comment on the accuracy.
(I'm not good with all the diathus species. Mostly appreciate them all, especially the
cute little ones!)

Here's one in my rock garden. I have to search for the label to ID it (and haven't) so
here's an unidentified (for now) diathus.

Tam

Edited to add - we cross posted so my comment is for your first post June.

This message was edited Jun 10, 2007 8:40 AM

How's this for a raging display of pink! Dianthus/carnations, penstemon hirsutus
and sopanaria / soapwort.

Here's white Anthemis aizoon blooming along with greeny-yellow Alyssum pulvinare and sky-blue Linum perenne. The Alyssum is short-lived, but seeds itself around moderately.

Hi Tammy, we were both posting at the same time. I love your "raging" pinks!

And here's a plain old green saxifraga (I don't recall species again) blooming
in front of the Lynchnis Flos-jovis 'nana' from Todd's seed.

June - that linum is glorious! I'm a sucker for pretty blues too.

Here's a shot of the rock garden in bloom - the penstemon hirsutus
again in the foreground, geranium nana & aquilegia bertolonii in the
mid and then a couple of pinks/dianthus with a little bit of the
lewisia in the very end (top) of the picture.

Love all the dianthus. June, your D. neglectus is beautiful. I really should try that one. It always catches my eye when going through the plant and seed catalogues. I've not heard of that Anthemis the silver foliage is a great foil for the white flowers.

Gram I'll often purchase plants that have my daughters name in them as well. She always gets a kick out of it.

Tammy your raised bed is looking lovely. What is that tall sculptural looking plant towards the far end? And what type of small conifer is that in the bed with the raging display of pinks. Chamaecyparis?

Here is a plant that has been blooming since the end of April. This is Collomia debils. The foliage on this plant is quite sticky. I'm not sure what this adaptation is for... sure is interesting though.

Here is a blue flower that graces the late spring early summer garden.... Moltkia petrea.

And last one for now...this is Pterocephalus depressus. These are just starting to bloom.

Thanks Ally - yep, that's a chamaecyparis. And its a conifer in the raised bed that's the tallish sculpural looking
plant. I got it from Heronswood years ago and I'll have to look up what it is. (I just have a terrible memory these
days!)

I'm not familiar with collomia (of any species). Its quite pretty and sounds like its been blooming a long time.
I see the data in plantfiles is sketchy & you are the only one who posted a picture. Is it a good rock garden
plant? And where did you find it?

Tam

We crossed posted. You have three plants there that I'm not familiar with! I
love this forum... thanks for sharing your gems Ally.

Tam

Thanks Tammy, I've got a bit of a thing for dwarf conifers. I've tried a few Chamaecyparis but they always turn crispy. I love how they look and am considering creating a spot in a shady area to place some. You'll have to let me know what that tall conifer is.... it looks great.

Collomia is a pretty new genus to me too. There seem to be several native to the western U.S. I'm also growing a cute little native one, Collomia grandiflora that is an annual. I grew the one pictured from seed I bought from Alplains. And I see now that its actually Collomia debilis var. debilis. It is an excellent rock garden plant that hails from higher elevations 9500', many times of shifting substrates. That's why I planted this one in a crevice on a slope. This plant is native to much of the Great Basin and surrounding western states. I believe the seed for this one was collected in Wyoming so should be hardy to at least zone 3. I'm sure that like so many other plants native to this area it will be drainage that is the issue to maintain and grow this plant. I'd bet it would like a lean scree base in areas with higher precipitation.

Hi Ally, I like the look of that Collomia. I bet it would grow in my gravel bed. I will keep an eye open for it in next year's nursery catalogs.

Ally, interesting plants! and pretty, too. I'll have to look for them also.

June and Tammy, duelling posts LOL. Love every one of them.

I was hoping to figure out what species the dianthus in the opening pic was. But I looked back at the tag and it was identified only as dianthus. I got it from Arrowhead and that's all it says on the web site, too.

I just got a Pinus strobus 'Horsford' from ForestFarm intending to plant it in my heather garden, but it apparently only gets to about 1'x1', so I think I'll plant it in the rock garden.

Ain't this cute?

A very nice specimen there. And that comes form a 20 year member of the American Conifer Society.

Beautiful plants, and pics everyone. And Ally, I can always count on you to post something I've never heard of before.

I looked at the tag on the "tall" conifer in my rock garden. It says its
a type of Chamaecyparis. I'll write down the full name when I
have a bit of time. I was on my way to the car to get to work and didn't
have a pen & paper. Of course I thought I'd remember but I don't. My
brain is just a seive these days.

Tam

Ally,

The conifer you asked about in my post is Chamaecyparis Obtusa Habari.
I bought it from Heronswood in 2003 and kept it in a container for a year or
so when I put in the raised bed/ rock garden.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3597687

Tam

Thank you for the name Tammy. I'll have to do a bit of looking for some info on this one, it looks very interesting. I wish I lived closer to a supplier for these little conifers. I have to mail order most of mine.

Do you have a conifer society near you? I find the various plant societies
have very nice plant sales.

Tam

A color and shape contrast: Veronica incana with Alyssum pulvinare.

Penstemon x 'Red Rocks'. It surprised me by flowering magenta-pink with a white throat. Then I did some research and discovered the plant is named after a landmark near Denver, not the flower color.

The light purple flower behind and to the left is Scutellaria pontica, which has seeded itself only too well. There's a seedling creeping thyme flowering in the bottom left of the picture.

This message was edited Jun 20, 2007 9:31 PM

Beautiful plants everyone :-)

Ally - you grow so many wonderful gems that couldn't stand a chance in my cool and wet climate - so glad to get to enjoy them in your photos :-)

June - that penstemon is gorgeous!

Here's Oxalis adenophylla.

Aubrieta and Lewisia cotyledon 'Soranda' in the background. Aubrieta is very tender here so it was a real treat to find it survived the winter AND is flowering ;-)

Oh, I have some June blooms, although it's getting very hot here and things are going dormant now that the temperatures are in the 90s. Please excuse all of the nasty oak leaves from my neighbor's trees. It's impossible to remove all of them.

Here's Leontopodium alpinum:

Edraianthus pumilio:

Help! Another case of a missing tag. I don't have a clue, but it's a very small plant:

Here's a beautiful Phyteuma sieberi bloom:

Gentiana crassicaulis:

A very nice selection lady! I can't help you with the NOID though. I have
an edraiandius pumilla seedling to plant out. I can't wait to see mine bloom!

And Ally - I love the oxalis. I planted a bunch of bulbs a couple years
ago but only get the very nice folliage. I have mine in my "rocky hillside"
which is very sandy, dry and sunny. Maybe they need a little richer
soil or moisture?

Tam

Lovely pics, rannveig & Zuzu, many of them plants that I cannot grow (not for the want of trying). My Leontopodium is ready to expire, and my Phyteuma either never came up this spring or I weeded it by mistake!

And I just posted Phyteuma orbiculare in the other thread. I never noticed the little "fleur de lis" at the end of the petals on my flowers, like at the bottom of your pic, Zulu. I wonder if that is specific to sieberi. I am starting those from seed this year. Scheuchzeri too.

Edited to correct spelling of scheuchzeri.

This message was edited Jun 22, 2007 10:22 PM

Lovely pictures everyone! June, you and I seem to have similar taste in plants and color schemes. I had a nice display of Alyssum stribryni and Salvia juriscii earlier this year. I love the mix of purple/blue and yellow. Your Penstemon 'Red Rocks' looks great! The blossoms look similar to my P. kunthii that is just starting to bloom. Do you grow any of the cold hardy ice plants in your scree?

Rann, thank you and what a lovely Oxalis. I actually killed one of those this year. It didn't overwinter in the planter I had it in. I'm putting the one that survived in the ground so I won't kill it as well. With the temps hitting almost a 100 deg. F. my Aubretia are all starting to look dry and crispy and need to be cut back. Is that a Delphinium I see in the background behind your Lewisia?

Zuzu, it looks like we have similar bloom time on our Leontopodium. My problem is it blooms and then looks like it's dead until fall. I've been trying for a couple of years to grow some Phyteuma from seed with no luck. I love the spikey blue flowers they produce. I also have an Edraianthus somewhere that I need to plant so it will bloom. I've had a hard time growing these from seed also. I'm thinking that your unlabled pink flowering plant may be a Silene, whatever it is it's very pretty.

Tammy, I wish more of our plant societies had plant sales. Our native plant society does but I've got just about all of the plants that they typically have at those sales. (grin)

More pictures to follow this weekend when I get time to upload them.....

Ally - I've actually thought about moving somewhere else when I retire but then I
think about how many plant societies, arboreta and incredible variety of nursersies
in the greater Phila area and I think maybe not.

Tam

Oh, Ally. You're so smart. Your mention of Silene jogged my memory. It's Lychnis yunnanensis, which might as well be a Silene.

Well Zuzu there you go. I don't grow any Lychnis only Silene so far.

That would be a hard call for me too Tammy. I've considered other places I might live and am not sure I could give up the mountains and desert that are just a hop, skip and a jump from my doorstep.

So onto some more pictures of blooming plants.... this first one is a bit of a cheat as these were blooming early in June. This is Asperula daphneola, Sedum arachnoideum and Campanula 'Birch Hyrbrid'.

This one is of Acantholimon hohenackeri. This is a great plant for the dryland rock garden.