Mid-August alpines

Tying in with the "extending the bloom season" topic, let's see what's blooming or looking nice or interesting in your troughs and rock gardens!

I'll start off with Penstemon pinifolius. (Okay, I admit I don't actually have this in a rock garden per se... though yes there are a few rocks in the picture, LOL!... but generally considered a pretty good rock garden candidate, I think.)

I'm enjoying the yellow and blue combination of Helianthemum, Oenothera, and Linum.

Edited to add: I like the Penstemon pinifolius, altagardener!

This message was edited Aug 20, 2007 9:16 AM

Here's a view across the gravel bed showing Artemisia canescens, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, and Sedum telephium 'Purple Emperor' in bloom. You can see by the state of the lawn in the background how dry it is here!

My Penstemon pinifolius quit blooming a couple weeks ago, maybe because of the heat and/or drought. Mersea Yellow quit a couple weeks before that, but it started 2 weeks earlier too, so the bloom time span is about the same for the two.

I'm gonna have to hunt around for some bloom to share. But I need to weed
before I take any pictures. :-)

Tam

Carlina acaulis, with broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae , an excellent late-blooming native plant for xeriscaping) in foreground, and blue oat grass behind:

Zauschneria garrettii (more correctly, I guess, Epilobium canum ssp. garrettii) with a small patch of Dryas octopetala in the foreground:

That Dryas sure looks well behave . . . .

Yes, Dryas octopetala has been completely well-behaved, and rather slow-growing.
From its habit in the wild, where it forms huge mats on dry slopes and gravel banks along rivers, I'd expect Dryas drummondii to be faster to spread. I don't find the latter near as showy though, and it tends to have a single bloom period, whereas D. octopetala reblooms through the season.

Tammy, forget the weeding! Judging from your other photos on this forum, I'm sure it looks great! Let's see some plants, LOL!

June, it's excellent that you are in zone 4 - just a hop, step and a jump away , climate-wise! I'm getting some great ideas from your garden - I'm encouraged to try Ceratostigma plumbaginoides again, should I come across it.

Here's one that would be fabulous in a wall... which, unfortunately, is not where I have it, given that, tragically, I lack a wall at present ;-) Of course, it looked best in full bloom, but Antirrhinum hispanicum syn. A. molle blooms throughout the season (and is astoundingly hardy):

Well - I don't have much in bloom for this forum! And I can't seem to get
the pictures to zoom out. I'll be back.
Tam

I have just a very few things blooming. So here goes... Daphne Jasminea happily
leaning up the rock wall

A not-so-well-focussed shot of my cyclamen bloom

Now for the mysteries for all you game-players. Is this possibly ramonda myconi?
I had a baby planted in the tufa behind it and wonder if it fell out and made itself a
home tucked under the tufa?

And another mystery. I popped this into my rocky hillside a year or two ago
and didn't bother with the label. Any guesses? Its blooming now.

Thanks for the pix, Tammy! Is that daphne fragrant, as so many of them are? (Hmm, maybe it's even doubly fragrant, with "jasminea" as the genus!) Has it been blooming all summer, or has it just started?
Yes, it sure does look like Ramonda myconi... I've only added one to the garden this year. I expect it will be hardy, as I know of others that have grown it (and since Haberlea rhodopensis has been hardy and I'm guessing it will act about the same).
Boy, those cyclamens are real flower machines, aren't they? I've been so impressed by C. purpureum - they've been in constant bloom since late spring, and fragrant to boot (though you have to hunker down to sniff them).
Hmm, no idea what your mystery plant is. I have some books on order from NARGS that I've been waiting on pins and needles for... maybe when they finally come... Although by then, with hope, someone may have already ID'd your plant.
I'll see if I can get some shots of the more rock garden-ish things that are in bloom here...

Oh, here's a thought for your mystery... a Heterotheca? Maybe Heterotheca jonesii or villosa or .......??

That's a very good thought! I'll run out to check it but it sure looks like a good
match.

I don't do very well with cyclamen. I've started many many from seed and only
this one has come back. I bought big beefy ones this spring and they have
been blooming (3 pots in my greenhouse & 3 pots out in a new spot). I think
the one I have pictured is hederifolium as are the new 6. I have several of the
greenhouse variety in my greenhouse and they do bloom continuously from
Jan through fall.

Okay, here's a few pictures:
Gentiana paradoxa:

Cyclamen purpurascens:


This message was edited Sep 3, 2007 8:24 PM

Another C. purpurascens, with silvery foliage (from the same packet of seeds):


This message was edited Sep 3, 2007 8:24 PM

Cyananthus sp. (acckk, what species is this thing again?) - just starting to bloom; the color is more intense than this washed-out picture suggests:



Edit: It was labelled as Cyananthus sp. ex Napa Hai... so I guess they didn't know either, LOL!

This message was edited Sep 3, 2007 5:48 PM