New to alpine gardening-looking for tips

Hi all! I am new to alpine gardening and I am looking for tips and suggestions on some plants to start out with from seed. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I am in Z 5. Thanks so much-Kath

Welcome Kath! What type of conditions? Full sun?
tam

Hi Tammy-The hillside that I would like to begin on has full and part sun. It is sandy due to being the downward slope of our leeching field. It is a pretty large area, so it will be slow going. I have checked out your hillside pics. I loved seeing the progress. Great job!
Leftwood is sending a few seeds, which I'm very excited about! : )
-Kath

Geraniums & Helianthamum would both be options. I've also had great success
with sedums from seed. Let me review my seed list and remind myself what else has
done well w.r.t germination

Okay, I'm going from memory on ones I recall finding easy to start from seed... (as I don't actually keep seed-starting records... figure that's been covered thoroughly by Deno, and others, and my interest is more in just acquiring the plant, LOL!) By easy, I mean not requiring stratification - just stick the seed in moist medium at room temperature in March, and Bob's your uncle.
Some alliums that I found easy from seed: A. roseum, A. sikkimense, A. cyaneum
Other random ones:
Draba sp. - unfortunately, I can't tell you the species I grew (as only the places of origin, not the species, were identified in the NARGS seed list) but Deno denotes many species as easy germinators
Alchemilla faroensis, Alyssum wulfenianum, Anemone lesseri, Penstemon barbatus
Some easy primulas are P. denticulata, P. polyneura, P. veris, but the tiny seed and seedlings are fussy to handle.
I found Townsendia montana easy from seed, and Deno reports that it's true of the genus in general.
Verbascums are easy from seed, though not that many are small enough for the rock garden. A couple that are: V. dumulosum and V. x 'Letitia' (although I didn't start mine from seed).
Erigeron leiomerus is easy from seed.
Hmm, I'll have to think about others... Guess I really haven't started that many "real" alpines from seed!

This message was edited Dec 15, 2007 1:48 PM

This message was edited Dec 15, 2007 1:53 PM