May blooms

I know these are not all that special to many but I've been trying to make
the dodecatheon happy for a while and they finally found a spot that lets
them bloom. (I know - they are now officially primula. but they'll always be
dodecatheon to me)

Arisaema Sikokianum

Gentiana Acaulis

Here's a celebration of spring!

more primroses and more

Do trillium count as rock garden plants? LOL They are pretty
anyway though... grandiflora and erectum

Wow, fabulous! I especially LOVE that bed of primroses!

Here's another... montane, if not alpine... but, really, I'm just showing it because it's taken sooo long to get it to blooming size!
Erythronium dens-canis:



This message was edited May 2, 2008 6:52 PM

Another...
Lovely colour on the first of the Muscari azureum... (Yes, I'm overexcited after a week of snow!)

Nice pics Tammy and Alta.

I am embarrassed to ask, because I know they are relatively common plants, but Tammy - in you celebration pic, what are those blue spikes with the starlike flowers? I grew some from seed and lost the tag.

Pardon me for butting in, but they look like camassia... yes?

Yep. Those are camassia. They thrive in the always moist soil by the pond.
The deer nibble at them but left me enough to bloom.

Alta - I love those erythronium. I don't seem to have any of them this year - either
the deer prefer them or they just don't like it here as much as the americanum.

Here's another shot of the pondside garden - with three types of primula.

How wonderful to have an area wet enough (pond, stream... sigh!) for Primula viallii! I can't tell you how many of those have died in this area... They are not uncommon at the garden centers, and they are hardy (or at least I've found them so) but our conditions are far too dry.





This message was edited May 3, 2008 6:03 PM

Camassia who?
Or is this just a run of the mill bulb set from the garden center.

Rick,

I got the camassia from Van Engelen. Camassia Quamash & the variegated
variety Camassia Quamash Blue Melody. They sell other species. I believe they
are a N. Am. native

Tam

Corydalis solida, just opening:

Claytonia megarrhiza with lots of buds; it won't compare to the show put on by its kin in the mountains, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless!

Buds on Polemonium confertum... a few more days. It's possible to detect a skunky whiff when getting close to this plant - delightful!

Caught a bumblebee doing a little primula-wrasslin'...
Primula marginata, resuming it's bloom after the week of snow:

very nice. can't tell it snowed so recently at all. I do love those big bumble
bees and that one sure is a cute one. Enjoyed the primula-wrestling shot
immensely!

Great show Tammy! You are certainly 6 weeks or more ahead of me. This has been the wqrse spring I can ever recall. Temps are struggling to reach 40 F. Alta, you have yet more snow heading your way by the sounds of it.

Seems we have two May blooms threads going. Seeing as this one seems to have more blooms, I'll post my latest here. I'd say Alta is about 2 weeks ahead of me.

Androsace Millstream is stunning right now!

Corydalis solida is finally open!

Draba polytricha is just starting. This one is in one of my troughs.

Alta should recognize this one...Fritillaria pudica, an Alberta native. Finally after years I got a single bloom. It was lost among the other plants but with a black cardboard behind, it glows!

Helleborus niger! I love this one!

Heloniopsis orientalis this lily relative is really a woodlander...it blooms almost through the snow!

Oh Todd... a glorious display even if it was long overdue!
Our spring was cooler than normal so we kept our early
blooms longer.

The Androsace is spectacular (well - all of those photo's are!)
Where did you get the Heloniopsis orientalis? That's a new one
to me. It looks quite diminutive... how tall is it?

Tam

I got the Heloniopsis from a now defunked nursery in BC. It is quite old. The foliage is lily-like but flat on the ground and evergreen. The flower stems arise about 3-5". There are more spikes coming...you can see a wee one forming at the base of the blooming one in the picture. If memory serves, it is a genus onto itself.

I have quite a few Kabschia saxs open...I'm debating whether to start a new thread or post them here...let me think about it!

why not open another thread and then no one will have to figure out
which May Bloom thread to post in.

Tam

Leibnitzia anandria (finally) and L. nepalense are blooming for the first time. Except for nepalense being in pinch smaller, they seem identical. But I haven't taken a real close look yet. These are in pots. I'm kinda bummed: the flowers are so small!

Please post Rick....my seedlings are getting quite robust! And I have 15 of them!

I started my Kabschia thread here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/845759/

Other alpines open now are Primula 'Freedom'

Primula minima hybrid of some sort

Primula X berninae

Primula marginata 'Janet'

A studio shot of a P. marginata I grew from seed.

and my first Primula elatior

and I thought I'd share my 3 year old Saxifraga longifolia seedlings I grew from seed...the rosettes are excellent...I really don't want them to flower since they are monocarpic!

Todd - spectacular! I have one of the encrusted sax's going from seed
this year. I sure hope I can grow it out - I just haven't had much luck.

And now to your new thread...
tam

Wonderful pic, as usual, Todd.
Yes, the Leibnitzia spp. seedlings are quite vigorous. Even with my late plantings and lackadaisical attitude in the stewardship department, both anandria and nepalense produced summer blooms the first season while still in the pot. Your nepalenes seeds were first season produce. Perhaps that's the reason for poor germination. The anandria seed was from a plant years old.

The flowers I spoke of are from plants in overwintered pots. Anandria blooms are about 1.5cm diameter. My one in the ground won't bloom for a few more days, so we'll see about that.

Today I have Iris suaveolens var. rubromarginata blooming. My yellow form of the species is barely showing bud formation.

My lewisia are blooming here.