Alpines in June

My Androsace sempervivoides

Aquilegia canadense and Rhododendron tapetiforme

Lathyrus vernus is starting to overpower the rockery...self-seeding too much as well.

Backlite Saxifraga strynbyi..you can see the sticky hairs!

and my first Allium of the season, A. zebdanense. This one reaches about 16" tall.

Cool plants! They just keep on coming!

So these Saxifraga strybyi hairs look as though they have "droplets" of goo, similar to Drosera spp.

And their purpose is . . . . ?

Wow, wonderful plants, all!

I had the great fortune to attend a 2-day work event last week at Lake Louise in Banff N. P. (at the Post Hotel, no less... yeah, I know... SWEET!!!). Took a stroll along Louise Creek and found colonies of Primula mistassinica (I believe) in bloom on the damp banks! So tiny - the entire basal rosettes were only 1 to 1.5 cm across! We also had a "team-building event" (anyone who works at a larger corporation knows what I'm talking about, LOL!) where we got to rent bikes and do a little riding around. The pine forest around Pipestone had an absolutely astonishing number of colonies of Calypso orchids (Calypso bulbosa)! (Forgot my camera, dang!) We usually hold off from hiking until the alpine areas are accessible but obviously some low elevation hikes are in order!

BTW, my mystery white-blooming low alpine from the May thread has been ID'd... Phlox hendersonii!

Pulsatilla aurea still in bloom, but done soon. I like the dusky outer bases on these flowers:

Penstemon confertus.... these individuals are smaller-flowered than the ones I have in the back yard; pussytoes (Antennaria) in the background:

Some fantastic plants here! The photos are stunning too. I often use that coloured card technique as it takes away all of the distracting background and allows you to just concentrate on the plant you are looking at. I have just sown some seeds of aquilegia viridiflora. I had a plant years ago and wanted to try it again. The scent is lovely and the unusual colour of course!

Todd - it is pretty weird that we're ahead, but this has been a very warm spring here .... no hard frosts in May and temperatures consistently in the 50's, high 50's - low 60's the past 3 weeks so everything here is at least 2 weeks early. . My pulsatilllas are all in the seedhead stage as well as my Lathyrus vernus. The alpines also benefitted from a cold winter with a lot of snow cover and not as wet conditions as we've been used to in the past years. That Androsace is very pretty as well as all the others :-)

alta - interesting color on that Penstemon. I have those pussytoes too - didn't know they were called that - neat name :-)

Here's my Penstemon rupicola. It's never flowered so abundantly :-) I think it was supposed to be 'Pink Dragon' but it doesn't look pink enough to me ....... it was raised from seed so there's bound to be some variation in color.

Rann

Daphne Lawrence Crocker

Claytonia siberica....short-lived but self-seeds

First Lewisia is opening...this is 'Little Plum'

and Gentiana angustifolia 'Frei'

and I'll end with Erigeron borealis

We grew a gigantic Clematis alpina 'Pamela Jackman' for many years (now gone), along with a few other common clematis cultivars, and with their huge seeding tendencies, now have an amazing variety of self-seeded forms growing throughout the yard! Single, doubles of various forms, blues, purples, (almost) white, pink...
One of the multitude, growing through a nannyberry:




This message was edited Jun 17, 2008 9:30 PM

More variations:

Dianthus alpinus, purportedly, though the flowers lack the inner ring of dots... Judging from photos on the internet, there is either a lot of variation in this, or a great number of mislabelled plants, or perhaps both?

Another dianthus...

The last dianthus might be freynii as that is an early one...mine is just budding. Your alpinus is not like any alpinus I've seen...looks like a lot of gratianopolitanus blood in it. Here's a pic of my alpinus from last year....I don't think alpinus has glaucous leaves...at least mine doesn't.

Not an alpine, but if you'd like to see Iris hookeri x ensata OP F3 06Y318, look here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/865619/

This is Iris setosa from Kenai, Alaska. I wanted to show how purple the seed pod is, and left the dried up old flower attached, which unfortunately, messed with the beauty of the open flower.

Iris tectorum:

Acinos alpinus. Until this, its fourth year, it has been happy under an inch (2.5cm) high. Now it is reaching twice that.



This message was edited Jun 19, 2008 6:19 PM

My hookeri are just starting to bud...still a couple of weeks away. I'd be interested in seeds from the setosa with the purple seed capsule. That could be interesting in my iris breeding program.

Okay, subalpine at best... Castilleja miniata:

Leftwood, my Acinos alpinus has always been a few inches tall.

Penstemon procerus:

Supposed to be Penstemon pruinosus, chelan beardtongue... but, hmmm, I'm starting to question everything! Well, I now have the Lodewick penstemon key, as well as Bob Nold's book, so I'll try to figure out if it is or isn't.

A woodlander, Hylomecon japonicum:

Wish I could grow Castilleja, but its another Penstemon nitidus....you have to live where they grow naturally if you want any success. I love that little Penstemon. I have pruinosus too but I can't recall if it looks like yours or not. It is just starting to bud so we'll see in time.

My Podophyllum hexandrum is blooming for the first time! Took 5 years from seed.

Campanula pilosa...always my first campanula of the season

Gentiana acaulis 'Iceberg'..I think I prefer the blue for impact

and speaking of impact!

I read somewhere that some Brits have been successful with Castillejas with continuous light fertilization.

That Iris setosa from Kenai, AK has beautiful flowers. At least as blue as in the pic, and very saturated color. But it is a bit leggy in growth, so far. The first two years,2006+07, it grew to at least 25 inches(63cm). Tall, lanky, long and few leaves. Last year it bloomed with equally delightful flowers. This season it is shorter, the tallest leaf being only 20 inches(51cm). We have had more rain, and cooler weather this year. Seed should be no problem.

Cool Podophyllum! I bought Podophyllum hexandrum from Mt. Tahoma last year. Not exactly what I was expecting, it looks like this:

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 12:01 PM

Rick, your Podophyllum is a baby, so to speak. As it gets older, it will develop more lobes. Unfortunately, you have a plain green selection..the best have beautiful brownish-maroon markings.

Wow, it is really late there, Todd! Your Podophyllum is just emerging while mine is fully leafed out... looks like no flowers this year, though, or at least not yet.

Thanks Todd. I knew I was gambling on leaf color when I got it, but I wondered about the leaf shape. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Phyteuma hemisphaericum ready to bloom at our Arboretum rock garden. This is what can happen with inadequate light. But it still blooms fairly well.

I have two Podophyllum hexandrum..the non-bloomer is fully leafed while the bloomer is just emerging.

Aethionema lepidioides, planted this spring:

First flower on a little Convolvulus compactus, planted this spring.

Your Convolvulus gave me a good chuckle. It almost looked like you stuck a naked artifical flower in the gravel. How old is that plant?