Summer-time alpines...alpines of July

The last thread was getting pretty long so it was time to start a new thread for a new month. I am finally starting to get significant blooms..better late than never. Most you've seen posted earlier but here are my versions. Invarvillea mairiae.

Aquilegia buegeriana 'Calimero'

Aquilegia ottonis....its only 5" tall and lovely blue foliage

Aquilegia rockii...a bit tall but small, dainty flowers

Claytonia siberica..a bit weedy but easily controlled.

A poor pick of my first-blooming Daphne arbuscula....it needs more sun.

Studio-shot of Geranium farreri

Haberlea rhodopensis

and I'll end with a close-up of my Ramonda myconi

Ahh, July!
Lovely plants, Todd! Just wondering... do you do anything to keep your various columbines from producing crosses, i.e. segregate them to different parts of the yard, or do you just let them be? Your haberlea and ramonda look so perfect! Mine always have some burnt leaves on them (even since I learned, after, oh, about 8 years, that the haberlea really preferred a bit of shade, LOL!) - guess they probably benefit from more snow cover than they get here.

Here's Penstemon lyallii, with edelweiss to the front right and Aethionema grandiflorum to the left:

Saxifraga cuneifolia... very evergreen - it looks almost as fresh through the winters, as it does now.

Saxifraga 'Winifred Bevington'. Looks like S. paniculata var. minutifolia, behind it, chooses not to bloom this year.

(By the way, I just got Saxifrages: A Gardener's Guide to the Genus by Winton Harding... seems like a very useful reference!)

Very cheerful in its carefree nature and abundance of bloom... Saponaria ocymoides:

Alas, my P. lyalii died after about 10 years...guess that was pretty old for a penstemon.

Here is my tiny Rhododendron campylogynum...I can't believe it bloomed so small!

and no, I let my columbines do their own thing...I expect I will have to start all over in a few years as they will all start to look alike.

Amazing flowers on that rhodo!

Carduncellus pinnatus in bloom:

That A. rockii sure has dark stems. And the colors on that ramonda are superb! I see from the P. lyallii pic (and from a previous brief discussion) that my Penstemon "lyalli" from seed is definitely not that. Should have another mystery penstemon next year when it blooms.
The rhododendron is so small! I'm running out of adjectives, um . . . . most excellent!

The Carduncellus flower is very peculiar, if I am seeing right:
The dark "filaments" seem to have an extension of a light color, so that the entire thread starting at the center of the flower goes light purple-dark purple-light purple. What flower part is that?

This close-up of some florets may help (it was actually taken on a white background but with, obviously, rather poor lighting)...
The elongated filaments in the flowerhead are the pistils; the ovary is darker purple, while the style and stigma are light purple (whew, I had to look up all those terms to make sure I was using them correctly ;). The stigma is divided at the end into two parts.

I would have thought the shorter light purple filaments surrounding the pistil must be the stamens, but I can't really recognize any anthers?

Tanacetum emodi, formerly T. tibeticum... so far, I'm somehow managing to resist the temptation to turn whole beds over to this, LOL! (Slightly underwhelming, IMO...)

Penstemon season is finally starting.....P. cardwellii Rosea

P. davidsonii ssp. menziesii...or is it the other way around?

Studio-shot of P. virens

Studio-shot of Campanula barbata

and part of my potted Lewisia collection

Thanks for the disection, Lori. I thought I saw some splaying at the ends. I guess it is all not that unusual after all!

Boy, am I glad I didn't post any pics of my Lewisia's. I don't think I have ever seen them grown as well as Todd's.

I have Lewisia glandulosa coming in bud...I have no idea what that one looks like....I bought it 2 months ago just because it was a lewisia I didn't have!

If you want to see Lewisia glandulosa, I posted a pic of it in the May thread... a newly planted one in bloom.

I checked the May thread but did not see any pic of L. glandulosa.

There are two "May bloom" threads... see the one started by Tammy, then scroll down to May 17.

Well mine is out today so i know what it looks like...rather small flowers...in fcat, the smallest of any of my Lewisia...Claytonia-sized. I'll take a pic when more blooms open.

I'm pumped that my Hebe pinguicifolia flowered this year...you can see how they are related to Veronica.

Scilla ramburei...a summer-flowering squill...at least around here! It is about 8" tall

My heart is pounding ... very beautifully grown plants all! I am absolutely
in love with the rhododendron Todd. Where did you get it? From seed?
I really don't have anything to share so I will be joyfully drooling over all of
your posts!

I grew the rhody from a cutting...delighted I was able to get it to root....more amazed it bloomed when only rooted last fall!

Not sure if it constitutes an alpine (although in the wild it is) is my Meconopsis.

Todd, do your Campanula barbata act as biennials, or short-lived perennials, as they are said to? Mine are several years old (hey, I'm not complaining!) and I'm curious how they act for others in northerly climes. (I've found a few verbascum species that act as biennials elsewhere are solidly perennial here.)

Rick, re. your supposed P. lyallii... the Lodewick key (available from NARGS) seems very useful for figuring out these mysteries... considering how daunting penstemon IDs are in general. A case in point... this evening, I keyed out what was purportedly a seed-grown P. whippleanus (which it obviously wasn't) to P. hirsutus. Seems to match with photos so I'm kinda proud of myself! The P. lyallii I posted earlier is one I keyed out using Nold's book... but the keying out in that case consisted only of distinguishing it from the other penstemon planted in the same area, not starting from scratch... but I was still proud, LOL! (It doesn't take much...)

Here's another little mystery... I've posted it at a couple of sites and only got agreement that it seems to be a saponaria... I thought perhaps S. suendermannii, based on thin evidence (one photo I found that shows a similarly long-stemmed saponaria):

And some kind of a little legumey thing... oxytropis or astragalus, I suppose - I haven't yet figured out the flower differences (keeled vs. non-keeled?) that are supposed to distinguish these two, assuming I'm even in the ballpark:

Oxytropis splendens in the garden - lovely furry things:

Alyssum tortuosum, I believe:

Nice collection of uncommon alpines there Lori...BTW I just herad that CARGS is pulling out of hosting next years AGM! What happened! I had all intentions of going but now the AGM will be combined with the WWSW in Oregon.

Campanula barbata is pretty much biennial...sometimes comes back for an additional season. Strangely, our Echium amoenum at work came back this year as good as last and its suppose to be biennial.

Hmmm, I have no idea what happened with CRAGS and the AGM... I attended one meeting, missed one (can't get to early evening meetings on work days!) and have heard nothing since.

Very interesting about C. barbata.