Alpines (or alpine wannabes) in May

Must be all sorts of alpines starting to bloom for us. I am probbaly much behind most of you, but I figured I'd post some of my small currently blooming beauties. Here is my Jeffersonia dubia.

Androsace 'Millstream'

Sanguinaria canadensis 'Rosea'

white Pulsatilla vulgaris

Draba polytricha

Scilla rosenii...a new one I purchased from Ruksans

and a first bloom on Primula glaucescens

All lovely but I particularly like the sanguinaria and jeffersonia. Beautiful.

Erigeron Canary Bird

Pulsatilla albana

Pulsatilla georgica

My canary bird and georgica are just starting to show buds. Guess I'm not TOO far behind!

This message was edited May 6, 2009 1:39 PM

Yes you soon catch up! :)

Primula marginata 'Sheila Denby', starting to bloom:

Saxifraga 'Riverslea', opening:

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, in bud, and bristlecone pine, with some sort of spring-blooming Brassicaceae (Thlaspi?):

Great photos everyone!

I've been lurking since the april thread admiring everyone's gorgeous blooms :-) Anyone willing to part with some fresh Jeffersonia dubia seeds in exchange for something else? I haven't been successful in getting my seeds to sprout ...... I read somewhere that it has very short viability (?).

Not very many alpines blooming yet .....

Here's an Androsace carnea ssp. rosea that's happily growing in a stone supporting wall-ish type of thingy ..... the proper word completely slipped my mind! lol It does much better there than in my raised bed.

Rann

Arabis alpina ssp. caucasica

Thlaspi rotundifolia put on a nice show in April

Not sure if this quilifies as an alpine ...... I raised this from seed as Trollius laxus but the bright yellow flowers make me question whether that's what it really is. I was expecting them to be a paler shade. Can T. laxus have such bright yellow flowers? If not, any ideas what it might be? I thought T. dzchungaricus maybe? Or T. riehderanus?

Primula marginata

I opened a website a few weeks ago - garden plants in Iceland. Here's the link if any of you are interested in what can be grown up here .. www.gardaflora.is It's all in Icelandic but the latin names are the same ;-)

Rann

Great website Rann! You essentially grow the same things as we do in newfoundland, but you seem to have better luck with some than we do...I cannot grow Thlaspi rotundifolia....heaves out of the ground every winter.

Excellent plants Rann. Good to have you here.

Thanks Todd and Galanthophile.

Todd - I'm surprise to hear that the Thlaspi rotundifolia won't grow in your area, it does very well here ..... do you get a lot of snow and frost or more rain during winter?

Any thoughts on the Trollius?? ;-)

Rann

I envy you guy's good climate for alpains!
My wannabes are...
Geranium oxonianum

Ajuga reptans(variegated)

Scutellaria indica L. var. parvifolia (white flower)

Geranium robertianum

Rann, I think your trollius might be T. acaulis.

We get freeze-thaw for 4 months that can do a number on really small alpines. They need to have a descent root system to survive the local abuse caused by our winter. We certainly get more snow than you in the winter.

Goldenfish, the 'alpines' you have open will not bloom here until late June.

Wow, it took me a long time to reply to my posting a few days ago of Aquilegia jonesii. In case anyone still cares, yes, it does bloom very early. Mine is relatively late because the garden is on the north side of hte garage and it gets full sun late (about half there, now).

Most people are happy to grow it just for the foliage, in tight whorls, and I do enjoy it for that. I stays about 3-4" tall, except for the flower.

Yes, my garden is pink granite, It is chosen from "rip-rap", the local(?) term for rock you dump in drainage ditches, etc (cheap, though heavy rock). Most is mixed grey and pink, but my local yard lets me sort through for the pink ones. The rocks are very close together--not natural looking at all--but I wanted at least one rock per plant. It is sort of like a lumpy crevice garden. It seems to grow plants well, and I think it is all that rock.

I've attached a May 10, 2005 view that has only a primula in bloom, but shows how rocky it is.

Sorry if off topic!

Leftwood, do you have a reference for the distribution data on A. jonesii? All I know is it grows in Wyoming shale.

Dodecatheon

Lovely rockery Sally! Wish I had access to tufa.
Tammy, my shooting stars are just sprouting!

A drab Draba dedeana

Viola conspersa

My first dwarf rhododendron is open

Sally, I think your "rubble" garden turned out very nice!

Great to see you back, Rann!
I, for one, have been wondering how you have been surviving the economic downturn there. Very nice site! I'll bet Todd can sort out your Iris setosa's.

Jeffersonia seed is reputed to not sustain dry strorage. I have collected and moist stored J. diphylla seed in the refrigerator from when the seed ripened in early summer, all through the winter. I gave them away, but they stilled seemed in very good condition. Supposedly Jeffersonia seed first puts down a root, and may not send up a leaf until after one (or two) cold cycles.
I will be (trying) to collect seed of J. dubia, if I can catch them this time. Last year I missed them, and they had emptied all their pouches of seed before I got to them. Hopefully, I will have seed for you (or others).

J. diphylla seed:

Rann - what is the problem with your isis setosa?

I don't think there is any problem with the iris, just an uncertain identification.

Hi Leftwood :-) Nice to "see" you too :-) We're surviving .... my family hasn't been hit hard (yet at least) so we're just counting our blessings. But things are really bad and lots of people are taking an awfully big hit. But that seems to be the case in more countries as well I hear ..... Thanks reg. the site :-) and the Douglasia :-). I'll save the pot for a year or two .... but the seed was dry so I'm guessing it's a slim chance ....

Actually it was a Trollius that was unsorted ;-) Todd tells me it might be T. acaulis. http://www.alpinissimum.de/Homepage/gartenrdg/Fotogalerie/Trollius%20acaulis.jpg Thanks Todd :-) It does look very similar to that one, except the foliage on T. acaulis seems to be more divided than on mine (?). Here's a photo of T. dzshungaricus: http://magnar.aspaker.no/trollius%20dzshungaricus.JPG and this is T. riederianus: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/210436/ The foliage looks pretty similar to mine (?) although they seem to be a bit taller ...... I managed to misspell both of them earlier, sorry about that!

sorry to be hogging this thread with this question ... I'll post over on the ID forum ;-)

Rann

Rann, I am not familiar with those other Trollius species, so your's might indeed be one of them rather than acaulis.

This is the iris I was refering to on your site, Rann:
http://www.gardaflora.is/slensk-heiti/fjolaerar-plontur-e/iris-setosa-fra-alaska-var-arctica---engjairis