Alpines (or alpine wannabes) in May

Podophyllum hexandrum. Definitely Chinese, as it came from Chen Yi, but notice the three part leaves. It is flowering so it can't still be juvenile foliage. This has got me wondering if it is really hexandrum, or some other species.

Trillium erectum

Valeriana montana (I think). A surprisingly tough plant, considering the hot, dry clay that it grows in.

I have two P. hexandrums...one white the other pink. I think my white one also has just 3 lobes. I will have to check this out.

We had 2" of snow yesterday! Amazing to see with appleblossoms out! Didn't seem to do any damage.

Poor PJM rhododendron!

Primula veris nodding more than usual!

A Primula denticulata snowball!

The leopard's bane are NOT happy!

The lingering Muscari sort of look nice!

So it looks like this is Primula veris too. Can anyone tell for sure?

Same

Looks like veris with perhaps some elatior genes (resulting in veris flowers that face more upwards)

Snow! Dear me...! Hopefully it won't stay long. My P hexandrum looks like yours Leftwood but it has never flowered.

Thanks, Todd.

Symphyandra wanneri

My white hexandrum indeed has 3 lobed leaves.

The snow only stayed for a few hours. Started about 8:30 in the morning, stopped by noon with about 2 inches. Mostly all melted by 4 pm. Quite a freak but made for some interesting pictures!

Ooops, I have to correct myself! I have been thinking about that Gentiana verna lately and wondering, "Was it one of the ones I grew from seed last year... ?!?!?" I just looked through my 2008 seed-starting list, and through my order receipts, and I did grow G. scabra, pannonica, purpurea and punctata from seed (managing to kill all of the pannonica, though)... but not G. verna. It turns out I actually got G. verna from Wrightman's. So sorry to have misled you all!

Carrying on with a red face...
Polemonium confertum... which I did not grow from seed!

Close-up of Polemonium confertum:

Okay, this one I did grow from seed last year... really!
First flower on Pulsatilla turczaninovii... I can't wait until mine are like yours, Leftwood!

Not an alpine, but interesting... some hairy little troll-ish seedlings of Syneilesis from last year. (I grew both S. aconitifolia and S. palmata, and planted them out in the same area, so will have to figure out which is which, later on, if possible.)

Myosotis decumbens, starting to bloom.

Androsace mariae, starting to bloom:

This was purchased a few years ago as the possibly-mythical(?) Epimedium pallidum... It's turned out to be E. x versicolor 'Sulphureum':

Iris lutescens campbellii:

EDIT: BTW, Todd, we had 10" of snow in early June one memorable spring... a very strange sight with tulip flowers sticking up over (well, drooping over) the snow... I'm not sure I can take too many more things like that, LOL!

This message was edited May 27, 2009 9:20 PM

I've been in Calgary when you had snow in late May with lilacs were in full bloom. While the snow fell here it was a deja vu to that day in Calgary!

Last night dropped to 0 C...I expect to see some damage later in the day, esp. on the rhodo flowers.

Some choice plants there...esp. the pulsatilla. That one is similar to bungeana.

Never heard of Syneilesis.......?

"Shredded umbrella plant"... interesting foliage; the flowers, not so much.
http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=syneilesis&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

I grew Syneilesis aconitifolia from seed last year too! But we had a summer torrential downpour and the water off the house roof washed half of the soil out of the pots. I don't remember what all was going on that week, but I didn't realize it for a few days. Amazingly, many of them were still standing on root "stilts", with the soil just washed away under them. Others, well, I don't want to talk about them. Most of them ended up losing their one leaf, and I figured them for dead, but kept the pots anyway. Good thing! Most came up this spring, and I've been dying to tell someone about them ever since.

Here's most of the crop from two seed lots: pink, and white flowering. The round leaves in the blue pot(cup) are this spring's seedlings of Syneilesis intermedia. Syneilesis certainly has an interesting early growth pattern.

And I guess you can see that our midwest springs are short and sweet compared to Lori's and Todd's. Our spring happens very quickly.

Edit spelling

This message was edited May 29, 2009 9:55 AM

I really like that Polemonium confertum. Most polemoniums don't do much for me.

Alta, I see you're just as excited as I was the first time I saw P.turczaninovii bloom. I believe it was the third your for me. I am the first to admit my shortfalls in the plant care department. I have found that the first year bloom (for me) was not exactly replicated in future years. It's funny about Todd's comment: "That one is similar to bungeana". It's what I thought with his pic of bungeana.

Below is my Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' from a local nursery.

I am beginning to wonder if "campbellii" is a valid epithet. It is only tentative in the RHS data base http://www.rhs.org.uk/Databases/HortDatabase.asp?ID=92080 , and does not exist as a naturally occuring designation in the Iris Species data base. Zipcode Zoo says it is a cultivar http://zipcodezoo.com/plants/i/iris%5Flutescens%5Fcampbellii/ , but obviously, Alta's and mine on this thread are different, as are many others'. I am thinking best no botanical designation at all?

Beautiful flowers everyone! I just feast my eyes on your pics:)
Nioi-hange (Pinellia cordata) is blooming.
It smells sweet like banana.

What a cute yet bizarre little creature!

I didn't know there were any Pinellia with simple leaves (not lobed or disected), let alone variegated. Very cool!

Here is June's thread

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/996371/