Alpines in June

at last I got a Meconopsis to bloom! I used to have one years ago that lived about 8 years. It was a rather poor purplish-blue. I grew this one last year and am very pleased with the colour.

It is called 'Lingholm Hybrid'....the flowers are more nodding than a typical M. betonicifolia

Claytonia siberica

WOW! That color is spectacular. Congratulations Todd.

A studio pic of my Pulsatilla alpina ssp. apiifolia

finally Rhododendron calostrotum....grown from seed 3 years ago.

Your Meconopsis looks WONDERFUL, Todd. One of our Chapter members is from northern Wisconsin (Hayward). He benefits from lake effect snows, and grows two species of Meconopsis easily (along with many other various species that you'd never believe). He says they like constantly moist, really loose and very humussy soil.

A blooming Rhododendron from a 3 year seedling is quite the feat.

I grew two accessions of Claytonia sibirica from seed this year: from the NARGS seed ex and from Todd (thanks). Todd's seeds sprouted 4 days earlier than the NARGS 3331, but the NARGS seedlings are beginning to flower now, while Todd's show no inclination. In addition, the growth pattern is different too. NARGS is more typical of what I see in pictures, while Todd's leaf stems are horizontal to the ground with the leaf blades held just above the soil surface. It's silly, I know, but I just transplanted them from their original seeded 2.5 inch pots just yesterday.

Pulsatilla alpina ssp. apiifolia . . . Isn't that the huge pasque flower you showed us at our March banquet, Todd? Remember how people oooooo-ed and ahhhh-ed at that photo? I would sure love some fresh seed of that. Seedlings of that would go like hotcakes at our plant sale.

Rick

Phyteuma orbiculare - from seed

What is this?

A fleabane, Erigeron spp.... beyond that, I don't know!

I'll be sure to save you seed Rick....they set lots. In regards to my Claytonia, mine were from NARGS as well. Strange that mine are behaving differently than your NARGS source. I must admit, mine have never flowered the first year from seed....however, they do self-seed so be forewarned! (easily controlled)

That fleabane looks familiar but I cannot place the name.

Since I participated in packaging seed for the NARGS exchange, I know exactly how it works: Unless there is something different about the seed parent (like different flower color, plant height, etc.), the seeds from all the donors for that species get mixed together and then divided up for dissemination. There were more than three donors for Claytonia sibirica this year, but I saw no variation in my seedlings. But I'll bet yours originally came from a different donor all together, Todd. I practically live for species variation, so I am very happy that yours are different.

Allium moly

Penstemon cobaea. Very garden worth, even for regular perennial gardens. And the largest penstemon flowers I've seen yet.

Who knew how beautiful Mehania cordata flowers really are?
(Not me, obviously)

Mehania are indeed lovely...never grew one myself. My allium moly are in bud but several weeks from blooming.

I never noticed what appears to be the norm for penstemon stamen configuration.

A brand new kid on the block: what seems to be a cross of P. cobaea and P. hirsutus var. pygmaeus. I had no other penstemon species blooming in the years the seed could have been produced.

Penstemon strictus

Great plants Rick and Todd !

Todd - congrats on the Meconopsis flowering :-) Beautiful color. They love our cool summers.

Rick - great penstemons - all very pretty :-) That's so neat that you got a brand new cross - how exciting! It's a very handsome plant.

Lewisia cotyledon 'Soranda' ...... vertical is apparantly the way to go to grow these here successfully ..... the ones in my raised bed are puny and don't flower very well. I'm going to move them all to the stone wall. As well as my Lewisia tweedy who are barely hanging on in the raised bed and haven't flowered. Hope they'll do as well in the wall.

Rann

Beautiful flowers, everyone!
Rick, is that really P. strictus, with the very narrow leaves? (EDIT: Which should have very narrow leaves, is what I meant to say.) I wonder, as the colour is unusual, and the chubby, wide-mouthed flowers seem a bit off... though gorgeous, needless to say! (I think penstemon IDs are something of a mine field, with the vast number of species and many that are similar! I guess any ID that starts with the shape of the anther sacs and the openings therein is gonna be challenging, LOL!)

A much easier ID, Geranium farreri:


This message was edited Jun 20, 2009 8:49 AM

Is that really Penstemon strictus?
---------- I dunno. It came from NARGS seed. But then so did P. lyallii, which didn't turn out to be that either. And then there is P. angustifolius (sp?), that turned out to be P. palmeri, but I don't know where that seed originated.

I must be jinxed with penstemons. Care to take a crack at IDing, Alta?
Here is the whole plant. It's 23in/58cm tall, and the second year it has bloomed. Excuse the tilt in the pic, I think someone spiked my Kool-aid.

Certainly NOT strictus...looks more like one of the eastern Penstemon species...maybe a white-flowered digitalis?????

My G. farreri is just starting to bud. I keep mine in a pot placed in the frame over winter as I heard they dislike winter-wet.

Rann, our Lewisia also prefer vertical planting or at least along the very edge of a rock wall where the drainage is perfect.

Ric - I'm nothing of a penstemon expert but I also thought P. digitalis looking at that photo ... maybe because I sowed seed a few years ago labeled as white P. digitalis and that was what I was expecting the plant to look like ... needless to say I got something completely different! lol What is it with this penstemon seed anyway?

Since we're on a penstemon roll here are mine:

First is Penstemon crandallii - I love this one, especially since I didn't expect it to live here. Somehow thought it couldn't cope with the wet winters .....

And Penstemon fruticosus:

Todd - my G. farreri has been growing outside in my raised bed for 5 years and seems to be doing fine ..... despite our wet winters. I do provide it with a shelter of cut up x-mas trees though. I'm starting to think your winters might be even wetter .... although I didn't think that could be possible ;-) lol

Escobaria vivipara, from seed from wild stock in South Dakota/Minnesota.

Those cacti provide an impressive display Rick...I have several seedlings from your seeds coming along :)

Rann, we have 1600-1800 mm of yearly precip in Newfoundland making us the wettest place in eastern North America. How much precip does Iceland receive?

Farreri opened here in the last couple of day without my even noticing it!

Ckeck out my own hybrid columbine...a purposeful crossing of A. kitabellii X viridiflora...the flowers are shaped more like viridiflora with the blue of kitabellii but they are smaller in size than either parent.

Mother nature created this hybrid...I collected seeds from my barneybi and this was the result.....I think it was crossed to the nearby formosa! I love the pastel peachy colour!

By the way, that peach-coloure dhybrid has the lovely blue foliage of the barnebyi parent.

Here is an oldie dianthus called 'La Bourbrille'

Cool hybrid. I have never seen kitabellii, so obviously I don't know what I am talking about, but frankly, I don't see a lot of influence of virdiflora on that cross. It looks pretty "normal" for an aquilegia to me. Do you have a pic of kitabellii?

The peach hybrid certainly has the flair of formosa. This plant from wild seed from the north Alaska panhandle.

I don't have a pic of kitaibelii but it looks very much like bertolonii shown here. Kitaibelii is quite dwarf. The hybrid is the same height as viridiflora and the inner petals are rounded like those of viridiflora. I just can't figure out why the flowers are so tiny compared to either parent.

Looks like you have a suggestion for an ID for your white penstemon, Rick. (For me to suggest one, you'd have to send me the plant so I could peer at the anthers, to start with, LOL!) Terrific display of Escobaria - how long to bloom from seed?

Alyssum spinosum, Penstemon rupicola 'Pink Holly' and dianthus:

Castilleja miniata (it does get into the alpine zone here) with Salvia pratensis:

Haberlea rhodopensis, looking about as good as it ever gets here. Despite actually having some snow cover last winter, the leaves are still burnt.

Incarvillea mairei var. grandiflora:

Todd - we only receive about half your yearly precipitation ... last year's sum for Reykjavik was around 930 mm which was above average. And we complain constantly about the rain over here! lol The Aquilegia hybrids are very pretty as is the dianthus.

Alta - beautiful! You have so many cool plants :-) Love the castillea, it makes a very nice combination with the salvia. And the Haberlea is very pretty!

Rann

I'm in awe at all the lovely plant pics on this thread. My rock garden was pretty well trashed this winter, when the deep snow cover that had kept everything green and growing under it suddenly melted and exposed all the plants to extreme cold and drying winds. However, I finally have - count it - one flower on a tiny Ramonda that had been doing nothing since it was planted three years ago. Does this mean it's going to die too?

June - sorry to hear about your rock garden .... The Ramonda is very pretty. I've been trying to grow them from seed for a few years. Finally managed to overwinter a few plants ... they grow sooooooo sloooooowly .... maybe you'll get two flowers next year ;-) lol Doesn't look like it's dying.

Thanks Rann! The Ramonda is actually growing in the gravel driveway. It is planted next to a rock to prevent anyone from driving over it, and is shaded by a garage wall that parallels the concrete walkway on its other side. In winter, when my DH uses the snow-blower to clear the driveway, he directs snow onto the Ramonda, so it is buried deeper and longer than the rock garden, which is on the sunny side of the house.

Alta, you have so many of the coolest plants!

Todd, bertolonii is quite nice. The wide petals are really a plus, along with the bluey color. Love the green tips.

Escobaria vivipara, from seed to flower, in about 5 years if I remember correctly. And the first flowers' color and petal count was quite disappointing. But that changed with the second year bloom and on.