A trio of Lewisia 'Ashwood Carousel Hybrids'

[Lampwick]

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A trio of Lewisia 'Ashwood Carousel Hybrids' This strain of lewisias has been breed and developed by Ashwood Nurseries, Kingswinford, in the West Midlands. They have been around for over a decade now and I bought a number of them several years ago in a variety of colours – magenta, yellow, pink, apricot, orange, salmon and white. They are much dwarfer than the better known Lewisa cotyledon hybrids and have come through the winters unscathed, forming a compact dome of flowers in the spring. I grow them outside, open to all the elements and here they are happy in my raised beds; each against a backdrop of tufa rocks. 

[David Nicholson]

Lovely pictures Lampwick (do we have to call you that, I get images in my mind of Dick Emery's old geezer every time you post!!) and some lovely plants. You have obviously a discerning eye, you grow some quality stuff, and you have a lot of experience. I'm glad you have made it to the Forum.

I haven't tried any of my Lewisia coty. hybrids outside but I suspect my Devon climate is a good bit wetter than yours.

[Lampwick]

I haven't tried any of my Lewisia coty. hybrids outside but I suspect my Devon climate is a good bit wetter than yours.

Hi David,
Lewisia cotyledon hybrids.
The two pictures below were taken over 20 years ago, and were when I covered my lewisias with glass during the winter months. Even then, they were not a continued success every year and deteariated over a few seasons. (I did find that L. columbiana did better though!)

...

I would plant them on their sides, at a 45 degree angle, in a hole drilled in tufa; but the problem was that they would push their-selves out of the hole as the hole was usually tapered smaller as it went deeper into the tufa. I would have more success when I wedged the neck of the plant tightly between two rocks. But all that is by-the-by, and I don’t grow them outside now.

I have no problems with the Carousel Hybrids and don’t mollycoddle them in anyway. They always put on a good show of blooms, and the pictures I have included in the previous post shows that they have quite a few more buds to open yet!