Gentians on http://gentian.rutgers.edu/

[Diane Whitehead]

A number of years ago I made a want-list of Gentianaceae from pictures
on http://gentian.rutgers.edu/    A lot are Gentiana, but there are also
a few other genera, like Comastoma, Latouchea and Lomatogonium.

Every year I search seedlists, but have never seen any of my wanted plants
until this year.  The SRGC list has a Chinese annual, G. syringaea.

Is there a source for other species?  I will mention only a few:  G.aristata,
G curviphylla, G.decorata, G. expansa, G. flexicaulis ..... and so on, to the
end of the alphabet.

[Lesley Cox]

Have you seen pictures of all of these Diane and are they all really worth the effort?
I once knew a founder member of NZAGS - she is no longer alive - who having grown a couple of nice Drabas from seed, decided she wanted to grow EVERY Draba she could find. Over some years she had dozens from the seed lists and probably 95% were absolute rubbish.

[Diane Whitehead]

Oh yes, they have lots of pictures.  And they are all quite different from each other. 
I'm sure they would all be worth trying.  Not at all like drabas.  And speaking of
trying every species, I know a nursery owner who does that.  He even explored
the whole world of Plantago.  Most got composted, but his favourites were planted
along the middle of his long dirt driveway.

So take a look here
http://gentian.rutgers.edu/gallery.htm

I just spotted a brand new (to me) one.  Celiantha from Venezuela.

And I've found a second gentian website full of pictures:
http://www.gentians.be/

[Maggi Young]

Yes, that's another good site..... take a look at the Links pages to see it, and more.....

[arisaema]

The problem with many of the Chinese annuals are that the seeds ripen too late in the season, I've seen some in full flower in late October, with no sign of any ripe seeds. Some are also from quite low altitudes, and would probably do better on the East coast than in BC...

Holubec has listed some in the past (Comastoma, Lomatogonium, Ophelia), and (shameless self promotion) I will have a few annual/biennial species for sale on my own seed list in a week or two: Halenia coniculata, Swertia cincta, S. mussotii or punicea and Gentianopsis barbata.

[Diane Whitehead]

Some are also from quite low altitudes, and would probably do better on the East coast than in BC...

I'm puzzled - do you mean the annuals require more extreme temperatures to set seed?

Here on the BC coast we don't get extremes (well, about three times in my life).  The dahlias
were killed by frost this week, but they bloom for such a long time that they set seeds
every year.

If annual gentians start blooming late,  I wonder about keeping a pot of each in a
greenhouse so that I can have seeds each year.

[arisaema]

The low-altitude species would probably prefer hot, wet summers and dry autumns, high altitude species should be fine in your garden if they don't get too much rain during flowering... (Halesia is a biennial in my garden.)

[Susan Band]

Hi Diane,
Mojmir pavelka lists about 60 gentians I am sure you might find some that you are looking for there. He doesn't seem to have this years list up yet.
http://www.pavelkaalpines.cz/

Susan

[Maggi Young]

More on the annual Gentians of China in the next International Rock Gardener......