April 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere

[krisderaeymaeker]

Great show Mike and Luc.

[Tim Ingram]

The Lithodora must like that warm wall its against Luc. A plant in our garden is not flowering so well this year - usually I cover it with glass lights - but that is really nice. Another plant for the long awaited crevice garden that we have not yet built! Like these Boraginaceae very much.

[johnw]

latestart - Right, I see I was looking at Skimmia leaves.  The colour change is noit entirely unheard of but .... is it possible you might have had a macabeanum nearby or one grafted on that sino and it petered out?

johnw

[Luc Gilgemyn]

The Lithodora must like that warm wall its against Luc. A plant in our garden is not flowering so well this year - usually I cover it with glass lights - but that is really nice. Another plant for the long awaited crevice garden that we have not yet built! Like these Boraginaceae very much.

You're right,  Tim, it is agains a South/West facing wall to provide for some shelter in Winter.  Still i wrap it in bubble foam when it starts freezing.

[astragalus]

I think spring might be starting.  Lost snow cover on the troughs last week and a week of even occasional sun and only a couple of dustings of snow has made an enormous difference.

1.  Douglasia montana in its winter color

[astragalus]

Same plant 1 week later next to a Sax. sp. in bud.
These are both planted in a very large and deep trough.

[latestart]

johnw I will check tomorrow to see if this rhodo has been grafted. I wrote a longer reply telling you what I found when I googled macabeanum but when I tried to post it I was advised there had been another submission and asked if I wanted to change what I had written. I checked and there was no relevant message but when I again tried to post I got the same message popping up. I have not been able to post because my message  has disappeared. 

[johnw]

latestart - I often get that message and just ignoring it is the best approach.

john

[astragalus]

Spring has sprung finally.  In a sun trap with no snow, Eranthis hyemalis has finally popped up.

[latestart]

johnw, I had a look this am my rhodo does not appear to have been grafted. It was impossible to take a photograph because there is so much congestion in the shrubbery. I googled your suggestion of Macabeanum and found a pink hybrid on one of the images sites. 
R. ‘Sarita Loder x calophytum x macabeanum x basilicum’. I followed the link to
http://frasersouthrhodos.ca/newsletter-archive/2013/YAKnov13.pdf
I could not see the undersides of any leaves to help with an ID.

[K-D Keller]

Pictures from today:

Dionysia tapetodes, Fritillaria aurea, (bought as) Pleione pogonoides, Primula allionii "Marie Talbot" and Townsendia hookeri.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Nice series K.D !

Spring has sprung finally.  In a sun trap with no snow, Eranthis hyemalis has finally popped up.

Glad you came out of the cold, Anne !! 

I thought this Pulsatilla x 'Budapest' looked particularly attractive today.

[astragalus]

That's a beauty, Luc.

[K-D Keller]

Luc, thank you for your kind comment. 

[astragalus]

The biggest trough is finally free of snow.  Nothing flowering yet but the pictures shows the nice contrast between the early foliage of Gypsophila aretioides v caucasica and Penstemon thompsonii v desperatus.  The interesting thing about the penstemon is that I've never had germination when I potted up seed.  One year I threw the leftover seed back into the trough and the next year I had over a dozen seedlings.  This is now the way I propagate this plant.  The seedlings get moved when they look strong enough and have made a number of true leaves.