May 2017 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Lesley Cox]

Leena, your double Tr. grandiflorum is amazing but for me, the Hylomecon is even better!

[johnw]

Carolyn - The 'Koto no Ito' is one Ken planted in a friend/customer's garden a few blocks away from us.  I see from the invoice it went in in 2006, here's a pic from 2012 - things grow much more slowly here than in Scotland!  It was very hard to find back then.

john

[Leena]

Thank you Ashley and Shelagh.

John, how special Acers!

Your garden is looking great Leena! I draw lots of inspiration 
P. obovata and C. buschii (I presume) - what can it be more lovely?

It is Dicentra eximia, though now that you wrote it C.buschii would make lovely pair with other pink flowering peonies, perhaps P.veitchii which is smaller, or P.mairei. I will have to move some Corydalis close to P.mairei which is also flowering now, and is not so big plant as P.obovata.

Leena, your double Tr. grandiflorum is amazing but for me, the Hylomecon is even better!

Hylomecon does well here, last year I tried to look for seeds from it, but didn't get any. I wonder if I should have two clones of it to produce seeds?

[Carolyn]

Carolyn - The 'Koto no Ito' is one Ken planted in a friend/customer's garden a few blocks away from us.  I see from the invoice it went in in 2006, here's a pic from 2012 - things grow much more slowly here than in Scotland!  It was very hard to find back then.

john

Thanks, John, another super photo. It doesn't seem to be very widely available here either! I have found it listed in a couple of places.

[Roma]

Silene hookeri subsp. bolanderi:

Glad to hear, and to see, propagating from seed is a good option. Did you have sawn immediately after you harvested the seeds or di you wait for the next season?

Silene hookeri subsp hookeri often disappear after the winter with me. How do you keep bolanderi in winter?

Silene hookeri  compact form from my own seed was sown in November 2013 and germinated in January 2014. 
Silene hookeri ssp bolanderi and Silene serpentinicola  - seeds were obtained from Alplains in March 2015 but not sown till October
Germination took place in February and March 2016.  The seeds were germinated in a covered cold frame and moved to the greenhouse when pricked out.
I did lose a few in late summer when they got too wet.  I keep them just moist over winter.  The greenhouse is kept just above freezing.  I've only had the bolanderi for one winter so do not know if they will survive longer.  I had over 20 plants to start so it did not matter if I lost one or two   Survival of the fittest!

[gerrit]

Thank you Roma. Yes, one can be less careful with so many seedlings. I just have one plant, so i don not want to lose it.