June 2017 in the Northern Hemisphere

[ian mcdonald]

Dropwort (Filipendula vulgaris) in the garden. Note the fasciated stem of one. It grows wild near us. img. 1020649. Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris) waiting for a place in the garden img. 1020650. A general view of my troughs with out of scale orchids img. 1020651.

[Maggi Young]

That last view looks familiar, Ian!  Very similar to here- where there are self-sown orchids all over the place. How they LOVE a trough to seed into!

[ian mcdonald]

I managed to get some seed of Military orchid in the exchange and have sown them in the trough. Here,s hoping. There is a lizard orchid not far from me. It doesn,t flower every year but I,m told there may be a spike this year. I have never seen it in the wild. I will post a picture if I manage to get one.

[fermi de Sousa]

...Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris) waiting for a place in the garden

Hi Ian
in my experience if it's setting seed you won't have to wait long - it'll find its own way into the garden!
cheers
fermi

[Rick R.]

Cypripedium tebeticum!  That's incredible, Rob and Sharon!  If that were mine, I wouldn't be able to stop smiling.

I assume it is not permanently in the ground in your zone 3/4?

[illingworth]

It is permanently outside Rick.  3 winters with no extra protection.  It was a gift and I had low expectations of success. Planted in two locations on a SE facing slope in sandy loam with very good drainage.  Both locations have now produced flowers.  And I did smile a lot lying prostrate on the ground for a better look. We have been smiling a lot this spring. I even smiled when I heard that the unflowered seedling Cyp reginae I gave away last fall bloomed with an all white flower.  -Rob
 

[johnw]

Kudos Rob & Sharon.  I was in Lunenburg, NS yesterday and was shocked to see a number of C. tibeticums in a friend's garden.  They were in conditions just as you describe - very good drainage with sandy grit in abundance.

johnw

[johnw]

Polygonatum graminifolius took what seems to be a very long time to get going but now seems happy & well underway.

johnw

[Matt T]

A good few flowers to look at in the garden now.

Erodium x variabile 'Bishop's Form' flowers for months on end.
Lewisia longipetala from SRGC seed, close to the cv. 'Little Peach'?
Verbascum 'Letitia' surprises me by surviving and flowering without any protection in the Western Isles.
Primula florindae, also from SRGC seed - close to the front door to enjoy the lovely fragrance.
Saxifraga longifolia at peak flower power now.

Edit added by maggi :

Erodium 'Bishop's Form' is  now  correctly  called  Erodium ‘William Bishop’   see this : " the story on the 'William Bishop' name is new, and I found it interesting, as I played a minor role in it. It turns out that the common name of 'Bishop's Form', that has been used for decades for a selection of Erodium x variable (a cross between E. reichardii and E. corsicum) is not a valid name form, and David Victor (the geraniaceae registrar) was going to give it the acceptable name of 'The Bishop'. I had read of this in the journal of the Hardy Geranium Group or the Geraniaceae Group Newsletter, so I adopted the new name in my writings. I had been writing to a well-known geranium/erodium grower in England, Allan Robinson, of Sutton Bridge (north of the Fens of East Anglia), and as it turns out, Allan knew more about the naming of this plant. He knew it was named after a Mr. Bishop who was in charge of a rock garden at St. John's College in Oxford (around the early 1940s). Allan pointed out that calling it 'The Bishop' was like taking a plant named for me (John Beaulieu) and calling it 'The Beaulieu'! Allan and David were in touch and did more research to find the full name of William Bishop. This will now be the official name when David Victor publishes the new Erodium Register. I like to do my best in using the correct names, as there are so many wrong or confusing variations of erodium and geranium names out there.

The other top wrong naming involves that Erodium trifolium pictured in this blog. If you google Erodium pelargoniiflorum, about 90 percent of the images shown are in fact E. trifolium. Growers continue to send seed of E. trifolium to seed exchanges under the name of E. pelargoniiflorum.

There, I made a short story long!
John Beaulieu - from his blog  https://www.growsonyou.com/bowl_you/blog/25361-bloomin-erodiums
8 Jan, 2014

[Matt T]

Saxifraga 'Ester' and Antenaria dioica 'Rotes Wonder'.
Lewisia cotyledon, unnamed.
Petrocoptis pyrenaica glaucifolia from SRGC seed.
Anthyllis vulneraria coccinea from gifted seed (thank you Roma!) with Silene unifolia from the Flannan Isles.
Erigeron 'Canary Bird' recovering after being grazed by my neighbours cattle.

[Matt T]

Myosotis capitata from the Auckland and Campbell Island groups in New Zealand, proving to be very tough in the Hebridean climate.
Ranunculus parnassifolius, which I thought I'd lost last year and has come back twice as big this year, just coming to an end and has now been nibbled by vagrant sheep wandering in off the common grazing.

[ian mcdonald]

The garden is looking good Matt. Have you completed the planting or is there more to do. We are getting a lot of windy weather here. I expect you are the same?

[Matt T]

Thanks Ian. We're renting the property we're in, so no planting in the garden itself, all my plants are in pots and troughs so they can come with us when we finally settle permanently. That's unlikely to be here in the Western Isles. I enjoy finding plants that will cope with our windy, damp and grey climate, and there are often surprises but it would be nice to grow a wider range of plants without fear of gales at any time of year.

[jomowi]

I can't remember whether this was a planned planting, or a happy accident.  Either way, I am pleased with the outcome.  Dactylorhiza 'Harold Esslemont' and Roscoea 'Harrington Royale'

[ArnoldT]

Have this as Clematis texensis pagoda.

Corrected