December in the Northern Hemisphere

[Brian Ellis]

Flowering now is Clematis napaulensis, the seedling was a present from Anne Wright quite a few years ago and it now fills a holly tree - thanks Anne!

[Brian Ellis]

We are also enjoying the scent and flowers of Coronilla valentina subsp glauca and Coronilla valentina subsp glauca 'Citrina' before the frosts get to them and set them back! The flowers of the second seemingly bigger than the darker yellow ones.

[Maggi Young]

Now that's a nice way to celebrate December, Brian -  hope the frost keeps away from those beauties for a while yet.

[David Nicholson]

I do like those.

[Roma]

Out of season flowers on Ipheion 'Charlotte Bishop'
Early flowers on Chaenomeles 'Nicoline'
No flowers but handsome leaves on Bergenia

[Robert]

The first flowers are opening on Narcissus romieuxii aff. Actually, they have been out for awhile and this was my first opportunity to photograph them. The slugs got there first! 



There are plenty of flower buds still, so there is plenty to look forward to.

[Robert]

Some California native species in our garden.



Eschscholzia caespitosa is seeding out all over the place in our Sacramento garden. The ones in the open ground are much smaller than the ones in containers. I don't mind letting them seed out in the containers. Eschscholzia lobbii does this too. I don't bother with E. californica as they are common in wildflower mixes sold in California. Out in the garden there are little seedlings of Gilla, Collonsia, ect. If all goes well it will be beautiful!



There are a number of Lathyrus species native to California. These are seedlings of Lathyrus sulphureus coming along well. In our garden, I focus on growing our California native species.



Lupinus albifrons var. albifrons - I finally have a great place to grow some of our California native Lupinus species, including the annual species. Lupinus nanus, bicolor and benthamii are just starting to come up now. Lupinus benthamii is spectacular.



Scutellaria tuberosa is one of a number of California native Scutellaria species that I grow. I am extremely pleased to see these returning this autumn. S. tuberosa has very pretty flowers and will be a great addition to our garden.

I have much to look forward to this spring. 

[Leucogenes]

Hello, Robert.
You show us very nice seedlings. The foliage of Lupinus albifrons var. albifrons is especially nice of course. Indeed, this kind is a little bit too largely for my Alpinum.

I also am just with the sowing of various alpine. Some are also present from California. 😎

Thomas

[Lesley Cox]

Scutellaria is one of my favourite genera, having first met it as S. orientalis in gravel on the roadsides in Greece way back in 1993, on an AGS tour with John Richards. The little yellow flowers which take on a brownish spot as they age, look very like a family of tiny meerkats and who doesn't love those? I had it from seed for a few years then lost it somewhere along the line but last year's SRGC seedlist provided seed which has grown well and some of the sdlgs are in bud now. I also have S. alpina x orientalis from the same source and though doing nicely it is much slower and the foliage does not suggest any orientalis in it at all. Time will tell. Then there is S. pontica a deep pick which I was given at our OAGG show in October and this is a deep pink and has rooted well from cuttings since. The three I would love to have are S. suffrutescens 'Texas Rose', also listed in the seedex these last weeks but not on our "permitted" list so no use applying for it, and two from the Tien Shan  shown recently on Facebook, by Alexander Naumenko, from Morice in the Czech Republic. I wrote their names down and now can't find where I wrote them. I'll have to ask Alexander what they were but again they are not on our permitted list so couldn't have them even if a source could be found.  I once had a super dark royal blue-flowered species but don't remember its name.

[Lesley Cox]

Where is your loyalty Thomas? I thought you were strictly a lover/grower of New Zealand's alpine plants.

Robert, do you grow or have you come across the stunning Lathyrus splendens? I'm not sure of its natural habitat, maybe further south than your place, I have the thought of New Mexico in mind perhaps. I had it here for a while, cutting grown from a friend's garden. She unfortunately died soon after and her garden, like so many, was raided then neglected and destroyed, at least so far as the special things were concerned. I've not seen it recently but certainly there was no sign of the Lathyrus when I last had a chance to look.

[Robert]

Hi Lesley,

Lathyrus splendens is native to Southern California and Baja California. Unfortunately, their native habitat is a long distance from our Northern California home. Many of our Northern California Lathyrus species are very attractive and well worth growing.



Scutellaria tuberosa - Perhaps you can understand why I am pleased to have it growing now.  It is quite small and has wonderful deep bluish flowers. A real gem, at least in my mind. As an added bonus, it is 100% xeric. I do not water them at all during the summer.

I guess this is a good thing as we are back in drought mode. There has not been any meaningful precipitation in December to date. Today the north wind blew 20 mph all day with gusts to 48 mph. There has been some minor damage. The relative humidity was 20% at 3:30 p.m. I thought that it might be drier, but this was bad enough. We are hoping for more precipitation, however the 7 day GFS does not look promising at all. The pattern is the same as with the other recent drought years. We are certainly hoping for something better. 

[Leucogenes]

Where is your loyalty Thomas? I thought you were strictly a lover/grower of New Zealand's alpine plants. ;

 

Hi Lesley.
Of course my biggest obsession is the alpine flora of New Zealand. 😁
However, my interest is valid for all mountain plants. I would also like to devote myself a little bit more to the flora of North America. There are so many unique Species there. For example... Douglasia arctica var. gormanii. Wonderfully, but inaccessibly. 

Or the topical reports from Patagonia... breathtaking.

But my biggest love is and remains the native NZ... i swear. 

Thomas

[Robert]

Hi Thomas

Some photographs of some of our native Lupinus species.



Lupinus albifrons var. albifrons - perennial with fantastic silvery foliage. 100% xeric and loves growing on hot (i.e. 40 C) south facing slopes in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Most likely an extremely difficult plant for you to grow, however perfect for us here in interior California and similar climates.



Lupinus benthamii with Eschscholzia ceaspitosa. Both are annual.



Lupinus nanus with Lupinus stiversii - Photograph from Yosemite National Park. Both are annual and spectacular when well grown. I have never tried Lupinus stiverii. It is not at all rare, I just have not been at the right place at the right time to gather seed. Timing is everything with Lupinus seed. The ripe seed dehisces and spreads quicky and easily; actually this is true for all of our California Lupinus species.

[Catwheazle]

.... no gardening today at Schwangau /Allgaeu / Bavaria .... have to wait ..... It still lasts here 100 years until the spring :-(
... but there is hope in the greenhouse :-)

[angie]

This was garden last week, snow nearly all gone now . Glad I have a greenhouse with a heater . Coffee , cake and plants and I can be happy in there.
Living on the top of the hill is a pain especially when the road that takes me to my house is just sheer ice and has been for the past week. Glad I have my secret stash of chocolate . Roll on spring .

Angie