Saxifraga 2018

[kris]

David you have an ideal place to grow these gems. It is nice to have flowers during the winter time and saxifrage is perfect.
Yes sax needs less room and they are beautiful in flower.
Thanks for showing the plants

[David Nicholson]

David, you have a lovely collection.

[Maggi Young]

Rare mineral discovered in plants for first time

Date:
    March 5, 2018
Source:
    University of Cambridge
Summary:
    A rare mineral that holds enticing potential as a new material for industrial and medical applications has been discovered on alpine plants.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180305101631.htm

[ian mcdonald]

I wonder how many Saxifrages it takes to build a bridge?

[David Sellars]

Thanks for the link Maggi.  With all the vaterite I now know I have in the garden as part of the Porphyrion Saxifrages  I will have to watch out for big Pharma thieves. Here are some more hybrids from the Porphyrion Section in flower today: Saxifraga Cumulus, Thor Heyerdahl, Emil Holub, Tysoe Sunrise and Bohemian Karst.

[CRSHEP0]

David, I am having a difficult time finding limestone here.  Feed stores have food and salts in with their limestone grit.  I have located a quarry in Shasta county called Mountain Gate Quarry:  What do you recommend for the two choices of limestone?

1. 1/4" crushed chips with no fines- pure limestone
2. 1/2" crushed chips with fines and dust

I can't locate the bag of TexM.. anywhere.  I recognize your climate is much different that mine in East Bay Area which is close to the Central Valley.  I have the rock different sizes for top dressings, have round pellets of dolomite.  I am currently putting in Tufa Boulders, but, would like to try plunge pots and your mix.  Tufa plants are surviving but at a glacier pace.  Thank you.  Cecile

[David Sellars]

David, I am having a difficult time finding limestone here.  Feed stores have food and salts in with their limestone grit.  I have located a quarry in Shasta county called Mountain Gate Quarry:  What do you recommend for the two choices of limestone?

1. 1/4" crushed chips with no fines- pure limestone
2. 1/2" crushed chips with fines and dust

I can't locate the bag of TexM.. anywhere.  I recognize your climate is much different that mine in East Bay Area which is close to the Central Valley.  I have the rock different sizes for top dressings, have round pellets of dolomite.  I am currently putting in Tufa Boulders, but, would like to try plunge pots and your mix.  Tufa plants are surviving but at a glacier pace.  Thank you.  Cecile

Cecile.  I would probably chose the 1/4 inch chips as 1/2 inch is really too big. You could hammer a few to create some rock dust in the mix.
In your part of California, the biggest issue will be keeping the Saxes cool in the summer. The potting mix has very little water holding capacity but it has the advantage that you can't over-water. So keep them well-watered and shaded (but preferably not overhead shading)
Saxifrages grow very slowly in tufa but, as they say in your part of the world, that's a feature not a bug. They stay nice and tight and some make excellent buns. It is very satisfactory to grow solid buns as hard as the surrounding rock.

[Paul Cumbleton]

Got this as "Saxifraga oppositifolia alba (Blush)", presumably due to the pink buds which then open white

Paul

[David Sellars]

That's a really nice plant Paul.  I have never seen a white form of Saxifraga oppositifolia.

[CRSHEP0]

David,  I was so excited to see your post that included your recipe for a Saxifraga potting mixture.  But, let me tell you what a saga trying to find the right limestone.  My husband, John, graduated from Colorado School of Mines, told me no limestone will be found near west coast.  I couldn't find your kind called Tex...  Limestone quarries in Ohio have seven or eight different grades (sizes) of limestone, but, only $20/ton, but won't  won't ship smaller amounts.  Finally found an orchid supplier in Vermont with smaller zip lock bags of right size and sharp edges.  Hurray!  They will never will look like yours, but, maybe, I can get them to move to blooms, from barely making it.

So this weekend, once rain stops, will be repotting my two large planters, where they struggle and see what happens.  Thank you again so much for sharing your expertise.  Also, thanks again for your posting of walks.  We have taken the ones in the Dolomites, and look forward to more.  John's legs are getting worse, but, the hiking poles and lots of Neurontin gets us there.
Cecile Shepard

Wish I knew how to post pictures.  I read instructions, but, seemed way too complicated.  Anybody have a 1,2, 3 step recipe for success.

[Maggi Young]

Cecile, there are  new gadgets in the forum for photos- if you post them in the text of messages  they are automatically resized for  you....   

   About posting photos - I know the ease of loading pix to facebook is very tempting - along with all those "like" ticks - but  the SRGC Forum has undergone some changes recently and if using the  (attachimg=1)  code - with the square brackets (rather than the ones I've used to allow you to see without confusing the system with code) it is possible to attach  larger photo sizes which will be automatically resized to the page and open in the  text box.

These are  the square  brackets  [  ]

[Paul Cumbleton]

That's a really nice plant Paul.  I have never seen a white form of Saxifraga oppositifolia.

Thanks David. White forms are available from nurseries over here. The one I pictured ('Blush'), as well as pink buds has the flowers just ever so slightly pink though this is hard to detect and photograph. I have another plant simply labelled 'alba' which is pure white in both bud and flower - Pictured below - a young plant just starting its second year in tufa.

Paul

[Jan Tholhuijsen]

The tuf rock as he looks now. With mostly saxifragas

[Maggi Young]

Happy plants, Jan!  It makes a most attractive feature.

[Maggi Young]

Some photos of Saxifraga plants at the  Prague RGC (KSP) early Spring show  in this thread :
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=16179.0