Saxifraga retusa

[Lawrence]

Purchased this little beauty from Aberconwy Nurseries at AGS Loughborough yesterday (amongst a few others😳), inspired by Alan Furness's plant from last year (see photo). I seem to recall Alan's plant was growing in a sand bed, lifting the plant prior to showing?
Can anyone offer any cultural advice please? (Unfortunately Alan wasn't there yesterday to ask)

[ArdfearnAli]

Hi there I used to grow Sax retusa years ago. Hoping to replace it soon now I know Aberconwy have it for sale.
I had it in a trough with very gritty free draining soil. I also added extra dolomitic limestone and top dress with dolomitic lime chips. It seemed to like the extra lime and did very well until I assume blackbirds removed the plant without me noticing.
I get the magnesium lime stone chips from agricultural lime that comes from Ullapool quarry. Its predominately magnesium lime with a small percentage of calcium. I used to dry it and put it through a sieve to remove the small chips for top dressing. The lime I used is the lime you sometimes see in piles on fields before spreading. It is a mix of mainly dust but has small course chips as well which are great for top dressing lime lovers. The chips give it a slow release effect and the dust an immediate effect. You could use dolodust (finely ground magnesium lime) as well if agricultural lime isn't available.

Alasdair

[Lawrence]

Thanks very much for the advice Alasdair. Fingers crossed will keep you posted!
Lawrence