August 2018

[cohan]

Physaria alpina Park County, Colorado. On alpine screes at 12100ft, 3689m.
Silver, offsetting rosettes surround themselves with deep yellow blossoms shading to almost orange in the throat.

Grown from ALPLAINS seed in 2016. I planted out a trio of seedlings, about 9 centimetres apart, thinking; that I might stand a chance of one of them surviving. All three have survived and put on good growth, and  it did put out a few flowers last year.

Where are the flowers this year? There appear to be tiny clusters of buds in the centre of a number of rosettes. But if I remember correctly (from last year) the flowers appeared much earlier. But it doesn't look as if it will flower this year! If you Google Physaria alpine you will be rewarded with many lovely images. 

Anyway, I think it has very attractive foliage. Has anyone else here succeeded with this plant and got it to flower?

Looking good- P didyma is one of my faves in the montane west of here..

[ian mcdonald]

The unusual weather has made my two Dryas plants start to flower again. Most plants in the garden flowered early this year and the garden is looking tired.

[Lampwick]

Newly acquired plants (from Aberconwy Nursery a few weeks ago)

Fuchsia magellanica v. pumila
Potentilla x 'Tonguei'
Scutellaria laeteviolacea
Scutellaria suffrutescens 'Texas Rose’

[Maggi Young]

Nice pink "Scoot", John  - my favourite is the potentilla - love that colour.
 I always think I should be grateful that I cannot visit  Aberconwy -  the lack of temptation there is keeping me in chocolate here!

[Leucogenes]

Just like last year, Pulsatilla tatewakii only blooms at this late time...

[Lampwick]

Nice pink "Scoot", John  - my favourite is the potentilla - love that colour.
 I always think I should be grateful that I cannot visit  Aberconwy -  the lack of temptation there is keeping me in chocolate here!

Hi Maggi,
Yes, that P. x. ‘Tonguei’ is a gem isn’t it, always looks best if it is tumbling over a raised wall or the corner of a trough eh?
My eldest daughter Gail and her partner booked a holiday cottage in North Wales. I asked her to call in at the Nursery on her way back and gave her a short list of plants to get for me. I didn’t know at the time that Dr. Keith Lever had sadly passed away. It was Tim who served Gail. I do hope the Nursery will keep going as they have many plants which you just can’t get elsewhere. 

[Lampwick]

Nice bunch of Erios.. I grow E oval. v. depressum, growing in a very tough spot in my garden!

Hi Cohan,
Over the years I have had a pleasing amount of success with Eriogonum – E. caespitosum, E. ovalifolium, E. flavum and E. umbellatum to name a few.
I just love the wild plants of the High Plains of America and Canada.
I had many seeds in the past from Rocky Mountain Rare Plants.

When you say. . . “growing in a very tough spot in my garden!” Is that by choice or design?. . .  Please explain.

[Leucogenes]

(Attachment Link)

Eriogonum ovalifolium var. nivale

The seed was from one of my outings to the Sonora Pass region of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As the flowers age they turn from white to pink.

(Attachment Link)

On the right are two Eriogonum incanum x marifolium hybrids. Variation in the foliage is quite apparent.

To the left is one of a number of Eriogonum elatum seedlings from the Monitor Pass region, Alpine County, California. I am hoping for flowers next spring.

The Monitor Pass region is very beautiful. The eastern Sierra flora is also very different from the west side.

I'm very impressed with your collection of Eriogonum, Robert. I am more and more fascinated by this genus . Your plants look very good and healthy.

The variety of this genus seems to be boundless.

I also have two newcomers...E. heracleoides (perhaps not the most attractive form...but bred from wild seeds from British Columbia)😊

And since today E. umbellatum var. dumosum...Perhaps you know the exact occurrence of this subspecies?

Thomas

[ruweiss]

It seems,that you did not spend all your money in Italy. These plants are only rarely offered at plantsales in Germany and
the Erfurter Raitätenbörse still seems to be a paradise for plantlovers.

[Robert]

I'm very impressed with your collection of Eriogonum, Robert. I am more and more fascinated by this genus . Your plants look very good and healthy.

The variety of this genus seems to be boundless.

I also have two newcomers...E. heracleoides (perhaps not the most attractive form...but bred from wild seeds from British Columbia)😊

And since today E. umbellatum var. dumosum...Perhaps you know the exact occurrence of this subspecies?

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

Eriogonum umbellatum var. dumosum is found in Northern California. It ranges from the Northern Coastal Mountains, the Klammath Range, and then southward into the Northern Sierra Nevada. The subspecies is listed in El Dorado County, however I have never seen it in this area. Variety polyanthum is the most common subspecies in El Dorado County. The two varieties can not be confused with each other, unless a mistake is made, or there is carelessness in identification.

Yes, we have many fine Eriogonum species and varieties here in California. I have found most of them very easy to grow in our Sacramento garden, providing certain conditions are met (generally easy to do). I have found that there is a degree of variance in the various species and improved horticultural selections can be made if one is willing to be patient and put in the effort.

Good luck with your new selections!     

[Leucogenes]

Hi Robert

Thank you for the proof of origin. Perfect.

 As already mentioned several times, the flora of the North American mountains will occupy me a little more in the future. My friend from British Columbia hikes almost weekly in the mountains of BC, Washington State (wenatchee mountains) etc....so north of you. Also in the coming year I will be able to try out many alpine species of this spectacular region. There are other species of Eriogonum...E. douglasii, E. niveum and some E. umbellatum in different colours. 

As this year's harvest in the mountains will be, one must wait...there are big forest fires in BC...says my friend.

Thomas

[Steve Garvie]

Mutisia decurrens





Courtesy of Martin Sheader who kindly sent me some seed last summer.

I think Martin carefully selected the seed as I got over 70% germination. Unfortunately I lost about 2/3rds of the seedlings due to dampening off. The seeds were separated with some in my standard potting seed mix and some on a sand/fine pumice/perlite mix -it was the latter seedlings which survived.

I eventually got 3 young plants -two of which were very intertwined and had to be potted on together. They are now grown in a very large pot in a mix of pumice, lava stone, perlite and a small amount of leafmould having been over-wintered in a smaller pot under glass. This twin plant has romped off and has now produced about 8 flowers. The flowers seem to open sequentially though there has been some overlap. I have tried to pollinate between the flowers in the hope of gettting seed set but unfortunately it has been monsoon weather here for the last couple of weeks and the seedheads are prone to developing botrytis. The third seedling has been much slower and has shown no signs of flowering. If I can over-winter these plants successfully I have hope of getting seed next year -weather permitting (probably signed their death warrant now!).

[Robert]

Hi Robert

Thank you for the proof of origin. Perfect.

 As already mentioned several times, the flora of the North American mountains will occupy me a little more in the future. My friend from British Columbia hikes almost weekly in the mountains of BC, Washington State (wenatchee mountains) etc....so north of you. Also in the coming year I will be able to try out many alpine species of this spectacular region. There are other species of Eriogonum...E. douglasii, E. niveum and some E. umbellatum in different colours. 

As this year's harvest in the mountains will be, one must wait...there are big forest fires in BC...says my friend.

Thomas

Thomas,

I will be very curious to see what you come up with. I have to admit that our local flora keeps me extremely busy and that I have little time to experiment with anything else. Maybe this will change for me some day.    The details of our local flora and ecosystems seem endless.

The wildfires are terrible this year. The Mendocino Complex Fire and Carr Fire are still burning here in Northern California. It is extremely smoky at times. There are other wildfires burning too within our area. It is all very tragic, however I make the best of the situation by studying the aftermath in the burn areas (such as the King Fire burn area here in El Dorado County, California). With climate change, who knows how the environment will respond. Commercial logging in combination with climate change is also having a large impact on our local ecosystems. Indirectly this impacts us as gardeners in a number of ways. One direct impact is that some species are disappearing from our region. I have been observing this on going saga for getting close to 50 years now. I think that there is a Christian Bible verse that reading something like "...and they took no note". This certainly appears to be the case in our area. I am glad that there are some interested in growing our native plant species.

[Leucogenes]

I've been looking for Globularia stygia for a long time...I finally got her. 😆

[Roma]

Two Gentians in flower
Gentiana asclepiada - a nice pale blue form I bought at Cambo a few years ago
Gentiana loderi