Gentiana 2020

[Tristan_He]

Hi Leena, I don't know if it grows in other habitats elsewhere, but here in the UK it tends to grow in wet heaths. I have just sown some seed of this species as it happens, fingers crossed!

Best wishes, Tristan

[Herman Mylemans]

Gabriela, thank you. My var lagodeciana is more compact than the other one, so maybe it is the right one.
G.cachemirica looks also very nice!

This is Gentiana pneumonanthe, and I thought it would a woodland plant, but obviously I should have planted it in full sun.
Flowering this year for the first time.

Hi Leena, here Gentiana pneumonanthe has not a long life. When soil is very moist then it likes full sun, when it is drier then it needs more shade.

[Leena]

Thank you Tristan and Herman.  My plant grows in slightly moist soil, where Meconopsis baileyi grows well and G.pneumonanthe tries to reach for light behind it. Quite near Gentiana asclepiadea grows well, and that is why I though also pneumonanthe would like it, but I think it needs more light to grow up, not in the ground.
It is good to know it can be short lived, I hope it flowers next year a bit earlier so that it has time to ripen seeds. Actually, I will have to move it next spring, and if it gets more sun, maybe it also flowers earlier then. I am still learning with gentianas.

[Gabriela]

This is Gentiana pneumonanthe, and I thought it would a woodland plant, but obviously I should have planted it in full sun.
Flowering this year for the first time.

It is very nice Leena. Hopefully it will flower better next year. I also had from the same group a first time flowering Gentiana fischeri. Just like you, I had it with too much shade reason why it performed poorly; I move it in a different location a few weeks ago.
There is always something to learn plus the sun/shade conditions in the garden change over time, sometime quite fast.

[Maggi Young]

The  very  beautiful Gentiana 'Saltire" from Ian Christie




 The  Saltire, or  St  Andrew's Cross  is the  Scottish Flag, a  white  cross X on a  blue background

[Tristan_He]

I'll see your 'Saltire' and raise you a G. farreri 'Silken Star' Maggi 

[Tristan_He]

Some other Aberconwy gentians, some of which I hope will still be alive next year... I don't usually have much success with these but am trying them in damper positions 



G. sino-ornata 'Gorau Glas' (= 'Best Blue" in Welsh, pronounced Gor-eye Glas - glas rhymes with 'ass'). It's also the name of a blue cheese produced on Anglesey but I'm not sure if the Levers had this in mind or not!



I'm afraid the label for this one got a bit buried - I know it's a womans name beginning with B (Betty / Barbara someone?). Anyway a lovely gentian with slightly smaller flowers than most, but lots of them and with a nice deep colour.



G. 'Silken Night'. It really is this colour!

[Maggi Young]

So many  gorgeous autumn gentians of  the  sino-ornata sort.
We  used t o grow  these  rather  well, but  that was  when there  was  more  space  in the  garden and  we  could  lift  and  split  them every  year- they really  seem to appreciate  going into fresh ground - we  now  think the  best  place to  enjoy them at their  best  is  in a  vegetable  garden, where  they  have  space  and  can have  refreshed  soil and  more  food, all the  time! They  do seem to be  hungry  plants.

[Tristan_He]

Ho - thanks for the advice Maggi. Maybe they need yak poo!

We do have some cows wandering around the common at the moment so perhaps I will grab some manure...

[Leena]

Tristan, they look so special! Maggi, I didn't know either that Gentiana are hungry plants, I don't have many but I love them.

[Maggi Young]

Video from  The  Caley ( Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society -

A delightful talk at Macplants nursery with Beryl McNaughton on the propagation and diversification of Gentians ..... and the  late  Ian McNaughton was  a  real master  at breeding  superb plants - nice  mention of  SRGC too!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKQvekTQISo&feature=youtu.be

youtu.be/OKQvekTQISo

[Diane Whitehead]

When is someone going to write a gentian book?

I have three or four books each about campanulas, clematis, dianthus, fuchsias, and more than four about snowdrops.  None on gentians.

I am thankful for Herman's website:  http://www.gentians.be/index.php?page=home

and Rutgers is maintaining their website though it is no longer being updated. 
     
      http://gentian.rutgers.edu


I do like to curl up with a book and a cup of tea, though. 

[Roma]

A new book on Gentians would be very welcome.  I have 2 old ones.  One is very old, by Mary Bartlett.  It was published in 1975.  The other was published by Josef Halda in1996.  It has beautiful botanical drawings and paintings by his wife Jarmila. 

[Roma]

An out of season Gentiana acaulis