June in the Northern Hemisphere 2020

[Knud]

Nice Sorbus! I have a few seedlings of different things, but have not yet had any flowers, other than the aucuparia which has been here for decades-- much pruned by moose, and seeds spread everywhere by birds... Non-orange fruits are my wish...

Thanks, Cohan. I am afraid the only trait I can claim credit for are the trees' poor form, I kept them in pots too long before planting them out. Could that also be the reason why they took so long to bloom? About ten years for the Sorbus cashmiriana/rosea, and more than 17 years for the S. filipes.

The fruits are very nice, but their leaves and blooms are also very attractive, as are those of S. koehneana, blooming white now and with white fruit later. None of these three are touched by birds in our garden, I guess they simply haven't got 'FOOD' written on them for our birds. The fruit on the S. koehneana will hang on until Christmas if they haven't been blow off by some autumn gale. The S. aucuparia, on the other hand, got its name for a reason, apparently alluding to it being used as bait in bird traps. While many birds eat Rowan, here it is mainly associated with migrating flocks of Bohemian Waxwings, which spectacularly can strip a full tree quite quickly.

Knud

[François Lambert]

It's my Australian week 

Eucalyptus Camaldulensis just started to flower.  I noticed the flower buds already last year in early fall, but I had to wait until now to see the flowers - at some moment I even thought I had missed the flowering last year and that what I actually saw were seed capsules.

If the previous winter had been colder or harsher probably all flower buds would have been destroyed, but with a lowest minimum temperature of only -2 or -3°C last winter they survived very well.  In previous much colder winters the trees were almost completely defoliated at the start of the spring.

[cohan]

Thanks, Cohan. I am afraid the only trait I can claim credit for are the trees' poor form, I kept them in pots too long before planting them out. Could that also be the reason why they took so long to bloom? About ten years for the Sorbus cashmiriana/rosea, and more than 17 years for the S. filipes.

The fruits are very nice, but their leaves and blooms are also very attractive, as are those of S. koehneana, blooming white now and with white fruit later. None of these three are touched by birds in our garden, I guess they simply haven't got 'FOOD' written on them for our birds. The fruit on the S. koehneana will hang on until Christmas if they haven't been blow off by some autumn gale. The S. aucuparia, on the other hand, got its name for a reason, apparently alluding to it being used as bait in bird traps. While many birds eat Rowan, here it is mainly associated with migrating flocks of Bohemian Waxwings, which spectacularly can strip a full tree quite quickly.
Knud

Keeping things in pots too long is something I am familiar with...lol Interesting about the birds not eating them all.. There are no berries here that the birds do not eat, usually almost immediately for most types, but in good years it may take a little longer-- Symphoricarpos lasts a little longer, and rose hips survive through winter in small numbers.. I have a Sorbus cf wilsoniana, could in theory flower in the next few years, time will tell if berries are other than orange..

[cohan]

Now flowering:
Arisaema candidissimum
Scilla peruviana
Calylophus lavandulifolius
Campanula betulifolia x troegerae

Nice bunch-- that Campanula is great!

Gabriela-- sweet white vignette.

Francois-- that is fun-- how big are your trees?

[cohan]

Another plant with some emotional attachment for me: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi / Kinnikinnick / Bearberry -with  a whole host of other common names across its vast circumboreal range. This plant is common in foothill and mountain places  here in Alberta that I knew as a child, also into dryland habitats in the south of the province, and occasional in my immediate region, when it can have open enough sites to grow (tends to get outcompeted by grasses, forbs, shrubs, trees, here)-- when we moved to this property first in 1973, it grew on the embankments of our sewer lagoon, until other things outgrew it.
After moving back here in 2007, I collected (easily rooted) cuttings from a number of sites in the south and west on roadtrips, and eventually planted them in a couple of garden spots. They've done well (I'll need to start seriously chopping them back in at least one site, but cuttings will go to some wilder spots on the acreage) but had never flowered for me, something I was just mentioning to a friend (Trond Hoy) a couple of months ago, so I was surprised and pleased to see buds, then flowers on some of them, in the Native / Xeric Beds! I'd assumed the spots I have them were not open or sunny or exposed enough, but at least some now seem willing to flower
A bonus shot of Anemone ranunculoides showing nice colour just before flowering, and hosting a resting fly.. all shots still May 27

[cohan]

1,2) Cardamine (Dentaria) glanduligera- another from a forum friend in Poland, this has been spreading gently for some years, but never making a big impact, as new shoots seemed to come up rather far apart. Still, attractive foliage and early pink flowers are appreciated. This year it seems to have started to make denser growth in a couple of spots, though still not easy to get good shots-- probably worse because the area all around needs weeding, so it's hard to get a good angle! May 13, 18

3)Cirsium drummondii - This plant has a bit of a story with me-- native thistle Cirsium drummondii. When I moved back here in 2007, and soon became responsible for mowing the property etc, there were some interesting thistle rosettes growing in one mowed spot on the acreage---basically a forest clearing, part sun, growing with natives like Campanula rotundifolia, Halenia deflexa, grasses and various agricultural weeds such as clover, etc. My mother was aware of it, but it was mowed so that rosettes survived but were never able to produce flowering stems.
Of course I was sure to mow around a plant in order to see what it was-- it put out a modest height (30-40cm) stem, with several large purple/pink flowers-- quite striking! I'd never seen any others around the area ( still haven't, other than a  possible sighting from the car) so tried to find out what it was. I had no knowledge of the native Cirsium/ thistle species, but it didn't seem to quite match any, and someone suggested it really looked like the non-native (but uncommon around here) Bull Thistle/ Cirsium vulgaris. So, since it was not spreading (each plant is monocarpic-- dies after flowering, normally in the second year if they are not mowed! so they can only spread by seed, not root) I decided to just try to collect the seed to keep it from blowing around, but not exterminate. Good choice, since a couple of years later, I realised and had confirmed that it *is* in fact the native C. drummondii / Drummond's Thistle / Dwarf Thistle / Short-stemmed Thistle -- a wide ranging but uncommon species. I was thrilled, since it is a very beautiful plant, happy it was not a weed! So, now I still wanted to collect seed, but to share with friends rather than destroy-- and wouldn't you know it-- contrary to the big fluffy seed masses I had to contain before, now it seemed the birds had discovered the seed (rare to see birds eating wild seed on the acreage!) and some wet falls had let to some of the seed spoiling before ripening-- I've hardly been able to collect any since realising it was native However, the patch has expanded slightly, and there have been several plants in flower at once for a couple of years, may be more this year, and lots nice little purple rosettes. The one pictured has sown itself in the rock garden of my Eurasian / Mesic beds-- maybe 10-20 metres from where the plants grow.. It will probably flower this year. In this spot, the rosette has developed especially nicely, and is clear to see with no grass etc around it. I'll have to be sure some of the seed lands nearby... May 27

4)Pediocactus simpsonii-- I'd have to hunt for  the exact seeding date, but I think I got the seed for this in the first months of 2010.. I probably didn't coddle the seedlings enough, and took a long time to decide on an inground planting spot, so I'm sure this could have come along faster, but here it is, at last, first flowering! If I'm looking at the right notes this seed was from Alplains, collected in North Park, Colorado. I'd still like to grow other forms, especially those with other spine forms-- white ones would be cool-- but I'm happy this has tight spination and a good pink flower. Tiny plant, the whole thing is only a few inches across. Flowers not fully open in this shot, but this is the best I caught between work days and rain days!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Exciting flowers in the greenhouse.

Silene hookeri ssp. bolanderi grown from wild collected seed from Alplains.  I have 4 survivors.  I can't remember how many I started off with.

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Silene hookeri, also from Alplains.  Only 3 germinated.  I still have 3.

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Spectacular! slightly later flowering Silene serpentinicola.  4 Survivors all slightly different.

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A compact form originally from Cyril Lafong

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Wonderful results Roma !!! All favourites (and not easy) and you seem to have mastered them brilliantly !!

[Leucogenes]

From the other side of the world...Epacris petrophila

[David Nicholson]

Nice Thomas

[Leucogenes]

Three different shades on one plant...  Linaria tristis from Spain...  crazy... right?

[Claire Cockcroft]

Something to brighten up the day, which is needed with all the rain and gray skies we've been having in the Pacific Northwest.
Hypericum olympicum 'Citrinum'

[kris]

two plants from my garden
Clematis hirsutissima
Anemone nemorosa vestel

[cohan]

Three different shades on one plant...  Linaria tristis from Spain...  crazy... right?

That's the same individual plant? A lot of variability!

Claire-- nice colour on that Hypericum

[Andre Schuiteman]

1. Helianthemum croceum has nice greyish leaves and large flowers. It's a tidier plant than the usual hybrids.

2. Phlox pulvinata loved the spring sunshine.

3. Asperula daphneola is a sun lover too.

4. The Australian Wahlenbergia gloriosa is quite vigorous, forming a dense mat from underground runners. The flowers only open in warm weather.

5. Geranium argenteum looks at its best in rainy weather, when the water-repellent leaves appear particularly silvery.

[Claire Cockcroft]

Here are two more hypericums, both from seeds I collected in Betty Lowry's garden.  Both like to seed around; the small-flowered one is in a scree and is a bit of a thug.