May 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Hi Marc,

The range of plants you grow is phenomenally impressive.

As I have grown older I have lost interest in collecting plants. These days I am content growing and experimenting with our local native plants. I grow a few new plants each season, but my process is extremely slow. For example, I have wanted to grow our local annual Diplacus kelloggii for many years. This year I will gather seeds and get started. I have many other gardening projects and understand my limitations. Next year I will be able to give adequate attention to this species. There has been a great deal I needed to learn before I was ready to proceed with Diplacus kelloggii. These days, I am very content with the tiny range of plants I grow.

There seems to be a great deal of interest in collecting plants. I certainly hope that you are connecting with those that can truly appreciate the significance of your plants lists. I do confess that I do not get it and am easily befuddled by the lists presented to me from time-to-time, but then this is my issue not yours. Good luck with your endeavors. It appears you are making great progress.

[MarcR]

Robert,

I have .78 Acre of which I have changed most of the original grass into planting beds.

My neighbor, who has 5 acres of open woodland, has allowed me to plant a 20' strip along our 330'  west property line as a firebreak; so I have access to a large shade garden of 6600 sq ft  with a recirculating stream, pond, and waterfall. My neighbor still owns the property; so I suppose my efforts enhance the value of his property; but my wife & I have permanent access while we own our property.

[Andre Schuiteman]

Peak flowering season here, with spring flowers hanging on and summer flowers starting to join to the mix.


Dianthus sternbergii, with Erodium glandulosum on the left

Dianthus tymphresteus

Erodium glandulosum

Ramonda myconi

[Andre Schuiteman]

Spiraea betulifolia is a magnet for the rose chafer (Cetonia aurata), which feed on the anthers.


Contrary to my expectations, the Chinese Corydalis barbisepala is a good doer, forming large patches through underground stolons. Woodland conditions suit it very well.

[Robert]

I am very pleased that local California native plant species are predominately featured in our Sacramento garden. For the most part they preform extremely well in our garden, but more importantly they “look” right in the garden. Using nature as a cue for garden design is invaluable. It has been fairly easy for me to mimic native habitat and plant combinations in our Sacramento garden that I see in our local native plant communities.

Philadelphus lewisii is in full bloom right now. This native shrub grows in a prominent location along our main garden path in our back yard. The fragrant flowers are nicely scented. Although this species is native throughout much of western North America, I grew this specimen from seed gathered from a favorite plant growing near a long time favorite swimming hole near Rock Creek. This adds a difficult to describe depth of feeling to our garden.



I have shown this specimen of Eriophyllum lanatum var. grandiflorum on the Forum on several occasions. Now it is near peak bloom and is truly a glorious plant. The next step with this plant is to root cuttings and gather seed. The rooted cuttings can be used to evaluate this clone’s performance in various garden settings. Plants grown from self-pollinated seed can fix genetic traits and then be used in further breeding work.



This photograph taken on 15, June 2017 in Colusa County, California is of Clarkia gracilis ssp. traceyi. I grew plants from this seed accession for a number of years before losing this line. Losing this line was a disappointment for me. My system of gardening and breeding is based on an accurate and detailed knowledge of the origins of the plants that I am working with.



Blooming now in our garden are the F3 generation offspring of Calrkia gracilis ssp. traceyi grown from seed obtained from Seedhunt. I am extremely fortunate to have access to a very small group of highly talented and reliable individuals from which I can obtain well-documented seeds.



Now that I am primarily focused on developing our local California native plant species, I can give needed attention to a selected group of our native Penstemon species. Pictured is Penstemon azureus var. angustissimus grown from a seed accession I made near Snow Mountain, Colusa County, California. This species has preformed well in our Sacramento garden for many years. I have adequate breeding stock to move forward with this species. I will report my progress with this and other Penstemon species into the future.

[Robert]

Castilleja affinis ssp. affinis has grown and bloomed well in our Sacramento garden for many years. I have grown to blooming age other local native Castilleja species, however they have not persisted in our garden. In addition, there are many fine California native annual Castilleja species that I have yet to try in our garden. This is a group of plants that I wish to explore, in much greater detail, their garden potential.



This is one of several forms of Lilium pardalinum ssp. pitkinense that I obtain back in the 1990’s. The plants have remained strong and healthy despite challenging conditions and long periods of neglect.



We currently have many Lilium pardalinum hybrids in our Sacramento garden. They all have their origins from my breeding work with these plants back in the 1990’s.



We also have a number of deep, almost red, Lilium occidentale hybrids.

Back in the 1990’s I was fortunate to conduct extensive field studies of Lilium species in Northwestern California and Southwestern Oregon. In addition, during this time period I also conducted extensive field studies of our local native Lilium species. From the knowledge gained and the genetic material obtained from these field studies, I am now starting a new Lilium breeding program with entirely new objectives. Locally we have many fascinating varieties and variations of Lilium parvum. This species will be featured prominently in this breeding program.

[Robert]

The development of exciting new plant varieties is proceeding phenomenally well. From my breeding program, I am selecting novel new forms of our local native Dichelostemma multiflorum based not only on flower color or flower count, but also many other characteristics such as the color of the foliage and dependable garden performance in a variety of gardening situations.



This interesting light lavender-pink flowering form of Dichelostemma multiflorum showed up in this batch of seedlings.

Our Sacramento garden is truly an exciting place with unlimited possibilities even with very commonly grown plant species. I hope that you have enjoyed the photographs.

[MarcR]

Peak flowering season here, with spring flowers hanging on and summer flowers starting to join to the mix.

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Dianthus sternbergii, with Erodium glandulosum on the left
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Dianthus tymphresteus
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Erodium glandulosum
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Ramonda myconi

Andre,

Beautiful images!  You make the camera sit up and talk!

[Yann]

Early start for the very hardy Brimeura amethystina. It's very common in the Pyrénnées, usually growing in meadows and rockies areas.
In the wild it's blooming from June to August.
Iris x sambucina diffuse its elderberry scent all around the garden.

[Yann]

May is also the season for the first garlics and they will close the summer period in early october.

Allium kharputense
Allium alexejanum

[Mariette]

Yann, Iris x sambucina is of special interest to me. Eight years ago, I found this Iris in an abandoned Swedish garden, where it still grows.



Back home, I planted in a sunny place on my allotment, where it proved to be the most floriferous of all Iris barbata I ever saw. Showing it to collectors of Iris barbata, nobody recognised it to be an old variety, which I thought it was. Do You think it might be Iris x sambucina?



In my own garden, which is not well suited for Iris barbata, some old varieties like ´Rheintraube´, ´Ododratissima´ and ´Rheingauperle´proved to be more successful than the many newer varities I once bought.



In the green-house, Anomatheca laxa ´Joan Evans´started to flower.



And Diplacus pictus flowers, too. This year I´ve got much stronger plants. I wonder whether this is because I followed Robert´s advice and sowed in autumn, though these germinated in spring. Or maybe it´s because I failed to transplant the two seedlings in time and just added some organic manure to the substrate I sowed them in?

[Andre Schuiteman]

Asperula sintenisii. This would do better in a large piece of tufa; in the rock garden, as here, it tends to split into small pieces due to winter dieback.

Dicentra peregrina. Flowering for the second year in a row, which is considered a success for this rather tricky species.

Paris luquanensis. I keep this outdoors in a pot in the shade, without any winter protection. As long as it doesn't increase, I will not try it in the open ground. It's too expensive for experimenting.

Weldenia candida. One of the purest white flowers (apart from the anthers). I overwinter this Mexican/Guatemalan alpine in an unheated shed and keep it completely dry. In April, when the risk of severe frost is over, it goes outside again, and it will reappear above ground after a few weeks.

[Andre Schuiteman]

Two easy Geraniaceae with a long flowering period.


Geranium subcaulescens with Erodium castellanum on the right.

I like the black anthers.

Erodium castellanum.

[Andre Schuiteman]

Andre,

Beautiful images!  You make the camera sit up and talk!

Thanks for the compliment, Marc. It's a pity that on this site image file size is limited to 200KB, so that we must keep them small and low quality.

[MarcR]

Andre,

Small yes.  Low quality  DEFINITELY NOT!!