Flowers and Foliage July 2008

[art600]

Wim

The Iris taurii is a wonderful plant.  I googled to get more information and drew a blank.  How tall is it?  I presume it comes from Turkey - where did you buy it?

Thanks

Arthur

[WimB]

Arthur,
 
Iris taurica has a height of approx. 10 cm/4 inch. It's synonymous with Iris pumila subsp. taurica. You can find it in a purple form and a yellow form. I bought it at a Belgium rock garden nursery: Cathy Portier (Bruges). It grows in the wild in the Caucasus.

[derekb]

 I have had this Campanula for 4 years and this is the first time I have photographed it and I was nearly to late this time, sorry for the dead bit but it was in the front garden and people were stopping and talking so I did it in a hurry. I like the slight pink in the flowers the name I have is Campanula makaschvilii,
if this is not right can someone please tell me.

[HClase]

I have been given plants called "Roscoea alpina" by two friends, but in each case when they flowered they were R. scillifolia, but this year one bulb is clearly different and seems to fit Brian Mathews' description of the true R. alpina reasonably well, the upper petal is rounder , the flower colour deeper, and the leaves less well developed at flowering time.  They are also broader.  Here's a closeup of the flower and a comparison of the two plants.  Any opinions?

I've also had two visitations from this curious beastie, first on a pile of deciduous wood chippings that I was keeping watered and then again amongst my zucchinis yesterday after the first rain for some time.  (After all my complaints about wet and cold it was quite warm and dry for a couple of weeks!)  It's the plasmodium of some sort of slime mould, and may form spores in a day or so. Not really flower or foliage, but interesting!  This is the smaller patch about 15 cm across.

[Paul T]

Wim,

The Iris taurica is gorgeous.

Howard,

We get the slime molds here too.  The first time I saw one I thought a possum had been sick overnight, or something like that.  Very strange if you aren't prepared for it. 

[HClase]

Paul, now that I've remembered to final "a" in Roscoea I find that you've been posting pictures of R. alpina.   What do you think?  I find pictures that resemble mine and also some that seem more like R. scillifolia.  I'm inclined to think that this one is the real thing.  An earlier flower had the long corolla tube I see in some of the pictures.

Slime moulds aren't that uncommon here either, sometimes I see a bright yellow one.

[Kristl Walek]

Prunus is one of my favorite woody genera for early bloom. It's seed is ripening daily now and I need to work hard to beat the birds to the fruit. The small species noted here today are all exceptionally hardy; Some even grow north of the Arctic Circle.

The first to ripen is always P. tomentosa (Manchu Cherry) - with beautiful bloom in early spring and fruits I adore. This I collected two weeks ago.

And today 3 other species were ripe:

Prunus padus (the Bird Cherry), whose fruits are ornamental, but best left for the birds, if you don't need the seed.

P. virginiana (Chockecherry) is native to my area --- the fruits are delicious when made into jelly. This is the maroon-leaved cultivar 'Canada Red' which comes true from seed.

Lastly, is my favorite Prunus for all season interest: the Amur Chokecherry, P. maackii. I could not be without it's beautiful golden/cinnamon trunk with peeling bark in winter. My seedling bloomed in 5 years from seed, and is now a wonderful specimen, planted close to my seed office, where I can enjoy it every day.



 

[Afloden]

Shelagh, Lilium michiganense gets about 1-1.2m tall. In the wild it persists as non-flowering clonal stems in very large patches. Once introduced into the garden they bulk up quickly and flower within two years. I have never seen the species in flower in the wild in the 10 years I lived where it was frequent.

 Pete, try Kristl's suggestion as Lilium lancifolium, especially if it has bulblets in the leaf axils. If not, I am not sure where to go if it was not leichtlinii (not even pubescent when immature?!!) What are the leaves like? It seems late to flower, but it does look somewhat like davidii.

 Kristl, the Triosteum is lovely. That and T.sinuatum are the only ones I still do not grow! I suppose the possible new species from Sichuan is not either, but that will be a long time coming unless the seed from Pilous is it, if it ever germinates. 

 Aaron
 

[HClase]

Kristl,

You are lucky not to have black knot fungus - it attacks almost all Prunus species here in Newfoundland and there's a reservoir in the wild species. Our P. virginiana seems OK but it goes for the other native species, pincherry, P. pennsylvanica.  Do you find the suckering of the chokecherry much of a nuisance?

Here's a couple of things from tiny limestone section of our "rock" garden - both native plants from the other side of the Island that I grow as a botanist rather than as a gardener!  The viviparous grass has tiny plantlets instead of seed - it was once thought to be the same as Festuca ovina var vivipara, but is now called F. fredrickseniae - it was considered rare until the wildflower society kept finding it on their summer field trips.  We have several wild Arnicas, this is A. lonchophylla.

[David Nicholson]

A few pictures here, from the greenhouse, of Calandrinia grandiflora in a small batch grown from SRGC seed. I have a dozen plants and all are pink apart from one white with a slight pinkish flush. 

The stems are quite long, about 40cm, is this normal or are my plants a little drawn? I have read conflicting reports about C. grandiflora, some suggesting that it is an annual, whilst others say it is perennial, can anyone advise please?

[David Nicholson]

Whoops, nearly forgot, here is Lewisia cotyledon 'Snowstorm', from the greenhouse today.

[Lvandelft]

The stems are quite long, about 40cm, is this normal or are my plants a little drawn? I have read conflicting reports about C. grandiflora, some suggesting that it is an annual, whilst others say it is perennial, can anyone advise please?

David, I've grown several times years ago and thought it being perennial.
But it never survived our winters outside, because being to wet.
Inside a glasshouse it might survive, but then I would cut the stems of
after setting seed.
It can easy grow to 50 cm in flower. Not really alpine like C. umbellata!

[Lesley Cox]

You do do lewisias very well David. Much of your seed is germinating. Don't know why, the weather's cold and miserable - so perhaps it feels at home?

When I grew Calandrinia grandiflora it always died after flowering. Couldn't be bothered with it eventually. I think if you wanted an extra year, you'd need to cut the flower stems IMMEDIATELY after the majority of flowers had passed. Not wait until there was seed.

[Pete Clarke]

Shelagh, Lilium michiganense gets about 1-1.2m tall. In the wild it persists as non-flowering clonal stems in very large patches. Once introduced into the garden they bulk up quickly and flower within two years. I have never seen the species in flower in the wild in the 10 years I lived where it was frequent.

 Pete, try Kristl's suggestion as Lilium lancifolium, especially if it has bulblets in the leaf axils. If not, I am not sure where to go if it was not leichtlinii (not even pubescent when immature?!!) What are the leaves like? It seems late to flower, but it does look somewhat like davidii.

 Kristl, the Triosteum is lovely. That and T.sinuatum are the only ones I still do not grow! I suppose the possible new species from Sichuan is not either, but that will be a long time coming unless the seed from Pilous is it, if it ever germinates. 

 Aaron

I think you have helped - it looks most like L. davidii (looking at other website pics.) There is no sign of any leaf bulbil formation to suggest it is lancifolium.

[fermi de Sousa]

I have read conflicting reports about C. grandiflora, some suggesting that it is an annual, whilst others say it is perennial, can anyone advise please?

Hi David,
I'd consider it a short lived perennial, or perhaps a tender, short lived perennial! The only place I've managed to keep it going more than a year has been in the Shadehouse where it gets a modicum of frost protection. The older the plant gets though the more decrepit it appears, so it's better to start off again with young ones. It tends to self seed but not excessively and the seedlings are easily weeded out when small. I've never seen another colour before so you may have something worthwhile in that pale pink/white form.
cheers
fermi