Flowering now in the garden March 2009

[Paul T]

I think I am going to cry seeing some of the self sown things you have to deal with...... if only!!   

Pulsatilla will never look as good in my garden as anything shown in this topic...... they do OK, but don't really like the heat in my garden.  I grow them in the shade to try to protect them from the worst of the heat, but then they don't really like the shade.  Between a rock and a hard place!! 

[Craig]

Lesley - The Brownia's  in the centre section of the Palm House at Kew, which is about 20m tall.
Arthur - Alas no scent, at least I think not but I've been pretty bunged up for a while now

Gorgeous Pulsatilla! Such a beautiful plant I'm never quite sure which stage I like the best but if pushed I reckon it looks even better when in seed than in flower. Hoping to combine a trip to Cambridge Botanic Gardens at the weekend to see the Jade Vine flowering with a visit to nearby Therfield Heath to see wild Pasque flower. Hope it's not too early for them.

Not a flower but pretty as one, here's one of the emerging new fronds of Lepidozamia peroffskyana. They start out soft, fuzzy and fawn coloured & end up tough green & shiny.

[Lori S.]

I wouldn't claim to have any as beautifully-grown as Ian's but Pulsatilla vulgaris is very happy here, self-seeding with abandon through the front yard, in unamended clay with a bit of bark on top... only 16" of precip may be the difference with respect to "drainage".  Hmm, perhaps with lean, fast-draining soil, mine could look so refined!

 

[maggiepie]

Gorgeous pulsatilla pics, I have started around 10 different types of seed recently and have quite a few babies, I sure hope they grow up to look like these pictures.

[Sinchets]

To Paul T- what zone is Canberra in? If it is too hot for Pulsatilla, is it warm enough for some the plants we can only dream of in colder climes?
Flowering today in a trough- the Androsace I am growing as A.darwasica from AGS SeedEx. I have not been able to find out anything about this online ,and looks like other seedlots I have had in the past which were A.septentrionalis and A.fedtschenkoi, which I read somewhere are synonymous.

[Maggi Young]

Super plant Ian ... surely that should have appeared at East Lancashire Show in a very large pot ... a certain prize winner?

As a Show Secretary I am normally encouraging folks to put as many plants on the show benches as possible, but I would never be tempted myself to lift a fabulous pulsatilla (Especially one as big as  Ian's) to pot it for a show. I have known some people to do this and it has always ended in tears with a dead plant.
Here we do find that, having got to the size of Ian's clump, Pulsatillas of most types are inclined to decline or even die off, but I still wouldn't risk lifting one, even for a winning swansong!

[maggiepie]

Here we do find that, having got to the size of Ian's clump, Pulsatillas of most types are inclined to decline or even die off, but I still wouldn't risk lifting one, even for a winning swansong!

Maggi, how long does it take pulsatillas to grow into the size of Ian's clump?
Do people start new seeds every few years?
Can you take cuttings?
Do seedlings come true to the mother plant?
 

[Kristl Walek]

Well, now, it just so happens that "REAL" tiny azaleas are one of my pet plants-  Loiseleuria procumbens, the "trailing azalea" ....

thanks for this post, maggi--i have come across a couple of offerings of this plant, and was very interested--i think maybe kristl had seed?

I've offered wild seed many times over the years; most recently from my Yukon seed collection trip, and then from a friend in Norway---although germination is super easy---I've totally given up trying to establish it in the garden here in the humid lowlands. I'll try again when I get to Nova Scotia.

[Maggi Young]

Maggi, how long does it take pulsatillas to grow into the size of Ian's clump?
Do people start new seeds every few years?
Can you take cuttings?
Do seedlings come true to the mother plant?
 

Well, here in Aberdeen a clump like that would take about ten years; if you're lucky it'll grow on for another ten and get really huge and then die on you  Sensible folks do grow new ones from seed regularly.... you can divide but not all plants will tolerate that.
I can't say whether this is what it does elsewhere, you understand, just with us
 For Pulsatilla vulgaris, most babies are true. There are white , pale lilac and red strains..... they are pretty true, also. For the other types, P.p. patens; pratensis,vernail, halleri and so on, they have all come true for us.  

[SueG]

I took a few pictures before i left for work this morning - much more fun than going for the bus!
my new raised bed - Saturday's task and my first ever rhodo planted in the garden!
Iris and Arum - Iris George (I think) and A creticum
Prunus Kojo-no-moi - which will need another hair cut after flowering
what happens when you forget to deadhead alliums - allium lawn anyone?
yellow hellebore
Narcissus 'Elka'

Sue

[Lori S.]

Helen, individual plants of P. vulgaris are long-lived here.  Whether that would be true there, with your much wetter conditions, I wouldn't know (having never gardened there).

[maggiepie]

Thanks Maggi, I think 20 years would see me out one way or another.
It is nice to know that the seeds can come true, I received some P. Pratensis in the surplus seeds lucky dip, almost every seed germinated.
Can't wait to see some of those in flower!!

Lori, thanks for the info.
I planted out some seedlings last Summer, I will be very happy if some have survived but we had a very wet late Fall, with lots of freeze/thaws and rain.
Am dreading what I will find once the snow has gone.

[Hans J]

in this days start with flowering our both Corylopsis :





Corylopsis pauciflora





Corylopsis spicata

[ranunculus]

Lovely images, Hans ... but please tell us how you enter the names under the images (not the copyright notices) ... very professional?

[Hans J]

Hi Cliff ,

please look here :