Flowering Now - May 2009

[Paddy Tobin]

Re Deutzia 'Alpine Magician': unfortunately this plant has very restricted distribution and I don't know of it in commerce to date. Mine came from the Botanic Garden at Glasnevin, Dublin.

I really haven't appreciated it, I must admit, and must make an effort to propagate it and get it about.

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

Well Maggi and Anne, it's raining here too and has been, interspersed with snow and hail, all week. Pity me at 6am tomorrow, outside, setting up a market in the cold and dark and the forecast rain. Queensland and northern NSW in OZ are having bad floods so there seems to be rain everywhere.

[akoen]

 Anne Karin.... it has been pouring with rain here since mid afternoon.... did you send your rain over here? 

I believe the rain is coming from west.  It start around that time her also.

[gmoen]

Hi folks here are a few photos taken in the garden to day (well a few a bit earlier this month). Guess they might bring back the "spring feeling", but that is how it is when the Vikings up north are allowed to join in......

First some Hepaticas
1 Hepatica nobilis 'Asarifolia' (this plant is collected in Norway and as the name indicate, no lobes but more like asarum leaves)
2 Hepatica nobilis 'Oe'(double fertil form with pollen)
3 Hepatica nobilis 'Flore Plena Alba' (collected in Sweden)
And now a couple of Callianthemums
4 Calliantehemum kernerianum
5 Callianthemum farrerii
Two favorite bulbs in spring
6 Colchicum szovitsii 'Tivi'
7 Tulipa regelii (no flower yet but the leaves are just stunning)

[gmoen]

A small mistake. Here are the Hepatica nobilis 'Asarifolia'

[gmoen]

A few more.......
1 Iberis pruttii
2 Soldanella carpatica
3 Primula sonchifolia
4 Iris sp. (collected Armenia, about 15 cm high.....any idea?)
5 Meconopsis quintuplinervia
6 Androsace helvetica
7 Androsace bisulca var. aureata
8 Miyakea integrifolia (just the amazing leaves an a flower bud)
9 Miyakea integrifolia

[Paul T]

Wow, I love that last pic, the glorious leaves on the tulips as well... and that stunning Soldanella!!

[Lesley Cox]

A stunning selection Geir, especially the meconopsis and the callianthemums. Is C. farreri REALLY blue? And I love that last plant, so pulsatilla-like in the flowers, but quite different foliage, a real beauty.

[gmoen]

Yes Lesley, Callianthemum ferrarii is blue and in my opinion the "number one Callianthemum". And when it comes to Miyakea integrifolia, it could have been named by the synonym Pulastilla integrifolia. It is evergreen and seems to be quite close to Pulsatilla vernalis. I tried to crosspollinate those two species this year, so maybe will be a blue Pulsatilla vernalis in a couple of years....

[ranunculus]

Magnificent, Geir ... the myakea is absolutely glorious - it doesn't need to be crosspollinated (but the results could be interesting). 

[gmoen]

I totally agree Cliff............so it's JUST FOR FUN 

[Ragged Robin]

Geir, your flowers and foliage shots are a wonderful in sight in to your garden.  Each one looks superb with great textures but I particularly love the Iris from Armenia and the wavy embossed tulip leaf, can't wait to see more delights from Norway

[Ragged Robin]

Flowering now above Montreux are mountainsides dusted in white Narcissus poeticus.  I had been waiting for the opportunity to see them as they only flower for about one month from May 7th - June 7th and people come from far and wide to experience walking close by.  Mid May they are a their best at Les Avants and we took the funicular up to Son Loup to walk down past the meadows heavy with late  afternoon scent.  The views were magnificent and the low afternoon light filtered through each Narcissus head - poetry indeed. 

The whole experience was unforgettable from elation to deflation when I lost my trusted camera at Montreux station and returned home empty handed but with visions in my mind.  Unbelievably a kind soul handed my camera in - I was ecstatic, although the photos are definitely not as good as the vision   

[Ragged Robin]

Narcissus poeticus everywhere...

[tonyg]

Fantastic images of Narcissus poeticus - my absolute favorite, a memory from childhood when it grew in our garden.  The scent is what does it for me, carries me back to those halcyon days ....
I saw a lone garden escape N poeticus in a field near our campsite in N Norfolk a couple of weekends ago.  Doubt I'll see any next week as we head off to Wales.  To think we could have been to Les Avants ourselves if we had made our Swiss trip.  Next year maybe!
Perhaps just as well we did not try to fit it in this year, just moved out of the house to allow the builder in for the messy bit of our developments.  Work is still (just) on plan to be finished for Ruths 12th Birthday .... her own room again, at last!
In flower here is a chance seedling of Campanula thyrsoides which I have found tricky to raise in a pot.  This one found its own place in my big raised bed.  Picture will have to stay on the camera for a while, the removals men took my download cable