Flowering Now - May 2009

[Zdenek]

Olga,
I grow this Helleborus as H. guttatus. It seems be the same as your H. caucasica. Any coment from you or anybody else?

[Paul T]

Another comment on some of the pictures from the last day.... a couple of wonderful things I have never heard of before.... Helleborus abchasicus and Scopolia.  Both fantastic.  And those wonderful Meconopsis from Ian.  Absolutely wonderful.

[Ragged Robin]

Flowers and foliage opening in the mountains today 

[maggiepie]

Well, I am out of superlatives.
Today was the first time I've seen this thread, the pics and plants are amazingly beautiful.
Thanks to everyone who has posted pics, I want everything!

[Lampwick]

Two very good looking Penstemon John ... even that early in the morning !   

Thanks Luc, I think the light is sometimes better in the early hours, before the sun comes up to give contrasting shadows. The photos aren’t very good using my daughters Samsung Digimax A5 camera – it’s not a SLR! I do miss the creativity you get with a SLR. My old one isn’t digital and I am hoping to invest in a decent camera system. I do like the look of the Nikon D90, but will have to wait towards the end of the year to get what I want, as I have been overspending lately on various items. My wife gives me that funny look – you know the one – the raised eyebrows, and pursed lips one!   

Wonderful pictures from Olga but I really admire John's Penstemons as well. I used to grow a lot then gave up on almost all as they kept dying off, branch at a time and I couldn't see what was wrong or how to stop it but I'm trying a few again. I thought they were too dry but maybe they were too damp. They seem to do very well in the SW USA and in fact are native to those arid areas.

Thanks Lesley, I also gave up on growing them some years ago, until I read somewhere that when you buy a penstemon and get it home, the first thing you do is take cuttings no mater how small the plant is!
The P. rupicola shown in this thread started off as a cutting about September 2007, taken from a 4 year old plant that had started to turn woody and brittle, as if it had been in a forest fire! I don’t think you can do anything except start again with a rooted cutting. Watering, feeding, cutting back and offering a sacrifice to the Gods won’t save it! 

The P. f. ‘Albus’ also started as a cutting taken September 2007 and was taken from the one shown on my website. The photo of the one on my website was taken about this time last year (2008). It now no longer exists; I dug it up just over a week ago, it put out a good show of flowers but only at the ends of some branches, it was very brittle and woody. 

I would think that the two I have shown in this thread will be at their best this time next year. In 2011 they will be on the way out. 
 

[gote]

The Meconopsis punicea perennial I have had since 2003 and it set good seed which Cyril has raised watch this space, cheers Ian the Christie kind

A truly perennial punice Fantastic!! That beats your beautiful pictures Are seedlings also perennial?
Göte

[Sinchets]

The other good thing about Penstemons is that they come up like cress from old seed.
Flowering today in the woodland garden
Geum coccineum (from Goteborg Botanic Garden seed)

[Ragged Robin]

Would love to see it in situ your woodland garden Simon - the colour is so vibrant - does the name Geum coccineum come from the word coccineous as in Scarlet do you think ? Or maybe taken from the lady bug Coccinellidae ?

[ranunculus]

Be warned Simon and Robin ... it is a gorgeous colour, but it can also be a thug.  It has taken over an area of my rock garden and, whilst it looks beautiful intermingled with brilliant yellow geums and pontentillas, it will have to go.

[Sinchets]

Robin, I'll see if I can get a pic taken from a distance- it really is the kind of colour that stands out from a mile away! I have grown seed from several sources pretending to be Geum coccineum and they really pale in comparison to this one.
It is also in a place where it will need to be a thug to survive. It will be interesting to see if it mixes it's genes with the Geum rivale nearby 

[gote]

I forgot to look at the label so the little azalea must remain unnamed at the moment.
The Anemone is ranuncloides semiplena.
Not all like this combination but it is striking I think
Göte

[johnw]

I forgot to look at the label so the little azalea must remain unnamed at the moment.
Not all like this combination but it is striking I think
Göte

Göte

The Rhododendron looks like the lepidote hybrid called April Rose. Nice combination.

johnw

[Onion]

Göte,

I have the same idea as John. Rhododendron dauricum 'April Rose'. Flowers here in the area 3 weeks ago.

Uli

[Lesley Cox]

Good advice about the penstemons and taking cuttings ASAP. I just have to accept that they have a limited lifespan and let them go when they're ready. They may be a little longer-lived from seed but it probably depends on the species. Anyway, they're such super plants, almost all of them, that they're worth another try. The large perennial types last forever it seems and I've had to cut back 'Garnet' and some others so I can still use the paths.

[johnw]

Göte,

I have the same idea as John. Rhododendron dauricum 'April Rose'. Flowers here in the area 3 weeks ago.

Uli

Uli - April Rose is not a dauricum but a cross of [(carolinianum Album x mucronulatum Cornell Pink) x dauricum v album] F2   Do they make labels that long?. The hybridizer was Gustav Mehlquist (a real character he was).  In full bloom in Halifax now.

Did you buy it labelled dauricum 'April Rose'?  I have to say I get very confused with hybrids in German catalogues. I got very excited about all the new Rhododendron concatenans "selections" in Hachmann's catalogue only to find out the were all hybrids.

best

johnw