Flowering Now - May 2009

[Lori S.]

Bearberry or kinnikinnik, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, in bud, and bristlecone pine... both native plants (Correction:  bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata) is NOT native here... my mistake!) ... and some sort of a spring-blooming Brassicaceae (Thlaspi?) that I need to figure out!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful little group Lori !!

Göte,
I do like the combination - great contrast !


About the Penstemon discussion - I've lost a few (lot) over the years as well, some quicker than others.  Out here, I believe there's one golden rule to respect : good drainage, better drainage, the best drainage....  I mix at least 75 % gravel in the soil where I plant them.

[Lampwick]

Pictures today.

The first shows what I have to put up with when photographing a plant! (This is for you Lesley)
Here is Kai standing in front causing an obstruction. He looks completely innocent; but don’t be fooled, I am sure he does it on purpose. He often sits on a plant I am trying to take a picture of! 

Obstruction removed - Paeonia mlokosewitschii. I have had this plant for over 35 years in this shady corner of the garden.

Phlox ‘Beauty of Ronsdorf’. This is one of my favourite phlox’s, the flowers are smaller than most and it also flowers later than most others – does anyone else grow this?   
 

[Carlo]

Phlox 'Beauty of Ronsdorf' is a great plant...I grew it at The New York Botanical Garden and would have it again in an instant. There are several other small flowered phloxes that are so much nicer (in my mind at least) than the majority of subulatas...

[David Nicholson]

Must be great to have a friend like Kai to garden with you John regardless of the problems. My wife has always been anti pets of any description so I've never had a dog. I have threatened to swop her for one on more than one occasion though

The Phlox family is so colourful and wonderful garden value. Some lovely pictures of them in the new Wisley Log this week too.

[wolfgang vorig]

my garden today

 Ramonda myconii
 Ramonda myconii 1
 Ramonda nathaliae
 Ramonda nathaliae 1

[WimB]

Flowering here today:

1) Fritillaria camchatcensis
2) Primula reidii
3) Ramonda myconi
4) Sedum pilosum
5) Veronica oltensis

[Ragged Robin]

my garden today

Wolfgang your garden looks wonderful.  it seems to have so many interesting areas with different beds.  Your first photo gives a really good impression of the layout of your rock gardens and I love the way you grow the Ramonda plants surrounded by cushions of sedum etc 

[Ragged Robin]

Flowering here today:

A really great collection from your garden today Wim - wish they were in mine! All of them are so different - my favourites are the Frit camchatcencis (where is it from?) and the Primula reidii

[cohan]

lori--really great little vignette... i'm not that up on my local pines--does this one stay small? did you grow it from seed? i have some cones i gathered at kootenay plains --dont know the species... and no idea what to do with them yet...lol

wolfgang--i agree--thanks for the overview shot--its great to see plant portraits, but i also really like to see what people are doing in terms of design, larger combinations etc...

wim--nice stuff--esp like the sedum!

i can relate to kai's actions--i have a couple of cats that will follow me around, and of course if i am taking photos, they want to be at that centre of attention right in front of me! of course, their boredom threshold with what i am doing is probably much lower than kai's, so they soon wander off, and if they do sit on a plant, they are lighter!

[ranunculus]

Images from the garden taken yesterday ...

Geum, gentian and primula ... contrived, of course, but quite pretty.
Clematis alpina
Salix reticulata

[gote]

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

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.

You are probably right I will look at the label in the weekend. I wanted to buy another mucronulatum since they are hardy here and the first and good looking This was the closest I could find in one of the biggest nurseries in Sweden. It is nice but not quite the same thing.
Anyone knows who sells mucronulatum??
Göte

[gote]

Speaking about Salix reticulata.
This is  a (the) host for Pedicularis lapponica so now you know what to get next 
Göte

[WimB]

Flowering here today:

A really great collection from your garden today Wim - wish they were in mine! All of them are so different - my favourites are the Frit camchatcencis (where is it from?) and the Primula reidii

Thanks Göte,

I bought the Frit last year from Rareplants.co.uk.

[Gerdk]

Some pics made today

1. Wistaria sinensis beside the gate
2. + 3. An unknown Viola hybrid from the eastern US - note the coloration of
           the leaves!
4. Trough
5. Viola spathulata planted in the trough
6. Viola striata - eastern US
7. Parthenocissus henryi (not hardy here)
8. + 9. Meconopsis cambrica Frances Perry - a lovely weed
10. Paeonia officinalis - Monte Baldo type

Gerd