Flowering Now - May 2009

[Maggi Young]

Wim, to find if a  dianthus IS erinaceus, the easiest test is to put your palm firmly on the cushion.... if the cushion is very prickly and you get a sore hand, it is likely to be erinaceus ! I have stabbed myself many times over the years with Dianthus erinaceus, it is VERY sharp and spiky!

[Maggi Young]

Here are the photos Lampwick referred to from the page from the Old Forum, for those who don't weant to spend a long and happy time looking through that page (I enjoyed  it!)

Anthony Darby's Dianthus erinaceus

[Lampwick]

Thanks for putting those pictures up Maggi.
At the moment my Dianthus erinaceus is in bud; predominantly only on the left of the plant – I will try a post a picture next month when I hope it will be at its best!

I have tried to show the foliage in these two pictures below.
I myself, am of the opinion that my plant IS D. erinaceus…….have I won anyone over? 

 

[WimB]

All the Dianthus erinaceus that are pictured her look similar but never completely the same (except for Luit's, which is the same as mine). Maybe they are ssp.? Or (most likely) hybrids?

Anyhow: mine is prickly but not like a cactus and it hurts your hand only a bit when you press down on it. And the flowers are very tiny (0.3 - 0.7 cm (0.1 - 0.3 inch) diameter)

Below: Close-up of the leaves

[Lvandelft]

Here are the photos Lampwick referred to from the page from the Old Forum, for those who don't weant to spend a long and happy time looking through that page (I enjoyed  it!)

Anthony Darby's Dianthus erinaceus

On the same page I found a picture from Fermi where he shows D. echidiformis (echiniformis?)
Fermi showed the same plant in 2007 and in 2008 again:
 http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=870.msg20293#msg20293

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2510.msg58832#msg58832  (D. anatolicus)

It differs a little from my plant, so now I presume that we are growing not D. erinaceus, but a form of D. anatolicus.
This seem to grow in nature on a wide area and possibly by propagating from seed several forms occur.
I could not find anything about D. echiniformis.
I hope Fermi will confirm that his plant is not so prickly as D. erinaceus too, like our plant.

Finally a link, where I found something about these Dianthus, by a certain Rick Lambert from UK.:

http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/jour/p/02/gw1013402/page.html

I think this is the same plant as we grow.

Does somebody know, who is Mr. Rick Lambert??

[Maggi Young]

Does somebody know, who is Mr. Rick Lambert??

An English alpine gardener, Luit, who used to be a forumist, at one time. 
He is an officer of the Androsace Group...

[hadacekf]

Here are a few pics of my flowering plants.

 Lewisia-rediviva-01
 Dianthus-oschtenicus
 Saponaria-Bressingham-Seedl
 Helianthemum-alpestre
 Edraianthus-pumilio

[Maggi Young]

Beautiful!
 I see you are having sunshine, too, Franz!

[ranunculus]

Magnificent, Franz ... both plants and photographs!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful plants and pix Franz !

The Lew. rediviva 

[Paul T]

Franz,

Isn't that Lewisia just divine!! 

[Paddy Tobin]

Franz, Lovely plants, particularly the Edrianthus for me.

Paddy

[Paddy Tobin]

A few from around the garden.

Aquilegia 'Arthur Guinness'
Aquilegia 'Norah Barlow'
Beschorneria yuccoides
Clematis 'Mrs Cholmondelay'
Cornus controversa variegata

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

You're right Luit, Wim's isn't 'Pink Jewel.' At a quick, first glance, maybe, but not when I see the one in your link. I should have known better as I have had P J for many years and it is exactly like that in the link. I sometimes use the flowers to garnish my world famous pink pudding - boysenberry mousse.

[Paddy Tobin]

A few more. Paddy

Crataegus prunifolius
Crinodendron hookeri
Disporum smithii
Erodium manescavii
Geranium
Geranium