Plants flowering in the open rock garden- July 09

[Maggi Young]

That Eriophyton wallichii makes me swoon, Magnar!  It's wonderful!

Yes I like it very much and so did the visitors to the garden today.

I'm not surprised everyone likes it.... so unusual to see this grown outdoors, Magnar.
Surely one of the softest, furriest plants ever...... especially the very grey type you show. There are greener forms which are not nearly so soft.

[Roma]

One of my favourite furry plants is Pelargonium tomentosum.  Large, green, velvety leaves and a wonderful minty scent.

[Paul T]

Roma,

Yes, I used to have htat as well, but it grows just a little too healthily here, and tried taking over a couple os square metres.  I love the scent as well, and the lovely furry leaves.... but it had to go. 

Magnar,

That Eriophyton wallichii is amazingly furry by the looks of it.  And the Olsynium (another thing I have only ever seen here on the forums) is amazing.  Thank you!!

Lesley,

Cloak sounds like a nice idea. 

[Lori S.]

1, 2) Penstemon speciosus var. kennedyi
3) Eriogonum flavum
4) Oxytropis monticola
5) Seedpods of Physaria didymocarpa
6) Anthemis marschalliana
7) Spiraea decumbens

[Paul T]

Lori,

Cute little Spiraea.  I'm glad you put some description in at the beginning for your Physaria didymocarpa, I was about to ask whether they were leaves or buds, until I read that they were the seedpods.  Fascinating!!

[cohan]

magnar--great stuff! as usual... love the sedum/rhodiola
lori--i saw some really nice clumps of eriogonum south of drumheller; only posted a little one from first site so far..
the physaria seedpods are cool..hopefully i get back out west i time to see them..

[Lori S.]

Could it be?  

Dare I hope against all odds that that this might be a real, live Penstemon whippleanus, that has just started to open today... ?   The penstemons I show on the map in the same vicinity are P. rydbergii and P. davidsonii, both of which are in different penstemon sections, and neither of which fits in general terms...  
And this one seems to show the long, tapering calyx lobes ("leafy appearance"), long lower corolla lobe, golden-bearded staminode, inflorescence nodding in bud...

It's dark now, so I'll have to key it out tomorrow... but...    

[Lori S.]

Pardon me, since none of these is really in the rock garden, but they are sort of rock garden-ish... ?
1) Antirrhinum sempervirens is starting to bloom.  (I remain quite amazed that it's proven to be hardy here.)
2) Scutellaria orientalis ssp. alpina
3) Scutellaria alpina
4) Penstemon barbatus (shown here with Allium moly) are starting to bloom throughout the front yard in their many colours.

[Magnar]

Great Scutellarias, I never get them to flower as nicely as yours do.

[Lori S.]

Thank you, Magnar!

1) Penstemon grandiflorus.  I haven't keyed out the possible P. whippleanus yet, but I did this one... although I suppose it was a fairly obvious one, given the exaggerated flowers!   Nonetheless, I started from scratch...  (I'm utterly amazed that it is possible to do so... the Key to the Genus Penstemon by Robin and Kenneth Lodewick is an astounding work!  It's just an amateur opinion, needless to say, but they are among my most respected heroes of botany!)
Also, I'm impressed that the small specialty garden center I've gotten various penstemons from, evidently takes pains to ensure that their stock is labelled correctly (not just from this one, but from others I've keyed out).  Bravo!
2) Here's a photo of the anther sacs, showing they are glaucous, navicular (boat-shaped), and open all the way across the connective (the center part where the stamen joins at the back) and to the ends.  It also shows (less clearly) that the staminode (in the center of the photo) is expanded at the tip (to 2mm).  From examination with a 10x hand lens, the staminode has a stubbly beard.  Anyway, there is the starting point of penstemon identification... the shape of the anther sacs, which leads one to the penstemon group, and thence, eventually, to the actual species.  Wow!

3) Eriogonum schockleyi... just planted this spring (so I can't claim to have actually grown it yet.  

 

[Ragged Robin]

How wonderful to have a small specialist garden centre near you with fine quality plants - here in Valais there is no such thing (not that I have found anyway) Your Penstemon grandiflorus is such a pretty pink, Lori, what about the outcome of your Penstemon whippleanus?  I love the colour....

[Sinchets]

In the same boat as you here, Robin. The nearest decent plant nurseries are probably the ones in Central Europe a few days drive away. On the otherhand growing from seed is rewarding.  
Flowering here now a couple of xeric thyme relatives and a 'real' thyme:
Micromeria lasiophylla- these are self sown and I am hoping will be tougher than their parent. The orginal seeds were listed as being collected at 2250m on Mt Teide, Tenerife.
Micromeria graeca- originally from AGS seed
Thymus pulegioides- a species native to drier parts of the garden here- with lovely lemon scented foliage.

[Maggi Young]

Thyme pic has not come through, Simon 

[Ragged Robin]

lovely things that obviously enjoy drought!!!!!

[Lesley Cox]

Cloak sounds like a nice idea.  

Well I thought you'd like to stroke it, with Yvonne inside.