Flowering now- July 2009

[Lesley Cox]

Dianthus alpinus has very short, glossy foliage on a tight mat. The flowers are also very short-stemmed. I di like the little Heuchera though. Very pretty.

[Lori S.]

Thanks for the info on Dianthus alpinus... I was doubtful that mine was it, but I wonder what it is?

1) Along the sidewalk
2) Trifolium rubens. I really enjoy this plant... and the flowers are certainly "Rubenesque".  
3) Peucedanum ostruthium 'Daphnis'
4, 5) Boulevard planting.
6) Verbascum... one of the many offspring of V. phoenicium hybrids that have seeded throughout the yard.
7) Polemonium pauciflorum... I'm very fond of these.
8 ) Dianthus fragrans
9) Erigeron peregrinus ssp. callianthemus
10) Bolax gummifera... or whatever it's called now.    Actually, it's Azorella trifurcata!

[WimB]

BOTH Deinanthes are truly gorgeous to someone who has neither.
Arne, is the banana growing outside. It appears to be. Does it fruit?

Hi Lesley,

if mine set seed this year, I'll send you some (or is it not your biosecurity index?)

[cohan]

Thanks for the info on Dianthus alpinus... I was doubtful that mine was it, but I wonder what it is?

1) Along the sidewalk
2) Trifolium rubens. I really enjoy this plant... and the flowers are certainly "Rubenesque".  
3) Peucedanum ostruthium 'Daphnis'
4, 5) Boulevard planting.
6) Verbascum... one of the many offspring of V. phoenicium hybrids that have seeded throughout the yard.
7) Polemonium pauciflorum... I'm very fond of these.
8 ) Dianthus fragrans
9) Erigeron peregrinus ssp. callianthemus
10) Bolax gummifera... or whatever it's called now.  

great stuff, lori--that boulevard planting must really catch a lot of eyes, rare to see anything there...
i think i was looking at bolax on some list--beavercreek/wrightman's?
how does this trifolium behave? clovers are at the very top of my fiercest weeds list: dandelions seed as much or more, but they arent stoloniferous, grasses are stoloniferous, but  arent quite as conspicuous, and nothing else is in competition...lol

[Lori S.]

I've found Trifolium rubens to be perfectly behaved... (N.B.  It's not fair to judge a genus by the behavior of some invasive introduced weeds.. you'll miss out on far too much! )

[Lvandelft]

Lori, the diversity at your sidewalk let me think you are a happy gardener  
The Trifolium is some weeks over here already. It's a beauty, but always too short flowering.

10) Bolax gummifera... or whatever it's called now.

Looks more like Azorella trifurcata (I showed it in the Flowering June thread)

[Lori S.]

Hasn't one name replaced the other?  (That is my impression, at any rate...  )  What an odd texture it has... like rubber... most un-plantlike!

[Lvandelft]

Lori, here you see what I know as Bolax gummifera.

http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/image_files/forum/sizedBOLAX%20GUMMIFERA3407.jpg

[cohan]

I've found Trifolium rubens to be perfectly behaved... (N.B.  It's not fair to judge a genus by the behavior of some invasive introduced weeds.. you'll miss out on far too much! )

normally i agree...probably clovers are among the few (maybe the only) that have scarred me enough to really hesitate
there was an awesome Trifolium you probably saw on Alpine-L from a dry western u.s. location--teeny tiny and non-spreading...that i would do, though didnt sound all that likely to survive here..lol

speaking of weeds, i was just talking to someone in yukon (i think) on a different forum, and he considered Stachys palustris and Mertensia paniculata to be 'real weeds' there, and he doesnt mean too vigorous for the garden, just weeds--Stachys is just not common here, so i cant comment on that, though i think it spreads underground, so i could see it might be hard to contain once established, and Mertensia is absolutely everywhere here, but i've never had a problem keeping it out of anywhere i dont want it...
my position is that i have a hard time considering a native to be an actual weed (too vigorous for the garden is a different thing) unless its really impossible to remove, which i havent run into with any natives (maybe grasses, but i dont know which are natives)...

[Lori S.]

"Lori, here you see what I know as Bolax gummifera."

Amazing plant... incredibly well grown.  (Pardon me for saying so, but sort of grotesque at the same time!  


Interesting.... according to this site (UBC), the two are indeed separate species (see 1st comment which points out that the plant in the photo has been misidentified!), distinguished most easily by flower colour, with Azorella trifurcata having yellow flowers, while Bolax gummifera has white-green flowers.

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2005/11/bolax_gummifera.php

The two species names are often treated (at less authoritative sites) as though they are synonymous, hence my confusion.  Thanks for clearing that up, Luit!    

[Lori S.]

Cohan, yes, that's my own preference as well... I don't use the term "weed" for native species.  (Sure, they can be invasive, and there are some I regret planting, but I save the word "weed" for introduced naturalized species.)  
Again, there are many Stachys that are perfectly behaved (many more than the few I'm growing or know of, I'm sure!  I'm going to go look back thru the Open Rock Garden thread... Simon has probably already shown more than I knew existed!  ) so again, one can't really generalize...

[WimB]

Some of the plants that are flowering today:

1) Anemonella thalictroides 'Betty Blake' (flowering out of season  )
2) Anemonopsis macrophylla
3) Passiflora caerulea

[gote]

Is Deinanthe caeruela 'Blue Wonder' really a cultivar of caerulea or actually a hybrid? There are many nurseries which list it as a hybrid (caerulea x bifida) - I share that opinion - but others sell it as a cultivar of caeruela...

I ertainly do not know enough about them but I bought my BW as a cultivar. However, it is definitely earlier and easier to grow than the one I bought as "straight" caerula"  It is probably also hardier but I am ot quite sure. I will try to form an opinion later this year. There are no open flowers yet.
Göte

[gote]

Cohan, yes, that's my own preference as well... I don't use the term "weed" for native species.  (Sure, they can be invasive, and there are some I regret planting, but I save the word "weed" for introduced naturalized species.)  
Again, there are many Stachys that are perfectly behaved (many more than the few I'm growing or know of, I'm sure!  I'm going to go look back thru the Open Rock Garden thread... Simon has probably already shown more than I knew existed!  ) so again, one can't really generalize...

So a dandelion is not a weed 
My definition is: A weed is a plant that is in the wrong place.
Some gardeners try in vain to eradicate plants that other gardeners are unable to grow.
I try to get rid of Anemone nemorosa, Fritillaria camtschatkensis and Scilla siberica in many places but I cannot grow English bluebells nor Ornithogalum nutans.
Of course som plants are likely to become weeds if introduced - meaning that most places are wrong.
Göte

[Lori S.]

Each to his own, of course, Gote! 
With respect to dandelions, my definition works neatly for me... the dandelions that occur in my yard (that blow in from the city playground behind us, grrr!) are indeed weeds, since Taraxacum officinale and T. laevigatum are introduced here.  (But T. ceratophorum is a native plant, which doesn't cause me any weeding chores anyway.   )