Flowering Now - August 2009

[cohan]

Cohan,
Yes the region became heath after ruthless deforestation during the time when industrialisation advanced followed by sheepgrazing. Around the first decades of the last century reforestation began and the scenery changed once more. Interestingly the names for places which were heathland didn't change. For instance there is a wooded hill near my home which is called ' Heidufer ', which means border of heathland.
Around 1986 the town of Solingen decided to restore the original cultural landscape. Trees were felled and additionally the humus layer was removed partly.
After some time an interesting phenomenon was observed.
Suddenly lots of plants occured which where kept for regionally extinct. Also a lot of rare insects were seen.
Today it is a nature reserve of about 150 hectare.
Gerd

wow, complicated! so really it is ORIGINALLY  forest, people turned it into heath by deforestation, then the forest recovered, and then people decided they wanted the heath back! very interesting!

[cohan]

Wouldn't the flower form alone indicate it to be Jovibarba rather than Sempervivum... or is that an oversimplification?  

i looked over the article on differentiation of the genera again, and yes, as joop mentioned, the flower form is a defining character;
( http://stalikez.info/fsm/semp/site/jov_gb.php?clc=12&zc=AeHa1b1g1f1f1i1r1zu1g )
interestingly, the article mentions (among many other things) that the two branches of Jovibarba (heuffelii vs the other species) are no nearer each other than they are to Sempervivum, and that while Jovis are sometimes considered an extreme development of Semp, Semp may be closer to genera such as Aeonium..

shows how artificial and at times arbitrary our classification systems are...

[mark smyth]

RR I find the life of a Gazania flower depends on the weather. Sunny days are best. Too much rain and they rot. I've had some come through our winters

Rodger I have seeds of Berlandiera but never got round to sowing them

[Sinchets]

Thanks Joop and Cohan. I've never grown Jovibarba before and didn't now what the differences were between them and Sempervivum. It was difficult to deccide whether the differences in flower structure seen on two plants in the wild is just due to the age of the flowers or anomalous individuals.
They were growing on both mountains we visited and we will look out for seed when we return. 

[cohan]

Thanks Joop and Cohan. I've never grown Jovibarba before and didn't now what the differences were between them and Sempervivum. It was difficult to deccide whether the differences in flower structure seen on two plants in the wild is just due to the age of the flowers or anomalous individuals.
They were growing on both mountains we visited and we will look out for seed when we return. 

same as anything--until you are familiar with them, you can't know which characters are the distinguishing ones, and which, as you say, are just variation or senescence etc..

[Anthony Darby]

I have several clumps of Orobanche hederae in the garden. I even have some purple flowered ones.

[Hristo]

Bravo Anthony,
Not a sight you see often in a garden!
Do they flower reliably?

[ranunculus]

Superb, Anthony ... we see so many broomrapes growing in the wild in the Dolomites, it is just as wonderful to see them flourishing in your garden. Do you take the credit for how they got there or is it a natural process?

[Anthony Darby]

Good old SRGC seed exchange seed. Just scattered them at the base of my ivy and waited 3 years. They flower every year, and every year I get plenty of seed. I notice my neighbour also has it growing in front of his ivy. Oops! I have even planted it at school where it has been flowering every year for the past five years. A useful resource for Advanced Higher Biology, which delves into parasitism.

[Ragged Robin]

Anthony, does the Orobanche hederae live on the roots of the ivy?

[Stephenb]

I have several clumps of Orobanche hederae in the garden. I even have some purple flowered ones.

So, the purple flowered ones are not the norm then? I've broadcast seed just as you did (originally from one of the seed exchanges and last time from collected from a wild plant in Southern England) and both times flowers appeared after 3 years. However, I had to introduce ivy here first as it's not a native this far north. Yes, Robin, it is parasitic on the roots of ivy. My flowers have always been purplish (see below). However, I've had a maximum of two years of flowering and they disappear again.  I've also sowed Orobanche uniflora in 2007 (around a couple of Solidago canadensis cultivars), so I should start looking out for that one...

[Anthony Darby]

Here's a pic of Orobanche buds on (variegated) ivy roots in May 2007. The ivy was grown in a half barrel which I was redoing.

[joop huyslook]

Wouldn't the flower form alone indicate it to be Jovibarba rather than Sempervivum... or is that an oversimplification?  

As Cohan already pointed out, the flower form is indeed the main differentiating character between Sempervivum and Jovibarba. Some botanists however consider this difference as too scanty and they join the two genera under the name Sempervivum.

Again, as Cohan already wrote, Jovibarba heuffelii multiplies by division of the growing point and not by sending out offsets on very slender, easily detaching stolons (the so-called rollers) like the other Jovibarbas. Unfortunately, this division phenomenon is not visible in Sinchets' pictures.

[Lori S.]

Lori, your white Verbascum blattaria is really pretty opening out to show those wine coloured stamens...is it a tall one?  

Yes, V. blattaria is 5' tall here.

Re. Jovibarba - thanks, all, for the confirmation.

I fall in love with Dalea - lokked up the internet, cannot found in Hungary
how do you multiply it? seeds or stem division?

Arykana, it's easiest to propagate by seed - I'll make seeds available later on if anyone is interested.  It has a deep tap root, which gives it drought-tolerance.  

Simon, those are amazingly massive Rhodiola rosea, compared to those in the mountains here, which don't seem to get to 10 cm!

[Sinchets]

Lori, again Rhodiola rosea is another plant I haven't seen in real life before- I am hoping my id is correct as the leaves looked right- but i wasn't sure about the flowers.  There are a few species of Sedum found in that area- but again I have never seen them before either. The plants were growing in the shade of boulders and water was still flowing under the whole area.