Flowering Now - August 2009

[Lori S.]

Simon, I wasn't implying that the ID was wrong (it looks correct, from what I can tell, and your familiarity with a range of plants is much broader than mine  ... only that Rhodiola rosea/Sedum roseum (and the dozen other names it's gone by) occurs over such a vast range, and in such varying habitat (lowlands to alpine - though only alpine here), that it may well be extremely variable in habit.  The plant I have in a trough is also gigantic compared to any I've seen here... and has only ever produced yellow flowers, oddly (which is said to be "rare" in my local reference).

[Sinchets]

No problem, Lori. I am just doubtful of my id as the plants seemed so much more 'blousy' than any of the pics I found online. 

[Stephenb]

Simon, I wasn't implying that the ID was wrong (it looks correct, from what I can tell, and your familiarity with a range of plants is much broader than mine  ... only that Rhodiola rosea/Sedum roseum (and the dozen other names it's gone by) occurs over such a vast range, and in such varying habitat (lowlands to alpine - though only alpine here), that it may well be extremely variable in habit.  The plant I have in a trough is also gigantic compared to any I've seen here... and has only ever produced yellow flowers, oddly (which is said to be "rare" in my local reference).

It is indeed a very variable species. There was a research project here in Norway investigating Rhodiola rosea and with help from radio etc, plant material was sent in from all over the country. On my recent trip to Northern Norway, I visited a woman producing roseroot commercially based on a mix of seed from the material collected. Wandering around her field, I was astonished by the diversity (see the pictures below). Rhodiola rosea is dioecious (separate male and female plants). I have been told that whereas the males wilt, the females become orange/reddish after pollination (as in the pictures) - at least, the seed pods are a reddish colour.

I suspect that Simon's plant isn't Rhodiola (this is quite an early flowerer - May in my garden and early June in Northern Norway) - perhaps Sedum telephium or similar?

[Lori S.]

Very interesting... no comment on the ID ( ) but Rhodiola rosea are still in bloom in the high elevations here, while the one in the trough blooms (yellow) in mid-May.
In a previous version of Flora of Alberta, the subspecies that occurs here was said to be Sedum rosea ssp. integrifolium, updated in my version to Tolmachevia integrifolia, and now seemingly all lumped under Rhodiola rosea... ?  The reference notes that yellow-flowered ones are "rare" in the wild here... I've seen one... something I've been looking out for, since noting the size and flower colour differences between the trough plant and those in the wild (and having some hint from reading of there either being male and female flowers, or of it being dioecious). 
So if they are dioecious, then I suppose we are mostly only seeing ones that have already been fertilized - interesting.  With the plant in cultivation for medicinal purposes, surely it has been studied enough for that to be conclusive. 
In the above-noted reference, it is said that the flowers are polygamous (having some perfect and some unisexual flowers). 
Anyway, in sum, I have not known what to make of all this!   (Hmm, odd though, with the bloom through July, sometimes into August here, not to see more unfertilized flowers?  Another mystery of nature for me!)

[fermi de Sousa]

the nameless, but loved:

Hi Erika,
I think your "nameless, but loved" flowers are Lycoris, possibly L. squamigera or even L. sprengeri.
cheers
fermi

[Stephenb]

I read somewhere that Rhodiola rosea sometimes has a mix of sexes, but is usually dioecious. I had 3 plants in my garden for many years and never a seed was produced. Then I discovered that it was dioecious and concluded that my plants were probably clones. I was given male and female plants from another grower, in Lofoten, in June..

Sadly, the market for Rhodiola has collapsed and the distributor for the plants in the field I showed pictures from went bankrupt in the spring....

[Stephenb]

Korean Angelica, Angelica gigas is a fantastic plant. It self-sows in my garden.

The flowers are just emerging now - these two reminded me of courting black swans:

[Lori S.]

Beautiful sombre tones on the angelica!  Very nice analogy, too!  Do you find that the flowers are extremely attractive to wasps there?  That seems to be the case here... few bees on them, but many, many wasps, for some reason.  Does it have an "edimental" use for you, e.g. candying the stems for "angelica", or... ?  (Another biennial that never reseeds for me, sadly.)

Oh, I meant to add re. Rhodiola rosea that I have some photos from the wild that show red buds as well as red flowers... something else I don't know what to make of.

1, 2) First of the sour cherry harvest, soon to be turned into pie (after the tedious, sticky chore of pitting them!  )  These are from 'Carmine Jewel', a bush type - the cherries are only about 15mm in diameter.  'Evans', a small single-trunked tree - quite ornamental - will be another couple of weeks... but much bigger, sweeter (though still tartish) and more rewarding to mess with!
3) Few (only a single spike on this plant) but very large flowers on Verbascum eriophorum, and chubby apricot-coloured buds amidst the dense white fuzz.
4) Lallemantia canescens, finally.... and these are a shadow of their former buxom, sprawling selves!  It appears the old plants died out and these came back from seed, in heavy competition from other plants.  Well, next year will be interesting to see if they remain small or if they take on their old form again.  
5) Campanula cochlearifolia 'Elizabeth Oliver'
6) A plant that I enjoy just as much before it blooms as after... buds on Carlina acaulis.
7)  Gentiana tibetica
8 ) Reaching for the sky, Cephalaria gigantea
9) Heading that way too... Cimicifuga racemosa
10) Telekia speciosa... big and coarse, or a plant with presence, depending on one's viewpoint, LOL!

[cohan]

Korean Angelica, Angelica gigas is a fantastic plant. It self-sows in my garden.

The flowers are just emerging now - these two reminded me of courting black swans:

very poetic! so the actual flowers are white, and just surrounding foliage/bracts etc is dark? looks like a really nice plant... how 'gigas' is it?

[Ragged Robin]

I've heard of sour cherries but never tasted them - they really are the most wonderful looking 'jewels', Lori 

Fantastic sculptural plants in your photos, every time something to amazing to gaze at 

[cohan]

1, 2) First of the sour cherry harvest, soon to be turned into pie (after the tedious, sticky chore of pitting them!  )  These are from 'Carmine Jewel', a bush type - the cherries are only about 15mm in diameter.  'Evans', a small single-trunked tree - quite ornamental - will be another couple of weeks... but much bigger, sweeter (though still tartish) and more rewarding to mess with!

we have (i think) sand cherries almost ripe, although its always a race with the birds here for any berries--some young robins have already started on the cherries, half ripe, and waxwings and maybe robins too are already at the half-ripe saskatoons also.... oddly, no one seems to bother the wild raspberries all over the place...

btw, big coarse plants with presence are a good thing, too..you must have rather a large lot for the city?

[Lori S.]

Hi, Cohan... yeah, I have a soft spot for big, burly plants!  And I just generally like variety.  Yes, the lot is quite big for in the city - a corner lot, approximately 1/3 acre.  (Still, I have dreams of annexing the playground behind us...  )  
The Nanking cherries are also ripe... but are too deep in there and too high up to get at, so the birds can have them! 
(And the pies are in the oven, as we "speak"...)

As always, thank you for the kind words, Robin!    

[cohan]

lori--nice to have a bit of space
my fascination is with tiny plants, but with the space i have here, i can do some big things, and some things on kristl's list have caught my eye, for sure, and we do have some of the larger native asters, cow parsnips, fireweed growing naturally around the edges..i will definitely be giving them some  even bigger company..
one i have from kristl--just seeded--is an Aralia (continentalis i think) that i'm thinking of for sort of woodland edges--which describes most of my yard..lol

[Stephenb]

I'm also harvesting sour cherries this weekend and dry most of them - they are much sweeter (like most other fruit) but pleasantly sour when dried,  my favourite dry fruit which I can't get enough of. I netted as much of the trees as possible a couple of days ago as the birds were devouring them (mainly Fieldfares, Redwings and Starlings).

[Lori S.]

Stephen, that's a great idea for the next batch I'll have to pick from 'Carmine Jewel' - thanks!

Just more stuff in bloom...
1) Filipendula rubra, queen-of-the-prairie.
2) Thymus serpyllum - it's been delightful watching the bumble bees in this since it opened the other day.
3) Sidalcea malviflora
4) Campanula punctata and Astrantia carniolica; my favourite astrantia, as the flowers retain their colour long after they are spent.
5) Hemerocallis 'Yellow Pinwheel'
6) Clematis 'Jackmanii'
7) Hemerocallis 'Jersey Spider'