Flowering Now - August 2009

[pehe]

Here is some pics from my garden a sunny morning after some rain. The Scilla is under glass. I have tried it outside, but it did not survive the first winter. The Rhododendron is out of time and so is some of my Sternbergia. I have seen the first buds in St. lutea and siclula, so shortly I post some flowers.

Poul

[ranunculus]

Super images Gunilla, Paul and Poul (sounds like a folk group)!   

[gote]

Among things I grow is also Pinus silverstris  
and Anemonopsis macrophylla (Thank you Ståle) Yes I will remove the Aegpodium  
And Stenanthium gramineum  v robustum that has survived for over forty years with me - must be a real survivor.
Cheers
Göte

[cohan]

Here is some pics from my garden a sunny morning after some rain. The Scilla is under glass. I have tried it outside, but it did not survive the first winter. The Rhododendron is out of time and so is some of my Sternbergia. I have seen the first buds in St. lutea and siclula, so shortly I post some flowers.
Poul

thanks for these, poul, autumn bulbs are a group i don't know much about, so its interesting to see more... acis is esp interesting to me from this posting...

[Lori S.]

How depress...errr, interesting, I mean, to see those fall bulbs in bloom!   

1) Quite odd to have columbines blooming in mid-August but I guess that's the weird climate here... Aquilegia vulgaris hybrid.
2) Wild cucumber, Echinocystis lobata - native to the river valleys of southern Saskatchewan, and south and east from there.  A fragrant, vigorous, annual vine with interesting seedpods (which I'll show later unless someone begs me not to  )... My mom grew this on the fence, and as a kid, I always found them quite fascinating.   (Googling it just now, I see it is an invasive weed in Serbia   ... Oops, sorry, but on the other hand, maybe it's only fair we give one invasive weed back in return...   )
3) Clematis viticella 'Rubra'... or possibly 'Polish Spirit'?  (We have a lot of mislabelled clematis!)
4) 'Evans' sour cherry, ready for picking.
5) Betula apoiensis
6) Gentiana dahurica
7) Gentiana paradoxa
8 ) Silene x robotii 'Rollie's Favorite' has been blooming since the beginning of June... the leaves have gotten a little bug-chewed, but it's been quite impressive.   (Perhaps this redeems the reputation of the genus Silene a little...  )
9) Yucca filamentosa, starting to open.

[Rodger Whitlock]

• Acis autumnalis.jpg
• Codonopsis convolvulaceae.jpg
• Colchicum montana.jpg
• Cosmos astrosanguineus.jpg
• Crocosmia & Hortensia.jpg
• Rhodondendron.jpg
• Roscoea humeana-1.jpg
• Scilla lingulata ciliolata.jpg

The acis is one of the best of the very small bulbs, but has a vice it shares with other small species of acis: ex-flower stems bearing seed capsules. These rather spoil the appearance of a good patch.

Your Cosmos atrosanguineus doesn't look like the ones here. Ours are solid maroon or black-red, with no lighter area in the center. I find that it has to be pot grown for protection from excessive winter moisture and freezing temperatures. Do you grow yours in the open garden or in a container?

Finally, that crocosmia reminds me of the cultivar 'Jupiter', a good uniform orange, but orange cultivars of crocosmia are a dime a dozen so I won't say that it *is* Jupiter.

[Rodger Whitlock]

Among things I grow is . . .  Anemonopsis macrophylla . . .

A lovely plant that like many other Japanese plants has to be container grown in my garden. Otherwise the squelchy saturated winter soil will cause them to rot away - if, that is, they haven't desiccated away to nothingness during our usual summer drought. I've also found that anemonopsis cannot take direct sun; the leaves scorch almost instantly. Definitely a plant for a shady, cool position that's moist in summer and well drained in winter.

I've gradually been moving mine (grown from seed) into increasingly larger pots; it's now in a 5-liter pot and flowering to beat the band! Next year, 10-liters!

I expect to harvest a good crop of seed for the exchanges in a few more weeks. Watch for a posting in the I'm So Happy thread.

[cohan]

How depress...errr, interesting, I mean, to see those fall bulbs in bloom!   

2) Wild cucumber, Echinocystis lobata -
5) Betula apoiensis
7) Gentiana paradoxa
8 ) Silene x robotii 'Rollie's Favorite' has been blooming since the beginning of June... the leaves have gotten a little bug-chewed, but it's been quite impressive.   (Perhaps this redeems the reputation of the genus Silene a little...  )
9) Yucca filamentosa, starting to open.

more good food for gardening thought...
-i have admired the cucumber on seed lists, haven't seen one in person, yet..
-the betula is interesting--what is its ultimate form? i find small trees fascinating,was  looking closely at some birches on kristl's list
-i have no problems considering silene a genus with good and bad members... actually, i was rather fond of the weedy species, until i saw how profusely it was sprouting this spring in the bit of veg garden i dug last year--no space between the seedlings in places! and fat roots!
--how does the yucca look in spring in calgary? this was a very common plant in toronto, but it looked awful in spring after snow melt--very flattened and battered looking, eventually recovering, but really nice (okay-spectacular!) only in flower, absolutely without the the foliar appeal of glauca, which was very uncommon there.. maybe your lesser snowfall would leave it looking better?

[ashley]

3) Clematis viticella 'Rubra'... or possibly 'Polish Spirit'?  (We have a lot of mislabelled clematis!)

Lori, what I have as 'Polish Spirit' is a deep blue-violet so maybe yours is 'rubra'.

[Maggi Young]

Rodger, I am pretty sure that Poul's Cosmos does not really have a pale center..... the pic is taken in rain and what we are seeing ("reading") as a pale middle is just reflection from the wet surface.....

[Maggi Young]

At this time of year many of you have been busy seed collecting. May I ask you a favour?
As you collect and clean the seed, would you please take photos of the various seed types you have, spread on 1mm graph paper to show the scale, and send the named photos to me in the first instance. The idea will be to post them in a special seed ID section of the forum and produce a "library" of  photos of seed likely to be found in the seed exchanges of the SRGC, NARGS and  AGS .

We are trying to compile a file of photos of correctly named seed to help identify true seed for packers of the seed exchanges and to let folks see if the seed they "think" they have bears any resemblence to the true type seed at all!
It would be very helpful if forumists with seed they know to be true, would be so kind as to take part in this project.  It will be an enormous task, taking many years to amass a full list of seeds likely to be of interest to rock gardeners, but with many helpers we hope progress can be made.
I do hope you will all consider taking part in this project.

[Lori S.]

-the betula is interesting--what is its ultimate form?
--how does the yucca look in spring in calgary?

I assume that that is pretty much the ultimate form of Betula apoiensis; it's been there about 10-11 years.  Both Yucca filamentosa and Yucca glauca look pretty much the same year round here.

Thanks, Ashley.

[cohan]

I assume that that is pretty much the ultimate form of Betula apoiensis; it's been there about 10-11 years.  Both Yucca filamentosa and Yucca glauca look pretty much the same year round here.

thanks, lori..good to know... of course my snow conditions are very different than yours, though still not wet like toronto...

[pehe]

The acis is one of the best of the very small bulbs, but has a vice it shares with other small species of acis: ex-flower stems bearing seed capsules. These rather spoil the appearance of a good patch.

Your Cosmos atrosanguineus doesn't look like the ones here. Ours are solid maroon or black-red, with no lighter area in the center. I find that it has to be pot grown for protection from excessive winter moisture and freezing temperatures. Do you grow yours in the open garden or in a container?

Finally, that crocosmia reminds me of the cultivar 'Jupiter', a good uniform orange, but orange cultivars of crocosmia are a dime a dozen so I won't say that it *is* Jupiter.

Rodger,

The flowers of C. atrosanguineus was quite wet, and that gives an illusion of a lighter center area. When dry they are uniform maroon and not shiny at all. In fact they look almost as velvet fabric.

I like the different ways flowers look wet/dry, sunshine/dim light/sunset light, but I must admit it can be confusing to identify the plant from a single photo, taken when the flower did not look 'normal'.

The Crocosmia is a nameless cultivar bought in a garden center many years ago before my interest in bulbs started. It could certainly be Jupiter.
Thanks for your comment.

Poul

[pehe]

Rodger, I am pretty sure that Poul's Cosmos does not really have a pale center..... the pic is taken in rain and what we are seeing ("reading") as a pale middle is just reflection from the wet surface.....

Maggi,

Your eyes are very sharp!
You are absolutely right, the pale middle is just light reflections.

By the way, I am collecting seeds now, and I will be glad to send photos to the seed database.

Poul