Castilleja

[cohan]

some time ago, and on another forum, i promised some pictures of Castilleja,
these are from a site just up the road from me, rather rich, florally --i will post some general views and other random flowers in Alberta Wanderings, tentatively, to see if there is any interest... as well as slightly more comprehensive albums with slightly larger images, on picasa, for anyone with a particular interest in these...

 i presume these to be Castilleja miniata, since that is the only species i know to be in my area. it's fairly common around here, in a range of colours, but i have never come across a population as varied as this! these plants are on the open edge of a poplar/mixed forest, just off a gravel secondary road; the main population is in an area maybe 10 metres deep, and 50 metres long, to take a wild guess! the various colours grow right beside one another...
there are two visits represented here, July 01 and July 22, 2009.

[Paul T]

Beautiful, Cohan.  Interesting range of colours.

[cohan]

thanks, paul--really, this is too many photos, i guess, but the whole point is to show how much variation there is--and of course no two castilleja flowers are the same in form, even if they are the same colour(s)..
my favourites are the real red at the very end, and some of the very light (not quite whites), and the mixed colours--one or two of those would be about right at christmas!

[cohan]

last set of these, including a couple of not so great critter shots (cropped from the larger images, and enhanced a bit)--- i am no longer surprised to see all sorts of fauna lurking in flowers and foliage when i see them enlarged on the computer screen!
and one view of the area where these are growing...

[Paul T]

Fascinating.   Even more of a range of colours.  The reds do stand out don't they.

[cohan]

paul--the orangey scarlet, along with the sort of salmony-pink are the most common colours (not just in this stand, but in my area overall); the real red is not so common, and does stand out, along with the very pale ones; no true yellow or white--they are all sort of creamy or greeny, and no real pink...

[Lesley Cox]

Do you find these are easy to grow Cohan? I only have ever tried C. miniata, with some tiny success but after a couple of flowerings it went west.

[cohan]

i havent tried to grow them yet! i guess they should grow easily enough for me, since they grow as near as maybe 50 -100metres across the road in several directions...
for some reason, there are none in the woods right on my acreage, and i do plan to spread some seed around in natural areas...

i'm sure you already know they are semi-parasitic and need to grow or at least grow best with some host species, but i am hardly an expert on that..
i'm pretty sure lori grows them in her garden, so she will probably have something more useful to contribute..

[Regelian]

Cohan,

can't possibly be too many fotos!  Wow, amazing variation in colour and form.  I was unaware of this plant until now, although the Indian Paintbrush species are all over North America and apparently northern Asia as well..  Funny, I never really thought of it as a garden plant, but it certainly could be lovely in a wilder garden or integrated into a field-type planting. 

Thanks for sharing these!

[cohan]

Cohan,

can't possibly be too many fotos!  Wow, amazing variation in colour and form.  I was unaware of this plant until now, although the Indian Paintbrush species are all over North America and apparently northern Asia as well..  Funny, I never really thought of it as a garden plant, but it certainly could be lovely in a wilder garden or integrated into a field-type planting. 

Thanks for sharing these!

thanks, jamie, glad you found it interesting! i'm working on the photos that show more of what this habitat is like, will get those posted soon--along with some of the other things growing there--anemone, geranium etc;
i think a field/meadow planting is probably a good idea, since they like to have a host, although i think some people grow them without; i saved an article on castilleja cultivation that someone linked on one of the forums, but i didnt have any seed yet then, so didn't think too much about it, i will have to go back to read it again...lol

[Maggi Young]

Cohan, thanks for this great photo essay on the variation in this plant. I had no idea the range of colours was so wide.
We sometimes see a plant of Castilleja on the show benches in the UK but I don't know if anyone is successful in establishing it in a garden setting. 
I  find them very attractive flowers... the bugs notwithstanding! 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Very interesting series Cohan - there's something there for everybody's liking  !

We sometimes see a plant of Castilleja on the show benches in the UK but I don't know if anyone is successful in establishing it in a garden setting. 
I  find them very attractive flowers... the bugs notwithstanding! 

When I visited Wisley back in May, I remember Paul C. showed me some plants that were getting established in different settings. One area where they seemed to be starting to thrive was in the sand beds right beside the Alpine houses.

[Maggi Young]

I remember this one, from Wisley... in a trough....
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2009Jun191245425185Log_13_of_2009.pdf


 Two Logs re Sand Beds are these: http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2009Jul021246568306Log_14_of_2009.pdf

and http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2009Jul161247735866Log_15_of_2009.pdf

[fleurbleue]

wouah Cohan, what a beautiful palette !  My favourite ones are the cream and dark "pink" mixed  The first time I saw them was in Botanic Garden of Lautaret ( 1 900 m altitude) but they were only orange 

[David Nicholson]

Lovely set of pics Cohan, never worry about posting too many, too many never comes on this Forum