Crevice Gardening ......in defence of rock.....

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Superb Genista's Anne !! 

[ranunculus]

Absolutely glorious genistas, Anne.

[Lesley Cox]

The genistas are stunning among the rocks and the fall of their stems is very lovely.
I imagjne the erinacea will just love your garden Anne, once it really gets going. It's very reliable too, flowering year after year no matter what the conditions are.

[astragalus]

Lesley, the erinaceas have been in the garden for a few years not doing much of anything.  Having seen it in bloom in someone's garden once was enough to
keep me patient.  It was so exciting to see buds this year on one plant.  Where do you grow it?  Soil type etc?  I have it in full sun in a fairly lean, fast-draining mix.  Perhaps this is not optimal?

[Tim Ingram]

I think it must take a time to get into flowering mode. I have had a plant for four years or so and this year it is flowering for the first time - I hope it will go from better to better. The best plant I have ever seen was in a ground level raised bed inside a long dutch light greenhouse at the Malahide Garden in Dublin - you could hardly see the plant for flowers! Summer heat and dryness probably helps.

[Maggi Young]

Summer heat and dryness probably helps.

Hmmmm, summer heat and dryness....... no, sorry, I'm sure I should know what that means, but in Aberdeen it's an alien concept! 

[Lesley Cox]

I have two very large plants now and they are both in hot, full sun troughs which are never watered except by rain. One is of limestone though the mix was not made limey and the other is hypertufa, both exceptionally well drained. In fact, the limestone trough broke in half corner to opp corner when we moved here and was put together again just by binding heavy wire round it and there's a gap of about a cm from top to bottom, right across, so no moisture is able to accumulate.

I think it was about 10 years before the first one flowered and perhaps 5 or 6 for the second. Both flower very well each year and if I can bring myself to suffer the pain, give good seed. It has to be collected very carefully and I use a pair of long-handled tweezer things, such as my doc uses to remove splinters of glass from a foot. The seed germinates reliably and quite quickly.

Talking of which, from a March sowing of Holubec's Anarthrophyllum desideratum, I have, so far, one seedling up, about a month ago. Its first true leaf is a sharp spine, so true to its common name!

[astragalus]

Thanks so much for the Erinacea pungens information, it's very helpful.  Lucky you to have an anarthrophyllum seedling.  All the peas I saw in Patagonia were fabulous and I'd be thrilled to be growing any one of them.  Good luck with your seedling and may there be more soon.

[cohan]

Hmmmm, summer heat and dryness....... no, sorry, I'm sure I should know what that means, but in Aberdeen it's an alien concept! 

Same here, certainly in the last few years!

[astragalus]

Such a wonderful time of year!  My garden was open yesterday for the Garden Conservancy and I was lucky to have a number of professional garden people come.  Marvelous to have people who know what they're seeing, and they made the six hours the garden was open seem like six minutes.  A few pictures of
more things blooming and work progress on the back of the cliff (with apologies to Ranunculus!).   Is there no one who can identify my gorgeous astragalus?

    DSC06249 Astragalus sp.
    DSC06251 Saponaria 'Bressingham'
    DSC06253 Penstemon davidsonii
    DSC06255 Anthyllis vulneraria ssp atlantis
    DSC06259 Chamaecytisus pygmaea
    DSC06258 Progress on back of cliff
    DSC06257 and closer up

[ranunculus]

Looking as magnificent as ever, Anne.  That astragalus is to die for!!!

[Maggi Young]

  Is there no one who can identify my gorgeous astragalus?

I haven't a clue what it is , Anne, but I love it - and it looks to be so happy with you.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I haven't a clue what it is , Anne, but I love it - and it looks to be so happy with you.

I agree fully with Maggi, Anne ! 

[astragalus]

Maggi and Luc, so far it's growing larger and blooming better each year and I'm just trusting that that means it wants what I'm giving it - lean, fast-draining scree and full sun.  But before it decides to leave the garden permanently, it would be nice to know what it is so I can look for seed.  So far it has flowered each year but made no pods.  Maybe this year?

[Maggi Young]

I have been intrigued by Anne's lovely Astragalus, which I thought was an American species and have been  wondering where I have seen something like it.
Anne, might it be a Turkish species? Mojmir Pavelka has shown a little furry yellow species which he calls Astragalus pelliger... though I think that is not a fully accepted name... have a look at this plant from Dedegol Dag in  the IRG  #23 - page 7......
http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2011Nov241322170676IRG_23_-_November2011_.pdf 


 edited to add : and here is another pic from Mojmir - http://www.pavelkaalpines.cz/Photos/Turkey2010/astragaluspelliger2600mbolkardagturkey.html