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

[astragalus]

The lichens have been there forever.  A Geologist once visited and immediately said the same thing, 'you have really pure air'.  The rocks that were uncovered during the digging out of the rock garden have also acquired lichens.  One steep slab of rock has a sheet of moss despite full sun all day.  It's rather treacherous to be on it even when it's dry.  One visitor thought I should be growing things on the moss.

[astragalus]

Tim, I loved your 'crevice trough'.  Who gets to take that one home?
We had to remove a slate roof and I now have a lifetime supply of slates for troughs.  Tufa has gotten so expensive now that you're very careful where you use it.  Mine mostly goes into the tufa garden with new plants.

[astragalus]

Tim, do you have a list of the plants in the big 'crevice trough'.  I tried but even under magnification couldn't read all the labels.

[Tim Ingram]

Anne - unfortunately the big crevice trough was put together in situ so we had to pull the whole thing apart at the end of the Show. We distributed all the plants between us! I haven't got a list but will have to look on the original image I have if there is anything that particularly stands out.

Amongst the more choice plants are Anchusa caespitosa, Lewisia rediviva, Saxifraga 'Southside Seedling', Lithodora oleifolia, Leptinella atrata dendyi, Dianthus microlepis and Verbascum 'Letitia'. Quite a few of these came from the superb alpine wholesale nursery W.H.G. Mann & Son in Essex, very close to where the Essex AGS Group meet, plus a whole lot of things we grew ourselves. I've written about it in more detail on the AGS website (if I remember rightly somewhere under 'Any Other Topics' and 'Local Groups').

This is something I could imagine doing on a bigger (but still relatively small!) scale at the Chelsea Show but it is impossible without quite a bit of support and we still have our own garden to manage too. Your garden just looks so inspiring - you must say if you are ever visiting the UK; it would be great to learn more about it.

This is another neat little pairing of plants from the display - Lewisia & Zaluzianskya. The great thing about doing this is the freedom you have to associate plants and make a picture, but of course it is instantaneous so not really realistic in terms of how a garden develops more slowly over time. I can imagine that you deliberate for a long time deciding on the best spot for many plants!

[astragalus]

Tim, those are some great plants you put in that trough.
Yes, I do spend a lot of time thinking about siting the plants, because they will probably have to stay there forever, (or as forever as alpine plants get).
I played hooky once and went to Nottingham for the Conference and it was spectacular.  Once I got over the guilty feeling of leaving my garden at that time of year, I had a fabulous time, met wonderful people, some of whom I had "met" on the Forum.  Went on the pre-conference garden tour and that was so amazing.  I would love to come again another spring, both to see the English gardens again and to see the Scottish gardens I missed.  The plant show was incredible.  We simply don't have shows like that in the U.S.
Please tell me something about the plant you showed, Zaluzianskya.  I recall seeing that in a pot at the AGS Pershore Headquarters, but never learned anything about it.  Anything you can tell me about habit, hardiness and culture would be greatly appreciated.

[Lori S.]

What an absolutely incredible rock garden you have, Anne!  I love seeing these photos!

Tim, stunning displays, as well!

Astragalus loanus is blooming heroically this year, and I suddenly "get" why rock gardeners might seek it out!
  

[Tim Ingram]

Dear Anne, Zaluzianskya ovata grows on partially shaded cliff faces at quite high altitude in the Drakensberg (see Hilliard & Burtt - The Botany of the Southern Natal Drakensberg), so it should be pretty hardy, probably similar to some of the Diascia species like D. integerrima and vigilis which we have found hardy with us. The flowers are rather wonderful with their red reverse, only opening early and late in the day. We haven't grown it long enough to test it properly in the garden but I'm not sure that many gardeners have found the genus that long lived. I wonder if it has been grown at Denver? (Almost certainly I would have thought).

I am smitten by Astragalus loanus that Lori and you have shown - only seen this once or twice at Alpine Shows but it's very subtle compared with some of the more colourful species. Really must keep trying these until I find a way of succeeding with them!

[Chris Johnson]

One steep slab of rock has a sheet of moss despite full sun all day.  It's rather treacherous to be on it even when it's dry.  One visitor thought I should be growing things on the moss.

Mosses are a wonderful group of plants which can stand complete dessication for months and rehydrate in minutes. Bryophytes are not generally welcome in pots though.

[astragalus]

Lori, maybe this is just the year for Astragalus loanus.  Great pictures and I hope you get lots of pods for seed.  I'm down to two pods because we have been having grey, wet, dismal weather and this often occurs when the astragalus and oxytropis pods are forming.  The result is predictable and the pods will turn to mush although the plant usually survives - very frustrating, because A. loanus had such a bumper crop of flowers this year.  Your plant really looks fabulous.  Do you grow Astragalus gilviflorus in your garden?  I think you said that it grew nearby.

Tim, that Zaluzianskya ovata is a lovely thing.  I've not been able to get Diascias through the winter so far, so the hardiness for me would be questionable.  We are in a microclimate because of the garden being exposed to so much wind and frequently without snow cover.  It's great in one way because most alpines suffer without air movement,
but in the winter they usually have some snow cover and are protected.  I would imagine that it's been tried at DBG because they have pioneered so many South African plants.

[astragalus]

Mosses are a wonderful group of plants which can stand complete dessication for months and rehydrate in minutes. Bryophytes are not generally welcome in pots though.

I think mosses are lovely, but not to navigate on!  It grows in full sun and wind on a very steep section of the back of the cliff and I don't know why it only grows there.  I can maneuver on either side of it but I basically stay off it even when it's dry because it's possible to reach in from each side and remain in one piece.  I've learned the hard way not to work on rock when it's at all wet - put moss on top of that and you really have the 'slippery slope'.

[astragalus]

V bright, sunny day fro a change.  Bad for photography but I had to take a couple anyway.  The Penstemon debilis is an absolute gem to my eye.  The leaves are really blue.  It grows in a geographically retricted area and one that is extremely hostile, if not perilous, to seed collectors - in a steep sliding scree atop perpendicular cliffs and below other perpendicular cliffs.  The seed collector in this case was Alan Bradshaw of Alplains Seed Catalog.  I hope everyone is well acquainted with this catalog.  P. debilis actually put out some flowers in the fall and then the temperatures bottomed but it survived and has many, many buds.  You can see the effect of our recent damp and rain on the leaves but it's still beautiful.
1.  Penstemon debilis

[astragalus]

More in the crevice garden, this one on the back of the cliff.

     Arenaria hookeri.
     Asperula sp.

[ranunculus]

Absolutely superb, Anne.

[David Nicholson]

I love your posts Anne, always something different, always something new to learn.

[Lori S.]

Lori... Do you grow Astragalus gilviflorus in your garden?  I think you said that it grew nearby.

I had it some time ago, until it was undermined by ants and died (as I'd mentioned a couple pages ago).  It's native but not locally.
Enjoying the photos... the diversity of your plants is wonderful!