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

[astragalus]

Photographed late this afternoon with the sun quite low.  The Astragalus utahensis is the biggest excitement, not just because it had a second bloom, which it has never done before - but also there are now 3 seed pods developing.  In all the years I've grown this, it has never made seed pods.  It has also become the largest I've ever grown.  Of course, we had no rain for 10 weeks and now after a paltry rain last week we're back into drought mode.  Can't do much in the garden because it's like dust.

    DSC01589 Sedum cauticolum v lidakense
    DSC01592 Astragalus utahensis -
    DSC01595 seedpods
    DSC01591 Zauschneria 'Siskiyou Dwarf'

[Robert]

Anne,

I have been busy dealing with other matters and was delighted to see your posting. The weather must not always be so conducive for the dryland Astragalus species? I guess this has been a banner year for them.

Do you grow any South American dryland species such as some of the Adesmias?

It is still like dust around here too, 32 C or more every day.    I will be glad when the rainy season gets started, this should be very soon now. The forecast is for cooler weather at least.

I look forward to more photographs from your garden.

[astragalus]

Robert, our weather has cooled a little bit, thankfully, but still no rain and the forecast is for a warm and dry autumn.  At this rate, the astragalus seed pods may have time to mature.  I'm trying to grow Junellia macrantha from Patagonia.  It's still alive after 3 years but that's all I can say.  I think the South American plants may have difficulty with our cold winters and lack of reliable snow cover.  The adesmias and  arthrophyllums and astragalus that I saw would all be high on my list of plants to try.

[Robert]

The adesmias and  arthrophyllums and astragalus that I saw would all be high on my list of plants to try.

Anne,

Such species are high on my list too. I look forward to comparing notes as things progress. 

[Hoy]

I remember many Adesmia (and other) species from Argentina but unfortunately I didn't find any seeds. I would love to try some in my rockery!

The first is Adesmia corymbosa, the second is A. parvifolia. The two next is quite similar to parvifolia and the last one could be corymbosa.

[Robert]

Trond,

Adesmia, and many others, are species worth experimenting with here in California. It is much easier for me to be proactive with California Native species right now, and there is certainly a tremendous number to work with even locally.

Thank you for sharing the photographs. More ideas beyond Chileflora.

[Jupiter]

Chileflora don't have seed of Adesmia parvifolia nor any of the other compact alpine species of Adesmia, otherwise I would have been tempted to place an order today! Stunning plants and photographs Hoy, thank you for posting.

[astragalus]

Trond. great adesmia pictures.  All the ones I saw in Patagonia were yellow.  One was really tiny and grew at 10,000 feet along with a superb astragalus.  Our trip was between Nequen and Mendoza, very dry area for the most part.  Adesmias were everywhere. and a few were very compact (and very thorny).

[johnralphcarpenter]

Progress.

A few months later...

[Maggi Young]

Readers will remember the work of Zdenek Zvolanek to help create a super crevice garden at  RHS Wisley - On the VRV forum there are some photos from June 2015 which show the progress of the Crevice Garden etc .... enjoy!
 
http://www.vrvforum.be/forum/index.php?topic=1926.0

( You will also find a link to another VRV thread of a Wisley visit in 2011)

[astragalus]

Loved the update on the Wisley Crevice Garden, Maggi.  It was so new when I saw it.

[Maggi Young]

From Eugen Tarasov on Facebook :
"It is an axiom that the ideas for the rocky gardens we derive from natural rock formations. The ideal scheme: saw -liked, fixed, reproduced...
But reverse the course of events, when any garden creation, erected by inspiration, later finds its counterpart in reality. It is a holiday, granting the understanding that the work was relatively faithful.

Illustrations - 1) sandstone rock garden composed in 2010 at Moscow area, and 2) a small part of Swartberg mountain range at southern Africa in 2013." Eugen Tarasov

[Jupiter]

That's beautiful Maggi, a lovely natural formation and an uncanny similarity to the human formed outcrop. I encountered the misinformed prejudice against vertical rock work at an open garden recently. They had a small rock garden and I commented to the owner how I liked a particular section of it with some tall stones standing in a group. I said to him, "I like how you've positioned those stones, they feel very natural". His response took me aback; "Oh I don't know how natural it is when you start balancing stones up like that".  Huh? Do these people go around blindfolded? Or just filter what they see through their preconceived ideas of what should be?

[astragalus]

Jupiter, there's a place in New Mexico (Cochiti  Canyon, I think), where the canyon floor is littered with black "Apache Tears" (obsidian),
and the sides of the canyon have enormous boulders of some kind of hard rock balanced upon very high rock formations ending in a very skinny point.  The lower rock is much softer and has eroded at a different rate, thus making a scene which looks quite impossible.  You're walking way at the bottom, just waiting for these huge boulders to come crashing down.  Sorry, no picture.

[ranunculus]

Jupiter, there's a place in New Mexico (Cochiti  Canyon, I think), where the canyon floor is littered with back "Apache Tears" (obsidian),
and the sides of the canyon have enormous boulders of some kind of hard rock balanced upon very high rock formations ending in a very skinny point.  The lower rock is much softer and has eroded at a different rate, thus making a scene which looks quite impossible.  You're walking way at the bottom, just waiting for these huge boulders to come crashing down.  Sorry, no picture.

Would this be it, Anne?   

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/content/nm/en/prog/NLCS/KKTR_NM.html