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

[Lesley Cox]

I can't grow 'Gemmell's Hybrid now either and have lost the last two or three plants bought in recent years yet way back in the day I could grow it easily and well and found it easy from cuttings too.

I have spent much of this cold day today looking right back to page 1 of Philippe's Haut Chitelet Alpine Garden thread. Incredible plants there of the Helichrysum (and many other wondrous things too).

[astragalus]

Maybe it's beginner's luck? Or possibly the first time you grow something the mix is new and fresh. As the garden matures the patterns of shade and moisture change as well.

[Lampwick]

Maybe it's beginner's luck? Or possibly the first time you grow something the mix is new and fresh. As the garden matures the patterns of shade and moisture change as well.

Hello Anne,
I must start by saying how much I enjoy viewing the lovely pictures you post on the pages of this Forum of your Hudson River Valley garden. 

I know nothing of the intricacies of plant or animal breading, but browsing Google comes up with “much food for thought” about the loss of hybrid vigour.
If I understand correctly Linum X ‘Gemmell’s Hybrid’ was a cross between L. elegans and L. campanulatum by a Scottish nursery in the 1940’s.
Now, the first generation cuttings produced a good flowering plant, as did several generations afterwards. But move on 30 plus years to the 30th or 40th generation cuttings and you get the sad plant of today!
I read it is the same with some crosses of sheep, pigs, trees and other plants.
I understand little of this and would welcome a more learned and layman explanation.

Why, for example, has this not happened with Salix X boydii? 

[Maggi Young]

I have seen some pretty sad looking Salix x boydii about , John.......

[astragalus]

Now, the first generation cuttings produced a good flowering plant, as did several generations afterwards. But move on 30 plus years to the 30th or 40th generation cuttings and you get the sad plant of today!
I read it is the same with some crosses of sheep, pigs, trees and other plants.
I understand little of this and would welcome a more learned and layman explanation.

Why, for example, has this not happened with Salix X boydii? 
[/quote]

That's food for thought. Certainly this has happened here with some of the gentian hybrids, Now, after making divisions, they are planted else where in the garden in freshest mix with different neighbors. Time will tell if this helps.

[Lampwick]

A few more additions to my crevice garden. 

Dianthus alpinus 'Pudsey Prize' - I first bought this in the early 1990’s but it never survived with me.
I’m trying again, but this time I will give it acid conditions, as advocated by some of the eminent gurus on this Forum.

Geranium farreri - another plant which was just fleeting with me.

Mimulus cupreus 'Whitecroft Scarlet' The first time I bought this (many years ago) it did have scarlet flowers, but this shows a definite orange colour. Is it a variable plant?

[Lesley Cox]

I have seen some pretty sad looking Salix x boydii about , John.......

Well mine (a smaller one in a trough) looked very sad after a rabbit climbed up and grazed it to surface level. Nothing was visible at all except the disturbed compost but over this autumn it has sprouted from below ground level and is growing (slowly) with multiple stems.

[astragalus]

Amazing what lessons animals can teach you. Deer taught me that many penstemons can be severely pruned and will come back tighter and flower heavily.

[Yann]

Do you cover your mimulus during winter? never succeed in the garden

[Lampwick]

Do you cover your mimulus during winter? never succeed in the garden

Hello Yann, 
It is many years since I have grown Mimulus, and I have only ever grow M. naiandinus and M. cupreus ‘Whitecroft Scarlet’.
They stayed with me for only two or three years. I would overwinter cuttings in a cold frame and grow them in cool, moist conditions.
Although I did do well with M. naiandinus, (which was then called ‘Andean Nymph’) by growing it with its face in full sun but with it’s feet on the north facing side of a big hypertufa rock.— That was in the mid 1970’s!

Here it is. . . http://portraitsofalpineplants.com/POAP_LARGE_032.htm

[Tristan_He]

One of the most common causes of loss of vigour in specific clones is virus infection. This may or may not be visible.

Salix is naturally a much longer lived plant than Linum or Gentiana, so it's likely that it will have more defences against viruses and the things that spread them (aphids, leaf hoppers etc). As a result it may accumulate (and hence lose vigour) viruses more slowly.

[hadacekf]

Convolvulus compactus blooms this year particularly abundant

[Maggi Young]

Convolvulus compactus blooms this year particularly abundant

Beautiful - that would never  survive outside here.

[Lampwick]

Convolvulus compactus blooms this year particularly abundant

That is a beautiful plant Franz and a superb photograph, the lighting is perfect! Each glossy dark green leaf stands out, with the light catching the edge if each one . . . Magic! 
It’s on my list of “must try plants!”

Maggi . . . Why couldn't we succeed with it here in the UK? Does not Austria have winters as cold as we do? And I believe Franz grows it in his crevice bed!
Oh yes! Take a brows through Franz lovely website and take a look at Linum ‘Gemmell’s Hybrid’
and then go back to that quote you made a few posts back? (That's probably a cue for dozens of people to come tell us they have it a metre wide with ten thousand flowers!) I think there might be a glimmer of hope for us don’t you think?

[Maggi Young]

I would love to think there is hope for you and these plants in Staffordshire, John - but it is the summer wet that kills off many of these gorgeous plants here - as I know only too well.  #sigh#