Flowering now May 2007

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I don't know where you get the idea that most members don't like Gentiana Hans   I for one love them - they are what brought me to rock gardening many moons ago !!  Their blue is unsurpassed !
 

[David Shaw]

Hans, I think you are mistaken . I cann't speak for 'most gardeners' but I adore them.
We do find some difficult to keep but have some in the garden and in pots.
At the moment we have a lovely wee Gentian verna being raised in a pot but I am frightened to plant it out for fear of losing it.

[Anthony Darby]

I'm with Luc and David on that. If it hadn't been for gentians I certainly would not have become hooked on rock gardening. I can still see the myriads of Gentiana nivalis growing at the side of the road in the Alps back in 1988. Only yesterday I bought yet another (Japanese) gentian for my garden. BTW gentian number three above is a bit special.

[johanneshoeller]

Sorry for the mistake. I have never seen photos and so...
Gentiana grow very well here, only G. verna do not live for a long time.
Some new, but not so spectacular photos (most grown from seed). Does anybody know the correct names?
Erigeron ?
?
a view to my garden: Cyp and Daphnes
Globularia cordifolia

Hans
Austria

[Anthony Darby]

In the third pic is Daphne cneorum. That's a nice clump of Cypripedium calceolus at the back.

[johanneshoeller]

There are some different Daphnes (cneorum - the Upper Austrian Form, cneorum - Sündermann, cneorum verlotii). You see the smallest clump of Cyp calceolus in my garden. Easy to grow because Cyp calceolus grow in the forrests behind my garden.

Hans

[Anthony Darby]

You are too modest Hans. You definitely have green fingers. Me......I'm just green with envy. I have longed to see Cypripedium calceolus in its natural habitat ever since my grandmother told me about it and I saw its picture in the Brooke Bond tea collectors cards in the 1960s.

[Lesley Cox]

We ALL love gentians Hans, Really! Maybe not so many pictures, but if you look back through some of the Southern Hemisphere threads, you'll find quite a lot. I think many people miss good things, perhaps because they think the Southern hemisphere threads have little to offer, but they would be mistaken there.

[Lesley Cox]

Which reminds me that I have a little seed - the first ever - on Gentiana depressa if anyone would like to try it. It's ready now, just 2 capsules, enough for perhaps 3 people. Let me know privately.

[Paddy Tobin]

We all love gentians - yes we do but do they love us?

Advice and hints please for growing in the open garden, raised bed, trough, rock crevices or wherever you think best.


While I admire them greatly I have no intention of growing them in pots in the glasshouse.

Paddy

[Casalima]

Allium acuminatum, which I though might flower while I was away, but is still looking good, in its modest little way.
And two Auriculas that I acquired in England, the first at Wisley (starting to go over) and the second at a herb centre. Neither had names - are they identifiable as any particular hybrids?

Chloë

[David Nicholson]

Chloe, one of the problems with Auriculas (and there are many!) is the similarities between a number of named clones. Were your plants described as 'Border Auriculas' if so this is sometimes used (especially by Garden Centres and non-specialist sellers) as a generic title meaning "I don't have a clue what kind this is".

Hope you enjoyed your time in the UK.

[hadacekf]

Hello Ian Minty,
When I was young, I thought that my rock garden from year to year become more beautiful. The opposite was the case. After a high point the rock garden looked each year more badly. I saw that some plants must be very often renewed and other plants became too large. My rock-garden is therefore since 50 years a field.

[Lesley Cox]

Paddy, I grow lots of gentians of the smaller, lower kinds. All are out in the open, no greenhouse here. I grow some (including depressa) in raised beds with full exposure to sun, wind, rain, frost and snow - what there is - and they all thrive. The Asiatic kinds such as sino-ornata and the huge race of species, hybrids and forms which look similar to it, abhor lime while the Europeans, in my experience - verna, acaulis and its relatives - quite like it or at least tolerate it. They all like a moisture-retentive mixture with excellent drainage and I always add grit to everything, on principle. The Asiatics in particular are very happy in pine bark based composts. I think peat is too wet for them. G. acaulis likes hard planting, very firmly bedded in, in a humus and grit rich soil. 

For me, they all flower superbly for which I'm very grateful.

[Lesley Cox]

Hello Ian Minty,
When I was young, I thought that my rock garden from year to year become more beautiful. The opposite was the case. After a high point the rock garden looked each year more badly. I saw that some plants must be very often renewed and other plants became too large. My rock-garden is therefore since 50 years a field.

Your garden is beautiful Franz, a testament to many years of great love and dedication. Oh dear, and I have just another 30 something years left

But what you says is true. I find a new rock garden looks its best from about 18 months to 2 years old and then there is a decline. Things need replanting or trimming and a few weeds creep in and perhaps establish. There needs to be division and fertilizing and pest management. The occasional book, catalogue or magazine article will suggest that once planted, nothing more is needed, ad infinitum. Not so. The planting is the fun part and then the work really begins. But hey, I wouldn't change it for worlds.