Saxifraga 2010

[Lesley Cox]

Me too Luc. I'm hoping to get it going in one of my troughs, in a cool crevice.

[David Sellars]

Thanks for all your kind comments.  I think Saxifraga oppositifolia is my favourite rock garden plant.

It flowers reliably every year.
It likes rocks and forms lovely mats.
It flowers as well in the rock garden as it does in the mountains.
It needs no winter rain protection even in our climate.
It is very simple to propagate by cuttings. The trailing stems are easily snipped and rooted.

[ranunculus]

...And thereby hangs a quandary, David!   

This beautiful plant doesn't in fact 'flower reliably every year' over here in the U.K.
Admittedly it does prefer rocks and can form quite large mats.
It certainly doesn't always flower as well in the rock garden as it does in the mountains.
I do not, as you say, need to provide winter rain protection and your comments about propagation are correct for this part of the world.

We see some amazing examples at the shows and occasionally in the garden but many growers become exasperated with this magnificent species because it simply withers and dies or just sits and refuses to bloom even in very damp (and cool) areas here in the north of England.

[David Sellars]

Cliff:

That's very odd because the climate here is not that different from the north of England. The only differences are the accents and the quality of the pubs. I have the opposite experience (oppositifolia experience?).  I can't flower it in a pot but can't hold it back from flowering in the garden.  The must be some secret to getting it to flower in a pot. Any ideas?

Admittedly in our garden Saxifraga oppositfolia flowers better in some years than in others.  Here's a couple of shots from good years.

[jomowi]

Here in Aberdeen Sax oppositifolia varies in its flowering with strain.  The Icelandic form is compact and flowers well every year.  'Theoden' also flowers well whereas the regular spreading form is rather less well flowered .

[Mark Griffiths]

I visited Waterperry last week (I live a few miles away). The saxes are looking good, a few are fully out already.

[ruweiss]

The Kabschias enjoy the sun and the warm days.
They seem to explode and it is a pity,that all these beautiful
flowers are so short-lived, wished they would last longer.

[Lesley Cox]

Don't forget the "Cushions" thread lads.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5196.0

[Maggi Young]

Saxifraga fans on west side of  'the Channel'  may be interested in these events in Holland...     
http://alpigena-saxifrages.nl/OPENDAGEN.HTML    at the premises of
Bart and Hannelore Moerland, Nijverdal, Overijssel, The Netherlands     

[fermi de Sousa]

I visited Waterperry last week (I live a few miles away). The saxes are looking good, a few are fully out already.

And what? You forgot your camera?
 
cheers
fermi

[Michael J Campbell]

Saxifraga jenkinsae, in a 30cm pot

[David Nicholson]

Very nice Michael. How long to get it to that size?

[Michael J Campbell]

David,nine or ten years at least,I can't remember exactly.   

[David Nicholson]

Thanks for that Michael. If I buy a small one at the South West Show tomorrow I'll be in my dotage before I can enter it

[ChrisB]

Just got to this thread.  My Sax. oppositifolia hasn't been told it shouldn't bloom reliably, or in full sun, or exposed to everything the Northumberland climate throws at it - drought, torrential rain, hurricanes, and blazing sun.  I've no idea where I got this one, but it sure likes it here, in full sun, in a sink with no shade whatsoever and without being given much by way of nourishment either.  Mind you, our BD was giving a talk at our meeting two weeks ago and commented, when discussing shade, that all of Scotland is in shade, and we are knocking on the door of Scotland, so I guess that goes for north Northumberland too.  What he meant was, we are so far north the sun just isn't strong enough to worry about for many plants.  Anyway, here it is in all its glory, and it's been in this location since I re-planted it on moving here in 1995.