April 2010 - Northern Hemisphere- Flowering now.

[TheOnionMan]

Newborn Scilla sibirica

Olga, your photos are exquisite and artistic as usual.  You may have discussed this before, but what camera do you use?  I'm ready to pull my hair out (and I don't have much left these days ) trying to use my daughter's entry-level Nikon Coolpix, which is miserable with light color flowers, light colors in general, and difficult with closeups.  I go out in the garden, and observe the incredible scenes and vignettes of Epimedium flower stalks and leaves emerging; most are densely covered with silvery hair, and coiled like fern fronds, and oh so interesting and picturesque... but my camera sees too much light reflected off the hairs and invariably overexposes the shot.

Your photo of Eranthus overlooking a morsel of lichen is enchanting too.

[TheOnionMan]

Some plants which were flowering here today:
...
Anemonella thalictroïdes 'Jade Feather'

Wim, glad to see you're back home   Just for comparison to your photo of Anemonella thalictroides 'Jade Feather', here's a photo of mine... it is just starting to wind up, In the central flower, you can see an overabundance of staminodes.

[Michael J Campbell]

Anemonella thalictroides Shoaf's form.
Anemonella  thalictroides 'Cameo'.
Sanguinaria canadensis multiplex plena
Anemone nemorosa robinsoniana
Sabaea thomasii
Calceolaria walter shrimpton
Romulea bulbocodium

[Olga Bondareva]

Stunning pics! I particular like the Eranthis stellata.
Are you a professional photographer?

I do not know what to answer. I do not have photographer diploma. But there no any high schools here that could give it. I use mirror camera but professionals use more expensive and more complicated. I sell images and many magazines and publishers use them. But it is not my main earning. So… am I a professional photographer? 

Mark,
Thank you very much! 
Today I spent a couple of hours on my knees making photos. If I could use compact camera I would spend 20 minutes. But two years ago I bought Canon 40D… Now I am always with a backpack of 6-7 kg – camera, 2-3 lenses, tripod, etc… I make thousands of images with different settings and then most of the pictures go to the bin. I can not advise that to everyone. 
I share you impression on Epimediums! They are extremely hard to shut. When shoots are small hairs are too light. When they are blooming flowers always are trembling by every air moving. I could give only advice: to be patient, to make as many images as you can and to make pictures with different angle to sun.

[Olga Bondareva]

Crocus... vulgaris. 




Hepatica nobilis


Adonis amurensis

[ranunculus]

A final contribution before we fly off to the Gargano ...

A miniscule flowering Pulsatilla vernalis captured this week ...

[Zdenek]

After some discussion and advices to me on this Forum about two years ago, I tried to plant one tuber of Trillium nivale outdoors in summer 2008. I enclose here the result of it taken in this month. In both winters it was however covered with dry leaves and a glass plate. On the other picture is my original plant which has 11 years now.

[Maggi Young]

So you are having some success with it outside..... although with a lot of help to the plant! The potful is lovely... I think it is one of my favourites, so purely white and beautiful shape.

[Maggi Young]

A final contribution before we fly off to the Gargano ...

Happy holidays, Cliff!

[WimB]

Wim, glad to see you're back home   Just for comparison to your photo of Anemonella thalictroides 'Jade Feather', here's a photo of mine... it is just starting to wind up, In the central flower, you can see an overabundance of staminodes.

Thanks, Maggi brought me back home 

So, it seems I have 'Jade Feather' indeed;  although not with the same amount of staminoids...

[WimB]

John,

I love your Shortia's. I'm still TRYING to grow them (not with a lot of success, I might add). How do you grow them?

Olga,

wonderful pics.

[ruweiss]

We are very glad, that our Magnolia x soulangeana flowered this year unharmed by late frosts.
Draba longisiliqua is always a safe flowerer in the Alpine house.
The Lewisia tweedyi seedling always enjoys me with its unusual large flowers.

[johnw]

John,

I love your Shortia's. I'm still TRYING to grow them (not with a lot of success, I might add). How do you grow them?

Wim  - An open peaty soil, if you can find a thoroughly rotted pine tree stump I'd mix that debris into the soil too.  They seem to love it.

I mulch them with well-rotted manure and some ground oak leaves in the early spring.

Part sun or full sun if you can be certain they won't dry out in a drought.

johnw

[gote]

I wonder wether I should start a new thread "another untidy garden" At last nearly all snow is gone and things start to pop up. Most of you are much before me in all respects but the long Swedish winters make us here really look for the very first flowers.
Ypsilandra thibetica ame up thruogh the snow already flowering and the beautiful blue anthers were already gone.
Anemone altaica (or ist it something else) is much earlier than the nemorosas.  (Not a good picture I apologize)
I received 'Hippolyta' as a gift in 2004. She seems to like the situation.
Three of my Helleborus thibetanis are in flower. They are all a little different.
The twin flowering yellow tipped Leucojum vernum is no more difficult than the usual one.
Hepatica transsylvanica is not reliably hardy here and is often cut back but the hevy snow cover seems to have been beneficial.
My Colchicum (Bulbocodium) vernum were ovecrowded and I separated them last year thus the meagre flowering.
I got my Crocus 'Vanguard' in the sixties and hope they are virus free. Anyway they grow well when not devored by voles.
Cheers
Göte

[johnw]

Göte

A wonderful collection there.

Any recommendations on sowing Ypsilandra seed?  There's remarkably little information on the subject in the books here. 

johnw