May 2010 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Paddy Tobin]

Michael, great selection of plants but most taken by the Edrianthus.

Paddy

[Luc Gilgemyn]

hi there, I'd appreciate an ID on this. I got this as A.saximontana from AGS seed..not particularly suprised it's not, does it look like A. bertolinii? 

Whatever it is it's very nice, big flowers on a tiny plant, has survived outside in troughs and in the rock garden.

My bet would go for A. bertolinii as well Mark!
An exquisite Alpine - it seeds out gently all around the garden here - I love it !

Michael,
What a beautiful selection of Alpines, a lot of gems there !
Hard to choose from...

[David Nicholson]

Just time to get this one before May ends even if it's a little past it's best (though it has been flowering for weeks now). It's the first Penstomen species I have grown but I shall be looking for more now. Penstemon virens.

[Lesley Cox]

A super Penstemon David, and so many others as well. Too many to name though except the Calypso, which has a somewhat similar appearance to Gerry, TTG.

[Ragged Robin]

Calypso bulbosa arguably our loveliest native orchid; this is on the farm my acreage was once a part of...just a few minutes walk from my house into the bush..

Cohan, this orchid is fabulous - how wonderful to see it close by, I love the shape and the markings, how big is it?

[Ragged Robin]

Michael, your alpines are exceptional and very well photographed....the Edrianthus pumilo is wonderful and something for my new seedlings to aspire to!

[Mark Griffiths]

Thank you Luc for the confirmation..

Lovely Edrianthus Michael

Nice Penstemon, David. I have a similar one in the garden, never flowers

[cohan]

tks, paddy and robin ... lesley--were you talking about the orchid calypso? if so, i have no idea what you meant ...lol

robin, my book says 5-15cm tall for the calypso, though i have a feeling i have seen them just a touch taller..this one is probably around 10cm..they just have the one single flowering stem, but can form clumps over time-i photographed a lovely patch of them in the mountains last year around this time..
 here their habitat is  a bit unstable--they seem to be mostly in mixed/deciduous forest not to far from wet areas, and these areas are usually in flux-trending towards over shading conifers if left alone, and populated meantime by birch and poplars and the birch, in particular, tend to have short lived trunks, very prone to falling over..
add to that the fact that this is farmland, and subject to variable grazing (potential to be trampled if heavily grazed and the plant is exposed, or to be overgrown with other plants if not much grazing..
i used to know of a couple of patches on the farm, but i have not found any plants in either area--however, they are hard to find in flower, and virtually impossible out of flower unless you have a marked plant--the forest floor is full of debris and other plants...

[Maggi Young]

lesley--were you talking about the orchid calypso? if so, i have no idea what you meant ...lol

I agree with Lesley... I too  can see a resemblance between the gorgeous Calypso and Gerry, the Travel Giraffe..... here they are together......

   

[cohan]

lesley--were you talking about the orchid calypso? if so, i have no idea what you meant ...lol

I agree with Lesley... I too  can see a resemblance between the gorgeous Calypso and Gerry, the Travel Giraffe..... here they are together......

lol! well, that is some excellent visual pattern recognition! 

[Lesley Cox]

Sorry Cohan. Some say I have a twisted sense of humour and no doubt would call my eyesight in doubt too.

[Regelian]

lesley--were you talking about the orchid calypso? if so, i have no idea what you meant ...lol

I agree with Lesley... I too  can see a resemblance between the gorgeous Calypso and Gerry, the Travel Giraffe..... here they are together......

lol! well, that is some excellent visual pattern recognition! 

But, don't you think, this represents a 'luteum' form of the original species?

[cohan]

lesley--were you talking about the orchid calypso? if so, i have no idea what you meant ...lol

I agree with Lesley... I too  can see a resemblance between the gorgeous Calypso and Gerry, the Travel Giraffe..... here they are together......

lol! well, that is some excellent visual pattern recognition! 

But, don't you think, this represents a 'luteum' form of the original species?

sure, luteum, and much wider ranging than the original species.....

[Lesley Cox]

Especially widespread in Central Asia.

[PaulM]

Two pictures of Silene atropurpurea from the mountains of Greece