Northern Hemisphere July 2010

[TheOnionMan]

Oh... I like Hypericums, so many good ones, with many of the woody sorts too seldomly grown.  I also grow our native H. frondosum 'Sunburst', which has reached almost 3-1/2' tall, by about a 5' spread (105 cm x 150 cm), just started flowering last week, flowers really opening now in the heat.  The foliage has a beautiful glaucous bluish cast, and in fall, kaleidoscope foliage colors of red, orange, yellow, to pinks.  The spiky seed heads are ornamental through the winter, a good all around shrub.  Here, it seeds around a bit too easily.

The second I'm showing is H. prolificum, another native plant found throughout most of eastern USA, a more upright woody species with narrower green leaves, and with age, cinnamon color peeling bark.  The flowers are smaller but incredibly prolific.  In the late afternoon the age to a brownish or bronzed yellow color.  It can grow to about 6' (2 meters).

Paul, love the look of Hypericum bupleuroides, where is it from... I'm assuming it would be tender for my climate.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Good show Paul, Mark and Michael !
A lot of interesting "late" flowerers 

[Michael J Campbell]

Michael, your Hypericum buckleyi looks very much like the Hypericum frondosum Sunburst, I grow here.
It's a very nice compact plant here, but here flowering is over since some weeks here.
Here a picture of my plant (2009)

Luit, I got my plant from Gerd Stopp with that name and I agree it does look a lot like your plant, but both  are listed on Google   

[TheOnionMan]

Michael, your Hypericum buckleyi looks very much like the Hypericum frondosum Sunburst, I grow here.
It's a very nice compact plant here, but here flowering is over since some weeks here.
Here a picture of my plant (2009)

Luit, I got my plant from Gerd Stopp with that name and I agree it does look a lot like your plant, but both  are listed on Google   

Michael, I'm not sure you have true Hypericum buckleyi.  I grew it for many years but eventually lost it, must grow it again sometime. Curiously, when I do a google search on it, for the USDA source, it fails to come up in the search, but going to the root of the USDA site I finally found the page: 
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HYBU

The flower petals tend to recline backwards, and the central stamen cluster is not very dense in this species.  Some of the European photo links I found show dubiously identified plants.

Here's some photos from someone's photo gallery, specific photo links given, plus the overall gallery link:
gallery: http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/mp412to423
http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/image/3067528
http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/image/3067527
http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/image/3067766/original
http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/image/3067175
http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/image/3067177
http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/image/3067514
http://www.pbase.com/bstelloh/image/3067521

[Casalima]

I've never really liked Hypericum as I've always associated them with municipal planting - but I am interested to see these different Hypericum here and hope they will help me overcome my prejudice  I'm sure that if they were my own plants I would love them very much!

[PaulM]

Hi Mark ! Very nice North American Hypericums you grow. H. bupleuroides is from the Caucasus and I'm sure you would have no problem growing it.

[johnw]

Can anyone remember when SRGC seeds from the 2009/2010 came this year.  I ask because I ordered 2 packets of Lewisia tweedyi, one Alba and one Roseum. I sowed them immediately. Only one seed sprouted of the Album about a month later. The plant is in a very cool basement under fluorescents and has grown like a weed. It is 6" across and is now about to flower.  Years ago I grew tweedyi from seed from Ashwood but can't remember what I did to sprout them or how long they took to size up. Is this unusually fast growth?  One more seedling appeared last month but it has barely grown to date.

johnw

[Maggi Young]

The first seeds from the SRGC exchange were sent out in January, John, continuing through February. How long they might have taken to arrive with you, is anybody's guess.... the postal system this year was a nightmare. 

[Graham Catlow]

An early July selection from me.

My hot sunny border with an orange Lily and a yellow Alstromeria. Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is at the back of this border and I just wish it flowered at the same time completing the effect, but the lilies and Alstromeria will over by then. The Alstromeria don't have the most rigid stems, and the border has been hit by the high winds we have had recently, and they are a little more prone than I would like.

Close up's of the lily and Alstromeria.

A double blue geranium with Iris latifolia in the back ground.

Graham

[Lvandelft]

I'm surprised to see how big Hypericum frondosum Sunburst will grow. I was told that it should be a small compact shrub.
Well small it may be, but bigger than I suspected.
No problem though, I choose the right place. And when it developes like on Mark's pictures it is a beautiful shrub!
Yesterday I was wrong when mentioning that on my plant the flowers were gone already. After returning from holidays I saw the many round buds which, when not looking carefully look like seed pods.

[PaulM]

A selection of what's flowering here in Sweden for me now:
1. Anchusa azurea self sows and is nice as long as it's in flower which is for a very long time, but it takes up quite a bit of space.
2 Anchusa leptophylla is quite similar, but the flowers lack the boss of protruding white hairs
3 Asclepias viridis is very hardy but has taken four years to reach flowering.
4 As with all the milkweeds the flowers are very intricate.
5 Calylophus berlandieri ssp pinifolius flowers the first year from seed. I haven't managed to overwinter it here, but will give it another try this year.
6 It's really a stunning flower with its sharp contrast of colors
7 Campanula grossekii. I got the seeds as Campanula khasiana ( Adenophora khasiana ) but it looks much more like Campanula grossekii I think.
8 A closer view of the flowers of C. grossekii
9 Campanula sp from Turkey
10. Another picture of this Turkish campanula species which I still wonder what it is

[cohan]

these were taken in late june, near the Columbia Icefield, Alberta;
more at this thread:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5641.45
1 Dryas octopetala and? 2 more D octopetala, or Dryas integrifolia? hybrids? i wasn't looking closely at leaves while there, but the images show more recurved leaves on image 2, though they still seem toothed (integrifolia should have toothless leaves, or with teeth only at the bottom)..obviously the flowers are quite different, though all lovely! more knowledgeable input welcome!

[LucS]

A few "end of season" flowers from the rockgarden
   Campanula stevenii ssp. beauverdiana
   Campanula raineri alba
   Penstemon crandellii ssp. glabrescens
   Genista depressa moesiaca
   Erigeron speciosum

[LucS]

And...
   Linum bulgaricum
   Coronilla minima
   Hypericum egypticum
   Scutellaria pontica   
   Adenophora confusa

[LucS]

And more
   Micromeria croatica
   Origanum microphyllus
   Sideritis glacialis
   Limonium (statice) sp. 'Blauer Zwerg'
   Acaena novae-zelandiae