Haut Chitelet Alpine Garden (France)

[Maggi Young]

Astonishing how quickly the last snow melts. The view under the snow dome is special.

[Philippe]

Astonishing discover today when weeding in the Eastern Alps of Europe: Pulsatilla halleri ssp.styriaca with flowers tending to gentian blue colour!
The flower concealed in the middle of the picture beat them all though, with almost pure blue petals, just as Gentiana kochiana!
Surely only a "problem" in pigmentation with sun exposure after a rapid opening of the flowers, and nothing durable unfortunately ( one might dream now of true blue flowering Pulsatillas isn't it? ).
Lovely anyway!

[Gabriela]

Many great discoveries are done while weeding Philippe This is such a great time to be up in the mountains; awaiting for more updates from Haut Chitelet!

[Philippe]

2016 update 2, June, part 1

Even if it's now early June, vegetation is only slowly bursting into green and flowers. First vernal plants are now over ( Anemone vernalis, Crocus vernus, Androsace hedraeantha, most of the european  mauve or lilas Primulas like P.integrifolia, clusiana, glaucescens..), but it still takes quite a long time this year for early summer plants to really get on stage. Erythronium were in full flowers last week, daffodils are on the way to their summer rest, even if it is still possible to find healthy flowers in some protected area.

Lily of the valley will have to wait at least mid-June to have its first flowers opening.

Yes, weather does it all. Very late snow in big amounts during March and sometimes early April. Snowmelt by late April, and since then no significant warm weather, except on rare days. If 2015 has been the drought year deluxe, 2016 is on a completely different way. Amount of precipitation since January is now near to 1500mm in the high altitudes of the Vosges, which is already more than the whole last year! No problem with empty ponds or dry stream for the moment Everything instead is thoroughly soaked with water, and the peatbog just releases constantly surplus water now.

That picture to catch the ambiance of the "rainforest" area in the garden a few days ago.



Green as greener couldn't be. Beautiful with beeches still having their very soft green spring foliage. Partly because of the prolonged lack of warm, sunny and/or dry weather untill now, it still hasn't yet turned to dark green. That's just perfect, especially when fog or mist blurs it all and diffused light passes through the almost translucent young leaves, giving extraordinary moods in the wood. As if the air itself were green.

Well, back to plants!

I wrote Erythronium were flowering recently. This is particularly true for the americain species though. The european ones are already passed and forming seeds, but this might probably be because in the rockbeds, they were snowfree since a longer time.

The following americain species are still in the propagation area, where snow usually takes more time to disappear.


Erythronium tuolumnense.

Bright yellow and free flowering.



Erythronium oregonum



Androsace mucronifolia

Not to be confused with A.sempervivoides. Even if both are closely related, A.mucronifolia has a much tighter growth, and one really can see the very small tips at the end of the leaves ( hence the name), before they really expand.



Primula auriculata.

This one has travelled throught the Caucasus bed, in search for the right place. This species needs water at the roots, or at least constantly moist soil. After the very dry 2015 year, it is now planted beside some very small ponds ( almost puddles), just big enough to maintain that permanent soil moisture throughout the summer.

[Philippe]

2016 update 2, June, part 2


Erigeron aurantiacus.

What a joy to finally have this plant in the rockbed! The colour is totally gorgeous, I now just hope it will settle down in the Central Asia bed and cover parts of it with these glorious orange flowers.




Anemone alpina

Just because these are beautiful flowers too, that just deserve being photographed, especially during the rare sunny days we had since season beginning over a month ago.




Soldanelle minima.

Long passed now, and already forming seeds. This is the tiniest Soldanella of all the european species, being even smaller than S.pusilla.

Leaves are really small, flowers and flowerscape too. Not what can be called an interesting flower colour, but rather delicate, and maybe when it will have colonized that place, with dozens of these mini-bells hanging over the ground, the plant will have much more effect...




Soldanella pusilla.

..as already does Soldanella pusilla regularly now ( this one above having emerged from the snow only a little more than 2 weeks ago). Interesting to note that another S.pusilla patch, exposed to mid-may late frost in a snowfree bed aborted all coming flowers, which were already well formed and ready to open ( or might it be something else?)




Primula deorum

Primula deorum, closely restricted to areas of high altitudes of the Rila mountains in Bulgaria. Here in the garden, it grows in almost pure peat just above the stream, which really mimics its natural habitat. The "no-problem" par excellence.

 

[Philippe]

2016 update 2, June, part 3


Primula maximowiczii

From north-eastern and northern China.

Flowering for the first time, with that surprising red colour.




Cotula pyrethrifolia

I've been just amazed the other day, when checking the pictures after having come close to that Cotula species from New Zealand. The arrangement of the flower and flowerbuds is just astonishing, all regularly merging from the outside to the central zone of the inflorescence, each row forming a perfectly shaped spiral.

It's really well worth it to get so close to the ground But gardeners know that better than anybody else.




Cortusa matthioli var sachalinensis, or whatever this might still be.

But I strongly suspect this isn't the regular C.matthioli, which I still can't and simply won't be able to grow decently anywhere it seems, after years now...This one plant looks much more amenable, so must be something else




Polemonium confertum.

Lovely smaller Polemonium, with almost rounded flowerheads ( not on the picture, taken too soon, before enough flowers got open, and I just failed today to take another picture before the strong thunderstorm rain washed some of the flowers away)




Androsace alpina

Well flowered this year, in the most adorable colour variation from soft to deep pink.

[Philippe]

2016 update 2, June, part 4


Omphalogramma delavayi, which doesn't mind the rain, as heavy as it may fall.

[Gabriela]

Keep them coming these updates Philippe. I even went to browse backwards through the old posts 
There must be some witchcraft happening at Haut Chitelet - I've never seen Soldanella pusilla in such amount in the Carpathians!

[Philippe]

June 2016, update 3, part 1


Late June. The beds begin to be brightly coloured with flowering plants. Some of them can be already seen from a distance, being planted en masse, others need a closer look to really appreciate their ephemeral beauty.

Weather has been very changing these last weeks. No single day with bright sunshine from morning till evening. What a change in comparaison with last year summer's conditions! Instead, drizzle, rain, fog and clouds are on the daily program.

And almost already too much now for some species though. Curiously, the yellow Meconopsis integrifolia really didn't love the weather lastly. The plants themselves are ok, but no flower will open this year, as they simply rot within the buds, as soon as the rain enters it and stays there for several days then. No good idea for such monocarpic species!

Let's begin the garden tour with some Primulas flowering right now.



The simple Primula japonica.

A pleasant plant only enjoying anchoring its root in waterloged peaty soils.




Primula chungensis

Another abundant moisture loving Primula, from China this time. The combination of bright yellow and orange-red sides of the corolles/buds makes it an interesting plant




Primula reidii var.williamsii

Almost the perfect plant in my eyes - except for its cultivation needs ( cool and moist growing season)




Primula secundiflora

I still haven't found the way to photograph it under its best angle. Stems are quite leggy, bearing comparatively few flowers each time. Will have to grow a larger patch maybe.

Other plants now, still from the asian continent.



Euphorbia griffithii in the foreground, Rhododendron molle ssp.japonicum behind. Beautiful harmony between both.

[Philippe]

June 2016, update 3, part 2



Meconopsis delavayi




Polygonatum hookeri

Polygonatum are too often things to be careful of when planted in a bed, because of their strong tendency to colonize every place if the conditions please them. Polygonatum hookeri is not one of these, and is even allowed to run freely everywhere




Therorhodion camtschaticum

First time flowering for this beautiful species sown in 2009. PLanted in the sibirian bed, in company of Dendranthema arcticum, Papaver alboroseum and Leontopodium kurilense




Veronica gentianoides

An easy Veronica from the Caucasus, best when planted in groups. Interesting shiny deep green foliage, which reminds really, on unflowering rosettes at least, that of a gentian.




Androsace vandellii in its upright trough.

With the years, it has left the top of the trough, letting the place for some selfsown Saxifraga, to establish better toward the bottom where the blossom was generous for a few days. Half success!

[Philippe]

June 2016, update 3, part 3




Campanula alpina

As small and delicate as it can be, this Campanula from the eastern Alps and Carpatians is an important plant for the rock bed. Its only default is its monocarpic habit. Didn't find so far the place where it would selfseed efficiently.




Meconopsis cambrica

Tangled between rocks where the roots enjoy constant moisture and fresh conditions.




Pinguicula grandiflora




Rhododendron ferrugineum

Rhododendrons from the Himalaya are beautiful but our european species is also a plant of great charm, totally deserving a wide place in the bed if possible. Even if the flowering time only lasts a few days, even if the flowers themselves are so fragile.





Sempervivum montanum and Doronicum grandiflorum

[Philippe]

June 2016, update 3, part 4




Wulfenia carinthiaca

Into the southern hemisphere now!




Aciphylla squarrosa.

First time flowering too for this weird and extremely prickly species! Aciphylla are mostly ( if not all?) dioecious plants. This one however is the single exemplar that grows in the garden. But it looks totally perenial at least, as side shots seem to develop already.




Felicia rosulata

A great idea for this daisy relative to bear almost blue flowers. That colour is not widespread in alpine plants from southern Africa ( or at least it is the only one flowering in blue in our bed here at the garden)




The strange Leptinella atrata from New Zealand. I may perhaps already have asked the question somewhere, but does anybody know why so many plants from New Zealand have this curious foliage shade, in many genera from different families? This just keeps captivating me, as we have so few similarly coloured leaves here.




Oxalis enneaphylla from southern America

[Philippe]

June 2016, update 3, part 5



North America with this so called Aquilegia scopulorum, collected in the wild, but surprisingly big in cultivation.




Arisaema triphyllum. Another exceptionnaly beautiful plant when flowering.




Meconopsis Lingholm




And this extremely showy Trollius with huge deep orange flowers ( probably a garden hybrid, though arrived under T.japonicus)

 

There should be many new and interesting plants in the next update.

I'll also be away for a few days in Switzerland in early July , for visiting the alpine garden in Pont de Nant, and maybe La Rambertia too.
I'll try to post short reports of these gardens on the forum, but later during summer.

[Maggi Young]

A fine report, Philippe, thank you.  A stunning beginning with the glorious primulas and so many other gems.
Have a good summer!

[Lesley Cox]

Philippe, I'm not sure that my answer to your question is entirely correct, or that there are not other reasons but the Leptinella along with Ranunculus haastii, Stellaria roughii, Notothlaspi rosulatum and some others are plants from the high screes and the chunks of rock which surface these are frequently that sort of brownish grey colour which the plants apparently mimic so that unless they are in flower, it's almost impossible to see them, at least at first glance and until one's eye is in. In fact I'd suggest that your leptinella is greener than it would normally be in the wild, probably because of its greener and damper surroundings. In the wild the plants come through sometimes huge boulders of rock to reach the surface of the scree and are well protected from any dampness around their top parts.