April 2011 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Lampwick]

Pictures taken today.
 

Aethionema 'Warley Rose'.jpg
Asperula suberosa.jpg
Oxalis laciniata.jpg
Eriogonum caespitosum.jpg
Berberis 'Corallina Compacta'.jpg

[art600]

Some photos taken recently.  I only know the name of one Phlox - 'Crackerjack'.  If anyone can guess names for the other two I would be grateful.

[meanie]

First bloom from my Lathyrus sativus azureus today!
This is the first time that I've grown these and I think that it's an absolute gem. The flowers are small but apparently (judging by the number of buds on mine) abundant, with nice delicate thin leaves.

[Lampwick]

Some photos taken recently.  I only know the name of one Phlox - 'Crackerjack'.  If anyone can guess names for the other two I would be grateful.

I do love the contrast of the pale blue and the electric blue centre of MG_9116...I could be wrong, but might it be Phlox subulata 'Bavaria'? 
 

[Lampwick]

John,
Primula 'Peter Klein'.....it's very nice, but I can only find a P.rosea hybrid with that name in my books.
Can you remember where you got it?
- as I would like to get one too.
Giles

Giles,
I’m sorry I missed your post earlier.
I am almost sure I bought it from Ardfern Nursery, Inverness sometime in the late 1990s.

Click on the two links below, they both have Primula 'Peter Klein'
www.kevockgarden.co.uk
www.alpine-plants.co.uk

Here is a better picture of it.
http://portraitsofalpineplants.com/Portraits%20of%20Alpine%20Plants/Primula%20%27Peter%20Klein%2701.jpg

And if you go here: and scroll down to the Primulas you will find how and why the plant got its name.
http://portraitsofalpineplants.com/Portraits%20of%20Alpine%20Plants.htm

I hope all this is of some help.
 

[Lvandelft]

Do you know the little book :
Who Does Your Garden Grow, by Alex Pankhurst , 1992 ? It is wonderful to read!
If not you should try to get it. It will not cost a fortune and is really a bedside book!

She has a very pretty cottage garden in Dedham around a white clapperboard cottage Luit.

Brian I had to google about the "clapperboard" and found out that these are typical wooden houses in the Colchester area.
In the first edition of the book the place Dedham is already mentioned. Must be a very nice village?

BTW google says "Clapboard cottage

[Lvandelft]

First bloom from my Lathyrus sativus azureus today!
This is the first time that I've grown these and I think that it's an absolute gem. The flowers are small but apparently (judging by the number of buds on mine) abundant, with nice delicate thin leaves.

It's a lovely color, probably annual? Is it easy to grow? I'm just asking because never seen or heard about it before?

[Lvandelft]

The next one is not often seen in rock gardens and we have it at least 30 years on a rather dry raised bed.
Flowering this year is extreme good. The plant is now about 1 square meter!
Dryas tenella 1a                               
Dryas tenella 1b

[Lesley Cox]

Do you know the little book :
Who Does Your Garden Grow, by Alex Pankhurst , 1992 ? It is wonderful to read!
If not you should try to get it. It will not cost a fortune and is really a bedside book!

No, I haven't come across this book. Will try the local library which can up with most things, or the UBS which has or can access EVERYTHING! even proceedings of the Russian Parliament - if I should happen to want them.

I too admire your Lathyrus border Luit, so many shades from the original albo-roseus, a small plant of which I bought at the market just this last weekend. Makes me look forward even more, to its flowering and seeding.

And mentioning Lathyrus, my most favourite of all is L. nervosus, Lord Anson's Blue Pea. I used to have this in my nursery and several round about either flat on the ground from a central stock, or climbing to about 1.5 meters on fences. It is a most lovely thing. Anyway, about 5 year ago, I realized I didn't have it any more. Whether from drought I'm not sure but more likely from it being overgrown in what is now a very wild garden, way beyond my ability to control. I searched in vain for plants or seeds from many sources but had no joy at all. Then this recent summer I found a brand new little seedling of it, in a place where a load of new, bought-in soil had been dumped. A single seed must have been in the gravel and germinated through about 30cms of soil to reach the light. It is now a good little plant with three branches and even though it will soon overcome Viola 'All Black' (identical to 'Molly Sanderson' but older), I'll continue with the pea at least until it flowers and seeds. It's totally in the wrong place but I feel I've been given such a great reprieve. The original plant in New Zealand was sent as a seed gift to a friend, from Graham Stuart Thomas.

[Lesley Cox]

Phlox 'Crackerjack' is a douglasii cultivar, and the first of yours Art, looks very like the subulata var 'Scarlet Flame.' P. douglasii is smaller, neater, more compact than subulata which grows in a very flamboyant and abandoned way.

[meanie]

Lvandelft - it's an annual to the best of my knowledge. I tried to get seeds in 2009, but everywhere had sold out. So I ordered these late 2009 so as not to miss out again. Supposed to come true from seed, so shouldn't have a problem next year.

[Brian Ellis]

Do you know the little book :
Who Does Your Garden Grow, by Alex Pankhurst , 1992 ? It is wonderful to read!
If not you should try to get it. It will not cost a fortune and is really a bedside book!

She has a very pretty cottage garden in Dedham around a white clapperboard cottage Luit.

Brian I had to google about the "clapperboard" and found out that these are typical wooden houses in the Colchester area.
In the first edition of the book the place Dedham is already mentioned. Must be a very nice village?

BTW google says "Clapboard cottage

Here it is Luit, this end is a new (last year) gravel garden. 

[art600]

Phlox 'Crackerjack' is a douglasii cultivar, and the first of yours Art, looks very like the subulata var 'Scarlet Flame.' P. douglasii is smaller, neater, more compact than subulata which grows in a very flamboyant and abandoned way.

I will take a close up of the flowers.  I remember buying a very small potful from someone who shows regulalryl at AGS National Shows - and wins - so would think it is correct.  However...

[Lvandelft]

Here it is Luit, this end is a new (last year) gravel garden. 

Thanks Brian, that looks like a plantswoman's garden. And the house and the chimney at the outside, alltogether looking wonderful.
When can you buy it

[Lvandelft]

Phlox 'Crackerjack' is a douglasii cultivar, and the first of yours Art, looks very like the subulata var 'Scarlet Flame.' P. douglasii is smaller, neater, more compact than subulata which grows in a very flamboyant and abandoned way.

I will take a close up of the flowers.  I remember buying a very small potful from someone who shows regulalryl at AGS National Shows - and wins - so would think it is correct.  However...

Even with a close-up of the flowers it will not become a P. douglasii, Arthur
I agree for at least 80 % with Lesley about Scarlet Flame, though there is a newer one which is more in the trade nowadays. Have to find the name??