Pulsatilla- Spring 2012

[Palustris]

Thought this looked rather nice. Pulsatilla grandis, from wild collected seed, bought at Pudsey a few years back. Grown by T. Whittaker (I think, the label is now very faded.). Odd though, last year was the first time it has ever set seed. Hopefully the babies will be this lovely lilac colour too.

[Armin]

That is a very nice pulsatilla, Palustris

If you get some excess seed I would be very glad to be one of the acceptors

[Palustris]

You will have to remember to ask when the seeds are ripe, my memory for who wants seeds is so awful. If it does set seed, then please do get n touch.

[hadacekf]

Your Pulsatilla had a lovely colour.
My P. vulgaris is flowering too.

[Lesley Cox]

Oh yes! Surely there never was a "bad" Pulsatilla.

[DirtGently]

Two of my pulsatillas that I had sown in January 2011 bloomed for the first time this spring: the white one, last week, and the purple, in January. I lost my labels, so I am guessing when I say that the white flower is P. patens and the purple one is P. campanella.

edit: moved pictures to attachments rather than inline

[Viola]

On Sunday I was in the Wachau (Austria) with my wife. Pulsatilla grandis and Pulsatilla pratensis ssp. nigricans have flourished. Fine weather and 21° degrees Celsius.

Karl

[Lesley Cox]

A particularly nice white there. So far as I remember, P. campanella should be rather more pendant and the flower somewhat bell-shaped. May be wrong though.

[Armin]

Hello Karl,
my heart beats doubling looking on the marvelous images  
The variability of the flower shapes is interesting. Is it a permanent feature or triggered / influenced by growing conditions?

My pulsatillas are far behind in growth from those in the Wachau.

[Brian Ellis]

Karl thank you for sharing these images, I am officially in love with P.grandis, one of my favourite spring flowers, our pulsitallas here are little hummocks of fur at the moment.

[fleurbleue]

Nice pictures Viola  I love your double form and nigricans too 

[Stephen Vella]

Nice Palsatillas especially grandiscand the black nigricans..thanks for showing 

[Lori S.]

Lovely pulsatilla photos!

A particularly nice white there. So far as I remember, P. campanella should be rather more pendant and the flower somewhat bell-shaped. May be wrong though.

I was thinking the same as Lesley about the suspected P. campanella...
P. patens is native here, and is normally mauve, as opposed to white.  In the wild, it blooms with only the stem ruff of leaves showing, and the leaf stems emerge later, but I don't know what it might do in cultivation.

New growth is barely starting to emerge on P. vulgaris here, and the evergreen P. vernalis shows no buds yet. 

[Paul T]

Beautiful pics, everyone.  Lovely!

[DirtGently]

I am jealous of the black Pulsatilla. Mine has yet to budge from its winter slumber. I am hoping it survived.

I'm not sure what is "wrong" with my P. campanella and patens. The prairie crocus is not actually pure white, but has a mauve-y base. Don't know if it's visible in this picture. As for the campanella, I think the flower's growth was slightly stunted after a battle with aphids. I've only sown campanella, patens, and pratensis subsp. nigricans, and neither is black, so I have a 50/50 chance of being right