Alpines in May

I had a Vitaliana for years but a shading shrub put an end to it. Have to try once more - maybe at the roof of my shed!

PS. Here the day has been very sunny but cold with wind straight from the Arctic.

Hmm, great idea to get the maximum use from your property!  I may be planting on the roof soon as well.  ;D

The roof with plants. I will eventually plant more.

That is just too cool!  You must have to water like crazy all summer with so little soil volume.

The Pulsatilla pratensis 'Nigrescens' I grew last year are just about open.

I have some sprouted Pulsatilla pratensis ssp. nigricans seed collected in Sweden from NARGS.  Is this different from 'Nigrescens'?  They germinated quite easily for a stored pulsatilla seed.

Todd wrote:

That is just too cool!  You must have to water like crazy all summer with so little soil volume.

I water in May and early June if necessary, not in the summer. I have lost some plants but try to grow species coping with this regime.

Rick, from googling, I haven't found any association of the genus Pulsatilla with the word 'Nigrescens'... ?

On the topic of violets, how hardy is Viola canina?  I grew a bunch last year, and am waiting for them to emerge (I hope!)

PS  Lovely weather today... It's snowing sideways in gusting winds to 80 km/hour. 

Skulski wrote:

On the topic of violets, how hardy is Viola canina?  I grew a bunch last year, and am waiting for them to emerge (I hope!)

PS  Lovely weather today... It's snowing sideways in gusting winds to 80 km/hour.   

Viola canina is very hardy here, growing far north and in sub alpine zone in south as well as in the lowland.
It has snowed in southern Norway too the last couple of days! Not here, we have sun but ice cold air from the arctic barely above 0C and the plants have stagnated.

Rick, it is indeed var. nigricans.....I have way too many plants and can't keep some of their names straight!

Todd wrote:

Rick, it is indeed var. nigricans.....I have way too many plants and can't keep some of their names straight!

Thank goodness for computers and spread sheets.  I don't know what I would do without my master list.  It is the reason I first got a PC - to catalog my plants.

[quote author=Skulski link=topic=229.msg1965#msg1965 date=1272998560]
Rick, from googling, I haven't found any association of the genus Pulsatilla with the word 'Nigrescens'... ?
Oops, sorry - I guess I should have been addressing that comment to Todd, not to Rick.  I did not read carefully enough.

Thanks for the info on Viola canina, Trond.

PS  More fine spring weather - a skiff of snow, ice, and a forecasted high of -2 deg C today.   :P

You know, weather predictors have always said that my region would be one of the least affected by global warming.  While I consistently have longer falls and this super early spring, I can hardly imagine the still periodic snows that you three are having.

RickR wrote:

You know, weather predictors have always said that my region would be one of the least affected by global warming.  While I consistently have longer falls and this super early spring, I can hardly imagine the still periodic snows that you three are having.

The cold weather here now has nothing to do with global warming but with less activity on the sun (fewer sunspots). The weather in Westen Europe is affected by sunspots and lack of them! The last winter has been one of the 10 warmest globally but one of the coldest here for 100 years and the sun's activity hasn't been lower for more than 70 years.

I am new here so i thought i would dive right in and try not to make too many mistakes(you know, old dog, new tricks). I took some pictures of some of the plants in my Idaho garden yesterday(may 5 2010). we are still freezing at night so we are not at the peak flowering season yet. here are a few pics. my url for the rest of them is at :
http://ImageEvent.com/teita/may52010rocakgarden

http://photos.imageevent.com/teita/may52010rocakgarden/websize/5-5-10-8.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/teita/may52010rocakgarden/websize/4.jpg

Jim Hatchett, Eagle Idaho zone 3?

Wonderful photos Jim!  Please consider adding them to the image gallery.

Most nights are close to freezing here too...not much signs of global warming in my area this spring.

Wonderful pics.  Collomia has been on my want list since Panayoti introduced it to us.

Rick, you said in another thread that the grass isn't greener on the other side but surely it often seems to be!

This is nothing to write home about yet (if ever), but I'm pleased to see it!  
Here is the miniscule first showing of a Ligularia soldanella, from seed in 2009.  (The tufa gravel is ~1/2 inch nominally, so you can see how tiny it is!)  When I started these, it took forever for a true leaf to form - actually I don't even recall if a true leaf ever did form before the two seedlings went dormant.  I wondered at the time if the species actually required cold conditions after germination(?)  Anyway, after they went dormant, I planted them out, finding strong healthy white roots all the way to the bottoms of the pots.  
So far so good!

I thought all Ligularia were big not-so-good-for-rockery plants! What is the ultimate size for this dwarf?
Here are two of my "rockery" plants. They grow wild everywhere here at my cabin. The Viola tricolor finishes flowering early but the Armeria maritima goes on almost all summer but are best in June.

PS! Not exactly alpines but I had no better for the moment!

You are a brave one, Lori; the thought of transplanting such a tiny plant would never have crossed my mind!

Skulski wrote:

This is nothing to write home about yet (if ever), but I'm pleased to see it! 
Here is the miniscule first showing of a Ligularia soldanella, from seed in 2009.  (The tufa gravel is ~1/2 inch nominally, so you can see how tiny it is!)  When I started these, it took forever for a true leaf to form - actually I don't even recall if a true leaf ever did form before the two seedlings went dormant.  I wondered at the time if the species actually required cold conditions after germination(?)  Anyway, after they went dormant, I planted them out, finding strong healthy white roots all the way to the bottoms of the pots. 
So far so good!

Lori, what is the latest taxonomic standing on this species, between Ligularia as opposed to Senecio?  Checking the USDA and the new online Flora of North American, both maintain Senecio as the genus.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SESO
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250067509

This is a stunning species, whether one calls it Ligularia or Senecio... good luck with bringing it to maturity, I was never able to.

http://www.laporteavenuenursery.com/html/senecio_soldanella.html
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/imgdown.cfm?img=5104095&res=3
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/imgdown.cfm?img=5104099&res=3
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/imgdown.cfm?img=5104100&res=3
http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Yellow%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/l...

RickR wrote:

You are a brave one, Lori; the thought of transplanting such a tiny plant would never have crossed my mind!

Really?  Well, by contrast, growing seedlings on in pots for more than the absolute minimum length of time would never cross my mind!  ;)   (I like to get everything in the ground ASAP... it makes for lower maintenance, and no pot jungle.  Just my preference... I'm very lazy!)

Yes, indeed, Mark, it looks like Senecio soldanella is the correct name these days:
http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_...

Oh well, to be honest, I can never remember either name!   :D

A few in bloom here:
1) Astragalus gilviflorus, starting to bloom; as the bloom continues, the leaf stems will start to elongate somewhat.
2) Gentiana verna
3) Hacquetia epipactis, amid the bulb foliage
4, 5) Our native Oxytropis sericea out in the front yard
6) First couple of blooms on Iris taurica, about 6.5" tall (a little more than twice the height of my I. suaveolens)

1) The start of bloom on Aubrieta deltoides 'Blue Indigo'
2) The first pristine flower of the year on Ranunculus pyrenaeus

Now the spring (or early summer?) has arrived in full? No more snow and freezing at night?
I have a plant, Ranunculus amplexicaulis, which is very similar to your R. pyrenaeus.

Trond, I actually have bought both of those, and I wonder if I am mistaking this one now?  I'll have to look more closely at it tonight!

EDIT:  Yes, it is actually R. amplexicaulis, from the clasping leaves - thanks for the correction to my photo records!  

To answer your question, we have gone 9 nights now without frost, and we are close approaching the average last frost date (~May 23).  Does that mean it's over?  Who knows?  I ride my bike to work through spring/summer/fall, and I've seen frost on the grass along the river in every month of the season here.  On this holiday long weekend (Victoria Day) - perhaps because of it   :-\ - it frequently snows in the mountains and foothills, if not here too!

Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Papageno':

Not an alpine but...
This is our native Viola adunca, which somehow made its way into the flower bed outside the fence many years ago.

Nice violet! I like the wild Viola sp better than the maximized pansies although some of them can be very attractive too. Our native V. canina and other species is in full flower here now.
But I choose to show a picture of a Dryas, D. x suendermannii. Last winter it was hit by a car and almost exterminated.

PS. And one Pulsatilla - you all have shown yours!

Hoy wrote:

Nice violet! I like the wild Viola sp better than the maximized pansies although some of them can be very attractive too. Our native V. canina and other species is in full flower here now.

I would love to see your V. canina too.  There is still no sign of the ones I grew last year, so your photo may be all I get to see of this species!

Hoy wrote:

But I choose to show a picture of a Dryas, D. x suendermannii. Last winter it was hit by a car and almost exterminated.

Yeah, that's what can happen if they choose to roam...  ;)

Skulski wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Nice violet! I like the wild Viola sp better than the maximized pansies although some of them can be very attractive too. Our native V. canina and other species is in full flower here now.

I would love to see your V. canina too.  There is still no sign of the ones I grew last year, so your photo may be all I get to see of this species!

Here you are! I am 99% sure it is canina but we have about 10 blue flowered violet species, some are very similar.
These grow wild in my woodland, I never sow them.

Hoy wrote:

. . . Dryas, D. x suendermannii. Last winter it was hit by a car and almost exterminated.

My avatar is strictly forbidden to cross roads for the same reason.

Still a nice Dryas, Trond.  I am sorry to say my D. integrifolia from Baffin Island has melted away.

Hoy wrote:

PS. And one Pulsatilla - you all have shown yours!

Trond, those of us up in the northern hinterlands have ones that have not even started to bloom yet... you too?

Thank you for posting your Viola canina - looks nice.  I'm continuing the watch for mine.

Skulski wrote:

Trond, those of us up in the northern hinterlands have ones that have not even started to bloom yet... you too?

Lori, my first have finished and I have some more flowering now but they too will finish soon!

I have several Viola open at the moment; V. conspersa, V. corsica, V. jooi and V. labradorica 'Purpurea'.  I am most pumped with my first-blooming Pulsatilla flavescens!

Nice violas!  That's something I must work on, as I have almost none to speak of. 
I love the Pulsatilla flavescens - absolutely beautiful!  (Warning, I will be hitting you up for seeds, as it is so attractive!)

Pulsatilla flavescens is something to work for to get! V. conspersa is new to me, I like that.

I'll endeavor to save seeds from both!

it would be nice to have a real P. flavescens.  (another fresh seed hint)

Well May is almost over, you would not know it by looking at all the snow in the hills(it snowed on the valley floor on Saturday) and the freezing temps at night... such is life in Idaho. I am so glad to be back from my trip to Asia with only a case of stomach crud. Of course things in the gardens have changed a bit though I think the continuing cold temps are slowing things down. I did manage to take some pictures this afternoon and that will be it for May pictures. Here is a link:
http://ImageEvent.com/teita/rockgardenmay252010
I would like to comment that this is a great forum, i can not image the work that must have gone into it.
jim

Lovely images Jim.....despite snow in the hills, yours plants are still way ahead of mine.  Our nights are only the upper 30's but our days are struggling to reach the 50's.  Your days must be warmer I guess.  Suffice to say, things may be late in Idaho, but they are even later in Newfoundland!

Hatchett wrote:

I did manage to take some pictures this afternoon and that will be it for May pictures. Here is a link:
http://ImageEvent.com/teita/rockgardenmay252010
jim

Jim, I viewed this gallery from your Alpine-L link, some great plants there... really liked Aster scopulorum, and that form of Penstemon davidsonii, while paler flowered than some I've seen, certainly makes up for it with huge flowers compared to the tiny leaves.  Had me thinking of Penstemons... here's one from my past, one of the few that I still have with me, flowering better than in many years, Penstemon 'Grape Tart', a Dasanthera hybrid; the flowers look two-toned as they are deep purplish color in bud, opening a shde or two lighter.  The plant growing through it is Marshallia grandiflora.

My dasyanthera penstemon are just starting to bud.

Valeriana arizonica is at its peak...tiny blooms but great fragrance.  My Cortusa sacchalinensis is just opening...at least that what the seeds were labeled as...looks like C. matthioli to me!

Todd wrote:

My dasyanthera penstemon are just starting to bud.

Valeriana arizonica is at its peak...tiny blooms but great fragrance.  My Cortusa sacchalinensis is just opening...at least that what the seeds were labeled as...looks like C. matthioli to me!

Todd, the Cortusa is a stunner... whether it is matthioli or sachalinensis, whatever it is, the leaves and flower presentation are delightful.

I have also tried different Cortusa species and found them all to be very similar to matthioli if not the same (wrong labels or just subtle differences?)
That Valeriana arizonica looks interesting! The valerians I am acquainted with are totally different! (V. officinalis and lookalikes).