The Awakening

April 6, 2012, 2:13 pm

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Narcissus Rijnveld's Early Sensation end of January

Narcissus Rijnveld's Early Sensation a month later

Nierembergia repens

Pelargonium leucophyllum

Melianthus villosus

Dierama, Scilla peruviana, and Euryops tysonii et al

Gerbera jamesonii

Kniphofia northiae

Berkheya multijuga

Aristea angolensis

Diascia fetcaniensis "African Queen"

Geranium cf wakkerstroomianum

Harpochloa falx

Helichrysum sp

Pelargonium luridum

Melianthus villosus

Diascia rigescens

Fuschia magellenica

Tulbaghia violacea "Silver Lace"

Poaceae sp from Nottingham Road, Natal

Berkheya radula


Helichrysum splendidum

Every spriong there is a great awakening, but what makes this year even more exciting than usual is that we had an exceptionally mild winter. So the flowering season began early, in January, with things like Narcissus Rijnveld's Early Sensation which opened just at the end of the month in a protected spot in my school garden, and a purple crocus species that I had in my home garden. Helleborus hybrids were also up early, and many things didn't die back completely or survived that might otherwise not have. Nierembergia repens is pretty reliable for me thus far, but this year its back lusher than ever as it slowly spreads to make a nice green mat to frame the large white cup like flowers that will appear later on. It was a good winter for the Berkheyas as well, five species survived in my school garden, B. multijuga (which never died back and looked quite nice with its prickly symmetrical winter rosettes), B. cirsiifolia, B. macrocephala, B. purpurea, and B. radula. I can't wait for them to flower and to see if they might hybridize. Helichrysum splendidum did very well, some plants died back more than others, but all are regrowing strongly now and the several seed grown plants I have are now large enough to become substantial grey leaved feature plants in my school slope garden, and I hope this will be the year that they produce their flat topped inflorescences consisting of masses of tiny bright yellow strawflowers. A second species whose name I don't recall, stayed in good form all winter, it is one of the dwarf alpine ones that I grew from seed from Silverhill. When it flowers I should be able to figure out which one it is. I did lose my plants of H. trilineatum last summer during a hot rainy summer spell, I will have to try it again as it did live for a few years. This experience also reminds me why its a good habit to propagate things frequently that are rare and difficult to source again. Two South African grasses are also doing well, one a species I have not been able to identify that I collected years ago in Natal; it produces fountains of long narrow leaves up to a meter long, topped later in the year by open airy inflorescences. Harperchloa falx, the African caterpillar grass was originally introduced to this country by Panayoti Kelaidis, and my stock is derived from this introduction. The plants in my school garden survived two winters and are now big enough to flower, which they should do in late spring if I recall correctly how they behaved when I first grew them years ago. I've had a Gerbera jamesonii come up for a few years by the wall at school, now I have many more mature potted plants that I can set out alongside it so I can get seed production, as Gerbera is not self fertile. This is the wild form, a more graceful thing than the ones found in stores everywhere. It cannot be counted on to be winter hardy in our area through normal winters without protection of some sort. Even of the hybrid forms, at least one of three has survived the past winter at home thus far, where the only protection they got was having large soil filled pots set on their crowns during the worst of the winter cold (it got down to 12 F one night at home, and 9 F in my school garden). A surprise was getting Aristea angolensis through the winter, one plant against the wall survived but so did a plant by the sidewalk. Aristeas are lovely blue flowered things, sort of like Sisyrinchium on steroids. I got this one from Martin Kunhardt in Merrivale, South Africa as seed many years ago, it is easy to grow in pots and reseeds freely, but is not normally winter hardy here. Pelargonium luridum has survived yet another year against the wall, and it can be expected to flower in abundance as in years past by June. I am starting some seeds b/c it also appears to be self infertile, so if I want to get seed production in NY, I need other clones to grow alongside it. Pelargonium leucophyllum also is regrowing in the slope garden, it is a high alpine species that I got a plant of when I last visited South Africa in 1993. It was given to me by Charles Craib, a most intelligent man who knew so much about South African plants, I was deeply saddened to learn of his sudden passing just a couple of weeks ago. This species which I treasure is but one of several things that I got from him over the years that live on. It grows on the crowns of the mountains in the Eastern Cape, and is one of the most frost hardy pelargonium species. One year I had a plant survive at NYBG in a sandbed, it flowered profusely and set many seeds, but expired later due to summer heat and humidity. Its possible the two plants emerging at school will bloom this year, hopefully not to expire as they are perennial in pots. Pelargonium minimum, a tiny creeping species did maintain foliage until January or so, but appears to have expired during the freeze-thaw cycles of later winter. Yet it can be counted on to regenerate from self sown seeds, as is also the case with some forms of Pelargonium alchemilloides. I haven't seen any emergent shoots from Pelargonium sidoides yet, but I expect them to have survived since one survived last winter, and I would not be surprised to see P. reniforme plants as well, since I did not dig up all of the garden plants of the various forms of it that I have to bring indoors for winter last fall. My own hybrid of ionidiflorum x odoratissumum is also represented outside by a single plant, and I am watching it carefully for signs of life as well. It is an interesting plant with oak shaped foliage and white flowers, Michael Vassar also created hybrids between these two species as well. Geranium wakkerstroomianum also came from Charles as seed, it did very well this year nestled alongside a yellow Phygelius that has been in the school garden for several years. I have added many new phygelius cultivars to the garden, the ones I added last year all survived but did not grow a lot for the most part during our dark and dreary summer of last year. I added more a few days ago, and hopefully the sunnier than usual weather we have been experiencing for the last few months will continue. Its been a banner year for kniphofias as well, the K northiae plants stayed green all winter and will likely flower this spring, as one did last year. They resemble odd green octopuses (octopi?) splayed against the ground. Many other species also made it and I am planting more species and hybrid seedlings on the slope this spring. In my dreams I imagine a South African meadow of kniphofias, berkheyas, agapanthus, diascias, gladioli, helichrysums, and other exotic treasures knit together with my long Natal grass and the much smaller Harpochloa falx. I would say that I am not too far off from realizing that vision in part of my school slope garden. For the time being it does include many non South African species, but I am slowly editing it over time. Fuschia magellenica, a Chilean species, has thrived against the wall for many years and is resprouting with vigor, as is the nearby Melianthus villosus. Though the melianthus did not produce its dark nectar dripping flowers last year (it did the year before) it grew huge and the numerous shoots coming from the base indicate that it will do so again this year. Oddly a smaller seed grown plant or two in my slope garden remained evergreen all winter, its possible they may be M. comosus or another species, I will have to verify ID when they are bigger. This is not a particularly protected spot either. Maybe it is a hardier clone of villosus, or it just got lucky for some reason. There are many more special plants sprouting in my home and school gardens, and if our sunny weather continues (we actually need a bit of rain at this point, but I still hate when we get long cloudy/rainy spells) more will join them shortly. In fact many things are ahead this season, some by a month, I just saw a purple bearded iris in bloom in my neighborhood, that is way early indeed. All along the eastern seaboard and in the midwest other gardeners are reporting similar early flowering and bud break. It will be a very interesting year.

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April Flowers, Without Showers

June 8, 2012, 7:02 pm

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Lunaria "Corfu Blue"

Miniature Bearded Iris from SIGNA seeds

Aquilegia flabellata from NARGS seeds


Rosa foetida

In concert with our very mild winter, March though most of April featured unusually warm and dry weather, perfect by my standards. Why move to California when if I live long enough Cali may come to me here in New York, courtesy of global climate change? I actually had to water my school and home gardens once during this period, which is not typical for this time of year. Since the end of April Nature seems to be making up for lost time with almost daily showers,so now we have too much rain, though I hope it will abate sometime soon.
The Lunaria "Corfu Blue" is flowering from small seedlings I started the previous year. The seed came from Derry Watkin's "Special Plants" seed list. As is so often the case with new plant introductions, the UK folks are ahead of the Americans, so a careful perusal of UK seed lists from often reveals new gems worth trying on this side of the pond. I like this plant, it makes a mound of blue violet flowers in early spring, followed by the characteristic "coins" (flattened oval seed pods) later on. It must be a new species, as it does not look like L. annua to me, and Derry states in her excellent seed list that it behaves as a perennial at times. She also states that it reaches 36 inches, but my plants are half that, perhaps because they were not large when I planted them out the year before. Should they prove to be perennial (unlike L annua, a true biennial) I will be able to find out next year if they can in fact reach 3 feet tall.
The miniature bearded iris shown above were grown from mixed hybrid seeds I got from SIGNA, the Species Iris Group of North America. Specialist groups like this cost a pittance to join, provide very informative publications to the members (in the case of SIGNA now in electronic form for those who don't need more paper in their house) and have excellent lists of seeds donated by members. Many of these seeds are difficult to find or simply unavailable elsewhere. And they are available at a very nominal cost as well. It is possible to get some wonderful miniature bearded cultivars from any of several excellent online iris nurseries, but I find great joy in growing my own from seed. The element of surprise is an essential part of gardening for me, and growing iris from seed will produce all manner of interesting variations to keep one excited about the potential beauty of next flower to open.
From the North American Rock Garden Society (NARGS) seed lists, so many treasures can be grown. If you are also a member of one of the local chapters, as I am (Hudson Valley Chapter) in some years seeds left over from the annual winter distribution are available to members of these chapters as surplus seeds which are divided up and sent out to the local chapters to dispose of as they wish. One year I got quite a few seeds, actually they were going to end up in the trash so I felt obliged to take as many as I could. It also was an opportunity to try things I might not have selected when I put in my seed list order to the national society, since there was no quota and no reason not to expand my horticultural preference boundaries a bit. In fact, whenever I get an opportunity like this I often, just for the hell of it, will take the very few unlabelled packets that would otherwise surely be thrown away, and I have gotten some nice things from those mystery packets. I pull a few packets from my seed stash out from the fridge to start each year, and one of them was labelled Aquilegia saximontana x jonesii, a cross of two very desirable and sometimes difficult to grow western American species. What I got is not that, but instead the much more common and easily grown A. flabellata nana. But I am not complaining, not at all, how could I when viewing those exquisite blue flowers on such a compact plant? In my school garden they grow among moss phloxes and other low growing plants, and I look forward to them seeding around as A. flabellata is want to do.
I also grew the yellow Rosa foetida from seeds. I lost the label ages ago, so I was pleasantly surprised when two plants bloomed this spring. This is a tough species rose that flowers on smalls young plants only about three years old. It does bloom only in spring, so the flowers are to be enjoyed only once each year, but they are quite lovely and way ahead of other roses.

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Fire and Ice(plants)

June 8, 2012, 8:18 pm

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Delosperma sp. "Firespinner"

Delosperma sp. Firespinner

Delosperma sp "Tiffendell"

Delosperma sp "Firespinner" and Delosperma sp "Tiffendell"

Delosperma sp "congestum"

Delosperma sp "White Nugget"

Delosperma dyeri

The Aizoaceae family, also known as ice plants, mesembs, and, in South Africa, vygies, contains hundreds if not thousands of species. When I saw them blooming in habitat in the Klein Karoo in South Africa, I was impressed with their incredible diversity and the sheer brilliance of their flowers. In the bright African sunshine it almost hurt to look at the flowers of some of the more colorful species. Luckily for South African plant enthusiasts who live in cold winter areas, there are quite a few of these plants which can take cold winter weather in stride. No one has been more instrumental in bringing many of these hardy ice plants into cultivation than Panayoti Kelaidis of the Denver Botanic Garden. When I visited Denver last summer I saw how well these plants grew in that harsh continental climate. In fact most will do better in Denver with its colder minimum winter temperatures than here in southern New York, because these are plants that relish sunshine and dislike excessive rain, humidity, and heat in that combination. Many also dislike winter wet and cold at the same time as well. Nonetheless with careful species selection and siting (well drained sandy soils in elevated beds) and some luck they can do very well in this area. Our recent mild winter and warm sunny start to spring greatly favored these plants, so the displays this spring were spectacular.
One of the new kids on the block this year in nurseries everywhere is Delosperma sp. "Firespinner". This is an undescribed species from a high altitude area of the eastern Cape in South Africa, and from what I heard it refuses to bloom at Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden. Apparently it does not get cold enough during the winter in the Cape Town area to trigger flowering. It has no such problems in Denver nor here in my NY garden. Brilliant orange flowers with magenta pink centers are produced en masse in mid spring on a very compact plant. My plant was received as a test plant from Panayoti, and it has weathered two very different winters in its slightly raised bed. This plant should do well over much of the US and is sure to be a winner in those areas where it proves easy to grow.
Equally brilliant and faster growing is Delosperma sp. "Tiffendell". This is sometimes listed as a form of cooperi, but it is lower growing and more cold resistant than the commonly cultivated form of cooperi seems to be. Another Panayoti introduction, this is a favorite of mine, it was a sheet of screaming magenta for weeks in my garden this spring. I like loud plants, and this is a superstar among them.
For reliability where ice plants tend to rot out during wet and cold winters, look no further than Delosperma sp. "congestum". Now this easy to grow plant is a bit of an enigma. It has been passed around as congestum, basuticum, and who knows what else. In fact it is an undescribed species, and may not even be a delosperma at all. Its larger seed capsules and tight habit suggest that it may be a Rabiea instead. Regardless of its true taxonomic affinities, it is a treasure in the garden. The white centered bright yellow flowers appear in early spring, and sometimes later on as well. This plant does like summer water, but still should be growing in a well drained situation. Mine are in a raised bed with hardy opuntias. A variant of this species which appeared among plants in cultivation goes by the cultivar name of "White Nugget". This is essentially an alba form of the species. I grow it with the yellow form and hope they are crossing with each other, if so it will be interesting to see what kind of variation might result in the seedlings.
Oh how I wish I had planted some Delosperma dyeri in my garden last year. I've tried it before, but with the mild winter we had, those who had it in a good spot last had a great spring show this year. And one of those lucky places was the New York Botanic Garden, where the brightly flowered specimens shown above strutted their stuff in the rock garden on a fine day in May. I don't know whether these are the asexually propogated clone "Red Mountain" or if they are seed grown. I have heard that the species does show some variation in flower color.
I have acquired seed of many hardy ice plants from the various plant society seed lists and from my visit to Denver last summer. I started many of these this spring, and look forward to planting them out later this season. I may soon be acquiring a new house with a large terraced back yard that would be ideal for growing those plants, so I look forward to more adventures with these South African floral gems.

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South Africans In June

June 12, 2012, 7:32 pm

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Kniphofia caulescens

Senecio macrospermus

Pelargonium luridum

Pelargonium leucophyllum

Berkheya radula

Hebenstretia sp

Freesia laxa

Geranium schlechteri

       This June so many things are blooming in my school garden. It is the talk of the faculty, not a day goes by without someone complementing my garden. My colleagues enjoy the brightly colored poppies and other colorful flowers which boldly proclaim their presence at this time of year. But if they were to look closer, as the occasional horticultually informed visitors I bring to my garden do, they would notice that there are lots of plants that they have never seen before. In fact I am certain some of these plants are not to be found elsewhere in New York, at least not yet. This holds especially true for the numerous South African species I favor, and after last years mild winter, so many of them came through the winter with extra vigor. Marginal things were greatly favored, and reliable things got an earlier start than usual.
        Just some of the South African taxa I grow that have or are blooming are shown above, there are many other South African species in various stages of development in the garden. Kniphofia caulescens is one of two kniphofia species to bloom thus far. It makes an impressive clump, with multiple shoots and spikes. Two plants bloomed from seed I got from Silverhill, and though one is smaller, I am hoping that they are cross pollinating so I can get more seed. Earlier I had K. northiae, a wider leaved species, in bloom, and one of them seems to have self pollinated since I see seed pods forming.
   Three plants of Senecio macrospermus are in the garden, but only one is blooming thus far. The grey foliage is interesting all by itself, and this species can get quite tall. I know that Ellen Hornig grew superb specimens of this in her former Oswego NY garden. I imagine one plant will be unlikely to set fertile seed, as self incompatibility is common in the Asteraceae, but if this is the case I will probably have better luck next year when the other two plants are likely to be large enough to bloom. This yellow senecio reminds me of the ones I saw last summer in the mountains around Denver, but no Rocky Mountain species grows as tall as S. macrospermus does.
         Pelargonium luridum continues to return yearly in its sheltered spot at the base of the wall, and this spring it is joined by several other pelargonium species. These other species (and one hybrid) survived unprotected in the slope garden. They include P. sidoides, pulverentulum, leucophyllum, and a hybrid I made between ionidiflorum and odoratissimum. P. leucophyllum was given to me on my last visit to South Africa by the late Charles Craib. He collected it on the Adriesberg in the Eastern Cape at high altitude, and was not sure of its identity. I have identified it from descriptions in the Pelargoniums of Southern Africa series by JJA Van der Walt and P. Vorster. They illustrate and describe P. hypoleucum, a species with a more western Cape distribution, and in their discussion write about a plant of similar appearance that it found on the highest peaks in the Eastern Cape near the Lesotho border, and refer to it as P. leucophyllum. Whatever my plant is, it is hardy so long as at least some foliage makes it through the winter, even if it is tattered come spring. The foliage is richly scented, and the small lavender and white flowers appear on a spreading plant during spring and early summer. This species should be protected during bad winters, but this year no such protection was needed.
           Berkheya radula is not one of the really high altitude berkheyas, from what I can find out, thus I dug the plants in past years and overwintered them in my classroom. This winter I left most of them outside, where they have done so much better and are now coming into full bloom. It is self incompatible so to get good seed I need to have both of my 2 older plants blooming at the same time. They are doing so now, and some of their offspring from preceding seasons will soon join them. Should Silverhill offer more seed of it in the future I will order some more so as to widen the genetic pool so seed can be set more easily. I like the soft yellow flowers intermingled with the bright red Shirley poppies, which themselves are doing splendidly this year from self sown seeds.
   Hebenstretia species is a cool little plant I grew from seeds sent to me by Panayoti from his first South African collecting expedition. Some day I will find the data on this plant, but it grows easily from seed as an annual, but in years with mild winters it makes an even better perennial. It looks like nothing one would find in the northern hemisphere floras, it has that Gondwanan look for sure. The delicate foliage reminds me of some kind of conifer, but it is too soft in appearance and texture to be a actually be taken for a conifer, and the crowded spikes of tiny white flowers with their bold bright orange markings do catch one's notice. It will flower off and on throughout the growing season.
          Freesia (formerly Anamotheca) laxa comes in three basic colors; red, white, or blue. The blue form is an obligate winter grower from the Cape, but the red and white forms are found in summer rainfall regions in South Africa, and are reputed to grow well in our southern states. Against the wall they do well, perhaps when I get more I will try them in less protected locations to see just how much cold they can take. They will sometimes die back in summer and try to grow again in fall, only to get cut down, but they reappear as soon as the weather gets warm again.
   The last plant pictured, Geranium schlecteri, also came to me from Charles Craib years ago, this time as seed labelled as G.wakkerstroomianum. The latter species has more deeply notched petals than what I am growing, so I suspect it really is G. schlecteri. After all plants in nature don't come with labels, and natural variation within a species is often more than one might imagine if one only sees the same plant as it is represented in gardens. Actually this geranium is quite rare in cultivation anyway. It is a gently sprawling plant with single or paired flowers of a soft lavender. The flowers appear through early summer and it will set copious seed, though it is a modest self sower thus far.

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More South Africans in June

June 24, 2012, 6:05 am

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Diascia rigescens

Diascia fetcaniensis "African Queen"

Diascia anastrepta

Senecio polyodon

Senecio macrocephalus

Gerbera ambigua

Helichrysum splendidum

Berkheya purpurea

Kniphofia northiae


Berkheya macrocephala amid the poppies

It has been an outstanding season thus far for the school garden, by now the endless days of May rains have stopped and become more normal in frequency. The flowers above are all blooming in June, except for Gerbera ambigua, which bloomed in May. This is the white form of the species, I collected both white and yellow forms many years ago in SA, and forgot to dig up the 2 plants of I had in the garden last fall. They both survived but only one bloomed, so no fresh seed for this year since gerberas are self infertile. In my home garden I had excellent winter survival of all three hybrid gerberas I planted, though I admit covering each of them with a large pot filled with soil when temps dropped into the teens for the coldest part of the winter. The G. ambigua enjoyed no such protection, and came though just fine, though I would not expect them to be hardy through our worst winters without protection of some sort.
This has also been a stellar year for diascias, D. rigescens is absolutely spectacular right now. Even though it makes a perfectly good annual from seeds started early indoors, it is even better after it survives a winter. The plants are so laden with flowers that they have bent down from the weight, but the flower spikes continue to grow upwards anyway. D. fetacaniensis "African Queen" is a more subtle plant, the plants grown last year from seed from Chilterns have formed nice mats of tiny leaves with loads of delicate flowers hovering just above the foliage. D. anastrepta from Silverhill is similar, but with glossier leaves and a distinctive yellow spot in the flower. I do hope they offer seed of it again sometime, as I have only one plant and it will not set seed on its own (though perhaps it might hybridize with the others, the results could be quite interesting).
Senecios are wonderful daisies, and South Africa has several nice purple flowered ones in addition to the expected yellow sorts. S. polyodon is reliable even in harsh winter years, and produces myriads of small purple flowers well above the rosettes of foliage. Individual plants live a few years, but it is always good to have some coming along from seed (they will self sow in favorable conditions) because they don't last forever. Senecio macrocephalus is a shorter plant with much broader leaves in tight rosettes. The individual flowers are much larger than S. polyodon and it starts blooming earlier. Many seeds are produced by this plant and it will self sow and germinate the same season if rainfall is sufficient.
Helichrysum splendidum has nice linear grey foliage, and is a vigorous plant. It sprawls so it needs to occupy some space, and in good years where winter dieback is not severe it produces many clusters of small yellow strawflowers. I am expecting good seed set this year as several different clones of it are blooming right now.
Berkheya is a cool genus utterly unlike anything in the northern hemisphere that I am aware of, I call them thistle daisies. An apt description as they are often prickly but bear large daisy type flowers. Most are yellow, but B. purpurea is an unusual shade of blue purple. It is recently becoming established in cultivation in the US (and in the UK) and is proving winter hardy. My small colony of them is increasing from self sown seeds that came up this spring from what seeds I missed harvesting last year. It will bloom the first year if started early, but will do so much earlier in the season once it has gone through a winter. B. macrocephala is a more typical yellow flowered sort, but is not as prickly as its breathern. One of about 4 plants is blooming for the first time this June, it is hard to see the white felted leaf bottoms of the plant as its flowers rise up to mingle with the numerous corn poppies in bloom at the same time.
Kniphofia northiae is worth growing for it foliage alone, but this year three plants have flowered, all at different times with no overlap. The first one that flowered was one of the ones by the wall, I am now harvesting the numerous seeds it produced. The second one flowered when we were having the rainy spell, it did not set seed. This third plant, which like the second is in the unprotected slope garden, is about to bloom so it should go into July. This species is easy from seed and I have enjoyed watching the enormous starfish like rosettes get bigger and bolder each year, and now am finally enjoying their flowers as well.

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Dandelions and Friends

June 24, 2012, 4:00 pm

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Taraxacum pseudoroseum

Taraxacum faeroense (T. rubrifolium)

T. faeroense group

T. faeroense

Taraxacum sp. grey leaf

Taraxacum albidum

Cicerbita (Lactuca) plumieri

C. plumieri

I've written before about dandelions, and there are lots of well behaved, picky even, members of this genus for discriminating gardeners to play with. Taraxacum pseudoroseum is becoming better established in cultivation thanks to the NARGS seedlist here in the USA and the seedlists of the AGS and SRGS in the UK. Its the only pink, or at least pinkish, dandelion I have come across so far. It is nearly impossible to distinguish from T. officinale, the ubiquitous lawn weed, in foliage so one has to remember where it is planted so it does not get weeded out. T. albidum is a bit more course growing, especially if not in full sun, but it is also remarkably similar to its weedy cousin, save for the white flowers. Both T. pseudoroseum and T. albidum produce plentiful seed, but neither self sows very strongly in my gardens. If you need more plants, they are easy to start from seeds in pots to be planted outdoors in spring. T. faeroense, also known as T. rubrifolium, comes from the Faeroe Islands and may be endemic to there from what I have been able to find out. My seed came from Plant World Seeds in the UK, and I really love the adpressed rosettes of dark purple foliage which stay purple even in warm weather. The foliage provides a nice foil for the bright yellow early spring flowers, and this plant could never become a weed as it is so small and does not make numerous seedheads. I think it would look better against white gravel as opposed to dark soil, this would show the leaves better. T. sp grey leaf is something I got from one of the Czech seed collectors, I think it comes from Turkey and it is a very shy bloomer. The distinctive grey leaves appear very early and may die off in late summer and the flowers, when they do appear, are light yellow. It is a rather finicky plant, disliking competition and needing a well drained sunny site.
Cicerbita plumieri also came from Plant World Seeds as Lactuca plumieri. It is native to Europe and is basically a blue flowering tall perennial lettuce. One plant has bloomed so far, and it is self fertile, already yielding many more seeds than what I received in the original packet. It looks like it will bloom for several more weeks as new buds mature. I rather like it, and I understand that it can get taller still than my three to four foot plants in the slope garden at school in unamended rocky soil.

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Diverse Dianthus in the Garden

July 14, 2012, 5:32 am

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Dianthus deltoides

Bicolored with picotee

Semidouble dianthus x allwoodii

Fringed flowers

Cool pattern!

Fringed pure white

Simple pink bicolor

Another cool patterned flower

Simple pink bicolor closeup

Variety of x allwoodii seedlings

Fringes and rings

Neat habit

Dianthus is a rather large genus with lots of attractive species (see the recent post on (mostly) species on Panayoti's blog: http://prairiebreak.blogspot.com/2012/07/gods-flowers-underappreciated-pinks.htm) and innumerable hybrids. The genus ranges across Eurasia and, unbeknownst to many, has a decent number of South African representatives as well. In my school garden they do well in the sloped garden, as they prefer good drainage and plenty of sun. Some plants I purchased from various mailorder nurseries but most of them are seed grown, either from NARGS seed, seeds from the UK, or seeds of my original plants. Many of the ones shown above grew from excess seed I cast out onto the slope a couple of years ago. Most dianthus cvs are prolific seed producers so there is plenty of seed to experiment with (and they will resow around the parent plants if allowed). Its also good to keep new ones coming along as the individual plants can be shortlived perennials, especially in a bad year with excessive rains and heat at the same time. Some are very fragrant. Should you desire, favored clones can be propagated quite readily from stem cuttings. Most of them bloom en mass in mid to late May here in NY, but many will keep producing a few flowers here and there for the rest of the growing season.
The first two photos are cultivars of Dianthus deltoides, these form low mats of deep green minute foliage and can spread slowly. Apparently they have naturalized in some places in the US, but this is not a scary invasive species at all. The seeds are smaller than the hybrid dianthus and they flower mostly in spring but will make more flowers later on, especially if deadheaded. The remaining photos are of Dianthus hybrids, probably/mainly of the x allwoodii type. They have several species in this bloodline and this complex gene makeup results in a very varied group of plants. Leaves can be varying degrees of blue green to grey green to simply green and the flowers range from white to red, singles to doubles, and come in all kinds of shapes and color patterns.
Seed is both easy to collect and easy to start. Germination is straightforward, no cold period needed, and some plants may produce a few flowers their first year if started early. Once you have a colony of them going, its easy to collect seed and even broadcast it to get more plants.

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Border Penstemons, P. gloxinioides "Sensation"

July 14, 2012, 10:19 am

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≪ Previous: Diverse Dianthus in the Garden

Penstemons are pretty much exclusively found in North America, mainly in the western part. Many of the western ones are challenging to grow in the humid and rainy east, but some of the garden strains are easier. Penstemon gloxinioides "Sensation" is a seed mix which produces a wide variety of colorful plants. P. gloxinioides is a Mexican species (and may be synonymous with P hartwegii, there seems to be some confusion in that I see these "border" penstemons under either name) and thus is not as cold hardy as most of its US brethren, but they grow fast from seed and can be grown as annuals if started early. I remember growing these years ago when I was a kid. I don't see them growing in gardens around here, so I had to search to get seed, and as is often the case, Chilterns in the UK was my source. They usually take a beating during winter in NY, often dying but sometimes respouting from the base, but in this extraordinary year, they sailed through the very mild winter with practically no damage. This allowed them to begin blooming in May, and they are still blooming off and on. I'm sure if I were to deadhead them they would make even more flowers but I want to get my own seed to try in the future. Many new buds are forming so I expect another big wave of bloom in a few weeks time in August.
There are named cultivars of this that are propagated from cutting, I did get a couple of these from Forest Farm and am curious to see how they compare to the seed grown plants. Right now neither of the two plants from FF is in bloom, but I anticipate they will do so in about a month or so.

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Seasons

February 9, 2013, 7:40 pm

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Mom

Peonies

Rose

My maternal grandmother's grave

Tulips


Grace and I on East River Mountain, Bluefield West Virginia

Seasons. We all go through seasons, be we human or plant. There is a beginning, there is the freshness of youth, the richness of middle age, and the memories that older age brings to us, then their is the passing to prepare for another new season. My mom passed away unexpectedly on Sunday morning January 27 of this year. She fell at home, and I got to the hospital in time to see her still alive but not conscious and in "very critical", as the doctor said, condition. She was taken from the emergency room for a cat scan of the head, but her heart gave out once more and she could not be revived. Incidentally nothing was wrong in her head, probably was a heart attack.
She told me the night before that she didnt feel well, she thought she had a bad cold, though she had no temperature. I suggested that if she felt really bad, she should call emergency, but she thought it was not that important and in any case I would be down the next afternoon to visit anyway.
My mom was a strong person that was the matriarch of the family, my dad depended on her in so many ways. She was fair, but could be feisty, but we all knew that she loved us and that she would have wanted to go fast as she did not like hospitals nor doctors. While we knew her health wasn't great, especially due to her shortness of breath which we presumed was brought on by a lifetime of smoking, a habit she could not quit though she tried, she did beat early stage breast cancer last year and till the end was always up and about, going shopping, making dinner for dad, etc. Her death was a shock to us all, and came at a particularly bad time for me as I was already grappling with an anxiety disorder recurrence after several other stressful events in the last few months.
I can't say I got my love for flowers from my mom, it was her grandmother that really inspired me in my early youth. Mom was not much for gardening, she liked simple things like hostas and azaleas, and certain other flowers she considered pretty. When I lived in the same house as my parents I got much flak from my mom over "tall" plants, she particularly didn't like lilies (reminded her of funerals), a tall Helianthus giganteus hybrid I grew from seed, and also when we moved she made me dig up all of the Zingiber mioga and take it to the new house. She thought it looked like corn and hated when a stalk or two would hang over the sidewalk. She did not appreciate botanically interesting/plant geek type of stuff but she did like colorful flowers. She liked peonies and tulips, and liked when I would cut some for her table. She also liked roses, especially a pink Mary rose I planted for her in the backyard.
I wish she was less reluctant to travel far in her later years, many times I invited her to come to Bluefield with Grace and I on our summer drive down south, but she was afraid of bridges, fast moving traffic, and always worried about dad. She did have a nice weekend just before she passed, when one of my three sisters brought down some good food. All four of us spoke with her often, and Grace and I also visited frequently since we got the new house (and invited them to come live with us if they ever wanted to). I wish we had a chance to say goodbye, but Grace and I will get to fulfill her last wish, which is to take her ashes back to Bluefield and intern them next to her mother's plot in the cemetery in nearby Bluewell. Unlike many New York cemeteries, it is not particularly crowded, quite beautiful and the hillside she will be in faces east to catch the rising sun.
Like the photos on my blog, the past lives on in our memories. I trust my mom is in a better place where sickness and worries are not found, and she still lives on here in our memories and in ourselves, for we would not be who we are without her having been such an important part of our lives. RIP mom, we miss you.

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Article 15

May 13, 2013, 5:55 pm

≫ Next: Daylily Seedlings

≪ Previous: Seasons

The Golden Gladiolus

Gladiolus aureus is a very special plant, known from a single locality on the Cape Peninsula, where it is highly endangered by encroaching alien vegetation. It is in limited cultivation outside of South Africa, but I got seeds years ago from Kirstenbosch when they sent free seed to members of the Botanical Society of South Africa. I kept these seeds refrigerated for many years, and was able to get three healthy plants from the packet. One bloomed this year, and I traded pollen with someone in California who had one clone only (and he reported it is self sterile). I was unable to set seed with the pollen I got, though I hope he was more successful. In any case, it is likely that the other two plants will flower next year, then I should be able to set plenty of seed. It is a diminutive plant, not even a foot high, but the flowers are eye catching and charming. I grow it in a cold garage under lights but it can get some winter sun for part of the day as well. I noticed that my winter growing plants did very well in the cold garage this year in our new home, better than they did in warmer conditions in the apartment atop my parents house where we were before. However I also found out one bad thing, Uncarinas (a genus of mostly large growing caudiciform plants from Madagascar) do not store well cold and dry, they don't mind the dry so much for winter (I've kept them in my classroom in past years, often dormant) but they hated the cold and I lost several to rot and they will be hard or impossible to replace. Ditto for adeniums, cold=death, but at least they are common enough. Yet summer growing bulbs stored very well, and the winter growers which like cool temperatures anyway thrived.

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Daylily Seedlings

July 9, 2013, 5:47 pm

≫ Next: Albuca shawii, the hardy Albuca

≪ Previous: Article 15

This one is my favorite, from purchased seed

Probably one of my own with No Where to Hide in its ancestry

I really like the bicolor effect, though this particular flower didn't open well

Almost pure white

A spider type

In the heat sometimes the flowers get damaged, or maybe its thrips, which is unfortunate b/c this one has a nice frilled edge and good color

I think this is the kind they call a bagel type flower, it is really pretty

Another favorite, nice deep color

This one has warm colors with a nice pattern

Daylilies are easy to grow, especially in the North where so far we need not contend with that plague called rust that can crop up down south. I made some crosses among my daylilies at the old house, and got some seeds from a couple of folks selling seeds, and grew them out and planted them in the school garden. There is the danger of deer, and sometimes they get nipped, but it seems all the lavender, buddleia and other things that deer hate that surround or are among the daylilies do offer a degree of protection (though if I remember I will spray them with repellent soon, just in case). There are many, too many, actually, cultivars of daylilies, some of which are really nice plants, others just have a name for no particular reason. But nice plants can be grown from seed, and even the dogs are not what I would call hideous. Dull is about the worst you can get. And who doesn't like a mystery, the growing of a seed, waiting about three years for flowers, and then finding you might have a winner like the first one pictured.

In my new house there are wild daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva) that the previous owners planted, and I really don't need them as they are aggressive spreaders and the garden space could accommodate choicer plants that are deer resistant. However I am transferring some of the daylilies from the old house to this one, but they are going into protected (fenced) locations to keep deer away. I already moved Fooled Me and Lullaby Baby, two great old daylilies, and the special tiny one called Pennysworth, and they are blooming in the flower/vegetable garden. The rest I will move after bloom in most cases, probably to a new bed that will open up when some bushes are and a large (and dangerous) spruce are removed from that area later this month.

Daylily seeds are easy to harvest, and can be purchased online as well. For more hardcore folks than myself, there is also the "Lily Auction" for both plants and seed. They should be refrigerated until planting, as they lose viability if stored dry and warm for very long. They germinate readily, sometimes coolness helps, so I have started them in ziplocks with moist paper towels that are refrigerated for a few weeks till I see some sign of germination or I pull them out after a time and they germinate. Growing on is simplicity itself, and it is quite easy to run out of room, hence all the seedlings went to the school garden, not my old home garden that was already crowded.

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Albuca shawii, the hardy Albuca

July 9, 2013, 6:07 pm

≫ Next: Amsonia "Georgia Pancake"

≪ Previous: Daylily Seedlings

foliage intermingled with Helichrysum splendidum

Albuca is a pretty large genus in South Africa, and it extends up into the Arabian peninsula. Some modern classifications merge it into Ornithogalum, an even more widespread genus, and they also include Galtonia as well. Nonetheless Albuca is fairly distinct in its flower morphology, though perhaps DNA will be the final arbitrator of what genus or genera these plants belong to. Some grow in summer rainfall regions, and Albuca shawii is one of these. I have had it for many years in my garden, it needs a spot with minimal competition. The yellow green flowers are attractive and distinct from anything that grows in the northern hemisphere, so here is another Gondwanan touch for your garden. The bulbs are flattened and surprisingly not deep in the ground, so they certainly must be exposed to freezing temperatures in our New York winters. I've not seen it self sow, but it does produce seeds, even more so if helped by hand pollination. Seeds are readily started in pots in spring or late winter, then I plant them out the second year, when they may bloom or they will wait another year before flowering. I've moved plants from the old house to the new after they leafed out and they still bloomed anyway, the ones that are pictured are growing in the school garden near the garden edge.

There are other hardy albucas, A. humilis is one that I need to get growing in the garden, and Galtonia candicans is also a very hardy bulb, sort of like a giant summer snowdrop on a spike. Propagation is the same as for Albuca shawii.

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Amsonia "Georgia Pancake"

July 9, 2013, 6:22 pm

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This year it made a seedpod that is in the top center of the pic, could be a selfing or a cross with one of two other species in the garden. Cant wait to grow the seeds out either way.

This is one really cool plant, I got it from Plant Delights by specifically asking for it when I didn't see it for sale during one of their open houses. It is the only prostrate growing Amsonia, and it can make quite a large carpet of fine foliage as I saw in the nursery display gardens. Its one of those plants a plant geek has to have, and I'm pleased that it has been hardy for about three winters up here in NY. Critters ignore it, and it does have modest but attractive flowers in spring, not quite as showy as some of its upright cousins, but pretty enough. It can be rooted from cuttings, and is a slow grower so its not one of those plants you will ever see in the big box stores (horrors!). But after a couple of years it becomes a lovely soft carpet of foliage. I planted it in a special raised bed in the school garden where it gets good drainage and good sunshine.
It is probably a new species, and is found as far as I know in one place in Georgia, so it won't be long before it ends up on the Endangered Species list, which makes shipping it across state lines problematic. Some folks say it is just a prostrate form of A. ciliata, in which case it won't end up on the "List" but either way the cat is out of the bag and I think it will be well established in several gardens before it even gets an official scientific name, so its future is safe in horticulture at least.

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Rosa xanthina

July 9, 2013, 6:38 pm

≫ Next: A Summer Growing Moraea

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What a pretty thing this is when its in full bloom. I grew them from seed, and they have become attractive small shrubs with an open habit in my school garden. The yellow flowers are quite showy in midspring, and numerous hips are forming as I write this. Sadly it only blooms once a year, but it also doesn't take over the garden later on like R. multiflora would if it could, as it is a major pest along our roadsides. It does have lots of small thorns on the stems, which probably help deter deer from bothering it, at least in my experience so far they do ignore it. It also blooms well before blackspot and other rose diseases get going in our humid weather, and I haven't even noticed if gets blackspot to be truthful. In any case, it is a reliable early bloomer which does well without the fussing modern roses often seem to need in our climate. Sometimes simpler is better.

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A Summer Growing Moraea

July 11, 2013, 5:55 pm

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≪ Previous: Rosa xanthina

This little floriferous gem turns out to be M. elliottii, at least according to the label I found in the pot the other day (I thought it was M. thompsonii, another summer growing purple species). Whatever it is, it is easy to grow from seed, and simple to deal with in winter, just store the whole pot with corms dry and cool. The flowers are little works of art, and although each lasts about a day or so, more come over a period of several weeks. I have not tested it for winter hardiness, though it has set ample seed so I have some incentive to try it in the garden in the future. Most Moraeas come from the winter rainfall areas of the old Cape Province of South Africa. There the genus is at its most diverse and one can only wish the stunning "peacock" moreas like M. aristata would be summer growers and thus more amenable to cultivation in areas other than winter rainfall mild climate ones. If I were younger, I might dream of bioengineering some of the wonderful Cape bulbs to grow on a summer active winter dormant schedule, it probably is just a matter of finding the gene(s) responsible and swapping them out with genes from summer growing equivalents. Or just add in some genes for cold hardiness and a delayed growth response (as in most crocuses and daffodils) and you would have a plethora of new "spring" bulbs for the garden. In the meantime (aka back on planet Earth), there are several summer growers in this genus worth trying, and some are hardy in places like the UK, especially some of the yellow flowered larger ones like huttonii and its kin. More experimentation is needed in the USA to determine which ones are reliably cold hardy and what other factors can lead to winter loss (for one I tried in my school garden, I suspect voles may have done it in more than winter cold).

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Phygelius

September 2, 2013, 8:42 am

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Phygelius consists of two species, capensis and aequalis, both of which are found in summer rainfall areas of Natal and the eastern Cape. They have been crossed to create a variety of hybrids, all of which are pretty much cold hardy in the NYC area. In mild winters they may not fully die back, in rougher winters they do die back then resprout. They can sucker in some cases, and flower for a long period of time. I have planted several cvs in the school garden, some are big, others still small in their second year, it seems the size of the plant I started with does affect how fast they grew (they came from different sources). They can be propagated by cuttings and are a favorite of hummingbirds.
I also want to announce a new forum, created by Jonathan Mejia and myself (well Jonathan is really the technical wiz behind the forum's workings, I'm less computer literate having not grown up with them) for South African plant aficionados who want to grow them in temperate zones (Z7 and lower). Check it out at http://zone7southafrica.proboards.com/

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Korean Mums

November 2, 2013, 8:29 am

≫ Next: South African Flowers in the Fall Garden

≪ Previous: Phygelius

I like flowers that show considerable variation, not boring sameness

This new seedling is my favorite one so far

Korean mums are in full bloom at my school garden, they have done superbly despite the October drought and no supplemental watering. Over the years they have self seeded and new colors appear among the seedlings. They were apparently bred in Connecticut back in the 1930s from a particularly hardy mum species, but because of their tall and sometimes floppy growth one doesn't see them around much these days. NYBG grows some, and used to have a huge garden full of them back in the day when I worked there, and they are also still grown, I think, in Central Park on the east side near 5th Avenue in a garden there. I was given seeds by a fellow NYBG staff member some years ago, and I grew a few out for my school garden years later (I keep the seeds in the refrigerator, a practice that greatly extends seed viability). They cavort well with the other tallish plants in their allotted area at the top of the slope (though some seedlings have appeared lower down) and sometimes flop over the sidewalk back there, but other teachers have complemented them on their colors and a light fragrance they seem to exude on nice days. The sleeping bumblebee in the last pic is a typical sight at this time of year, as the weather grows colder and frost threatens. We have been spared any but the lightest touch of frost thus far but that wont last much longer. The bumblebees tend to sleep on flowers overnight rather than returning to their nest.
These mums are not for small gardens, but unlike the color blobs that pass as "mums" sold in every grocery or box store this time of year, they are graceful plants with an endless variety of colors in single to semidouble flowers. They fit well into a cottage garden design and are bone hardy. Deer will occasionally eat some of the flower buds, but for some reason this year the hooved rats did not bother them at all.

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South African Flowers in the Fall Garden

November 20, 2013, 6:28 pm

≫ Next: Spring 2014 Is Finally Here

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Gorteria diffusa

Leonotis dysophylla

Ursinia nana

Nemesia sp Verlatenkloof

Arctotis fastuosa

Diascia hybrid

Berkheya hybrid

Senecio sp

Ceratotheca triloba white fl form

Berkheya cirsiifolia

Fall is a strange time of the year, some plants are fading away while others burst into bloom as the cool air invigorates them. This fall was especially dry and sunny, and frankly odd for us but much preferred to our more typical rainy and gloomy Octobers. September is usually the last decent month, but we had a nice October and November has not been particularly bad either, though frost has finally struck and put an end to tender plants, such as the Ceratotheca triloba shown above. Still there are many plants that tolerate some frost, especially South African plants from habitats where frost might occur during their growing season. Thus Ursinia nana, Senecio sp (both of which I collected seed of myself back in 1993), Arctotis fastuosa, and Nemesia sp Verlatenkloof (a sp collected by Panayoti Kelaidis and now, in my self sowing strain with some N caerulea genes mixed in) continue to look great even after a couple of frosts in the upper 20s F. The Gorteria diffusa survived all summer and took off as fall approached, it did well after the first frost but is now looking tattered after another round of frosts. A Berkheya hybrid with pale yellow flowers appears to be one between B radula and perhaps B purpurea, its leaves are more prickly than pure radula but the flowers are closer to radula than any other species I grow. B. cirsiifolia in the school garden looks great even out of flower with its attractive foliage, in mild winters it may remain evergreen but most often it dies back to some degree before regrowing again. The Leonotis dysophylla flowered just before the first frosts, so I cut the flowers and brought them in along with some tall marigolds, they looked quite nice on our table when we had some folks over for dinner soon afterwards. The diascia hybrid is, admittedly, just one of those things from the local Home Depot (or as Panayoti refers to it, Home Despot), it has survived a few frosts but I doubt it will be as tough as some of the species are, notably Diascia fetcainensis, which seems to be the hardiest of them all, at least among the ones I have tried. I transplanted a piece of it from my school garden to my home garden and it is taking, so I anticipate it will make it through the winter just as it has done at school for the last three years. I've also planted out lots of young Crinum bulbispermum and Nerine bowdenii in the backyard gardens and quite a few Kniphofia in what was part of the front lawn, so I hope for a mild winter and plan for an exciting new growing season next year.
There are many more things to try in the garden next spring from my well stocked refrigerator full of seeds, and quite often new seeds worth trying become available from South African vendors such as Silverhill Seeds and Lifestyle Seeds. Its fun growing things that no one even knows about, let alone think is possible, in my garden. Novelty is one of the fun things about gardening, and one thing is for sure, as my home gardens continue to develop, they most definitely will not be like anything else in the neighborhood!

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Spring 2014 Is Finally Here

May 25, 2014, 8:13 am

≫ Next: A few things from the school garden in June

≪ Previous: South African Flowers in the Fall Garden

Delosperma congestum White Nugget

Ranunculus psilostachys

Crinum bulbispermum

Opuntia spp/cvs, Echinocereus sp, and Delosperma congestum

Delosperma congestum

Its been a long and bitterly cold winter, probably the worst I've seen in many decades. Low temps reached 0F on one occasion and 1F on another occasion and we had continuous freezing weather from January onwards. This freezing was broken once or twice by thaws near the beginning of a series of "polar vortexes" which came down across the Midwest and eastern US repeatedly well into March. "Polar vortex" seemed to be the new buzzword this year for arctic cold fronts. Indeed buddlieas are killed back to the base, my Tibetan Daphne species from Heronswood all died back to the base and no sprouts are seen thus far, figs died back or were killed in the general area as well. Yet many South African plants proved hardy, including Helichrysum splendidum, various dieramas, some agapanthus, Crinum bulbispermum and x powellii, Albuca shawii, Berkheya purpurea, cirsiifolia, radula, macrocephalus, and a couple of multijuga, Galtonia candicans, Delosperma congestum (not its real name, it is probably not a delosperma but it doesn't have a new name yet pending futher taxonomic studies), Cotula sp Tiffendell, Diascia fetcainensis, Kniphofia northiae, baurii, and some other spp and hybrids, among others. The SA plants along the wall at school also faired well in their protected environment, just about all of them are regrowing too. Just a few things are shown in the pics above, notably the utterly tough "delosperma" mentioned earlier, in both its yellow and white forms it is extremely cold resistant and does not suffer from winter wet provided it is in well drained soil. Opuntias also did very well this winter, and are just now putting out new growth, and hopefully soon, new flowers. I've been busy redoing the beds by adding road sand (minus salt) to increase drainage in our heavy soil, and adding new plants. Large areas of lawn have been covered with black plastic to increase garden space and, though I never thought I would ever use herbicides, I am using roundup to kill grass, some hostas, and Hemerocallis fulva, onion grass, Ornithogalum umbellatum (seems resistant but I have hit it three times), and other weeds as manual removal of all of this is impossible or ridiculously difficult. I am aware of the controversy over roundup, but of all the herbicides it seems the safest in its mode of action and the fact that it is not persistent as nearly all the others are. So I opted to make life easier as I tame this property and reshape it according to my vision.
I planted the Crinum bulbispermums last summer and am surprised to see their excellent rate of survival even in heavy soils. Most were from South African seed but some came from PBS seed distributions of a form called Jumbo which was selected and is known to be hardy in the Midwest. They are young but maybe I will get a flower or two this year. They certainly like being freed from the confines of pots.
The ranuculus is a species I grew years ago from left over NARGS seed when I was a grad student at Cornell, and I have had it with me wherever I have gardened. It is not aggressive except in a lawn as it hates competition, and it dies back in summer to little finger like roots, kind of similar to the much bolder R. asiaticus hybrids but on a much smaller scale. Its foliage is attractive and appears early, and the bright buttercup flowers are nice as well.
Inside many pots of seedlings await transplanting into the gardens, and I need to order more road sand, having already gone though nearly 2 yards of it. But its worth the effort.

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A few things from the school garden in June

June 24, 2014, 3:30 pm

≫ Next: Home Gardens in June--So many flowers

≪ Previous: Spring 2014 Is Finally Here

Amaryllis belladonna foliage and dierama in front

Allium texanum

Kniphofia baurii

Iris sp (Spuria type?)

Berkheya purpurea and Allium sp

Iris ensata

Asclepias speciosa

Linum sp

Penstemen digitalis with Echinacea tennesenensis

Nierembergia repens

Freesia laxa

June in the school garden brings out lots of flowers, there were quite a few before as well. I have not had as much time to weed and deal with things at my school garden due to the demands of my job and the fact that I am working so hard on my home gardens. In fact I really threw out my back and hip with the digging, weeding, planting, and incorporation of road sand to amend the clay rich soil in my home gardens, so I have to take it a bit easy for a while. Despite the severe winter, lots of nice things are blooming now. The wall part of the garden still did a good job of protecting the Amaryllis belladonna and other not quite cold hardy in NY plants there, and the foliage is looking good now before it dies back in July and hopefully we get flowers soon afterwards as in years past. Its a perfect microhabitat for this species, which I doubt is growing outside anywhere else in NY. Allium texanum might be hardier but all I know is that it does love the spot by the wall, its large flower heads (for an allium) are quite attractive. Later it will go dormant for the summer. The Freesia laxa in the last photo also thrives by the wall, it tends to get buried among other plants, but both red and white forms bloom sporadically there. Kniphofia baurii from Silverhill Seeds threw up quite a few spikes in the slope garden where it is not protected, as did an Iris species, maybe a spuria type, I am not so good with labels these days, with large yellow flowers. Whatever it is I grew it from seed, as I do with most plants. Seed grown Iris ensata are quite lovely, I have both hybrid mixes and true species spread around in the garden from the SIGNA seed exchange. Asclepias speciosa continues to slowly spread and shows its awesome flowers in a dryish well drained spot, and futher upslope on the way into the school building a nice Linum sp I picked up somewhere at a plant sale is proving to be very perennial and floriferous. Penstemon digitalis blooms nearby, in this area there are a fair number of other native plants as well. Finally I can't like Nierembergia repens enough, its got huge white flowers on a dense small mat which spreads at a reasonable rate. It survived this winter, so I dug out pieces to bring home which are taking very nicely and if anything spreading faster than the mat at school which is bounded by the sidewalk on one end and a gravelly patch behind it where water dripping off the eves after rainstorms makes most plant life impossible. It blooms for a long time and I have grown it for some years, yet I never see anyone else around here growing it. It does not set seed, must be self sterile, makes me wonder if there are variants of it in its native Argentinian habitat.

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