Cleome foliosa from Kunene Namibia

December 9, 2015, 4:52 pm

≫ Next: Tinantia pringlei and a Rant About Deer

≪ Previous: Acer pentaphyllum, a Rare and Unusual Maple

This is a wonderful yellow cleome with large bright yellow flowers. I got the seed from Karen Petersen years ago when she collected seeds in Africa back in the early 90's after I gave her some quick lessons on how to collect seeds from plants. This was, of course, well before the advent of paperwork now required to bring in seeds from other countries. Some of the seeds were harvested a bit too early, and not all were of indigenous plants, but there were some great finds among them. This is probably one of the best, it was labelled as coming from Kunene, which is a region in Nambia. I have identified it as Cleome foliosa based on internet research. I have grown a couple of generations from my refrigerated seed and although they got off to a late start this year (I think I sowed the seed in the container in July) they did flower in late August and September when the weather was quite warm. It comes from arid habitats so it figures that it would do best at the end of summer when we had a prolonged warm and dry spell. The flowers are quite showy and open for a long period. In fact in order to get more seeds I had to bring the entire (very heavy) container inside when frost threatened and kept it near a four tubed t5 light fixture under which I grow a lot of high light requiring plants like pelargonium species. The cleomes leaned into the light but eventually died off as it got cooler in the basement as fall went on. Nonetheless I was successful in getting the thin long pods to mature enough to yield many seeds for another generation of plants. The seeds are rather small for a cleome but they have the same round shape shared by other species in the genus. My educated guess is that the next growing season will start early and be warmer than usual, so if I am correct I can start them early and if weather conditions are favorable get a lot more flowers and seeds from them than I did this year. Another African cleome, C. hirta, resows abundantly for me so I have no need to plant any more of them, hopefully I can persuade C. foliosa to do the same after next year. Until then I collect all the seeds they produce to ensure I have enough to grow more plants (and maintain a seed store) so that I can afford to let them shed some seed directly into the ground to see if they can become resowing annuals here in NY. If they don't resow, it is little trouble to collect seed and store it so I can enjoy those big golden flowers again.

↧

Tinantia pringlei and a Rant About Deer

December 9, 2015, 5:34 pm

≫ Next: Crazy for Commelinids

≪ Previous: Cleome foliosa from Kunene Namibia

This is an interesting relative of Tradescantia that I have grown for many years. The form I grew at the old house came from UC Berkeley and had less densely spotted leaves than the form shown in the photos and possibly is a bit hardier. It certainly overwintered just fine when we lived in Tuckahoe and I think I have a plant or two around here somewhere in the back yard. If not I can always resurrect some from my refrigerator seed bank. The form shown is a different collection that I got from Plant Delights Nursery. It hasn't survived as a plant during the last two brutal winters, but it does resow rather generously and grows quickly. It is pictured in one of the raised beds in the backyard, and by the end of summer is in full flower.
Pardon the u-posts, they are there to support mesh which keeps the deer away. I started by enclosing certain beds, now I have built a fence of mesh around the entire back yard but I haven't removed some of the earlier fencing yet in case a deer does get in. We don't have many deer here but they are present and the damage they can do is astounding. My students know that I hate them, that I regard them as little more than hooved disease carrying rats. The damage they inflict on the local flora is only exceeded by what our species has done, and we have favored the deer greatly by removing the wolves that were their main predator and by creating "edge" habitats which they prefer. They now have reached such numbers that people are killed or injured each year running into them with their cars, countless more victims have suffered or died from Lyme Disease, erlichiosis, babiosis, anaplasmosis, and Powassan virus (one third of victims die from it, fortunately it is rare so far) which are transmitted by ticks that live on deer. But some folks may protest, well don't rodents carry ticks too? But comparing a rodent with ticks to a deer with ticks is like comparing the passenger capacity of a tricycle to a 747 Jumbo Jet. Plus rodents are easier to control. There are also devices which can render the rodents free of ticks that can be placed in your yard, but there is no such thing for the monstrous hooved version. Meanwhile our woodlands are being stripped of the trilliums, ladyslipper orchids, and other spring wildflowers that the deer hunger after. I remember seeing vast swathes of trilliums in Ithaca, NY each spring when I was a student in the woodlands not far from the Cornell University campus, but I have heard that such displays are a thing of the past due to a greatly increased deer population. I think I saw one deer in the evening at the edge of the campus at night once in my 10 years there as a student, but during my last summer visit for a long weekend about 4 years ago I saw one on West Campus at 11 in the morning! Clearly something has to be done about them, but in the meantime the best defense a gardener has is to build a fence to exclude or at least make life difficult for them. In the front yard which they do have access to, I regularly spray Liquid Fence and plant mostly toxic or smelly plants that deer don't like. I will also chase and throw things at them if I see them, the neighbors must wonder about that one. I want my yard to be as unwelcoming as possible and in fact I think I may have changed their usual route through the neighborhood. As it stands right now, the cars are their major "predator" in this area, with coyotes a distant second. I know folks who live right near large parks or other tracks of woodlands who have large herds roam through their properties but there aren't any really large woodlands very close by and so they don't have too many places to hide during the day around here. So between the cars and increasing houses in the area I think that conditions are less favorable for them so that their numbers are unlikely to get larger in my immediate neighborhood. And that is a good thing.
Back to the Tinantia. I have one plant that sowed itself into a pot with a small laeliocattaleya hybrid orchid in it and it survives the winters indoors growing in the bark with the orchid. Outside self sown seedlings appear when the weather gets warm and rapidly grow to blooming size. I have to thin some of them out to allow room for other plants but it is not a difficult task. It would make a superb container plant as well on account of the foliage, and the flowers are nothing to sneeze at when it is in full bloom.

↧

Crazy for Commelinids

December 9, 2015, 6:19 pm

≫ Next: Some Pelargoniums in the Fall

≪ Previous: Tinantia pringlei and a Rant About Deer

Commelina virginica

Commelina sp ex Karen Petersen

Tinantia pringlei Berkeley form

Aneilema aequinoctiale

Commelina africana

Found a few more recent photos from this fall, and it seems indeed that I do like commenilids, to the point that I grow several species. I found my plant of Commelina virginica in coastal South Carolina but it has a much wider range. It is a rather short upright growing plant and although the flowers are not bad looking, they are fleeting even by commelinid standards. It remains to be seen how hardy it will be in my garden, while I am certain hardy ecotypes exist this plant didn't come from a very cold area so it remains to be seen how permanent it will be. In any case I did collect seed, which is a tedious process for most commelinids except a couple which I will mention later on. Basically one has to collect the dried bracts from which the flowers emerge, these will contain the oblong seed pods within. Then one rubs the pods until the single seed, or occasionally two, is released.
Another blue flowered species is one that Karen Petersen collected seeds of, I think it came from Kenya. It is more showy than our native species, and readily self sows into other pots near it and can withstand considerable drought. Like all of them it propagates easily from cuttings or seeds.
I just posted about Tinantia pringlei only to find a photo confirming what I suspected, that yes indeed I do have the Berkeley form also growing in the backyard in a different garden than the Plant Delights form. And as can be seen the leaves have markedly fewer spots than the PD form. To some extent spotting depends on amount of sun too, so both genotype and exposure are factors in just how many/dark the leaf spots will be. Like most of its family that I grow, it requires no particular attention and just seems to pop up here and there and take care of itself. Should it have too many offspring as many of its kin are prone to doing, they are easily removed so that populations can be managed in the garden without too much trouble.
Aneilema aequinoctale is a vigorous tender perennial from South Africa and points north which will self sow for me. It creates a spreading ground cover from which short panicles of yellow flowers emerge. It is easy to harvest seed of this one, no messy bracts to sort through, just look out for the ripe small pods and rub them apart to get the round seeds within. It thrives in warm weather and appears to prefer some shade and decently moist soil.
Commelina africana comes in several forms and indeed I collected seed of several different ones years ago in Botswana and South Africa. One form has persisted over the years, being an excellent self sower and profuse bloomer. It does best at the edge of a garden, where it can trail out into the patio or onto the top of a stone wall. To harvest seeds, the easiest thing to do is to lift the plant's branches that extend over the stone and look for the elongated seeds lying right under the plant. They are easy to pick up and any that escape attention (and many will) become next year's plants. It is perennial in nature but severe winter cold makes it a resowing annual here. Its not by any means the most showy of plants, or even of its family, but I enjoy it, making sure it doesn't stray far from the areas I allow it to grow in.

↧

Some Pelargoniums in the Fall

December 9, 2015, 7:02 pm

≫ Next: A Life Well Lived, Reflections on Jerry Barad and His Passing Today

≪ Previous: Crazy for Commelinids

Pelargonium multibracteatum Dalil Yemen form

Pelargonium candicans

Pelargonium aridum x quinquelobatum tetraploid

Pelargonium aridum x quinquelobatum tetraploid with Petunia exerta

Pelargonium aridum x quinquelobatum tetraploid leaf

Pelargoniums are of course my favorite genus, and I am now growing several out in my gardens. Pelargonium multibracteatum is a species from northeast Africa and the Arabian peninsula. It is variable and the form shown resembles P, quinquelobatum which inhabits a similar range and is also a variable species. However P quinquelobatum flowers range from blue grey to greenish and yellowish, whereas multibracteatum is white to pink. This one was collected in Dalil Yemen some years ago and has made the rounds among pelargonium collectors. I like it because it is easy to grow, flowers profusely and the leaves are nicely zoned. It is easy to lift and grow indoors under lights as well. It does not survive our winter cold but I wouldnt be surprised if it can self sow, certainly P. quinquelobatum has done that before in gardens of mine.

Pelargonium candicans comes from the Cape of South Africa and although it is primarily found in winter rainfall regions it adapts nicely to our climate and does self sow. It isn't very showy,although the silvery leaves are nice in a quiet sort of way.

When I was doing my thesis research at Cornell I created a number of interspecific pelargonium hybrids via a modified embryo rescue procedure. During this process it was not unusual for diploid species crosses to sometimes yield both diploid and tetraploid hybrid progeny. The diploid hybrids are most often sterile but the tetraploids are often fully fertile and such was the case with the cross I made of aridum x quinquelobatum. Its pink flowers are short lived, self pollinating in the same manner as P aridum does, to yield plenty of viable seeds. The leaves are fairly attractive, larger than aridum but divided much as as aridum is, but also getting a dark zonal marking from the quinquelobatum parent. Again it is not cold hardy but it is vigorous, easily lifted for winter if desired and in any case there is plenty of seed produced by even a single plant. I sometimes like to use it in my classes as an example of a "species" I created, after all it is fully fertile and cannot backcross to either parent (which come from geographically far apart areas of Africa anyway so a natural hybrid between them would never happen in nature). All it would need is a "home'' but I'd rather keep it in my garden and share it with other pelargonium collectors rather than set it loose in the wild and confuse a bunch of botanists in the future.

↧

A Life Well Lived, Reflections on Jerry Barad and His Passing Today

January 16, 2016, 5:48 pm

≫ Next: A Trip to Taiwan: Part I Kaohsiung to the Maolin Valley Area

≪ Previous: Some Pelargoniums in the Fall

Jerry on the back porch

Bea on the back porch

A ledebouria species I think Jerry got from the Huntington ISI program

Jerry loved variegated things, such as this Kalanchoe thyrsifolia

Impatiens mirabilis, Jerry loved anything with a caudex

One of his many perfectly grown specimens, in this case Haworthia truncata

Another Haworthia species whose name escapes me

Haworthia with almost glass like leaf surfaces

One of Jerry's specimen plants, a mammillaria in a show pot

Haworthia, probably a form of cymbiformis,

Jerry was extremely proud of this Aloe descoingsii, which was grown from the type specimen from which the species was described. I have a single plant he gave me from this incredible specimen.

Jerry was into all kinds of plants and here he is with ripe bananas from a plant he had

Jerry getting ready to enjoy the fruits of his labor

The huge and beautiful koi in Jerry and Bea's pond. He rigged a motion activated water sprinkler to keep the herons away

Peony Bartzella, a wonderful plant not far from the back door of their house

Closeup of Bartzella

"Valley View" the view from the back porch

I just got the news today that Jerry Barad passed this morning. Its one of those moments I have known would come one day but have always dreaded. I first met Jerry and Bea, his lovely and gracious wif,e when I worked for the New York Botanical Garden as Desert Plant Curator back in the early 90's. Jerry was on the board of the Desert Plant Committee. I found out that he also went to Cornell University (long before I did of course) and was immediately impressed by his intelligence, forthright manner of speaking, and kindness. I had the pleasure of visiting Jerry and Bea at their home in New Jersey many times, most recently this past fall. We would always have a nice lunch (both Bea and Jerry were excellent cooks) and then Jerry and I would go look at the plants in his two greenhouses and in his gardens. He was very generous and I have many plants from him, including countless haworthias, gasterias, and some very special things such as a massive Sanseveria kirkii (giant green form) which I have blogged about before (the one with the very impressive flower heads), a piece of the type specimen of Aloe descoingsii, and an interesting succulent senecio he collected in Yemen, among many others. When going to visit him I often had to think hard about what I could bring him, after all what do you bring to the guy that has just about everything? I did however manage to come up with some things he enjoyed, such as Tinnea barbata which he would plant out for the summer in his garden, and he always enjoyed impatiens that could resow, so in the last couple of years I took and planted some Impatiens bicolor and namchabarwensis for him. One year he was growing all sorts of heirloom tomatoes, in fact we went to a tomato tasting event at Rutgers I think that summer. I saved seeds of the ones I liked best and grew some of them two years ago in my garden. They were far better than the ones I grew this past summer from a commercial packet, and so I will grow the ones from Jerry again this year.

Bea and Jerry were two of the most optimistic people I have ever known and I actually confessed to him this past fall when my wife and I last saw him how much I admired his attitude about life. He was, of course, devastated by the recent loss of Bea, whom he had known since they were teenagers. Yet despite this incredible loss and some serious leg pain he soldiered on, and with the able assistance of a young man, Derrick, who helped Jerry care for his gardens and greenhouse plants, he lived as Bea had told him: Life is for the living!

He and Bea were both fortunate to have lived a long life and to have traveled extensively, and they had many friends. They were not the type to sit at home in front of the TV, that was for sure. It seemed they were always attending plant meetings, and recently they were also in a local group led by a rabbi they both admired where they just discussed interesting stuff. He was a true intellectual, and published among other things the only paper I have ever seen on how to pollinate stapeliads, a favorite of his (hint, it isn't easy).

They both were very happy for me when I finally got married and they quite liked my wife as well. On one visit we all went to the local Asian market where they could pick my wife's brains about what was good to get there. I also brought a few other folks periodically to their house and it was pretty much guaranteed to be a great day of course. Good company, good food, good conversations, cool plants, and some awesome long haired friendly cats, what else could one want from life?

I and my wife will miss the wonderful visits to "Valley View" as they called their home, being able to tour the garden in the back with the huge fragrant brugmansias that he overwintered in the garage that adjoined the greenhouse, having to watch "feeding time" for the sheep they raised (and I am allergic to), tasty lunches often involving the aforementioned sheep, tours of the greenhouse and discussions on how he figured out ways to propagate special variegated plants without losing the variegation, and passing plants back and forth. I have a cutting of Brillantaisia subulugurica sitting in front of me right now that he gave me from our last visit. I first brought this species into the US from a South African nursery back in the early 90s and I periodically would lose in winter but Jerry always had a big one in the greenhouse from cuttings I gave him early on. I liked watching my wife get excited when Jerry let her feed the huge koi they have in their pond, and watching her discuss cooking with Bea while Jerry and I would toddle off to the greenhouses to see what neat things were in bloom. Ierry taught me that not all stapeliads smell like dead meat, there are two species that are actually pleasantly fragrant. Jerry was also one of the first to get the amazing intersectional peony "Bartzella" when it came out and a few years ago we happened to visit when it was in perfect bloom. I brought one this year when I came across it at a good price, remembering what we had seen at Valley View.

On our last visit Jerry took out the eulogy he wrote for Bea when she passed and read it to myself and Grace. It was a very touching account of how they first met, he was going on wildflower walks and she asked if she could come along. The rest is history, a love story that was the real thing, and now he walks among the wildflowers with his beloved Bea, together again.

I shall never forget the kindness you and Bea showed me, the lessons I learned from the both of you about what it means to live a well lived life. I will miss you dear friend, until we meet again.

↧

A Trip to Taiwan: Part I Kaohsiung to the Maolin Valley Area

January 24, 2016, 7:40 pm

≫ Next: Taiwan Part II. Taipei and Yangmingshan

≪ Previous: A Life Well Lived, Reflections on Jerry Barad and His Passing Today

Myself and Bob Oddo in his school classroom in Kaohsiung

Crossostephium chinense

Myself and Grace on Banpingshan (Turtle Mountain)

Ipomoea sp on TM

Passiflora sp on TM

Bob, Grace, and Myself with Kaohsiung in the background on TM

Kaohsiung from near the top of TM

Land Crab on TM

Indigenous Land Snail Shells on TM

Sign on TM

Ant Lion holes in soil on TM

Passiflora foetida on TM

Ipomoea carnea on TM

Fossilized coral on TM

Naturalized Sansevieria cylindrica on TM

Another view of Kaohsiung from TM near top

Striped Crow Butterfly (Euploea sp) on TM

Mystery small tree on TM, probably planted there

Lamiaceae on TM

Naturalized Sansevieria trifasciata on TM

Liriope sp on TM

Croton cf cascarilloides on TM

Fern sp growing in limestone on TM

Ficus sp on TM

Leaves and fruit of Ficus sp

Interpretive Panel outside Butterfly Museum in Maolin area

Purple Crow butterfly, Euploea tulliolus, Maolin

Interpretive panel inside Butterfly Museum, Maolin

Striped Crow Butterfly on Asclepia curassivica next to Butterfly Museum

Aboriginal depiction in village in Maolin area

"Head" of the Snake in the river bed in Moulin area

Fern sp in rock on "snake's head"

More ferns in rock on "snakes head"

Cheilanthes sp on "snakes head"

Kalanchoe sp

Aboriginal village house made of stacked slate

View from village, note how easily landslides occur in the mountains

Quinoa harvest in village

Clerodendron paniculatum

Butterfly, species unknown

Large fern near Meinung

Red fruited Comminlinaceae near Meinung

Tree with buttress near Meinung

Fern near Meinung

Species to be determined near Meinong

Epithema taiwanensis, a tiny lithophytic gesneriad near Meinung

Selaginella and ferns near Meinung

Lithophytic ferns, Epithema and other plants near Meinung

Yue Shi Jei (The World of Moon) with sliding sand

This past Christmas break was unusually long, 2 weeks, so my wife and I decided to visit Taiwan for the first time. Our daughter Snow visited last year and enjoyed it, so we decided to go this year. I was looking forward to meeting up again with Bob Oddo, who had retired from Horace Greeley a few years ago and we also were expecting to meet up with my wife's friends Yi and Yen as well. So off we went on a very long trip (16 hours to get there) via Eva Airlines. Eva is pretty good, the food is good, you can ask for snacks and drinks in between meals if you want, and it definitely was better than a typical American airline tends to be these days. The flight path was interesting, we flew north towards Hudson Bay, then west across northern Canada and Alaska, then down over Kamchatka and between Japan and South Korea to Taipei. Guess they want to avoid being over water too long which is fine by me. We landed in Taipei at around 6 am their time, then after some lines to get through customs we took a bus to the train station. We took the bullet train from Taipei to Kaohsiung Along the way I saw how densely populated Taiwan's western plains are, any flat land is occupied by housing (think apartment buildings or compounds, no typical US house with lawn thing going on there) and agriculture. In fact it was very interesting to see plots for growing vegetables or rice right among the buildings in semiurban areas. Another thing I noticed is that fruits are often wrapped in white gauze, apparently this is so that insect pests are excluded so spraying is not necessary. Some other areas were encased in a mesh, it seems that tomatoes might be grown in those areas but as it was winter there werent too many tomato plants in full production. Taiwan's lowlands do not appear to get frost, judging by what I saw from the generalized pantropical vegetation that grows there, but it can get cold, especially at night.
We arrived in Kaohsiung and were met by Bob at the station, then took the subway back to his apartment. I have to say I was impressed by both the bullet train (why cant we have those here?) and the immaculate and well run subways in both Kaohsiung and Taipei. They even have partitions so that one cannot fall or be pushed onto the tracks (sometimes such sad stories do happen in NYC) and there are sliding panels that open to admit and allow exit from the train when it arrives. Bob told me that Taiwanese are very rule oriented, and in fact there are markings on the floor which designate where to line up so as to go into a train car when it arrives, and it allows for easy exit as well since there isn't a mad mob scene trying to get into the car all at once while people are also trying to exit. Good idea. Also on escalators one is supposed to wait along the side, not block the other side in case people want to pass. We generally allow people to walk past here too in the US but they usually have to be right behind us before we move out of their way. Bob said that it would be best for us if we got some sun right away so as to adjust to the 13 hour time difference, and he was right. We walked a lot, and it was quite sunny and warm in Kaohsiung, much more so than would usually be the case in Taipei later in the trip. As I found elsewhere in Taiwan, people were very friendly, if we asked for directions it was not unusual for them to half way walk us there. At one point Bob's subway pass fell out of his pocket and a stranger came running up to us with it to give it back to him. Could happen in NYC too, but just as likely could have turned out different. I got the impression that Taiwan really wants people to visit, and that was a welcome relief from other places I have been in two ways. One, it is an extremely safe country, I think only Japan and Singapore might be safer. Two there aren't random people walking up to you trying to sell you stuff or hassle you. The taxis have the driver's ID in them visible to the passengers in the back seat and the fare is explained in Mandarin and English and is easily seen from the back seat too. So I got the impression this is not a place where folks try to rip visitors off. it is a genuinely welcoming country.
Food is a huge deal in Chinese culture and definitely is so in Taiwan. I learned about "night markets" which are basically rows of stalls of different vendors selling food and desserts, you just buy what you want and usually there are some tables and chairs to eat just behind them. There is something for everyone, sweets, fried foods, soups, kebabs, oyster omelettes (those were good), and the famous stinky tofu. Yes it stinks, and yes I tried some, not something I savored but it was okay. But in general the food was very good and I just avoided the "eye of newt" kind of stuff that one would expect to find in Asia. Two items come to mind that fall under that category, one place advertised cobra snake soup, another had goose intestines. Not my thing.....
On the other hand Taiwanese milk tea was definitely a great thing as far as I was concerned, and I drank copious amounts of tea every day there. Milk tea is sort of like hot cocoa here in the US but it is made from tea, milk powder, sugar, and non dairy creamer I think. Usually they just make it from a mix but one can also get regular hot sweet tea without milk, and of course green tea. I did kind of get addicted to the milk tea though, and it helped me stay awake while I transitioned to their time zone.
As for plants, the first thing I noticed is that the lowlands aren't terribly interesting for a plant explorer. The one exception was the ubiquitous Crassostephium chinese, it was planted in containers everywhere. It reminds me of dusty miller, with grey leaves and a pleasant scent. It is native to Taiwan and some nearby areas, and is supposed to bring good luck and has medicinal uses. I never saw it in the US and as it is very attractive I did bring cuttings (with permits of course) back which I hope will root, so far they are looking okay. If you want to see lots of indigenous plants, you need to go to the mountains, and I will post more on that later. However we did find a few indigenous plants on "Turtle Mountain", which is basically a fossilized coral hill in the middle of Kaohsiung. It has good walking paths and we went up there on a fairly hot day. The air over the city was hazy, apparently Taiwan also has "wu mai"--bad air, as does China, but it is not as severe. It didn't bother me although I have had asthma in the past, but it would have been a good idea to have brought some water with us. BTW I was told by several people, and Bob confirmed it, to not drink the tap water (it contains heavy metals from when Taiwan had lots of unregulated industry but they are making a big effort to clean up the legacy that has left behind), so we drank bottled water or water that gets delivered to the apartments.
On Turtle Mountain I noticed lots of shells, they are of an indigenous land snail. They get rather big, about four inches long, and I also found a spot full of the characteristic pits of ant lions. I tried to dig out a larva to see how they compare to ones I have found in the US but they were deeper than expected. It was apparent that there were efforts to plant things on the mountain, not necessarily indigenous plants, and I saw things like Passiflora foetida and Ipomoea carnea which are neotropical species. I also saw two species of Sansevieria which are of course African, but I did find some native ferns and a native liriope as well. Huge banyan figs (Ficus) were present on one side of the mountain, along with a species of croton that reminded me very much of similar species I am growing from southern Africa and C. alabamensis, a US native that is a dead ringer for one of the African species.
Later on we went to the beach and on a ferry ride around the port area of Kaohsiung. To get on the boat one had to be careful to keep to the side where folks were walking on after getting their ticket because nearby swarms of motorbikes were also driving onto the boat. Lots of people use motorbikes in Taiwan so it is wise to pay attention when walking in the streets. On sidewalks it is harder for the motorbikes as it is not uncommon for the sidewalk areas nearest to storefronts to change in elevation by a step or so from in front of one establishment to the next. It takes getting used to, here in the US the number of lawsuits for tripping/falling would be enormous but they must not have such a thing in Taiwan. More than once I almost tripped over a stair, but I soon learned to watch the ground more carefully. Bob took us to the night market near his apartment at least twice and the food was really good. I had oyster omelette (sort of, its really egg, ground rice water, and oysters) and some of the neat candies they have there. I also tried black sesame ice cream at one place, it was rather good. Bob also took us to the private school where he teaches IB Biology. It is one of the best of its kind in Taiwan and I was impressed with the building and spacious classrooms.
One day we hired a driver to go into the Maolin area which is famous for its butterflies. Crow butterflies, which are close relatives of our Monarch, gather in these valleys for the winter, then disperse as it warms up. While we didn't see thousands of them, they were around and there was a free museum with lots of panels illustrating their life cycle and the different species that are found in the area. We also visited an aboriginal village where I actually had some barbecued pork that was good (I am not usually fan of pork) and saw quinoa that must have just been harvested.
I saw lots of agriculture in the Maolin area too, but once one gets into the foothills there is more forest. Some of the hillsides are so steep that it is pretty much impossible to grow crops there and there are a lot of landslides due to typhoons, earthquakes, and probably the geology of the central mountains of Taiwan. I saw where parts of a road still remained but were abandoned to their fate after a landslide or two, and a new road was built in its place, but not exactly where the former road was. One has to appreciate the valor of the road crews in Taiwan, rebuilding the roads in the mountains and hilly areas is a dangerous task (more on that in a later installment).
One of the more interesting ferns I came across (the whole island is fern lover's paradise) was a small Cheilanthes species. As with others of its kind, it can dry out and revive when the rains come, and thus has a competitive advantage in areas where other ferns find it harder to survive. A very bright yellow flowered Kalanchoe was also in evidence in sunny spots along the roads, I am not sure if it is native or an African species but I have not seen it in Africa. It spreads no doubt by masses of tiny seeds.
We did get to see a patch of lowland forest near Meinung I believe, there was some signage there, including a warning about poisonous snakes. Fortunately we didn't come across any snakes, but there was a tiny plant that I recognized as a gesneriad growing on moist mossy rocks, it is Epithema taiwanensis. There were also a variety of small rock ferns and some other plants that I am not familiar with. Asian flora is new to me, so there is much I still need to learn, but that is what makes visiting any new place so exciting for a plant explorer.
We stayed for three days with Bob and on our last evening he took us to an amazing buffet place. The next morning we went back to Taipei to meet Yi and Yen. During that time we did climb up Yangmingshan mountain, a floristically rich area, and I will blog about that next time.

↧

Taiwan Part II. Taipei and Yangmingshan

February 21, 2016, 5:07 pm

≫ Next: Taiwan Part III Taipei Flower Market and Hualian, then Taroko Gorge to Hehuanshan

≪ Previous: A Trip to Taiwan: Part I Kaohsiung to the Maolin Valley Area

Taipei Gu Kong Museum

Map of Yangmingshan Park

Epiphytic fern

Hamelia patens?

Coniogramme sp.

Alpinia sp

Calanthe sp.

Lasianthus sp.

Smilax sp?

No idea, but neat foliage

Large fern sp

Even larger fern sp

Schefflera taiwaniana

Minute flowered Melastomaceae bush

Epiphytic fern

Fern with skeletonized leaf in middle

Pilea sp?

Grace among the giant ferns

Me and Cyanthea spinulosa

Sarcopyramis cf delicata and ferns

Creeping rock Fern with filmy fern

Viola confusa

Sarcopyramis cf delicata

Fern

Goodyera sp

Lirope sp and Ferns

Farfugium japonicum var formosanum and Selaginella sp

Filmy fern

Ferns and friends

Ardisia sp?

Codonopsis sp

One of many mysterious red berried shrubs

Viola confusa

Phaius flavus

Yet another neat fern

Viola eriosperma

Viola confusa

Orange lichens

Dichranopteris sp.

The stone steps continue ever upwards into a cloud forest

Finding fern spores

Hydrangea sp

Signage about ferns

Fern sp

Asarum sp and Rubrus sp. creeping

Asarum sp

Mystery sp

Pyrrhosa polydactyla

Asarum sp

Polygonum sp.

Liriope fruit and fern

Add caption

Miscanthis sinensis sea atop the mountain while looking down on Taipei

Grace and I atop Qixiangshan

When we got to Taipei the weather was quite different than Kaohsiung, it was cooler and often with light rain. We did make the obligatory visit to the famous museum to where Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai Shek) brought many of the treasures from China as the Nationalist government fled the mainland as Mao's troops advanced. We were not allowed to take photos in the museum which is sad because there were many very old and not so old wonderful cultural treasures in there. Stuff from more than 8000 years ago right up to the last dynasty of China, the Qing, was beautifully displayed with good interpretative panels. Jiang may have unwittingly done the PRC a huge favor in that this important Chinese cultural legacy was preserved when China went through the Cultural Revolution and anything deemed "old" was deemed reactionary and often destroyed on the mainland (though there were of course heroic individuals on the mainland who hid and protected many items so that they would escape the attention of the Red Guards). I am sure at some point China and Taiwan will work out something regarding the future of these important cultural artifacts but for now the important thing is that they are safe and sound. In fact throngs of PRC tourists were there in the museum looking through the many objects, often with tour guides helping to explain things.
Fortunately we got a clear day to take the bus to Yangmingshan, a park with various trails and peaks to the north of Taipei. We got off the bus and decided to go up the Qixiangshan trail. The good part is that it is well laid out with stone steps most of the way and flat gravel beds at times as well. The possibly good part is that it is a hard workout on the heart going up, and the bad part is that it is hell on the knees and feet on the way down, at least for folks in my age group. We saw lots of Chinese and Taiwanese climbing the path too, but they often had walking sticks. A good idea for the next time I go up that trail, or any other trail in that part. But I was quite excited and really wasnt going to let pain stop me, after all a botanical paradise awaited. Now this was again quite different from what I have seen in Africa, much wetter and with many more fern species. In fact if you are a fern aficionado, Taiwan really needs to be on your must visit short list. There were also a few orchids along the way, near the base of the trail were clumps of Calanthe sp which were long past bloom with nary a seed pod to be found, also spotted was a Goodyera and a Phaius flavus off the main trail. Epiphytes abounded in the trees, mainly ferns but I think I saw what might have been a bulbiphyllum out of flower. There were so many kinds of ferns, from dwarf rock crawling single leaved creepers to giant ferns larger than us. Also of note were a ginger at the foot of the trail, probably an Alpina sp. and the many red fruited bushes all along the trail. Red fruit seems to be a common thing on a disparate group of species on this mountain and I am sure their must be some good ecological reason for it. I recognized some shrubs and vines with red fruit but not most. There were also some species with blue fruit as well. As we neared the top the fog rolled in, and we found all kinds of variations of an Asarum species which unfortunately was too late for seeds. That was not the case with a cool fruited Codonopsis nor two species of Viola which were frequent along the trail. And I do love violets, except for our native V. sororia which propagates too well to be allowed in my gardens. At the top species of polygonum, creeping rubrus, and Miscanthus dominated, with the Asarum tucked in amongst them At one point we found blue gentian flowers which had been cut off during maintenance of the path to keep encroaching vegetation back.
Going back down the trail took more time than we thought so we had to rush to avoid the oncoming darkness. By the end of the trail we were running through a parking lot to get one of the buses back to the subway station in Taipei from where they depart. I had a sore foot and knees for a couple of days and my wife also felt it in the knees but it was worth it. I will when time permits try and identify the various mystery ferns since I did pick up a book on the ferns of Taiwan. But I am always open to any reader' suggestions as to the proper identifications of anything in the photos as Taiwan's flora is new and therefore not familiar to me.
I was going to include more on Taipei in this installment but it is getting late, so the next installment will show what they have for sale at the Taipei flower market, among other things.

↧

Taiwan Part III Taipei Flower Market and Hualian, then Taroko Gorge to Hehuanshan

July 27, 2016, 5:19 pm

≫ Next: Erythina zeyheri, the Ploegbreker (Plowbreaker)

≪ Previous: Taiwan Part II. Taipei and Yangmingshan

Paphiopedilium charlesworthii or hybrid at Orchid show in Taipei Flower Market

Jamesbrittenia bergae from Taipei flower market

Ostrich

Isotoma longiflora

Native species of land snail

Running from T rex

Riding a Triceratops baby

With our driver in Taroko Gorge

In Taroko Gorge with my wife

Steep walls of Taroko Gorge

Taroko Gorge

Very old tree above the gorge

Gets colder above the gorge

Amazing clouds

Well above the gorge

Potentilla sp

Tiny fern in pine forests

Dianthus superbus ssp taiwanensis

Gentiana sp among bamboo, Huehuanshan

Sibbaldia cf proumbens

Ice on Huehuashan

Seed pod of Lilium formosanum var pricei and Rubrus calycinoides

Have to look this one up, it has dimorphic leaves and red berries

Utricularia sp at base of Taroko Gorge

Ferns, Taroko Gorge

Maybe Polydactylia sp.

Fern sp

Crassocephalum rubens

Aster taiwanensis

Corydalis sp

No idea but it is pretty

Begonia sp

Early Plum tree blossoms

Cheilanthus argentea

Ferns

Lamiaceae

Mazus sp?

Viola formosana

V. formosana

Adiantum sp

Fern

Fern with hirsute foliage

Viola sp.

Adenophora sp.

Pratia nummularia

Rhododendron sp

Geranium robertianum

Anaphalis sp.

I do need to reorder these photos so they are in sequence but it is tedious to do so from what I know of how to use blogger. Nonetheless I wanted to get this post published so I can post many more about the current year in my garden so forgive the lack of precise identifications on some photos and the somewhat mixed sequence they are in. I might come back at some point in the future with more specific identifications and perhaps more photos.

The Taipei flower market was a neat place to visit, plants of all kinds were there including some lovely orchids, both for sale and in a small but high quality paphiopedilium show exhibition. I was able to find some native cymbidium cultivars for sale at about 5 for 20 US dollars which is a steal. Phaleonopsis cvs went for about 3 dollars US and paphs for around 10 dollars but because they are on Appendix 1 (I think that might include hybrids too, but not sure) I didnt get any of them. I was able to get the appropriate CITES paperwork for the few things I did buy but I also knew not to be tempted by the paphs because they require additional paperwork from the country they are going to, which is basically impossible to get. So I had to be content to just look and photograph the paphs. I also found a very rare South African species, the vivid red Jamesbrittenia bergeae, a stunning species discovered in a particular location not far from the Limpopo River after my last visit to SA in 1993. Unfortunately it had no seeds and although I did bring back cuttings after getting the phyto for them, they did not survive. I would really like to acquire seed of this species, and that can only come from somewhere where more than one clone is in cultivation as most Jamesbrittenia are self infertile. I dont know if the material in Taiwan is one clone that is propagated asexually or if there are other clones there. If any reader knows of a source for seed, please contact me, I would love to put this species into my South African garden which I will blog about in a later post.

We then went to the eastern coastal town of Hualien. Its a place for tourists, and so we took a bus with our friends Yi and Yen and their 2 kids who were also with us for part of the trip to a weird sort of park to the south. It featured a collection of exotic birds including many gorgeous pheasant species, and also a cast of giant dinosaur replicas, which I had some fun with as you can see. There were other animals too, including an ostrich that was in a pen where some Isotoma longiflora were growing. The ostrich had eaten all the grass in its pen but didnt touch the isotoma which is toxic and which bore some nice fat seed pods I was intent on getting. But every time I tried to reach through the fence I had to step back as the angry ostrich came for me. So after some thought Grace and I had the brilliant idea of throwing some fresh grass we gathered outside its pen to it at one end to keep it focused while I snatched some seed pods. It worked, the ostrich was evidently quite hungry, and I got some seeds of this lovely plant. There are some pink and blue seed strains of this species or something close to it in cultivation in the US and probably the straight species as I saw it also grows in tropical places like Florida but I dont know for sure so I wanted to take some seeds back to plant in my garden one day.

We then hired an excellent driver who spoke only Mandarin (well maybe Taiwanese too), to take us up thru the Taroko Gorge near sea level to about 10,000 feet elevation at the top of Huehuanshan, one of the tall mountains in central Taiwan. The road is fine in the lower parts of the gorge but it gets scary as one ascends in elevation. These hillsides slide easily during the frequent typhoons and earthquakes that hit Taiwan, and they drop rocks even when neither event is occurring, Tourists have infrequently been killed by falling rocks in the gorge and most likely above it so it required a bit of courage to do this trek. But I am glad we did, it was the best view I got of the native flora and there were spectacular vistas on the way as well. In the lower gorge area I found a rather pretty species of utricularia and some very interesting small ferns growing on a vertical wall with a thin layer of mud and seepage. As we went up it got cooler and we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had the usual excellent food we got in Taiwan. Near the roadside a very nice pink flower grew, I have no identification on it but was able to collect some material as I also did of a native begonia I that I also could not identify. Both are growing well in pots now. We saw a very old native Taiwanese conifer that is another tourist stop, apparently many such trees were logged out earlier in the past century but this giant old one remains. Plum trees that were planted along the road were beginning to flower on naked branches, and a variety of wildflowers including an indigenous aster not unlike our wood aster was frequent at relatively low elavations. Once we cleared the main gorge area, the road got more narrow and at one point we saw workers attaching what looked like a giant chain link fence to the slope above the road, presumably to reduce rock falls. We climbed higher into a pine forest, where many choice wildflowers could be found,and with some careful inspection, seeds as well. Dianthus superbus ssp taiwanensis was a relatively common sight in this area and on one slope we found the exquisite Viola formosana, the most beautiful of the three Taiwanese violas I saw. Even the leaves were exquisitely marked. One can only hope it might be hardy in the US, as a number of Taiwan's higher altitude flora has proven to be reasonably cold hardy here. A contoneaster species with abundant orange berries grew in one location as a flat mat which adhered to the rocks and ground it flowed over. A yellow corydalis and potentilla were also in this area as were some low growing rubus species. I even found a European plant, Geranium robertianum, which apparently has naturalized in the cooler areas of Taiwan just as it has done here in the US. Ferns, probably Taiwan's most diverse group of plants, were to be found at every stop in a variety of forms. One that I found lower down in the gorge had very hirsute leaves, others resembled species I have seen elsewhere but not being a fern expert I was not familiar with most. I did collect some spores and after a careful reading of my import permit regulations and information on the site concerned with such things, learned that fern spores do not require a written permit to be imported into the US. That was a surprise but I suppose the reasoning is sound in that pest organisms are highly unlikely to be travelling on and persist with tiny fern spores, which also can theoretically travel via wind around the world too. As we got into the high alpine areas I was thrilled to find on the slopes of Huehuanshan seeds of Lilium formosanum var pricei, the dwarf Taiwan lily. It is sometimes grown in rock gardens and it is hardy and quick from seed. All the stems I saw bore only one upright capsule and the wind had long scattered most of the seeds but I did find a few capsules with abundant seed trapped inside. A couple of Gentian species were also present in these high altitude areas, including one were I found a late season flower. It had imbricate leaves sort of like a heather or juniper, the other species had rosettes of foliage. Again careful examination of the plants revealed seed capsules which had tiny seeds in them. I have a lot of experience finding and gathering seeds from my gardens as well as in the wild, so I know most of the "tricks" to find them. The imbricate foliaged gentian bore them on the ends of stems whereas the rosulate gentian had thm among dead leaves right at ground level.

We left our hotel at about 7 in the morning and by the time we got around to heading back it was already getting dark. Fog rolled in and it was pretty frightening going down the mountain, thru the pine forests and back down the gorge. We saw that a few rocks had fallen on the road in a couple of places, and large trucks that bring cabbage down from the highlands were barreling there way back up the road. Although the road had a rail at its edge, we knew that in the event of a crash there was no way a vehicle would escape a long plunge into the ravine in many locations. But our driver had taken many others up this road before and his confidence was reassuring. Still I wish I had taken a video of the ride thru the front window as we went down through the fog in the darkness. Not for the faint of heart, and I am not a particularly brave person to be truthful. We arrived safely back at our hotel later that evening and when we returned to Taipei I had to sort out and clean all seeds and propagation material and prepare it for inspection by the Taiwanese authorities that deal with such things.

There were many other flowers to be seen even at this late time of the year and this was for me the highlight of the trip. I was able to collect seed and propagation material and had no problems at all getting them inspected so I could get the necessary phytosanitary certificate and, in the case of the few orchids I purchased, the CITES certificate, to bring them back to the US with my plant import permit. I had heard from experienced plant hunters that obtaining the paperwork in Taiwan could be difficult but my experience was frankly wonderful. Perhaps it helped that my wife speaks Mandarin, or maybe I just was in luck, but I have to say that in all of my travels I have never found more helpful people than the folks who did the necessary inspections and provided the paperwork. It didnt even cost anything, and I was impressed with both their efficiency and willingness to be helpful.

I came away from Taiwan with a deeper understanding of the island's culture and flora, and would heartily recommend a visit there for anyone wanting to experience an Asian country that is very safe, genuinely friendly, and very accommodating to tourists.

↧

Erythina zeyheri, the Ploegbreker (Plowbreaker)

July 27, 2016, 6:22 pm

≫ Next: Its Dianthus time again

≪ Previous: Taiwan Part III Taipei Flower Market and Hualian, then Taroko Gorge to Hehuanshan

Erythrina zeyheri

Erythrina x bidwellii

Erythrina is a genus of mostly trees of tropical climates. Some of our native species do produce a thickened lignotuber from which they can resprout after fire or frost, but in South Africa there is a species which never produces persistent stems above ground. This species, E. zeyheri, is known in Afrikaans as ploegbreker, the plow breaker, on account of the massive sizes the lignotuber can achieve. I saw this species from a distance during a trip to South Africa in 1993 when I was travelling with the late Charles Craib, an extremely knowledgeable person who produced many detailed descriptions of the habitats for a large number of rare and localized South African plants. He also wrote some books which are hard to get a hold of now, including one on tuberous pelargonium species which I now wish I had acquired when it was first published. We were driving through the Free State on our way to the midlands of Natal where we were to stay overnight with an expert grower of South African streptocarpus, Martin Kunhardt. As we drove by the dry fields of grass I spied some bright red flowers popping above the grass. They reminded me of bright red lupines, but we didnt have time to stop and look closer. Later on Charles sent me seeds of E. zeyheri, and I grew several plants for the NYBG where I worked at the timee. Some are still there, years later and from what I hear none have flowered in pots. When grown in pots they need plenty of water during their growing season and they can be dried off for winter. The enormous prickly leaves and short stems turn yellow and dehisce as the plant enters dormancy. New shoots arise from the surface of the lignotuber in spring. In pots it its also prone to spider mites.
So when I was growing three more of them in pots at home, I did some research and noted they grow in the highveld which would experience freezing temperatures during winters. I also found out that they tend to grow in wet areas like ditches or near water. So I decided to experiment with one plant, placing it near the front wall of our house and covering it with dried grass and plastic for winter. We had a very cold winter, and despite the plastic the tuber was definitely wet during winter as the plastic did not stop water flowing downslope past the spot where it is planted. I saw a flower spike appear when the plant emerged but it aborted. Yet I did get to see the enormous leaves grow even larger and there were no spider mites to contend with. Inspired, I planted my two remaining plants in an area that has become my South African garden. While I have South African plants in every garden, this area is exclusively for African plants with rare exceptions (such as a Goodenia that was recently given to me and that has some cold hardiness but is from Australia). One of the plants flowered soon after planting and produced one large seed in a bean like pod. All three plants were planted so that the top of the lignotuber is several inches below the ground and a foot or more of bark chips were placed over them for this winter. I find that they can take lots of cold and wet but I am not sure if they can take deep freezing so I protect them in a way that should protect the lignotubers from deep frost. This spring all three came up, but only the one in front of the house decided to flower. It produced numerous spikes of vivid red flowers and, with hand pollination, is currently producing several pods of seeds.
More experience is needed growing this species outside of South Africa, and perhaps even in its native land. I wonder what exactly regulates flowering in this species. How much cold can it take during winter? I have heard that it did not survive in Raleigh North Carolina which has much milder winters than we do, but I imagine the extremely hot summers there might be too much for it. As far as I know no one else other than the person who tried it in NC is growing it in the eastern US and on a recent short trip to California it appears to either not be common or cultivated at all on the west coast. It is worth growing even for its foliage alone, and when the flowers do appear it is a visual treat. I have read that there are albino forms and hope that seed of these variations might one day become available.
I also grow another Erythrina right next to the wall, E. x bidwellii. This is a cross of two American species and it can die back to the root during cold. It needs a very protected spot and some mulch over it for winter in order to survive in NY. It produces long whip like stems with rather wicked thorns and long spikes of red flowers during the summer rather than right after it comes up as does E. zeyheri. It is also fairly brittle so the stems do break easily and are a bit unruly, at least for me. But in spite of these faults it does produce some really pretty flowers and is not particularly difficult to grow. I understand that it can become a small tree or large shrub in places like Texas and Florida where it does not die back to the roots.

↧

Its Dianthus time again

May 25, 2017, 6:04 pm

≫ Next: The Weird Dogwood

≪ Previous: Erythina zeyheri, the Ploegbreker (Plowbreaker)

A minute cushion forming species which I got from rock gardening friends who got it from Wrightman Alpines. It was given to me as a small rooted cutting and has turned into a perfect "bun" in a couple of years.

This one is an interesting shade of pink which I rather like

Its that time of year when each day brings new surprises. Despite the often less than favorable rainy/cloudy weather this spring, the dianthus in my gardens have done well. No doubt the mild winter helped, and also the generally cool spring temperatures tend to favor them. Most of what I have, and there are many dianthus here, are grown from seed from the exchanges (NARGS, SRGC) and my own seeds from the ones I grew in the school garden some years ago. A few linger on at school but the voles seriously culled their ranks during one of our snowier winters a few years ago. I also haven't been as diligent at weeding the school gardens as I was before we moved to this place where my gardens take up much more of my time than they did in our prior residence. When one gardens on over half an acre (minus the footprint of the house and driveway, but counting in some of of the patios as there are quite a few things that really do well in the cracks between bricks or slate) it takes a lot of time and effort.
Many of the dianthus pictured here and others came from left over NARGS seeds which are redistributed to the local chapters after the two main rounds are done. So few people these days seem to be willing to try and grow from seeds, and indeed many seeds can be challenging or take time to produce mature plants, but dianthus is not one of them. Dianthus seeds germinate fast, and need no special conditions apart from reasonably mild temperatures, decent soil and moisture. They grow quickly and often flower their first year, and certainly will do so their second year. They do have certain demands, for one they must have good sun exposure, and also they need good drainage. In the areas where I have planted a number of them I have amended the heavy soil we have with coarse sand ("road sand") which they seem to like. They cross readily and a myriad of different flower colors and patterns emerge, as well as fringed petals on some. They also smell wonderful, and if you get a particularly nice plant from seed, it can be propagated easily from cuttings.
Few pests bother them apart from herbivorous mammals. Voles can be especially destructive during winter if there is a long period of snow cover as they munch through the cushions and line their trails with dianthus leaves. Deer will sometimes bother them but most of mine are in the back where posts and mesh keep the deer out and in the front I use Liquid Fence every few weeks to repel the few deer that are in this area. Dianthus also don't like a lot of organic matter near them so don't put mulch around them, they prefer gritty soil that is not too high in organic matter.
There are some other species that will flower later, among them D. amurensis with blue-lavender flowers and Dianthus taiwanensis (or a Taiwanese form of superbus) which I grew from seeds I collected in Taiwan. The latter flowered profusely their first growing season, and all of them survived the winter in great shape, and are in bud right now. I also have some cultivars from Santa Rosa Gardens which are more carnation like. They tend not to form seeds and are a bit fussier than the seed grown singles. In addition I grow the Chabaud carnations, they are easy from seed and flower their first year, and some usually survive winter, especially if it is mild.

↧

The Weird Dogwood

May 25, 2017, 7:49 pm

≫ Next: Swathes of Senecios

≪ Previous: Its Dianthus time again

Yes there is a strange dogwood in our yard. I would have had it cut down as it has dieback on one major limb and is past its prime, but having seen it flower I knew it was something special so it was spared from the saw. In fact I had some nearby hemlock branches cut so it could get more sun, and I do water it when it gets too dry, as was often the case last summer.

The flowers don't quite open, and most closely resemble a subspecies of Cornus florida that occurs in Mexico, ssp urbiniana. Yet I find it hard to believe the previous owners would have gotten their hands on this much sought after subspecies. They did like pretty bushes and planted a lot of azaleas and rhododendrons, most of which remain, along with forsythia, lilacs, andromeda, and other common shrubs, some of which I have eliminated or reduced. But if this dogwood is not urbiniana it must be a mutant which coincidentally results in the same caged flower appearance as ssp urbiniana. It is attractive in a different sort of way, and I am trying to propagate it. Cuttings that I took and also brought to NYBG failed, so I am trying to ground layer it. I also have pots of seedlings coming along but as dogwoods are self sterile from what I read, I assume the seedlings have a regular dogwood father. What I don't know is if the caged flower trait is dominant or not, so I won't know what the offspring will look like until they bloom, which could be a long time.

The tree has been making more flowers since I had the hemlock branches in front of it removed. I still need to remove a dead limb from the tree, but overall I think it is liking the renewed attention it is getting since we got here

Many flowers eventually open but never flatten out like normal dogwoods, and all the bracts have that odd keel or fold in their middle.

Odd indeed but I like it.

↧

Swathes of Senecios

June 4, 2017, 3:22 pm

≫ Next: Ornithogalum magnum

≪ Previous: The Weird Dogwood

Senecio is an overly large genus spanning just about all the continents, except Antarctica of course. No doubt it will (or has?) be broken up into separate genera by the molecular cladists. However at this time one of the peculiar things is that in a genus of overwhelmingly yellow flowered plants there are several from the southern hemisphere that are shades of purple. I know of at least one species in South America, but the ones I am most familiar with grow in South Africa. Three cold hardy species find my gardens very much to their liking, and all three are blooming now. The first species, Senecio macrocephalus, is the lowest growing of them, and also puts on the briefest show. It is in peak bloom now, forming a sea of color in the front garden and also in spots in the back gardens. Flowering lasts a few weeks and soon copious amounts of seeds will set. These fly in the manner of dandelions and germinate quickly to start more plants which will add to next year's show. The fleshy leaves lie on the ground in a rosette and are wider than the other two species I grow.

Senecio polyodon grows in boggy areas in the Drakensberg and was the first of the purple South African senecios to be introduced into the US. Panayoti Kelaidis of Denver Botanic Garden collected it on his first expedition to S, Africa and it remains in cultivation in the US and Europe to this day, though I would not say it is common in the US. It produces smaller flowers than S. macrocephalus on slightly taller stems. The foliage is not as succulent either and is long and narrow by comparison. It is beginning to flower and will flower for well over a month if conditions are suitable. It will also self seed, but not as robustly as S. macrocephalus. In fact I have to rouge out seedlings of S macrocephalus to keep it from outcompeting S polyodon.

The third species is not yet identified, but came from the Tiffindell ski resort area of the Drakensberg so I refer to it as Senecio sp. "Tiffindell". It is the only one of the three species that is stoloniferous in addition to self sowing. So it is able to grow into a large patch rather quickly. It flowers quickly, within a few months from seed. Flowers are bigger than S. polyodon but a bit smaller than S. macrocephalus. It does a mass flowering right now, with sporadic blooms appearing the rest of the season. It is at least as vigorous as S. macrocephalus in my garden, and while it might not out compete the latter since its leaves are not as large, its ability to spread by thin stolons does give it an advantage over the other two species.

All three species are readily grown from seed and appear to be quite cold hardy. They do not appear to be hybridizing as far as I can tell, though they are rather similar in appearance and in peak bloom time. They also like moist soil, though they do tolerate some drought in summer after their main flowering period. Lately it has been quite cool and rainy, in fact this is probably one of the coolest and wettest springs I can remember, and all three senecios are doing extremely well. The mild winter also resulted in practically no dieback of the foliage so that helped too. None of them like really hot weather, though they don't suffer much here in New York but I am not sure if they could deal with the summertime heat of places like North Carolina. As with most Asteraceae it is best to grow a few plants from seed to ensure that fertile seed is set as many Asteraceae are self infertile. Individual plants of these senecios may not live beyond a few years so having seed as a backup (or seedlings coming along, which will happen if there is bare ground nearby) is the best way to ensure that one will be able to enjoy swathes of senecios for years to come.

↧

Ornithogalum magnum

June 4, 2017, 4:59 pm

≫ Next: Cold hardy Crinum bulbispermum

≪ Previous: Swathes of Senecios

I really like this different sort of Ornithogalum from Georgia, as in the Caucasus, not USA. It forms tall spikes that flower rather late for a spring bulb, just as the foliage is dying back. They are quite graceful among the other flowers in my garden right now.

It does produce seeds which can be used to propagate more, but I haven't really tried to grow more intentionally as the bulbs are quite cheap in the fall online bulb catalogs. Sowing them in fall as with most spring bulbs should work, and germination should commence the following spring.

↧

Cold hardy Crinum bulbispermum

June 4, 2017, 5:19 pm

≫ Next: Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus)

≪ Previous: Ornithogalum magnum

Right now many Crinum bulbispermums are coming into bloom and/or spiking in my gardens. I have a number of plants grown from South African seeds from the Blomfontein area, as well as others from US sources. The latter may contain other genes in them, as crinums are a staple in the South and seed freely when happy. True bulbispermum is supposed to rarely if ever offset, but they do produce lots of large green seeds which must be sown fresh. Those seeds also take time before they reach flowering size. Mine have taken anywhere from four years or more to do so, but now most of the first batch are flowering. A few of them did flower last year, but now all seem to be flowering sized. This is probably one reason they are not commonly sold in nurseries, for they are not an ideal pot plant, taking a rather long time to reach flowering size and not growing all that well in pots to begin with. I grew the seeds in large pots until the bulbs were more or less tulip bulb sized, then planted them deep in the soil to protect them from freezing. They have survived both harsh and mild winters, and pop up back into growth quickly after the last frost date has passed. They are especially profuse with bloom this year, and if they do as they have done in years past, more spikes will follow sporadically during the summer and even fall.

The blue green wavy leaves are diagnostic for this species as is the not so wonderful floral scent. There are other crinums that give off a wonderful fragrance but this is not one of them. Fortunately it can and has been used to create other cold hardy crinums some of which may be better in the fragrance department.

Even without flowers the foliage has a commanding presence in the garden. Needless to say no one else in the neighborhood grows these, nor anyone else in my state as far as I know. Besides the trouble of finding them in the trade, the other reason they are not widely grown up here is because most gardeners who are aware of crinums probably think they all are tropical plants, but that is not the case with this one. One of the neatest things about gardening is trying plants that are "not supposed" to survive in your area. Sure, many might not survive, but many will, and horticultural rule breaking makes for some of the most interesting gardens in my view.

↧

Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus)

June 4, 2017, 5:36 pm

≫ Next: Cold Hardy Osteospermums

≪ Previous: Cold hardy Crinum bulbispermum

This old fashioned biennial, or really perennial in my experience, is one of the highlights of the season here. I grew mine from seeds, and that really is the only way to do it as the newer "sweet williams" that come in packs or pots are quite inferior to the real thing. They may bloom their first year but they don't have the dense flower heads and wild array of colors and patterns of the real thing.

They do need to go through one winter to flower, and while some plants may be short lived perennials they usually do make vegetative growths at their base which become flowering stems the following year. I suppose one could separate and root these if one had a particular clone that was especially prized. But allowing them to seed will give a wide variety of zoned, spotted, and/or bicolored flowers in colors ranging from white through reds and red purples.

↧

Cold Hardy Osteospermums

June 4, 2017, 5:50 pm

≫ Next: A Look Back at Spring

≪ Previous: Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus)

These South African daisies are commonly grown as tender annuals in the northern states, but there are cold hardy species and selections. "Avalanche" is a particularly good one worth tracking down. I suspect it is a white selection of the normally lavender pink O. jucundum. I have both in the gardens now and although the jucundums did suffer a bit this winter, oddly since it was milder than last winter, they are back in bloom along with the 'Avalanche". They will produce seeds if multiple clones are present, and both are easy to propagate by severing and replanting pieces from the stems that root as they grow outwards. I usually put some coarse sand over some of the stems as temperatures drop and sometimes cover them lightly with wood chips to minimize dieback during cold winters. If the stems survive they resprout quickly when spring arrives. They bloom throughout the growing season but are especially spectacular right now. I think the very mild and rather strange winter, with arguably the worst weather in March (!) was to their liking so they are making lots of flowers right now.

Seeds of Osteospermum come in two types, one somewhat triangular and nut like, and a flatter rounded seed. The latter is probably primed for faster germination whereas the other is supposed to remain viable for longer, so the plant hedges its survival strategy by having two different types of seeds. However I havent really noticed much difference in germination of either, if anything the first type of seed seems to be viable more often than the flatter ones. I should get a good seed crop from the area where both jucundum and "Avalanche" grow together, but "Avalanche" alone rarely sets seeds.

↧

A Look Back at Spring

December 17, 2017, 5:29 pm

≫ Next: Spring Part 2

≪ Previous: Cold Hardy Osteospermums

Its one of those wintery days where a glance at the many photos of the gardens provides cheer and hints of a promise to come in the next growing season. My students often ask me what my home garden looks like so I think this post will give them a good sense of what I grow at home and how it compares to the smaller school garden that I set up and my AP Environmental classes help to maintain. I will start with early spring of last year, when the gardens slowly awaken.

As winter ends, the first things to come into flower are the various small bulbs and the hellebores.

Narcissus Rijnveld's Early Sensation is up early on Febuary 1 in the school garden in a nice warm spot by the wall. Like all narcissus, it multiplies each year, narcissus are probably the most reliable of bulbs in our area in terms of permanence and lack of pest problems.

Iris reticulata can be considerably less permanent than any narcissus but every now and then a particular bulb decides to stick around and multiply. This one is several years old in the school garden and is up as early as the Narcissus shown above is. They were early this past year, in bad years (ie cold winters) both can wait till March instead of showing in early February.

This reticulate iris photo was taken last March 24, and it was a surprise in that it had parts in fours instead of the usual threes. I stuck a small bamboo stake by it to see if it comes up again and if it shows the same pattern next spring. We have a few clumps of Iris reticulata in the school gardens, most of the ones I planted there years ago have died off but a few thrived and grew into clumps on the sloped part of the school garden I don't always expect them to be permanent here at home either but some may establish themselves as they have at school.

By the first week of April the Kaufmannia tulips were up, this one clearly multiplied having been planted the year before. We have tulips in the front yard (almost all a red Darwin type) that were planted before we got the house but they require vigorous defense against the few deer in the area. I spray all tulips, even like this one in the back which I enclosed with uposts and deer netting to stop all but the most determined deer from getting in with Liquid Fence. It does help a lot in reducing deer damage, and trains them to stay away from here, most of the time at least.

Cyclamen coum is early with its showy flowers and equally showy foliage.

Viola odorata in a pale apricot form and shades of purple/pink also blooms very early and the Trillium (one of the sessile species) emerges with its attractive foliage. The violets are slowly spreading by seed and short runners. I have nearly eliminated the much weedier Viola sororia from the property. Along with onion grass, V sororia is close to impervious to glyphosate so it has to be dug up and not put in the compost pile.

A small Draba species grown from NARGS leftover seeds is among the early bloomers in March.

The Opuntia cacti look pretty flattened as they come out of winter, but it is their defense mechanism against freezing. They have grown so well I had to seriously thin this batch after it flowered, which I will show them doing later on.

I planted lots of crocus out back, and these tommies (Crocus tommasianus) grow very well in our area and are the best species to naturalize. They provide nectar and pollen for early bees as well.

In this large pot I have Adonis amurensis, which has survived and bloomed for several years. I haven't planted it in the open gardens but it seems happy where it is. I had them before we moved and the rocks were to keep the squirrels from digging them up. We have even more squirrels here but they are quickly relocated to more appropriate living areas as fast as I can catch them.

Helleborus x hybridus is an easy to grow plant which is virtually pest free. This is one of more than a hundred seedlings I have grown. It is probably flowering for the first time.

Corydalis solida comes in many colors, this one is a seedling from a PBS seed exchange. I lost the label, but it appears to be a form of solida or something close to it. They must be planted in summer rather than allowed to dry out for a long time, then they sprout the following spring. About 3 years later the first blossoms appear.

Helionopsis orientalis is another early bloomer, remnants of the wood chip mulch I cover nearby perennial impatiens with get spread around and slowly decompose, improving the soil by adding humus and nutrients to the rather heavy soil here.

A white Draba species comes into bloom. It is cutest when it first blooms, the flower stalks elongate a bit later on.

Viola jooi is a vigorous seeder but its proportionally large flowers are quite a nice sight on a cool early spring day.

More tulips show up before mid April on a nice sunny day.

Hepaticas begin to bloom, this one is from plants I selected in a place down south where there are thousands of them. I looked for the darkest blues and pinks I could find, most are white or palest pink in this particular population. I also rescued some plants that were hit with herbicide another time in that same area when they put in a path in the area as well as some that were about to be eroded out of the soil due to them being at the edge of where they dug upslope that same path when they put it in. It seems that all have done well here so far, but vigilance against burrowing chipmunks and squirrels is constantly required.

Jeffersonia dubia is an east Asian woodlander that does well here. I got my plants from our rock gardening friends in town. They have been spectacularly successful with this species to the point that it self sows vigorously for them. The large seeds need to be in the ground soon after they are shed which is why dry stored seed is much less likely to germinate than fresh seed. Seedlings appear the following spring and bloom around their third year.

The double flowered bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is best acquired as a passalong plant, that is a plant that passes from one gardener to another. I got my plants from friends who live in the same town who grow them superbly, along with many other woodland and rock garden plants. This is a strange plant in the garden as it is best to divide and move it every couple of years or so since whole colonies have a way of suddenly dying out if not periodically disturbed. The flowers are fleeting (but less so than the single forms) but exquisite in form.

Corydalis solida, this time in purple, is a diminutive spring ephemeral. They are long lived and the tubers multiply and eventually they start self sowing. They disappear underground long before summer arrives.

Ipheon uniflorum is an onion relative from South America that, like Muscari, tends to sprout in fall but really doesnt grow much till spring, then it flowers when the weather is more settled.

A cute little potentilla I acquired at a Berkshire chapter of NARGS plant sale. I got it half price I think, if not for free as no one else seemed to want it. Maybe its because it didn't look all that exciting in fall when I brought it but it sure is charming in spring. Or maybe it just wanted to thank me for saving it

Every year this Lathyrus vernus gets bigger and I successfully transplanted it to our home when we moved in back in late 2012. It has also cast seeds far and wide so new smaller plants are beginning to reach flowering size in the same general area.

I slowly began to tame the .64 acres this property sits on from the moment we got here. It took me about three years to fully get rid of the lawns and make all of the property into gardens. This is part of the back slope under three large hemlocks that mark the border with our neighbor's John and Maggie. The hemlocks have been attacked by adelgid insects, an invasive species that threatens our native hemlocks continued existence. I have had some lower branches cut to let more light in and also treated the hemlocks with a systemic that should control the adelgids. If the trees die I will replace them with smaller trees or bushes that are less competitive with the flowers I plant beneath them. Nonetheless I have found that bulbs do well here, perhaps because the hemlocks tend to absorb summer moisture from the rocky shallow soil which many dormant bulbs like. Many other plants are in the same area, such as several species of aquilegia, Alstroemeria aurantiaca, hellebores, and resowing annuals such as Silene armeria and Impatiens bicolor. Part of this area is slowly becoming a rock garden of sorts too.

Our native pachysandra, Pachysandra procumbens, is not nearly as invasive as the evergreen Asian species planted everywhere in the neighborhood. Its leaves may not look as good after a hard winter (but this past winter was quite mild) but the foliage is mottled and more interesting, and the flowers are a modest but cute bonus in April.

A Polygonatum species emerges among some violets. This species came from Oliver's nursery during one of their end of spring plant sales. I am not sure of the species but neither were they. It must be one of the many species that have come out of China in recent years. Its modest but a good multiplier.

Trilliums are much beloved by shade gardeners and those that appreciate nature. This mottled leaf species might be lutea but the sessile leaved species are a confusing group to identify down to species level. The fact that they can hybridize only complicates matters but regardless this one has really nice foliage.

Stellaria pubera is a native chickweed species from rich woodlands. I got this one from down south, it is a refined plant unlike its weedy winter annual cousin that is better known to gardeners.

Not so sure why I don't see this everywhere as it is tough. Trachystemon orientalis is a good doer and a very long lived perennial. Is also a lovely shade of blue, a not particularly common flower color. It slowly spreads though I have not noticed any seedlings yet. The leaves will grow larger after the flowers fade and remain for the rest of the growing season.

A special form of the bloodroot, "Tennessee Form", has more petals than the usual 8 that most wild forms have. This plant came from Garden Vision nursery and has done well so far. It does make seeds so I hope more will grow nearby one day.

↧

Spring Part 2

December 17, 2017, 7:13 pm

≫ Next: Spring part 3

≪ Previous: A Look Back at Spring

As spring advances, the number of plants coming into bloom increases exponentially. Many gardens around here are primarily spring gardens with azaleas and daffodils for example. I find spring and early summer to be the most floriferous seasons too, but my gardens continue blooming well past first frost. I get bored easily with simple gardens so I need to make sure I have something new happening every day in my gardens during the growing season.

This is an exquisite and well behaved double version of Ranunculus ficaria. The wild sort with single yellow flowers is a merciless invasive thug in our area. While attractive it will carpet the ground to the exclusion of other small plants in areas it has spread into. I have written on this species before and the problem has worsened over the years in areas along the Bronx river for example. I wonder what eats them in their European homeland as surely there must be a natural control in its native range. However there are a number of selections of the species that are far less aggressive and can be grown safely in the garden, this being one of them. The foliage emerges very early during winter and soon after flowering the whole plant disappears from sight, only to reemerge from the tuberous roots the following winter.

The fragrant double Parma violets, in purple and white, come into bloom after I remove the wood chip mulch. They are old varieties from Europe and not common around here. They are said to not be very cold hardy but I find a fairly light cover of wood chips will see them through our winters without issue so far. It does need to be removed as soon as threat of very severe frost is over.

Taraxacum pseudoroseum comes into bloom. This Russian relative of the common lawn weed T. officinale is very similar in leaf and size but has pink flowers with a golden center. It does self sow but not to excess so far. I like weird dandelions and grow a couple of white flowered ones too. This year I am looking forward to starting seeds of T. lilacena, a lavender flowered one from Xinjiang.

Before April ends the front yard is filled with daffodils I have planted in the former front lawn. They will become large clumps with time just as they have in my school garden. The red tulips that predate us owning the house also come into bloom (and are very perennial so long as we keep the deer off them) and creeping phlox (Phlox subulata and cvs) spreads ever outwards. Later I cut out some of the phlox and planted the pieces elsewhere on a small slope. The magnolia in the background failed to flower a second year in a row, perhaps due to a very cold March, so out it went later in the summer. In general I have been removing common shrubs and trees and replacing them with flowers and.or rarer shrubs. A lot of what I grow likes good sun so most of the property is quite sunny.

I planted the first daffodils in the front yard two falls before this picture and already this one (they were mixed varieties) is clumping up nicely. I get most of my spring bulbs from Scheepers (aka Van Engelen), Brent and Becky's and sometimes from Colorblends or Easy to Grow Bulbs when they run their sales right around Thanksgiving. I get good deals but sometimes I regret it as planting 100 big daffodil bulbs in heavy soil when it is cold outside can be hard on these aging bones. But seeing their cheery flowers in spring makes it worth it. This year I didnt order so many bulbs since the gardens are filling up and daffodils tend to be forever around here. Nothing really eats them aside from the Narcissus fly (which is quite rare, I am not sure if I have ever seen it here) and no mammal bothers them due to their toxicity. They tolerate all kinds of soil and just ask for some decent sun to come back every year in greater quantities. Occasionally I will find a plant with mottled foliage that appears to be virused and those I remove on sight as I dont want virus spreading to other bulbs. But I have removed less than a handful so far.

Paeonia caucausica grown from seed comes into bloom early. It is a brief event but the foliage is kind of nice too and it doesnt flop like the one or two varieties of peony on the property when we got it. I removed most of those, giving the majority of them to a couple of teachers at my school who helped dig them out. I am growing several peony species from seed as well as mixed cultivar seeds from the American Peony Society.

Lunaria "Corfu Blue" is neither blue as the name suggests, nor perennial with suckers as the source I got it from states. Yet it is different than the typical Lunaria annua in that it branches much more and flowers for a longer period of time. It does seed around like more common forms of the species but it is a nice addition to the spring garden and the seed pods can similarly be dried and used in arrangements.

Packera aurea is a really pretty native species when in bloom but its wandering ways forced me to relocate it after blooming to our border with the neighbor with kids. There is a bit of a wild patch there that I try to tame periodically, and one way I do this is to plant stuff that might look good and be able to compete with the weeds on their side of the line. This one would be good as a vigorous ground cover which is splendid in spring when it blooms and decent looking the rest of the year. But those thin stolons do ensure that it gets around, and where they can't reach the seeds can.

Thalictrum (formerly Anemonella) thalictroides is a native species with white single flowers but this double flowered selection called Cameo is much nicer. It is a small plant that blooms for a decent period of time but by late summer the foliage is mostly gone, awaiting another spring to rise from the small tuberous roots.

Primula veris is a well known English wild flower and is found elsewhere in Europe too. It is perhaps the easiest Primula species to grow here and is rather splendid in full bloom. Then again most primulas are gorgeous plants but most resent our summer heat so are difficult or impossible to grow. Even this one may need some extra water in summer if we have a dry spell but it perks up when it cools down in fall and come spring it is ready to do its thing all over again.

This is another primula just after an April rain. It is one of the polyanthus hybrid sorts that I grew from seeds as I have done with nearly all primulas I have. These are colorful perennials and long lived in decent soil. Animals seem to avoid them and they make seeds which can be collected to grow even more. The offspring of this type will be varied in color. I grow many plants from seeds for several reasons. Its way cheaper than buying plants, the plants are more likely to be pest and disease free (nurseries do try their best but sometimes a plant brings unwanted pests with it into the garden), and the adventurous gardener has access to a much wider range of plants than if one were to only purchase plants. The various plant society seed exchanges are a great place to get lots of seeds for a pittance really. I belong to the North Amercan Rock Garden Society and the Scottish Rock Garden Club, both of which have extensive seed lists that come out in December. Seeds are donated by members, (I am a regular donor to both societies) and then one can order them in a "first round" (donors get first pick) then there are second rounds for both as well (but they are done differently by each). Both have plenty of choice species after the first rounds anyway, and NARGS sends all leftover seeds after the second round to the various local chapters including the two that I belong to (Hudson Valley and Berkshire chapters). Sadly most people seem intimidated by seeds so I often take most of the leftovers and store them in my refrigerator then plant them out in containers later on. I have gotten many good things this way that I would never have thought to try growing. Sometimes seeds are misidentified or not viable but that is a small percentage and at least in my case when I help out with the seed packing (the packing of the seeds is divided among several chapters each year) I will discard non viable seed rather than let someone end up disappointed. As the numbers of specialty plant nurseries continue to decrease, it becomes even more important to grow things from seeds. Seeds can also be stored in most cases for very long periods of time in a refrigerator, such treatment greatly extends the time they remain viable in my experience. More than once I have grown something from my refrigerated seeds that was no longer available commercially or otherwise.

I got this Viola lanceolata years ago from the wildflower curator at the NYBG when I worked there, I think it was coming up in another plant's pot. It is attractive though and I took some to our current house when we moved. It does spread fairly aggressively so every now and then I have to remove some but I always leave some so I can enjoy the delicately lined blossoms each spring.

Before April ends the hellebores (Helleborus x hybridus) are in full bloom. I have over a hundred of them here, almost all grown from seeds from one of three sources: a hellebore nursery in Tasmania that no longer grows them since a neighbor sprayed herbicide that drifted onto their property and killed them, Pine Knot Farms (they dont always sell seeds, but always have plants, but I brought 100 seeds from them one year and every one of them seemed to grow) and the NARGS seedlist. Now there is a trick to growing hellebores from seeds--the seeds must be fresh (not more than a month or so old) or "moist packed". The latter means they are packed in a tiny plastic zip lock bag with moist (not soppy wet) vermiculate or sphagnum moss). It turns out that the seeds ripen in June or so, then fall to the ground where they need a few months of warm and reasonably moist conditions to be primed to germinate when temperatures drop. Roots emerge in late fall followed by the cotyledons and first leaves in spring. In the case of the seeds from Tasmania, they moist packed them after harvest (around December) and by the time I got them they were ready to pop into the refrigerator where they would begin to sprout after a few weeks. I then removed them and planted them up in pots during mid spring when it was still cool enough for them to establish well. The seeds I got from Pine Knot farms were even easier to deal with, they sent them out in June and I planted them in a spot directly into the ground and watered and weeded as needed. Lots of them appeared the following spring and I separated them out the spring after that. Hellebores bloom at three years of age at the earliest in my conditions and many will wait another year or two. I still have many unflowered ones that are maturing so next spring I should see quite a variety of them in bloom. Plus the ones I have self sow so there are always extra plants to give away or bring to sales. They are also forever plants, they just do not die and nothing eats them. I once found aphids on a few plants but a single spraying maked quick work of them. The Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, is a white flowered species that flowers earlier and I have found it much harder to grow, to the point that I am still trying. But Helleborus x hybridus is easy in shade or partial sun and tolerates dry or moist soil. Some come in brighter more showy colors and patterns than in the past, and some have more outfacing rather than the typical down facing flowers. Buying such plants will set your wallet back a bit but if you grow enough from seeds you will get some equally good plants. And even the most homely hellebore looks pretty nice in late winter or early spring when they start blooming and not much else is around.

Tulipa sylvestris is one of the wild species that seems to persist well in gardens,which is not something all tulips do. It also has leaves which start coming up in fall so the ends may be burned by frost by the time they flower. The yellow flowers are graceful things that bend and have recurving tepals. As with all tulips they will open more in sunshine but I like them even when they are closed as seen here.

The tight foliage of Asarum takaoi make an attractive clump which hides the brownish flowers underneath. I had trouble growing most asarums in the old house but here they do great. This one was given to me by a friend when he had to give up his garden when he moved to an apartment and it has done very well since it got here so that I have several clumps of it by now.

↧

Spring part 3

December 18, 2017, 7:23 pm

≫ Next: May, A Month of Revival

≪ Previous: Spring Part 2

We are not even finished with April yet more things come into bloom.

These violas were grown from seed from Swallowtail Seeds I think, and I enjoyed the complementary flower colors of different plants. They self sow as does the more common Viola tricolor, a smaller flowered purple and yellow flowered one that I have a lot of here. Violas will take a lot of frost and still bloom, so they can be in bloom almost year round.

I have a number of Epimediums here and some have done well. They are a diverse group of plants mainly from China. They are self incompatible, meaning individual plants will refuse to set seed, so more than one seed grown plant of the same species must be present if they are to make seeds. However different species hybridize easily so an ever increasing number of hybrids are appearing since most gardeners grow a single clone of a given species. They are good plants for shade or partial sun, preferring well drained soil. With time they spread outwards, some faster than others. They appear to be critter proof and the flowers usually (but not always) hang downwards in shades of purple, yellow, orange, white, and pinks. I admit to giving up keeping track of their names as there are so many species and hybrids of them. Garden Vision nursery carries the most extensive selection of them that I know of and while they are not that cheap they are also a forever plant if they find your garden to their liking.

Anemone ranuculoides is a spring ephemeral from European woodands. Spring ephemeral plants grow during spring so that they can make food via photosynthesis, flower and make seeds and then go dormant by retreating underground when it is too shady and warm to for their liking. They are adapted to make the most of the spring sunshine before the tree leaf canopy above them blocks out the sunlight. I got these as dormant tubers at the fall Berkshire NARGS chapter sale. Often getting plants from such sales means they came from someone else's garden and were very successful so they have extras to share. That increases the chance that that particular plant will be a success since it is growable in the local area. Admittedly most of the members of the Berkshire chapter live in far colder regions than I do (USDA zone 5 and 6 mostly compared to my edge of zone6/7) but our summers are not vastly different, rather their winter lows are much lower than around my town and my growing season is longer with an earlier frost free date in spring and a later first frost date in fall.

Tulipa vvedenskyi is one of my favorite tulip species because it has attractive blue green wavy foliage and huge bold flowers for the size of the plant. These came back a second year from planting so I am hoping they will be permanent. They are the commonly available clone "Tangerine Beauty" but they will set seed which I have not yet tried to grow. It might be interesting to see if seedlings would show some variation in color but it would probably take five years to see a flower from seeds.

Tulip "Fire of Love" has flowers are a decent single red but one grows this for the amazing foliage.

Double flowered (or peony flowered) tulips are quite showy if a bit less than graceful things. Graceful is a more appropriate description for the candy cane tulips (Tulipa clusiana) that surround the double flowered tulips. Tulipa clusiana is a good naturalizer and should come back every year so long as the rodents who love tulip bulbs are kept at bay.

Tulipa linifolia is a pretty little species that likes the same conditions as the Opuntia cactus in the photo--sunny and well drained soil. It is smaller than many others but the bright red flowers call attention to it when it is in bloom.

Basket of Gold, Aurinia saxatilis, is a plant I remember from my childhood. Our landlord in Yonkers NY grew it in his garden, very likely having brought it over from Italy which is one place where it can be found wild. It is considered to be a bit too vigorous by many rock gardeners because it can spread outwards to cover a lot of ground but it is also a very showy plant when in bloom. The greyish foliage isn't bad looking either. My plants came from leftover NARGS seeds distributed to the local chapters that otherwise would have been thrown away.

This pink and white Lathyrus vernus is just as old as my purple one but is not quite as vigorous. It is also getting bigger by the year and ejecting seeds when the two halves of the legume seed pod dry and twist to expel the small pea like seeds within.

Daphne jasminea was obtained as a small plant from Wrightman Alpines during the annual Alpine Plant Sale held at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring in late April. It has amazingly fragrant flowers, a major selling point for most daphnes. It is a slow grower as most of them are but pretty much trouble free so far. Daphnes are known to up and die suddenly, often from a root fungus but this one is in a spot it seems to like and it slowly spreads outwards each year. Flowers appear sporadically through the summer but its main display is in late April and early May.

In the first week of May this most unusual dogwood (Cornus florida) bursts into bloom. It is an old tree with some dead branches that I had removed. I also had nearby hemlock branches removed so it could get more sun. It is a mystery as to how this plant got here, because the closed flower with its folded white bracts creating a bird cage appearance is typical only of a very rare form of dogwood known as C. florida spp urbiniana which is native to Mexico. It is very scarce in cultivation and I find it unlikely, but not impossible, that the former owners of this property got one and planted it. It has been in cultivation decades before it was formally described. It also might be an unusual mutant seedling dogwood that came up, there are other dogwoods nearby that may have also come up from bird dropped seeds. I have seedlings of it coming along but it is too soon to say if they will have the same kind of flowers as dogwoods are outcrossers (self infertile) so the seeds of this plant have to have crossed with a "normal" dogwood nearby. I am also trying to ground layer it to get a duplicate plant that will be genetically identical to the parent plant. Without a doubt it is the most interesting and unusual plant that I found on this property when we brought it.

Mertensia virginica, bluebells, is another spring ephemeral that disappears very quickly after flowering. It is native to the eastern US in rich forests. White and pink forms are known but scarce but the blue one is quite nice and easy to grow. Most members of the genus Mertensia appear to be alpine or shoreline plants accustomed to lots of sun but this one is well adapted to shaded woodland conditions.

Vancouveria hexandra is from the forests of the Pacific Northwest. It is one of many North American forest plants with close cousins in East Asian forests. Vancouveria is a small North American genus which is very similar to the much larger Eurasian genus Epimedium and likes similar growing conditions. I got this plant from one of the Berkshire Chapter plant sales.

Ok, this is cheating slightly as this Iris cristata is actually in the school garden. It can be a miffy species to grow, when happy it spreads by very shallow rhizomes but it can also die back suddenly. These were grown from seeds from SIGNA, the Species Iris Group of North America which has the best seed list of Iris species to be found anywhere. Iris cristata is a woodland plant of the eastern US which can vary in flower size and color. This one must get a lot of sun until it is swamped by larger growing plants later in the season.

Also at school but not yet at home are some plants of Rosa xanthina grown from seeds I got some years ago from The Fragrant Path. They are quite thorny so the deer don't bother them and they can self sow on this well drained slope. The yellow flowers make a brief but glorious appearance in May. The Asparagus plant in front of the rose is descended from wild collected seeds from Siberia from a Russian woman. I think her name is Alexandra Beutenko but I can't find any reference to her online so perhaps one of the readers of this post may be able to provide more information. She collected seeds mainly from Siberia and Kamchatka if I recall correctly some years ago. The asparagus may very well be a wild version of the well known vegetable A. officinalis, but whatever it is it is a tough plant with attractive lacy foliage. Curiously despite having a few different seed grown plants in the school garden I have not seen the red berries on any that would indicate seed formation. Asparagus plants can be male, female or bear both male and female flowers so perhaps all of them are of one gender. I'll have to remember to check their minute flowers next time under one of our class microscopes.

Meanwhile back at home the primulas continue to bloom and two kinds of Camassia are in full bloom. The blue one in the back is from one of the Dutch growers and were transplanted from my home gardens and I think it is C. quamash. The pink ones in front are much harder to find, impossible really at this point in the US. They were collected by one Lisa who ran a nursery called Buggy Crazy in Oregon. I got bulbs from her years ago and continue to grow this exceptional form of this usually blue flowered species. White forms are known but I have never seen the pink form offered by anyone else nor has she offered it recently as far as I know. It is a long lived bulb but propagates slowly although copious seed is produced. Her nursery is no longer around in the sense of having a regular website but she does sell occasionally on ebay under the name goingcrazy and she also sells on etsy I think. She sounds like a colorful character who has little patience for neighbors with destructive animals that made it impossible for her to continue to offer the many fine lily bulbs she used to grow, and also for ebay's increasingly ridiculous seller fees. I hope she finds more peace in her life as I really appreciate the wonderful bulbs and seeds I have brought from her over the years. Many of us miss the great lily bulbs she used to offer, many of them the result of her own breeding efforts, but rampaging animals and a lack of law enforcement seem to make growing lilies on a large scale a very difficult proposition where she lives these days. I once got a box of small leftover bulbs from her years ago on ebay, basically she crammed several kinds of bulbs into a small priority mail box and I planted them in the school garden where they flourish to this day. Included were a couple of kinds of colchicum, some daffodils, dichelostemma, and some other odds and ends. The bulbs were small as advertised but a few bloomed their first year and they all bloomed the second year and the colchicums in particular were a good deal. They have grown and every September I get to show them to my students when their large flowers pop right out of the ground.

A closer view of the pink camassia.

This little ranunculus sp grows leaves in winter from small clustered tuberous roots but disappears soon after setting seeds. I got it from a single seed that germinated from some leftover NARGS seeds years ago when I was a doctoral student at Cornell. I used to go to some of the local chapter meetings and I nursed the seedling along in the greenhouses until I took it home and planted it. It multiplied over the years by seed and tuber and I took some when we moved. It does best at the edge of a garden (or in a lawn) since it does not like competition when it is in active growth. Bright buttercups appear in May above the hirsute foliage. I once found a name for it but have forgotten so I will have to do some more research and come back when I find it again.

By early May the Linaria alpina are beginning to flower profusely. They may be hybrids with other species by now but whatever they are they are beautiful. They like the cracks between bricks in the patio where I have established a "crevice" garden of sorts. I find that certain plants do much better in these patio crevices than they do in the open garden, and these linaria, which come in several different colors, do especially well. They will flower all season long but look their best in spring. Copious seeds are produced and thinning of the offspring required so that the plants have sufficient room to develop properly.

More typical hybrid tulips of the Darwin sort most likely are in full bloom in early May. Some of these should be good perennials. With tulips it is best to try several kinds and see what persists in the garden as some tend to rot in summer when the bulbs prefer drier conditions. Over time the survivors that are adapted to our climate will multiply and eventually will need to be lifted and separated to give the bulbs space to grow to flowering size.

Silene caroliniana var pennsylvanica is in bloom by early May. It is a rather rare wildflower in this area but I know of two local colonies which this plant is descended. I found one colony many years ago (and have written about it before) when I was a teenager exploring the woodlands nearby. They still grow there but not in the same numbers as before decades later on thin acidic soils atop granite rocks that overlook the New York State Thruway. It prefers sunny spots in rock crevices but this plant has done well here in a raised garden and even seeded into the patio below. Plants from this population are mainly pink, but another population that a friend has taken me to in Connecticut has light pink to nearly white flowers. I have some small plants from the latter as well that are well established and will bloom next spring and set abundant seed. This species often appears on the seedlists from the UK but is usually an impostor which turns out to be Silene dioca, a European species. I can see how one might mix them up looking at photos of the flowers but once you see both species there is no way to confuse them.

Here is the one that seeded into the patio below.

The rare dogwood is looking splendid by the first week of May.

I decided to create a trough garden in the bird bath that came with the house. Our Jack of all trades friend Lin who can build anything drilled some holes for drainage and I planted some plants from S Africa (Delosperma congestum with the yellow flowers), Asia (the crassula like plant with rounded fleshy leaves), a sedum I collected from the Taroko Gorge area on the way to Hehuanshan in the middle, and some sempervivums (Hens and Chicks) that I took from my maternal grandmother's house after she passed. They looked pretty good when this was set up as can be seen and have done well. The sedum has suffered some frost damage so I dont know if it can survive our winters but I have backup in my cold frame and indoors just in case.

Meanwhile the double form of Ranunculus repens blooms en masse in a corner of the property where I let it romp around. I got it many years ago when I worked as a urban garden aide one summer for Brooklyn Botanic Garden and it has followed me through the decades since. It does not form seed like the single flowered form, which is a blessing as it really is a weed. It does spread vigorously by stolons much the same as a strawberry plant does. It takes some work to make sure it doesnt get too out of control but its worth keeping around for its beautiful spring flowers. It is rarely available commercially even though it is so easy to propagate and has limited invasive potential since it cannot make seeds.

The aqulegias are also coming into bloom by the first week of May, all of mine are grown from seeds I got from the rock garden seed exchanges. I have close to a dozen or so species at least and I don't know what all of them are but this one is probably one of the western US species or possibly a small form of A canadensis, the eastern US Columbine. Whatever it is I like it and while aquilegia species are notorious for crossing with each other I find that many self seeded ones do come up that looking just like their parents.

Spanish bluebells (Hyacintha hispanica) were here when we came and I brought a few form my old gardens as well. They are tough and multiply quickly into clumps, to the point of being a bit aggressive when they are in actual growth in spring. But being toxic they are impervious to pests and animals and guaranteed to give a nice floral display in early May.

↧

May, A Month of Revival

December 21, 2017, 7:48 pm

≫ Next: May continued....

≪ Previous: Spring part 3

May brings so much action in the garden as the pace of spring quickens.

This arisaema species came to me from our friends in town but I am not sure what species it is and I don't they remember either. I think it could be A. japonicum or amurense, but if an arisaema expert (I know you are out there) reads this perhaps I can get the correct identification. It is a good doer in that it is permanent and multiplies into a nice clump. It flowers the first week of May which is early since others like A. consanguineum arent even sprouting yet. Typical red berries are produced later in the year, each "berry" containing a single seed within. Arisaema is one of several "collectable" genera which has a devoted fan club. Some of the species aren't always reliable, skipping a year of growth or disappearing altogether, A. sikokianum being one of those. Others such as Arisaema consanguineum are easy to raise from seed and fairly permanent in the garden if the tubers are planted deep in decent soil. For many arisaemas it is best to raise the seedlings in pots and keep the small tubers dry and cool in their pot for the first year then plant out the tubers in their second spring before they grow. Larger tubers can be planted deeper which is desirable as some species do not like deep freezing. However the one above is an easy grower, and our native Jack In The Pulpit, A. triphyllum, don't seem to need special treatment.

Tall dark stalks with reddish flowers of Polygonatum kingianum rise from the ground, later on they will bend in an almost vine like way. Since I have only one clone of this species thus far I dont ever seem to get berries which are often as attractive or more so than the flowers of many in this genus. With time the rhizomes branch and spread out slowly. The dead woody trunk nearby is one of two common lilacs that I killed off to make room for more choice plants in this garden. I keep one lilac (Syringa vulgaris) on another side of the property on one of the borders simply because I like the fragrant flowers which come later in the month. But in the garden S. vulgaris suckers and needs much maintenance to keep it in good blooming condition and to not let it overrun its neighbors.

Stout stems and dark clustered leaves signal the emergence of lilies. In this area I have mainly Orientpet lilies, particularly Scheherarzade which I transplanted from the old house. Lilies here need to be sprayed with a systemic insecticide upon emergence and maybe one more time before flowering to kill lily beetles which would otherwise devour the plant. These bright red beetles resemble an elongated ladybug without spots. They are an invasive species from Europe that destroys any lily or fritillary that they find. The adults eat foliage, lay orange eggs on the undersides of the leaves, then the hideous slug like larvae hatch out and do even more damage. The larvae cover themselves in their own feces to make them even more disgusting. I tried the hand pick and squash approach, but in my experience it is not efficient at killing them before they do a lot of damage. Imidicloprid or any other systemic insecticide does the job far more thoroughly. The grass, Andropogon eucomis, which is sprouting is a species from South Africa where it grows in moist highveld in summer rainfall areas. Its rhizomes go deep enough for it to survive without winter protection but cold winters will kill sections of it. But some pieces always survive and grow and after a mild winter like the past one every piece survives. It is wandering more than I like so I have been removing some of it so it doesnt swamp smaller plants. The white fluffy seedheads are modestly attractive as is the bold foliage but I wouldn't recommend it for a small garden.

Helichrysum basalticum (at least that is what I think it is) has done superbly in the "crevice garden". My original seed grown plants flowered in the garden their second year then died after making seeds. Seedlings came up in the patio crevices and there they do much better and do not die after flowering. Some have returned in the garden where they were first planted, a few years after they were last there so I think the seeds have the ability to remain dormant for a few years if they so desire. But if seed is sown most comes up fairly quickly as with most helichrysums. The velvety silver leaves are reason enough to grow it but later on the bright yellow flowers add even more interest.

I have many kniphofia species in the gardens and they are quite hardy here. Only a few benefit from added protection in fall. This one is fully hardy and may be K. porphyrantha but I am not sure. Kniphofia is a confusing genus and wild collected seeds don't come from plants with name tags so even the identifications that I do get with the seeds can be suspect. They also hybridize even in the wild so that adds to the confusion. Regardless I have a thing for these majestic plants, and from the first week of May till the first hard frost there will always be kniphofias in bloom somewhere in the house gardens. This one is early to flower and will often reflower later on in the summer. Over time the kniphofias begin to form clumps. In early spring the tattered foliage of some species is best cut off, a chore to be sure but such is a gardener's work.

Calycanthus floridus begins to bloom with its spicy sweet scented flowers. I grew this from NARGS leftover seeds. Many people balk at the idea of growing shrubs or trees from seed but it really is not that hard. Some bushes like this one can flower in three or four years from seed so extreme patience isn't needed to see good results. Buying woody plants is often a costly proposition and most folks around here hire "landscapers" (the term is in quotes for a reason) who plant too many bushes and trees too close together so they look sort of okay right away. It doesn't take long for the bushes and trees to grow into each other and become a tangled mess. No imagination and a poor selection of common and sometimes weedy plants is what the homeowners end up with. They also tend to plant tough but invasive species such as burning bush (Euonymous alata) and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergiana) which then invade nearby woodlands. I have eradicated both of these from this property.

Meanwhile in one garden with a fair amount of shade Delphinium tricorne blooms. This is a tiny species which is an ephemeral woodland plant of rich forests in the eastern US. Normally blue, this one is more of a white with an icy blue tint. It will disappear soon after flowering.

. I got some arilbred iris through the Arilbred Iris Society a couple of years ago and this spring several of them flowered. They are a class of iris that are crosses between some hard to grow desert species and the much easier to grow bearded iris. I gave them well drained spots in soil amended with coarse sand and they did well. One disappointment was that some plants showed mottling in the flowers and foliage which appeared to be virus infection, these I removed and destroyed. I also was able to set seeds on a couple of them to grow more of my own. The flowers are works of art with colorful blotches and veining. I have not seen them around here but perhaps they are more commonly grown in the drier western states where they should do well. If not they should be.

On May 12 I took this photo of a tree peony I grew from seed with its first flower. Not too bad I have to say, and it should grow larger with more flowers each year. The flowers are short lived but beautiful enough to have inspired all manner of art in China and Japan where they are treasured. Peony seeds are large and easy to plant but patience is required as they usually grow a root if kept fairly warm and moist, then they need about 3 months of cold to be able to grow a shoot. So if planted in summer in the ground nothing will be seen above ground till the following spring, and sometimes one waits longer than that. The seeds can also be put in moist sphagnum in small ziplock bags and after roots show, the bags can be put in the refrigerator to simulate winter (not the freezer, that will kill the seeds), then they should either be forming shoots or will do so after they are exposed to room temperatures. Once the sprouts start, the seeds can be teased apart from the moss and planted in pots or directly into the ground. First flowers on herbaceous peonies will take 3 or 4 years and usually 4 or more for woody peony species and hybrids.

A mild winter and a bit of protection from the coldest weather allowed this Gazania krebiana to survive. It may be "Tanager" which is just a selection of a particularly cold hardy form from the interior Cape of South Africa where frost is common in winter or might be from wild collected seed, I have lost track of which. The flowers are usually orange and can be variable often with attractive dark markings. Like all gazanias, its bright flowers open only in sunshine. Two seed grown plants are required to get fertile seeds as all gazanias are self sterile.

Delosperma congestum in in full bloom by the first week of May. It is the hardiest of the South African ice plants. There is a white form, White Nugget, which I also have. It is among the slowest growing of the delospermas so ideal for rock gardens and trough gardens. It needs a well drained spot in good sun and can be increased by seed which it obligingly sets.

More delospermas are coming into bloom as May advances. I have a few different species that are in the shocking pink/magenta range and I find it hard to differentiate among them. Some bloom mainly in spring, others will flower off and on all summer. They are also self sowing so more appear and I would hardly be surprised if some hybridization is going on. Most of my delospermas were started from seeds from the exchanges and also from the last time I went out to Denver and stayed at Panayoti's house. He let me gather any delosperma seeds I could find in his amazing rock garden and also at DBG. I cleaned them and gave him back some and and also sent many into the seed exchanges that year. Delospermas are easy to raise from seed and many will flower their first year. I find it best to plant them in soil amended with coarse sand for drainage. They don't like soils high in organic matter nor extreme cold and wet as the same time nor hot rainy weather in summer. Extreme cold/wet can cause dieback but any piece that survives grows fast the next year, whereas prolonged heat and rain together are worse since a mold can attack and kill them. If the mold appears (its obvious) it is best to remove affected parts and douse the spot with a fungicidal drench.

Delosperma sp "Firespinner" is an unidentified/unpublished species from the highlands of the eastern Cape of South Africa. Panayoti brought back some from Kirstenbosch near Cape Town, as I recall, where it never blooms because it doesn't get cold enough there, but it has been an outstanding success in Denver and many other places. It grows well here given the same conditions that suit most delospermas. Its biggest fault is that it only blooms once but it is glorious at that time. An occasional flower may appear later on, and it can be propagated by seed or cuttings.

Constantly keeping the mammalian critters at bay makes plants that don't appeal to rodents (including the super destructive large hooved kind) more valuable than ever. Anything in the genus Allium tends to not have pest problems and they are generally easy to grow. This is a hybrid or selection of Allium karatarviense from Brent and Beckys that is larger in all parts than the standard species. Like the more common form it is reliable if planted in full sun.

Delosperma nubigenum is the yellow one above, it runs and does most of its blooming now. The magenta one is another one from seed, perhaps a dwarf form of cooperi or one of the plants that goes under the name D ashtonii.

Or perhaps this is D. ashtonii, it has smaller flowers and pretty much blooms only at this time but it is a sheet of flowers and is a bit lower growing and has smaller leaves than the previous one shown of a slightly lighter version of this color.

A tiny dianthus, Dianthus arpandianus var pumilus, resembles a green pincushion studded with little pink stars. I got this as a rooted cutting from our friends in town. It is a perfect rock garden plant but is easy so far, I just need to make sure nothing tries to grow too close to it to prevent it getting overrun by faster growing things.

Catananche caespitosa comes into bloom, its a small thing from Wrightman Alpines I picked up a couple of years ago at the Stonecrop Alpine sale.

Aethionema grandiflorum came from our friend's garden, I think it is in the nature of most gardeners to pass plants back and forth, enriching both gardens in the process. This is a rather pleasant plant with a neat habit and good pink flowers borne in abundance in May. It will reseed but not so much as to ever want to be rid of it. Even when the flowers are gone the narrow blue green leaves are appealing to the eye.

Papaver rhoeas, the Shirley Poppy, seeds everywhere by now and I let some of them bloom in the patio garden before I pull them up so they don't overrun smaller things that, unlike them, really need to grow in the crevices to do well. All these poppies need is a place without too much competition and a lot of sun, and decent drainage. They reseed and come up every year in various colors though the reds tend to dominate after a while. So its a good idea to rouge out most of the red ones before seeding and plant new seeds sometimes of the strains like Angel's Choir that contain a lot of pastel colors to keep a variety of colors in the population.

Meanwhile at school the Melianthus villosus is resprouting. It has lived by this wall of the building for many years. It has flowered only once, but it was a real oddity, big green flowers that dripped black nectar. The students like it because the leaves smell like peanut butter.

Pelargonium luridum has also done well for years in this protected spot by the building and will flower later on. I am growing more clones of this species in pots with the eventual aim of trying some at home where a thick winter mulch to prevent deep freezing around the tuberous roots should suffice to allow them to live outdoors here.

The same wall allows me to grow Amaryllis belladonna, a winter growing bulb but here its leaves are burnt back by severe frost and emerge in spring to grow out until late June or July, then die back. I get one or two of them to flower in this spot each year in August. This fall I got several big bulbs from a grower out in California and put some in front of our house but covered them with a wood chip mulch to help them get through winter. It will be interesting to see how they do away from a wall, I do know the bulbs cannot be planted very deep so they need cover to prevent deep soil freezing.

Also at school the lovely Oenothera berlanderi "Siskiyou" is coming into bloom. I would bring some home but for its wandering ways, it does like to spread far and fast if it is happy. It likes dry sunny spots with little competition and it finds what it wants here.

Bearded Iris are beginning to bloom, I have one variety here that was inherited and I got rid of most of it, but I added some from my sister in North Carolina who inherited a lot of them with her house. She had them thinned, then pulled up some and left them in a plastic garbage can that leaked for months. The rhizomes were still in good condition when I visited one spring so I took some and planted them and these are the results. I also have more that I got as a mixture of named varieties from Wild Iris Rows and I am very pleased with what has bloomed so far.

Papaver orientale, the Oriental Poppy, begins its brief but spectacular show in the front gardens. I grew some from seed and moved them to the front. They make deep roots which invariably break but can grow back if one doesnt get it all out. Root sections can also be used to propagate them. The large bristly foliage is unpalatable to all critters and will disappear in the heat of summer, only to reemerge with cooler weather.

I picked up this plant of Silene asterias from Annies in California. I have sprouted seeds before that turned out to be something else but this is the real deal. A rather nice and easy plant so far.

↧