Yippeee, they survived and they're beginning to bloom again. I was worried after all of that rain.
This is Physoplexis comosa.
Blooming right now in my "troughs"
This is my bonus Carduncellus pinnatus from Beaver Creek. Not bad for free, huh?
Erodium x variabile Flore Pleno
Thalictrum kiusianum
Delphinium pyramidatum
Leontopodium souliei
Rhodohypoxis
This one is a real triumph because it's one of those soggy plants I got from Wrightman's. They're finally drying out, and this one looks like a definite survivor. It's Androsace primuloides.
This is one of my two baby Primula nurseries. Aren't they cute? I'll pot them up later this year so they'll be able to do fabulous things in spring.
This last one is in a pot rather than a trough, but we all like primulas, and this is such a pretty one. It's Primula capitata ssp. mooreana.
Wonderful selection! The only one I have is Androsace primuloides (not even showing buds yet). A friend has the Rhodohypoxis...I hope to get some corms this year from her. We didn';t think it would be winter hardy here but we were pleasantly surprised.
Hi Zuzu,
You are living in zone9 as same as me though, you are growing alpines very well. I feel greatly encouraged:)
Your@Physoplexis comosa@is very cool! Thank you for sharing!
Todd, thanks for the nice compliment. This really has been a rather scary adventure for me. As recently as January, I had never even heard of most of these plants. At times I have felt like a dilletante, asking myself why I'm wasting perfectly good plants that are bound to die in my climate. That's why I'm so excited that they're surviving.
Goldenfish, the alpines probably don't want to grow here at all, but I keep them in containers and try to provide them with the right conditions. I think I might have to sprinkle ice cubes around them in winter. Thanks for admiring my Physoplexis. It is such a cute little thing, isn't it?
I'm surprised Tottori is in zone 9a. I spent several years in Japan when I was growing up, first in Fukuoka and then in Tokyo, and we used to get a lot of snow in Tokyo, usually in February. You must have a milder climate.
Zuzu,
Wow, you used to live in Japan! In Tottori, we get more snow than Tokyo but not come by too often to be temperature of 23 deg F. or less. Winter in Tokyo is very dry and cold than here. I keep all my alpines in unglazed pots. I shold try troughs like you.
Thank you!
Zuzu,
Lovely selection, and won't they be great next year when they have had a chance to grow?? Your alpine plants are all like mine, first year babies that are blooming thier hearts out anyway...;o) I love the Erodium especially!! I am a bit of a collector of hardy Geraniums, and the little siblings - Erodium....your Flore Pleno is precious!! :o)
Have a great Memorial weekend!!
Jamie
ps. great photography - good job!!! One of my Erodium, with a miniature Armeria....I like your double, and want one!! ~ Jam
Goldenfish, I looked on the map and then I could see how different your climate would be from Tokyo's. Tokyo is right near the ocean, after all, and you're on the sea coast. It makes a big difference. You are actually closer to where I was born: Seoul, Korea, which had a much milder climate.
My troughs are made of redwood. I think it's easier to control conditions in a wooden container. I have little roofs I'm going to put over them when the winter rains start, because the rain here goes on for days and days at a time.
Jamie, I ordered the Flore Pleno from Plant Safari and while I was waiting for it to be delivered I started seeing it everywhere I went. It must be this year's big thing around here. I got a couple more to keep in reserve as space-fillers, although I really hope I won't need them for that purpose because it'll mean that something else croaked. Speaking of geraniums, here's a picture of that big obnoxious one I was telling you about. It comes up everywhere, but it's easy to pull out of the places where it's obscuring and overwhelming other plants, and I really appreciate it for growing where nothing else wants to grow, especially on dry slopes that I never get around to watering.
Jamie, I forgot to tell you that I took pictures of everything blue in my garden and I'll start a thread in the Perennials Forum sometime in the next couple of days for you. Most people like blue flowers, so the thread could get quite long if everybody starts posting theirs too. I need a big block of free time to do it because my computer's so slow at uploading the pics. I think it's slow, at any rate. Is it supposed to take 4 or 5 minutes per picture? I don't know because I didn't have a camera when I had the faster computer.
Zuzu,
I will look forward to the 'Blue Flower' thread...and will add my two cents...LOL ;o)
Jamie
thanks for the pic's Zuzu. I need to get my camera out to take some
more shots to share (though I don't have so many jewels yet). And it
only takes a few seconds for me to post each pictures. I just got DSL
(they actually offered it out here in the boonies - not even cable here!)
Tam
Tammy, I'm really tempted to get DSL, but it's that monthly $50 that's stopping me. It seems so indulgent to pay that much just to save a few minutes. It reminds me of a stand-up comic I saw once, who said she knew the pressure of her busy schedule was sending her over the edge when she caught herself banging on the Microwave and yelling: "Come on! I haven't got all minute!"
Besides, I think even dial-up isn't supposed to take as long as mine does. I bought a bum computer. It's the luck of the draw I guess. I've gone through about six computers since 1985 and only half of them have been any good. Odds are that the next one will be better.
Zuzu - we only pay $30/mo for our DSL. It does add up to a lot of cute little
plants too. I got it so we could work from home on snowy days. (We
both work in high tech and so we couldn't both use dial-up when we were
home. And since we moved out to the boonies- we found we couldn't get
to work several days each winter.)
The DSL I have in newfoundland costs $35 Canadian per month.....that would be around $25 US....I'm getting a great deal!
Hi all~
I get Broadband Cable internet - 40x faster than dial-up & 5-6x faster than DSL, and it only costs $34 with my cable coming from the same company, they discount both. With kids doing homework, a husband using it for work, and me trying to do my stuff...there was no other way. Zuzu, I don't know what your time is worth to you, but it should take seconds to load, and/or post a pic! No wonder you don't post pics often...I wouldn't either.....!!! The price will come down eventually, or is everything that overpriced in CA...LOL Just kidding, But I will tell you, once you do get it...you can't ever go back to dial-up! It makes you wonder how you ever put up with all that waiting...;o)
My favorite Allium, I just love its seedheads....;)
Jamie
Well, that's a bummer. Dave supposedly did something to speed up the whole DG system appreciably today, so I tested a photo upload in the test forum. It took 7 minutes 55 seconds. Oh my gosh, I'm regressing.
I think I solved my problem. The pictures I had been sending had three times the recommended number of pixels, so I resized them, and now they take less than two minutes to upload. That's good enough for me, I think.
Jamie, the blue flower thread is in the Perennials Forum now.
Much better...2 minutes is sooo much better! I can not believe the response to the "blue flowers" thread....amazing! I think many of us just love the blues, good idea you had there...;o)
Jamie
ps. look at these blooms on this Mock orange. This is its first year to bloom, grew it from an air-layered cutting - very cool ;) - and I am loving the fragrance...well worth the effort. I am sure you must grow 3-9 different Philadelphus( LOL ;o) ), this one is P. purpureomaculatus 'Belle Etiole' and I am in love!
Here is the whole shrub....very nice size!
What gorgeous blooms! I only have one Philadelphus and it's of the horrible-smell variety. It smells just like the Jungle Gardenia perfume my trashy aunt wore when I was a kid, but I just hold my nose and enjoy it anyway. Mine doesn't look like yours, though. The flowers are plain white. I love the center of the blooms on yours.
Jamie - how big does this one get? And Zuzu - are you sure its not your
sensibility on good vs bad smell vs that Philadelphus? :-) I seem to recall
you didn't like lilac bloom scent either. (Wasn't that you???)
Tammy,
This one gets 4-5'H x 3-4'W.....very nice size for smaller gardens! And gets there quickly! Mine ws an air-layed start 2 1/2 yrs ago and is already 3' x 3' and blooming its head off - which ones do you have???
Jamie
Yes, Tammy, I am the one that can't bear the smell of lilac--any lilac whatsoever. It seems to me, however, that Philadelphus and Jasmine come in good and bad smells. The flowers on Jamie's would even make a bad smell tolerable. Don't you agree?
Absolutely Zuzu - the flowers are very pretty. And since its small too, it sounds like a winner all around.
Jamie - I had a philadelphus at my last house and it was very large and intertwined with a honeysuckle.
I really don't know what kind it was. And I just got a baby from a plant swap (its in my vegatable
garden getting stronger & bigger while I figure out where I'm going to put it. )