Simple Pleasure: Narcissus pseudonarcissus.

Shake yer pom-poms!

I left the poms fuller to speed them on their way instead of trying to have a "perfect" finished look.

Robert.

Columbines for a lost hosta.

For Susan.

Hope you're dry, now.

Nice columbine, Robert. And I love your "Golden Mushroom" conifer!
Is that a threadleaf cypress?

Here is my Japanese Coltsfoot...this leaf is about 20 inches across and I expect even bigger ones later in the season. Maybe I will get around to sandcasting a birdbath or stepping stone from one of them this year.

Hey- I have one of those funny things. Has yours bloomed? Mine was meager last year and is growing more widllythis turn. A good bit of potentially-invasive fun. (And, for the record, it is a rhizome and therfore a "bulb!") I would like to try the variegated guy sometime. I love the way the tomentum folds out.
Kenton

Nummy coltsfoot!

Is that a dwarf Siberian there? And what about the fern?

The "Golden Mushroom" is Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Mops' (also known as 'Gold Mop' or 'Golden Mops') - Mops False Cypress. Used to be a mounded cone, like that chocolate-covered candy with the white cream filling (Wonder if they still make it. Forgot the name.)

The other one was a stub-topped cylinder shape.

What a joy it was to trim them up a bit........

Robert.



This message was edited May 17, 2006 11:30 PM

Susan's looks better than mine, but I have to share baby pictures...
Kenton

Robert, that is a regular Siberian iris...just gives you an idea how big these leaves are. The fern is Onoclea sensibilis (Sensitive Fern). This is a low spot that has standing water 6-8 inches deep, sometimes for days on end, when we get a lot of rain. Nothing would grow there. Now I have a bald cypress, Louisiana, Yellow Flag, and Siberian irises, Petasites, Colocasia, wild ginger, ferns, astilbes, hardy hibiscus, northern sea oats, and other plants that can take the saturated soil. I wanted to get a picture when all the irises were in peak bloom last week but I never got around to it.

Kenton, my petasites blooms every year. It is a small cluster of greenish flowers at ground level, emerging before the leaves. Very unspectacular. Yours looks fine and will stay on the small side if not kept moist at all times. I may be sorry mine is so wet when it completely takes over!
Is that a banana to the right of it?
It's interesting that you can grow hostas and tulips in the same area. Here in my yard with all the heavy shade from deciduous trees, I put the hostas in shade and tulips in what passes for full sun (actually noon to dusk).

Iris pseudocorus in the same area:

Last fall's planting included what was called a 'pink' daff. Here is the result, mixed with some others. It's an interesting colour.

A closer look...

My jolly trilliums lighten up the unfurling maidenhair. Thalictrum is on the right.

Susan, tulips do well with hostas. I have some in my raised bed under the edges of a tree canopy, the hostas take up moisture and give the tulips a dry summer rest, which is what they get in their natural habitat. Some parrot tulips planted in 2000 have returned this year to flower, but species do well around the edges. They are fairly shaded but get sun when leaves are off the tree until May, by then they have nearly done their stuff. They also get some afternoon sun.

andy, that is a very desirable pink narc., I would love to know the name.

Kenton is that your baby Musa sikkimensis?

This is the bed in 2001, it's first proper year. the blue is Corydalis flexuosa Pere David, which grew over winter and flowered for around 3 months, the hostas were young then. The corydalis has mostly disappeared, they don't like to be smothered and rot, but it is easy to grow them from small crowns. tree roots have infiltrated the whole bed, moles have a great time in it too, but it still does well. It could do with a top up id I ever get around to it!

I took a digi from a 35mm pic (2001), the sun was a little too bright but that is all I have.

wallaby1, I think it was 'Pink Parasol'. It came from Veseys, a Canadian mail-order firm: www.veseys.com

Their new fall-bulb catalogue arrived last week and has some mouth-watering pinks. Here's an example of a double ruffled pink, 'Pink Wonder', taken from their website.

Andy, you have very classy pictures. The blue pot (or whatever it is) is important.
The shade here is pretty darned bright- our altitude and thin atmosphere makes for just a lot of radiation. Tulips seem to do better when they are under trees here, giving them full-ish sun un the spring.

Wallaby, that is one of too many Ensete ventricosum that I am treating as annuals about the place- but I will treat my M. sikk just like that. And I've changed my mind about Corydalis flexuosa...

Wow, what a treat to check in and find all these pretty pictures!

Lovely Trilliums, Andy.

OMG Susan, the "Pink Wonder" is lovely!

Love the woodland-ish scene, Kenton.

Really sumptuous grouping, wallaby1.

Here's a corner of the back deck.

"Poppies.....something pleasing to the eye and soothing to the senses........"

"Ice Follies".

Just a memory now.

I dug them up and found that I had more than double what I started with 3 years ago. Made me feel "rich".

Well done Robert, well done on the pots.

Lovely poppy Robert, I have them setting around but have learnt that I can't keep them without them seeding, dead heading should be so simple but never is! I always end of with one or two, they seem to make many variations.

That looks like an Oxalis in one of the pots, I have one that was a substitute for something else but I love it, mine is just coming into flower, I haven't checked out what sort it is. Love the animal planter, is it a hare? Big ears! Love the lazy lizard too!

Kenton I can see the ensete leaf shape now, mulch it well and it may survive!

I love the color of that poppy, Robert! I have some double salmon ones in the somniferum species, along with 'Legion of Honor' red, and some 'Angel's Choir' pastels. All volunteers from seeding many years ago.
Oh, and I can't take credit for the Pink Wonder...that was Andy's pic. I posted a yellow flag iris. The pink daffodil is gorgeous, though.

Lots of fun seeing everyone's pictures.

Here is a tuber...nonstop begonia...this is the bulb forum, right? LOL
I saved the very small tuber from last year and I am totally delighted with the results this year.

Ooops, Andy. That's a delightful daff! Pretty flags, Susan!

Janet: The "lazy lizard" is really a frog, but he's not sensitive at all, so it's ok. ;-) It's my mom's as is the hare with the cabbage leaf cache holding the sempervivums. Above the Oxalis, on the right, in the far rear, just left of the fennel, just peeking out, is another lop-eared rabbit. Just left of the cabbage hare, is the base of my yellow trumpet vine

The Oxalis (O. crassipes) is a wildling here, generally called "Wood Sorrel" or "Pink Wood Sorrel". Perennial and self-seeds quite well. Makes a nice groundcover. I just this past weekend saw a white version of it that had come up in a mass of the pink. The flowers were a bit smaller but it was nice to see something different. I have some of the purple-leaved one that I pulled form a bed and potted to put it out somewhere else later. Have some of the Iron Cross on order.

I have planted soooo many poppies from eBay and Park's seeds and have yet to see one come up! I just broadcast them over open soil but none showed. I really might have started them in flats or pots, but have always open-sowed them and red "Corn Poppies" (P. rhoeas ) too and had great results.

The purple-pink ones (and that one pictured is a volunteer in hard lawn soil!) came from a jar of grocery store poppyseed a couple years ago! I just scatter the seed hither and thither......There are a few that are the same color but deeply fringed. Very nice.

I really like the "peony-flowered" doubles and will have them some day.

That's a beautiful Begonia, Susan. very nice.

Robert.


Edited to correct mis-identification of Oxalis species.


This message was edited Jun 1, 2006 12:07 AM

This message was edited Jun 15, 2006 10:57 PM

A day-trip to the cottage yesterday... aroids are bulbs aren't they? Here's a Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Another...

Lucky you andy! Can I see the leaves of another Arisaema to the right in the bottom picture? These grow outside in your low temps.?

Toxi, that begonia is very early, was it growing inside? Nice one. I had a self set geranium flowering in the garage in January, the bought pelargonium type.

Wallaby, I started the begonia tuber (less than an inch in diameter) in April in the greenhouse.

Robert, if I get a good crop of the double salmon poppy, I will send you some seeds with the mertensia seed. Then you will have them forever, too!

Also, I have some fresh Bloodroot seed (Sanguinaria canadensis) if someone wants it. I placed a plant in my "good" bed and it has grown huge and set copious amounts of seed this year. I gave about half to my sister, but there is plenty left if any of you want some.

Here is Putty Root orchid...Aplectrum hyemale...it is blooming now. The bulbs look like small Madonna lily bulbs.
The flowers are about 1/2 inch across and must be examined closely to be appreciated.

What a lovely tiny orchid, Susan. Is that your thumb? Tiny indeed! Is this a terrestrial paph? There's a lady slipper type that grows wild in these parts (not at mine, alas) and is a feature in a nearby village, which I am hoping to visit when they are in bloom this June.

Wallaby, the jacks are wild and do indeed grow here. They thrive despite the deep freeze. And yes, that is another Arysaema, one of three offshoots from the main plant. There are two others in the mine, and several large clumps of them where my mother found them years ago. BTW, I have been tempted by corydalis and your photos might just tip me over the edge.

Here's the Interrupted Fern, Osmunda Claytoniana.

Toxi I love the little orchid, it does look like a sort of hardy paph., they are my favourite orchid.

andy I have Osmunda regalis purpurascens which is just starting to get a little size, and O. cinnamomea which is very small, it is nice to see them growing in the wild. I am amazed the arisaemas are growing in such a cold climate, I was under the impression they were on the slightly tender side.

Robert I have 2 lots of interesting plum coloured peony flowered P somniferum from ebay and neither lot grew, yet they set themselves so easily. I have been tempted by Oxalis Iron Cross, but my daughter has some so......

I really should make the effort to grow more of the Corydalis flexuosa, the best clump I had was destroyed by moles, I only have a small patch of the original left. The plant was only small originally and I got about 28 plants to grow from tiny crowns, given the right treatment they grow quickly. It is nice to have the foliage over winter, and spring flowers.

I have got a new one I got in 2004, it is flowering for the first time now and flowers summer and again in autumn supposedly. The flowers are slightly smaller but a really bright rich blue, it spreads well and is more permanent in the garden according to the seller. It is called C. elata x flexuosa clone1. No name, there is a clone2 also a bit darker blue, developed by Tim Ingram I think is his name, sold by Longacreplants. It grows fairly tall, foliage quite like flexuosa. I am very pleased with it, I have taken some pics but the colour is difficult to capture, it really is amazing.

Hi Andy and Wallaby,
Yes, the orchid is a hardy terrestrial, and a native to my property here in Missouri. There are quite a few down by the creek.
Here is a link if you want more info:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/56479/index.html

Nice fern Andy. I have the cinnamon fern, which is similar.
Great blue color in the corydalis, wallaby! We have a yellow one, C. lutea, but it is very small and pale. Seems to be an annual, but I'm not sure.
Here is a section of my "white garden". The leaves on the caladiums are huge this year for some reason.

Your caladiums are so effective, Susan. I'm starting a bunch of tubers but they are very slow to sprout. I hope there will be some white ones like yours. I've started some taro from the grocery store in hopes of mixing them with caladiums for a tropical effect. I fear the taro will rot if we don't get some warm, sunny weather soon.

I spoke to my mother yesterday and told her about the growing fan club for her fern mine... she's not a computer person and is a little mystified, but flattered. She likes the idea of documenting all the ferns in the mine with photos. I'm putting a special section in my journal for this project.

Toxi, the Aplectrum is very hardy, so cute too! I grew up with many orchids in Australia, growing in the scrub, but much of it was cleared and I despair over man's stupidity. We had Bulldogs, Spiders, green and red, Cockatoos, Lady's Slipper (paph.?), Belly Buttons. I don't know their botanical names and haven't seen them anywhere, it is such a shame and the hills cleared were really open to erosion, woodcutters and farmers, all for money I guess. The tops of the hills shouldn't have been cleared, but the orchids seemed to grow in the lower to middle regions.

Do you have those Caladiums growing outside over winter? I'm trying them for the first time this year, I got some White Queen which are White Xmas, they are growing but I'm disappointed they are not the right ones. I will try some in the ground for experiment, although they say they are hardy to a point, we don't get the daytime temps to help them. I am also waiting on some Thai Beauty, which some kind person is getting for me will be winging it's way shortly too.

I have a few of the C lutea that keep setting themselves, I got some from my neighbour but they don't hang around well.

I tried a close up of the Corydalis, impossible to capture it so I fixed it to a degree close to it's proper colour, there is a purple hue around the edge and white striping underneath

andy, I think DG is great if only for documenting your plants, it gives us the impetus to get the pictures and do it. A fitting tribute to your mother's work.

I have yet to start a journal, but I do post in PF. can't do everything! I started my caladiums, 3 of them, in small pots in a propogator 68-72F, they grew very quickly and are now in the greenhouse. Some parts of them went slimy, I just scraped it off and other parts grew, one has a lot of shoots on it, 10 I think. The taro would grow inside better to start it too, I did that and they grew, without a propogator.

I went back into "the woods" Friday to check the progress of the Dracontium patch. I went a different way than before and I got lost!

Not bad lost: I knew where I was in general, and knew if I could find the creek, I'd be OK. The hard part was making my way through all the privit and brush, poison ivy, marsh muck, weeds, briars etc. This is a pretty primeval area....

Anyway, I missed the Arums but found yet another patch of trillium, this one quite near home. (This was before i got lost.) Also at about the same place, I found an Asarum canadensis with a lot of silver on the foliage, much more than the usual vein markings. Caught my eye easily. There were only two leaves on the plant, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Found many wonderful stands of ferns: Christmas fern, Hay-scented fern and (drum roll, Susan) Sensitive fern. I think there was some Southern Wood fern but I didn't have my reading glasses nor a magnifier and book to make certain. Just a lot of ferny goodness.

Enjoyed seeing rocks covered in moss. Soo cooling and calming. Delightful.

Found a lot of Jack-in-the-pulpits: all were green except one that had a faint brushing of purple on the spathe. Many were just plants alone.

Once I found my bearings, I was so far from where the Arums were and I was so tired, that I decided not to be obsessive about it and decided to wait for another time.

I planted five Dracunculus and all were well. One bloomed, a bit early maybe, and the day it fully opened, it got blown down by storm winds! Booo! I had had one do that just beefore, but it is putting up growth slowly. It's just a pointed pip now. Then, astrorm came through Saturday with pounding hail like I've never seen before, and now i have just one plant upright. It was staked, so i think that was what saved it. (They're all in pots too, which added to their vulnerability. I guess they'll all continue to grow as the first one is, but it is hardly making much progress.

Love all the Cordyalis pix!

My best blue will come later: Ceratostigma plumbagoides (or however it goes!) Nice ground-coverish spreader. Mine dies down in winter.

I'd love to have some poppy seeds, Toxi! Thanks.

wallaby1~ It really makes me wonder....I ordered two lots at once and got zero plants! A year before i got a lot and none came up. I know my culturing may be a factor, not keeping the bed moist enough or something, but I put much of the double lot in the same place as the single purple-pinks which did come through, so you'd think at least ONE SINGLE plant from the others would come up............I got them form John Weaver in California. Do you think I should contact him? Maybe I should alert Park's Seeds as well.....just to let them know..........

I really need to post elsewhere.......But my Calla "Sangria" is only four inches tall and is budded already! The others are up (the white is lagging behind) but not showing any buds. My pink callas that overwintered in 2" of mulch over black plastic are blooming now. A couple more that I missed potting up are showing in the mulch. I took one up and though it was quite short, the roots spread about 10" out from the corm. Seeking that water.

I have about ten sprouts up on the single bulb of Zantedeschia "White Goddess". The leaves are really undulate. Nice bushy clump. I have the call, a Colocasia "Illustris" and a Colocasia esculenta (common elephant ear) all sitting in water in the stone trough out front. Pictrures later when they're going strong.

Robert.

Wallaby, so sad about the loss of orchids and other natives due to clearcutting. Sometimes I "rescue" plants if I know destruction is nigh.

Andy, I start my caladiums in a tub of damp peat moss on top of the water heater. Once they sprout, I pot them up and put them in the greenhouse (March or April). I also start my colocasia, cannas, etc early. I am not able to leave the caladiums out over winter. I dig them in late September or early October. The one in the picture is 'Aaron'.

Robert, your walk in the woods sounds delightful (except for the briars and poison ivy!) and it seems you have a lot of plant variety there.
I suppose we should start a new thread called early summer bulbs?

Speaking of dracontium, here is a patch in my shade garden:

Thanks for the caladium tip, Susan. I guess mine just aren't warm enough at room temperature. I'll try the kitchen. BTW, hope you all know we got the fern forum, yay!

WOWEE!

What a gorgeous Drac! None of those in "the woods" were anywhere near that size.

Guess some little seed or bulb got washed there by the creek's overflowing a few (?) years ago . There were several plants of a "good size" that must have flowered to produce the small group of seedlings surrounding.

I'm going to go and try to find them again, tracing the path I took the first time.

Indeed, it was magical, seeing all the wonderful plants. I kept thinking about "plant explorers" making their way thru jungles and such. I wish I had had a machete and a guide with me.........

Robert.

Robert, my green dragons in the woods are much smaller, too. The one in the photo is in a well-watered bed with good soil. It reached 53 inches tall one year. The corm is about 4 inches across. It is a rescued plant from a house my friend was selling. We feared the new owners might not appreciate all the rampant growth, so she said for me to take one of the large plants and I was very happy to do it!

If you haven't been over to Andy P's thread about columbines, you should go....they are gorgeous!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/605294/
Wallaby has some fantastic pictures posted there....making me want every color and shape imaginable.

Susan

Continued here:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/610597/