A couple of sedums have started this week. This is Sedum ewersii.
What's blooming in your rock garden?
By the way, welcome to the thread Rannveig! Here is Sedum 'Vera Jameson'
and a close-up of Gentiana paradoxa X septemfida.
Finally, the first Colchicums have started...a real sign of autumn. This one looks a bit scranny now but in the next week or two, will become a significant display.
Beautiful photos Todd! That colchicum is beautiful - love the "checkered" look. What's it's name? Mine usually don't start until Ocotber.
Opps, I meant to give the name..its Colchicum agrippinum. It is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule this year. The rest are just breaking the surface. October is my peak month as well.
Wow! That's a beautiful Colchicum. Mine are all finished, darn it.
Zuzu, your autumn crocus must be summer crocus! I thought they bloomed according to temps...I would expect those in California to bloom in November-December, not August!
Summer crocus? What species are they?
Here's my Gentiana paradoxa that is blooming beautifully at the moment although it's a bit battered from the wind in the last few days. (They photo was taken last week when it was still nice and calm)
Hurricane Florence is due to hit here on Wednesday...that should be the end of my floral display for this year! It is then due to hit Iceland so Rannveig beware!
Hopefully it won't take the seedheads, too, Todd.
Yeah I was worried about that! We do get a lot of depressions coming up from New Foundland! We're due to get some heavy rain and winds on Thursday and Friday I saw on the weatherforecast tonight - could that be Florence? Hope you won't get too much damage Todd! We've been getting depressions on a conveyor belt for the past days - it's been rain and wind since Friday.
Great colchicum! So this is when they start blooming... good to know. I don't have any fall blooming bulbs yet, but give me a year or two.
I love the Gentiana paradoxa. That blue color is amazing. I tried to start some from seed this year but had no germination. Oh well there's always next year.
Sorry to hear about the impending hurricane. Hope those of you and your gardens in its path make it through with little or no incident.
Rannveig, the hurricane is suppose to hit here Wednesday so it would be in your area for Thursday-Friday for sure. We have had some unsettled weather here but no major rain since Aug. 31. It was sunny today but north winds so only 14 C. Suppose to be sunny and calm tomorrow and near 20 C..the calm before the storm!
Todd, mine are Colchicum autumnale, which are false autumn crocuses, I guess. Anyway, they always bloom in August.
I love all of these Gentiana photos.
My autumnale bloom in early October which is when, in theory, they are suppose to bloom!
Maybe they're shocked here when our nighttime temps settle into the 40s in August.
You both seem so calm about hurricanes. I guess there is nothing you can do about it, but I think I would be frantic. I hope all goes relatively well.
And I still want to know what a summer crocus is. I don't think I've ever heard of it. Are you just foolin' around, Todd?
Yeah I think he was, leftwood :-)
By the time these hurricanes get up to Iceland they're no longer hurricanes - just deep depressions with lots of wind and rain - we get A LOT of those - nothing to get upset about really - just an annoyance... We're due to get one tomorrow .... lots of wind and rain coming up - Yibbeee (or not!) !!!!
Seems like a long way for a storm to track - from Africa to the Americas and then to Iceland. Does it end there?
Todd, I just remembered I have a witness to the crazy behavior of my Colchicum from our own alpine forum. Tammy was here in the middle of August and saw them winding down for the year in my garden.
no, I don't know where they usually end - they move on from us - they probably disintegrate somewhere over the north-atlantic or go on to scandinavia in some cases. Not sure though.
rannveig, it is downright nasty here today....brace yourself for Florence..she still has quite a punch.
sorry to hear that Todd. We were to have a "nice" deep depression here today with wind and rain but it looks like it's passed by or isn't here yet - it's windy but not raining at them moment. The forecast for tomorrow and friday has changed a bit - not sure Florence will be dropping by - we'll have to wait and see. We could see a part of her down there over Newfoundland on the weathermap yesterday - it looked pretty nasty! Hope there won't be too much damage!
I did get a tour of Zuzu's amazing property, chock full of all sorts of goodies! and kitties!
I think they must have been summer colchicum for sure. Did it really get in the 40's there?
After the 110+ days were over??? We have much more well-behaved weather here :-)
There's absolutely no sign of my colchicum here. And I hope we get some of the left overs
of the left overs from one of those tropical storms. Its a little dry here. But please, not a
repeat of my namesake from last year (Tropical Storm Tammy - dropped 13" in an afternoon.
I couldn't get a friend home after we went to the Rock Garden Society meeting. Every river
and creek was over its edge & the roads were all flooded.)
Tam
No sign of my colchicums either! Tammy lucky you to get a tour of Zuzu's garden - that must have been awesome judging from the photos I've seen!
Tammy's cute as a bug and was a joy to meet in person finally, but my garden was less than awesome when she was here, Rannveig, because the heat wave and the gophers had temporarily obliterated some of its charms.
I'm sure there was plenty of charm leftover!
Zuzu, too bad the heat wave couldn't have obliterated the gophers LOL. I had no idea your temperatures were so extreme so early.
I should get some colchicum. they would probably be fall bloomers here. Todd, the c. agrippinum you posted is so pretty. I've ordered some species tulips and mini daffodils for the rockery to put in this fall, so I'll at least have some color next spring.
gram
Don't let her fool you folks! It'll take more than heat & gophers to take the shine off Zuzu's
gardens! It was a delightful afternoon visiting with her.
Tam
This little blue-leaved columbine (Aquilegia scopulorum?) is in my gravel bed. It went dormant in the heat of summer, but has regenerated in the cool, wet fall weather and is now flowering.
This is my first attempt to post a photograph, so here goes...
Hey June, cute columbine, great pic. now you can catch up and start showing us all of the great things you have growing. of course, it's not the best time of year for that, but watch out next spring!
Ahhh... so cute. I'm glad you figured out how to post photo's June!
Tam
That pic killed my computer! I'm such a dummy, I never checked the file size - it was HUGE, and I only have a dial up line. Anyhow here's a much smaller (in bytes) pict of a bit more of the gravel bed. Zinnia grandiflora is in the center, and behind are orange Eschscholtzia and purple Salvia transsylvanica.
Great photos June! I love that cute litlle columbine and the rest of the gravelbed looks really good! I'm eyeing those bare spots with a bit of envy I wish I had some of those! LOL I was planting 4 new plants in my very narrow raised "rock garden" bed on Sat and had to start taking things out to make room for the new ones ..... ;-)
Nice alpine garden June. Have you managed to get Zinnia grandiflora to overwinter? Mine rotted last winter. The blue columbine looks like A. caerulea. I have scopulorum and the spurs are not nearly that long. Your's is a beauty with very attractive foliage.
Thanks for all the kind comments. The gravel bed is about 2 years old, and I'm still in the process of filling it. It's a part of the garden that people look at and wonder if it is meant to look that way. Now that the plants are beginning to spread out, it looks less like a Martian landscape.
Todd: Zinnia grandiflora has gone through one winter, but in the spring it took so long to appear that I thought it had died. That's why a Helianthemum is planted so close to it.
I'm with Rannveig - I find myself envying open spaces almost as much as the plants
themselves.
Its wonderful to see a few new folks here in Rock & Alpine Gardening! Can't wait to
see all the springtime glory! I just don't have much going right now to post.
Tam
June, what is the yellow flower in the right corner and the reddish-leaved plant near the middle?
Alliums are still coming on, even this late. This is one of my many Allium senescens selections. All look much the same but bloom at different times. My earliest blooms in mid-July and this one will bloom from now until October. Essentially, I have at least one A. senescens open throughout a 3 month period.
Well, I was trying to post! I see Dave is still having this glitch.
