Galanthophile - those are wonderful! what's the plant in the upper right corner
of your first one? Its got lovely folliage.
Alley - how long have you had the picea in the planter?
Todd - it sounds like you are missing your troughs & plants? I always have to
look at everything the moment I get back after being away for awhile, even if it
means using a flashlight in the dark.
Buttoneer - I'll have to take some measurements.
T
am
Show us your troughs!
Thanks Tammy - the plant you asked about is saxifraga crustata. I have one sink that is completely empty and one I want to replant and I'm hoping to go plant shopping next week to buy plants to fill them up so it's exciting having a new project.
Love the foliage on that s. crustata as well Galanth. great troughs.
Tammy, I planted that miniature Picea last spring. I know it will eventually get WAY too big for this pot but I can always replant it.
Well, as this thread is becoming so popular, I'd better get on the stick with more pics!
This trough photo was taken in mid May. It's the first spring after a summer planting. I hope the Alyssum stribryni (left) will settle down some. I didn't know it was going to get so big. (You know how cute they can be in their little pots when you buy them?)
A big winner for any trough is the plant with one little lavender flower (the first of the season). Acinos alpinus blooms all season long, only .5 - 1 inch high, and creeps over the surface and wonderful for hanging over the edge. Mine came easily from seed. It looks like an annual, but is winter hardy in my zone 4.
This message was edited Jun 8, 2007 6:38 PM
This one was plant late last summer. You can see a couple things died that I haven't replaced yet. Full of goodies for the novice grower.
Escobaria vivipara (Ball Cactus)
Several forms of Hen and Chicks (Sempervivum spp.)
Delosperma basuticum (Ice plant)
This one has different saxifrages (small because they were rooted cuttings last year) and Erigeron compostitus in the center.
Very nice! I'm glad you added more pictures. They are
really lovely.
Tam
My friend brought back plants from Baffin Island in the Arctic, but he move to Florida last fall. Of course, arctic plants just won't grow in warm Florida (and can have hard time here in Minnesota too). But he gave me some of his, and I planted them in this trough - everything is from Baffin except the Salix serpillyfolia.
Dryas integrfolia (very dwarf) left front
Carex sp. left back
Armeria (maritima?) right back
Salix serpillyfolia front middle right
The rest saxifrages and Drabas, I think
This message was edited Jun 8, 2007 10:58 PM
This is the same one from back-a-ways with the Alyssum stribryni, new. Now is that Alyssum cute or what?!
Dracocephalum palmatum left back
Aster coloradoensis middle back (I never said I grew everything well)
A trough planted with perennials, and good soil.
Hosta venusta 'Porter' left front
Primula halleri middle
Carex 'The Beatles' right front
Ophiopogon sp.
Tsuga canadensis 'Jervis'
Hosta (variegated miniature)
Another view.
Oh, they're all wonderful! I especially like the one with the Baffin Is. plants.
They are lovely Leftwood! The troughs & the plantings. I think the
rocks in the first one are intriguing too.
I just bought a trough from Irene Slater's family at our NARGS chapter
sale. (Irene was an active member who recently passed away)
I'll get pictures today.
Tam
We usually sell some troughs at our Chapter sale too. Unfortunately, it seems we can never get what I think they are worth. 24" x 15" styrofoams, expertly made (certainly not be me), for $15 and the don't sell! Just pick a retail store, any store: Gracious, you can't even buy one of those ugly styrofoam or fiberglass ones with no character for that price. What ARE people thinking?
I was shocked at the price I paid. It was silent auction so people bid on it. It started
at $30 (I thought we should start at $100 but was talked into a lower min bid since folks
thought it wouldn't sell there). Its a very beautifully made large trough with a mature
conifer, a small azalea and some other plants (I have to look at it more carefully) and I
got it for $55. I've paid over $100 for a similarly sized trough alone!
Tama
Leftwood some very nicely planted troughs. I believe the plants from Baffin Island are the ones that have peaked my interest as well. I've sown seed of two Dryas and they seem to be a bit persnickety. I've never heard of the one you have there. Your Escobaria vivipara are quite nice too. They are one of my favorites. Hmmm another Dracocephalum I'll have to look for. Does this one have a blue flower like many of the other do?
Also a word of warning about that cute little Alyysum strybryni.... remember the movie Gremlins. O.K. so maybe not that bad. Mine have gone from darling little tuffets of sculpted silver foliage to 10" x 24" masses of billowy, draping flowers and foliage. Then again it may stay more restrained in a trough.
Tammy I can't believe you got a trough with mature plants, a conifer and Azalea no less, for just $55 that is amazing. I bet it's a knock out.
I am still lurking about, and looked out this pic of the Blenheim alpine club at a annual event (Garden Marlborough) that happens every November.This pic was taken 1994 or there about.
Great troughs everyone. I also like the Baffin island trough...all those plants grow native in Newfoundland...I grow a few of them myself.
Seems whenever I raise plants, and give them away, the recipient grows them better than I do. Sort of is the case with Dracocephalum palmatum: a friend gave me some seed and we both grew them last year. Hers bloomed the same season. Mine, well, I don't think it ever had a clue.
So what color bloom? Don't know. Doesn't look like it will bloom this year either (?) Cute foliage though. This one looks too have the symptoms of too rich or too heavy soil: growing fine, but wimpy. . . although my other alpines seem to do fine.
I tried some Dryas species seeds this year also. No luck. But they didn't get a winter sowing, as I planted them on March 25. So I blame it on that. That cutest of dryas's in that trough I think has kicked the bucket. It really doesn't like our summer heat here. Out of all the plants in that trough, the Salix serpilyfolia is doing the best. Admittedly not from Baffin, but knowing how finicky all the other litter creeping willows are in the heat, I thought sure it would be suffering, but no.
And thanks for the heads up on the Alyssum, Ally.
I just got this trough from my NARGS chapter sale. It belonged to Irene Slater,
an active member from many years who recently passed away. Her family
generously donated a few of her troughs to our plant sale.
Tam
Wow Tammy...what a deal! That trough is stunning!
And the "provenance" of a trough or plant can make things so much more special too. I have so many things I received from this person or that person. I love them all, as well as the generosity of the giver.
Very, very true!
Yep. I remember each person as I look at the plants etc that I got from
them. And Irene Slater was a tiny little person with all sorts of energy.
Tam
Bootandall, love that picture. There are some great looking troughs there.
Sorry to hear about the little Dryas leftwood. If it doesn't like your temps I can only imagine how it would fare here in my neck of the woods. I know that some day I will have to build me an alpine house so I can grow some of these beautiful plants. As for the Dracocephalum, I've only grown a handful of the larger garden variety. They do well in my native clay loam with a full sun exposure, except D. ruyschianum gets a bit chloritic.
Tammy, you trough is as pretty as I suspected.
I saw these beautiful troughs at Randy & Sue Goodwins' garden at the 2007 Hosta convention!
A neat way to show off mini hosta!
Just keep the winter varmints out. I planted such a trough last year with mini hosta, a dwarf hemlock, Primula halleri, Carex 'The Beatles' and a dwarf mondo grass that has been hardy here. Everything was eaten except for the hemlock. Strange because hemlock bark is a mouse favorite in my experience. Even the hosta roots were mouse food.
Another view of the bygone trough:
I've got a good mouser I could send your way!
Tam
Touch wood, I've never had anything browse my troughs.... correction, other than slugs! Even my potted alpines in the coldframe are untouched (again, the occasional slug gets in and can wreck havoc on some plants, especially Campanula and Delphinium).
Lots of new troughs this year and I've been having fun doing the rockwork in them. I would love, though, to be able to use a top dressing that matches the rock... however, making gravel out of rocks is much easier said than done! What do you folks do about that?
Edit: Hmm, perhaps I should mention the plants? From upper center clockwise: Eriogonum kennedyi ssp. alpigenum, Dianthus 'Spark', Potentilla rupestris pygmaea, Pulsatilla campanulata, Lewisia nevadensis 'Rose Form' (unless these are supposed to go dormant, I may have killed another lewisia). Planted in summer, '06; renovated rockwork in '07.
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 9:10 PM
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 9:11 PM
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 9:16 PM
Another new trough from last year (not this year, oops)... same question!
Plants: From upper top, clockwise - Phyllodoce granduliflora (these seem to need snow cover, which we lack - browned off a bit), Penstemon pruinosus, Polemonium confertum, Clematis scotii; center: Ranunculus eschscholtzii
Planted summer/06.
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 9:15 PM
Nice crevice work, altagardener. I know what you mean about matching mulch with the rockwork. Limestone grit isn't available up here (all we have is granite). I am taking to the roads, you could say. Sometimes they use an orangish limestone, at least it looks like limestone, for resurfacing the asphalt roads. There is always litterally tons of rock that gets thrown off to the roadsides as vehicles drive on it. I sift it to get the sand size particles and dust out. Then I look for larger limestone rocks to match the homemade mulch. Or at least kinda match. Like this one already posted in this thread http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3593683
This one I used the commercial product called Turface as a mulch. http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3592655
I really like Turface for tiny seedlings, especially. I get mine at a turf maintenance supply company for golf courses.
I should really think about mixing some different grit sizes together, too.
Granite and white limestone really don't go together well:
Nice troughs atagardener.
I don't have a good answer for you either. I try to mix
in pebbles of different colors (aquarium gravel e.g.)
I am really not happy with the look of chicken grit alone
Tam
Nice troughs! I use mostly granite or siltstone as rocks and granite gravel....doesn't always match but still looks OK.
Thanks for the comments!
Re. top-dressing, the gravel used on roads here seems to be pretty much the same (though not graded for size) as what we buy for top-dressing, i.e. glacial outwash pebbles. Guess I could buy granite grit and use granite cobbles or chunks though.
More troughs:
Plants, from upper left corner, clockwise: ??Draba?, Penstemon 'Pink Holly', Ptilotrichum spinosum, Eriogonum umbellatum v. minus (with a small first-year bloom), Ephedra sp., Juniperus horizontalis 'Pancake'; planted summer '06.
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 11:36 PM
Another trough:
Plants, from upper left corner, clockwise: 'Motherlode' juniper, ??Draba?? (Acckk, I thought I wrote down the name of the replacement for my ill-fated Campanula cashmeriana!), Silene aquilea, Astragalus gilviflorus, Polemonium confertum, Achillea aleppica spp. zederbaueri (it burned a little bit), Gypsophila nana, Draba ventosa, Draba sp.; planted summer '06.
Last one I feel comfortable showing, LOL! (Have some other old ones that perhaps I should renovate...)
This is one of several new ones this year, just planted up:
Plants, from upper left corner, clockwise: Vitaliana primuliflora, Monardella odoratissima (is this suitable for a trough?), Saponaria pulvinaris, Draba sp., Erigeron linearis, Acantholimon bracteatum var. capitatum.
Fantastic troughs! Do renovate your others if they can look as good as this!