6/08/2010

Geranium dalmaticum

It comes from rocky slopes of Albania and Croatia.

It has a 15 cm tall cushion, the flowers are pink, with dark anthers. According to books it flowers in June-July but this year began in May here.
I've got recently a little plant, it seems to feel good in a trough and has a lot of buds.
That is a larger trough placed in the common garden of this house, with some drought-tolerant plants: Iris pumila, Lithodora oleifolia, Dianthus myrtinervius (seeds came with this name but I think it is something else), Campanula portenschlagiana.



All are seedlings or rooted cuttings and they still have space for growing.

Campanula raddeana

This is a species from the Caucasus, it lives at about 1000 m in the mountains of Georgia. Graham Nicholls says that it tolerates shade and bad soils surprisingly well  (G. N.: Dwarf campanulas,  Timber Press 2006). On our balcony it gets sunshine from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

I bought a seedling with 1 cm leaves two years ago at Nitra (Slowakia), which has became a 30 cm wide and 25 cm tall shrublet, it flowers first time this year. 
The stems are branched and have many flowers. These are pulling down the stems, so they must be supported.



The leaves are 5 cm long, serrated:



The flower bud is white, the flower itself has a lavenderlike color. It is 3 cm wide and 2 cm long. The pollen is orange-brown.



It makes many stolons, looks quite vigurous (aggressive?), but it is lovely, I like it. Here it is planted in a large clay pot together with Galanthus, Eranthis hyemalis, Hepatica nobilis and an Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald Gaiety'. They seem to like each other. In spring its leaves appear rather late so does not disturb the early flowers, and in summer it "drinks" the excess moisture from the bulbs and Hepatica. And its foliage makes a good shade in summer for the Hepatica's leaves.
According to G. Nicholls it is an easy plant and can be propagated by seed or cuttings. I will see.