Buds and Offsets-4

Draba parnassica

Ginkgo biloba – it lives in a pot

The cicatrices of last years' leaves (many years) make it look like a cone.

Saxifraga 'Leonardo da Vinci'

It will flower the first time for us, I even don't know how its flowers look. There are pictures of this plant neither on the net, nor in my Saxifraga books.

Tulipa dasystemon

I got 5 bulbs about 3 years ago. Two died last winter, but three are thriving in a miniature rock garden with Androsace sarmentosa, Sedum sieboldii and Lewisia cotyledon. I have never repotted these bulbs, but every year give them a fertilizer with NPK: 14-7-21 after flowernig. Last year I showed them when flowering.

They are Dreaming of Spring

Draba parnassica

Primula clusiana

Primula marginata

Saxifraga bronchialis

Saxifraga federici-augusti subsp. grisebachii

Saxifraga 'Leonardo da Vinci'

The End of Summer

I hate the end of summer with the inevitably shortening days.

Yesterday afternoon I made a little collection of what is still enjoyable in our little 'garden' .

Looking through the balustrade of the balcony one can see only a green cavalcade:

but there are some colorful things also.

The blue Campanula portenschlagiana is still in bloom and looks pretty good in the neighborhood of the Habranthus robustus:

Cyclamen purpurascens is also flowering even if not so abundantly as a few weeks ago. This one lives in a pot separately, in the shadow of the lime tree showed yesterday. Maybe I should plant it directly in the big pot of the lime.

The Daphne sericea is a very good plant. After the big spring show it had had all summer some sweet little bouquets for us.  And it also grew a lot, I think it will overgrow its pot more rapidly than I expected for...

The Solenostemons I've got as cuttings this Spring in our  Plants Society give also much color but with their leaves.

And those which are not hardy but bloom all summer. Although not all behaved satisfying at me. Here I want to show only the Brachycome, it only fits in this collection with its little daisy-like flowers. It is perennial and I think it would also fit in a rock garden though not hardy here. I grow it in a separate pot, behind it can be seen my miniature garden with Primulas (not in flower at the moment).

OUR MINIATURE ROCK GARDENS

The 'Palástál' made in spring looks like this now:

The plants have grown not too much during the Summer but this is not unusual, important is that they look healthy except of Leucanthemopsis alpina, who died. If everything goes well they will do better next year, like the others in the 'Ortlerpot' did in their second year:

I've made this 'Ortlerpot' a year ago and it looks very nice. I hope for flowerpower next spring.

This is a smaller, but deeper pot with another Daphne sericea, Potentilla nitida, Saxifraga x andrewsii and Saxifraga 'Leonardo da Vinci'.

And some other developments:

The white Campanula portenschlagiana cuttings are growing well in a semi-shaded place:

The Campanula raddeana made no seeds. This is only chaff:

Draba parnassica

The seedlings in pots died during Summer. But this one put in a 'crevice' is thriving, it has already a nice cushion:

Spring Program Continues

Now, at Easter time we have had a cooling (7-10°C at midday), and also some rain, though not too much, I think the plants can benefit rather poorly by it. Despite of cold the growth can be seen obviously on every plant.

This year the Pulsatillas are showing themselves a little later as usual. The Pulsatilla vernalis seedlings are just awaking:

It's true that their leaves appear after the flowers fade, so maybe these are so "late" because they did not flower yet.

Here is the Chionodoxa shown in an earlier post. Its flowers are somehow distorted...

I see that the last winter has killed many bulbs also in Great Britain. Many gardeners complain of the same symptoms as me: some bulbs have died completely, some have distorted flowers. They say it was because of the many successive freezing/melting of the soil.

The Chionodoxa flowers from close:

In the background can be seen the foliage of the white Campanula portenschlagiana which was cut back completely in February and now has a large mat again.

The alpines have not been damaged by this winter at all. The Androsace pubescens sown last year has one single leaf rosette but with three buds already.

In one of the troughs has died an old Pulsatilla vulgaris, maybe not because of its age but of the too much moisture. However, it made some place for two stones and three seedlings. From left to right:

Saxifraga x apiculata (rooted cuttings) – Saxifraga paniculata (ditto) – Draba parnassica (sown in autumn 2009)

We bought a nice Primula rosea in a nursery. I put it in a larger trough where live also other Primulas, a Pinus mugo and a Gentiana clusii from Prague. The planting was not easy, because the Primula was grown – as usual in Hungary – in peat, and the roots woven together with the peat seemed like some durance. I told myself times beyond number not to buy a plant grown this way (they usually cannot be kept alive). But I usually cannot surmount the temptation. Here it is, planted, now a little drooped in the sunshine:

Primula rosea

Behind it is the Primula elatior (seeds from de Raxalpe), which is flowering now the first time, having 7 flowers with very short pedicels. In the foreground there are the buds of the Gentiana clusii and the leaves of the Primula marginata. Those grass-like things are the leaves of Allium oreophillum. In this trough there is also a Viola biflora, which is now emerging. 

I have learned that the deciduous Lewisias begin to grow in the autumn, flower in spring and then go dormant in summer, the foliage yellowing. My  Lewisia pygmaea (also from seed, I'm not shure of its identification) had worked according to another program until now. In spring appear the leaves, then the flowers, the foliage lasts all summer, the plant going dormant in the autumn...

Lewisia pygmaea (maybe)

I have also some one year old Lewisia rediviva seedlings, they have had no flowers as yet.