Bloom Day

I always forgot the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (the 15th of every month). I simply don't use to think about the date when gardening, although all my (our) pictures are saved with the date of the shot.

Here, better late than never, I show some pictures – this time of my husband – made on 15th March.

Hepatica nobilis growing in a large crock pot

Crocus angustifolius in a window box

Crocus sp. in the same window box

And here together

And finally the promise:

Primula marginata in a trough

Winter is Lasting Forever...

Frost is persisting, the temperature does not increase above zero even at midday. It has been very cold for some days, just after I watered the alpines and early bulbs. I used to water them firstly around 17th February every year and this has been a good method until now. There used to be many buds and offsets by this time of year and they cry for water. But now this persisting frost is awful, I wonder whether my "good method" will prove a fiasco this time... We will see.

The beautiful buds of Hepatica nobilis look quite sad, the soil is frozen.

I took one pot with bulbs and one with Cyclamen coum and Eranthis inside in a cool room because I don't want to loose them.

According to the forecast, weather will not change next two weeks, only the day temperatures will be above zero to a hair.

Oh, Spring, where are you???

Buds and offsets-1

The watering had a fantastic effect, a lot of beautiful buds appeared. And hopefully more and more will come from now on, so I start a topic with this subject. It's a real joy to photograph them.
Here are a few:

Crocuses

I have shown the flowers of this Colchicum in autumn. Now the leaves are coming:

Colchicum arenarium

Eranthis hyemalis

The same, two days later:

Eranthis with Cyclamen coum

The same, two days later:

Hepatica nobilis

The same, from the back:

Hepatica nobilis

and from close (yes, it fascinates me):

Hepatica nobilis from close

Saxifraga x elisabethae '(had no label)'

and from close:

Daphne sericea

And finally a not hardy Cyclamen:

Cyclamen pseudibericum

The First Harbinger in Our "Garden"

I have a lot to tell but at this time of year let's begin with the most important – at least for me: the first Eranthis hyemalis flower opened yesterday on our balcony. I realized the little yellow spot only after some lingering around that pot!

So I decided to cut down the dried leaves of the Campanula raddeana. They were left for winter to protect the sleeping buds of Hepatica nobilis (and also of different bulbs resting in that pot):

Buds of Hepatica nobilis

Here is after the haircut (picture taken yesterday afternoon with flash):

The long ribbons are the leaves of autumn flowering Sternbergia lutea.

Today was sunny and warm (14°C), so the Eranthis flower opened. It is obvious from the following picture how much it resembles to the hellebore flower.

Both have the petals transformed to nectaries, and the sepals taking the role of the petals. Both have many anthers, of the same shape. But the hellebores have 5 sepals which remain on the flower after flowering, the Winter Aconite (Eranthis) has more sepals which fall down after pollination. And the Eranthis has those pretty bracts looking like collars around the flower.

Both belong to the Helleboraceae family. As I know they were the same genus (Helleborus) some time ago. Winter Aconite is also called Winter Hellebore.

I observed in the sunshine that the Caryopteris has already little new leaves:

Caryopteris x clandonensis 'Heavenly Blue'

I got it last autumn and I wondered if it would be hardy in a pot. It seems like it was. I have to cut it down soon, and also to put it in a larger pot.

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Seed sowing

Yesterday I sowed the seeds got from the SRGC. I got the packet in middle January but I simply did not feel like to sow them (it happens sometimes to me!). So I put them in moist vermiculite in zip lock bags, than in paper bags and put outside on the frosty balcony.

I like vermiculite for seed storing and layering. I've heard that it was good also for the ephemeral seeds to preserve germinating capacity.
I used to pour it dry in the bag, then put the seeds, mix it, and then spray into the bag 3 times with water, the mix to be just moist. Then lock the bag and put it in the fridge or outside.
When sowing, I pour all the contents of the bag on the moist composts' surface, than cover it with some grit.
Here is yesterdays' sowing:

They go to the garden to be subjected to the whimsy weather. (Don't forget: these are alpine plants' seeds, not tropicals or vegetables!)

There are also some bulbous plants' seeds, like Crocus banaticus, Scilla greilhuberi, Merendera montana, Fritillaria sp. and Allium sp. collected in Asia, which are in water now to soak. They will be sown tomorrow.

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Bulb blue

I have to turn again to the recently shown forced bulbs. There was a narcissus bulb which has very few roots. Well, it made only one flower and the leaves remained small. Now the tips of the leaves are yellow/brown:

I learned from Ian Young that this meant the bulb was beginning to rot.
I pulled it out easily from the compost because those few roots are almost all gone:

Cutting the bulb in two, can be seen the spots where the rot begun:

It's fantastic that you can see this on the leaves!

The forecast says that winter comes back by the end of February, but today I gave some water to our miniature alpine gardens. If the alpines feel that winter is over, they begin to assimilate and need water for that. If the weather is not favourable, they just stop growing but don't die, because the sap is already moving in their body, and the new season's life is irreversible.

Welcome, new season's life!

Seeds and Seed Pods-1

It is time of seeds and seed pods. I will show some just ripening seed pods and also seeds – alas not all from our plants – and tell my experiences with seed sowing of some of those plants.

The seed pods are put here in the sequence of ripening.

  Hepatica nobilis

The "seed" which is in fact a seed pod must be sown right after ripening and will germinate next spring. In the first year there are only cotyledons which can look quite ugly during their first winter. Then in the second spring come out the thrue leaves. 

I sowed Hepatica nobilis ssp. americana seeds in August. The seeds came from Canada, from Kristl Walek and were stored in moist vermiculite. I sprinkled all the content of the little bag on the surface of the compost and put some grit on it. After 6 months (next february) the seeds germinated like mad.

 picture: 28th April

  Primula rosea

It has rather large seeds as compared to some other Primula species. I've not tried to sow yet.

 picture: 7th May

  Cyclamen coum

The seeds ripen at me in middle June. Las year I sowed the seeds in October and began to germinate after 7 weeks.

Before storing I used to wash the seeds to get rid of that soggy substance which is good only for ants.

picture: 1st June

  Aquilegia coerulea

The seeds sown in January germinated in spring. The seed pod and the stem is covered with sticky glandular hairs, so it is uneasy to handle.

picture: 15th June

  Nectaroscordum siculum

A nice but bad smelling onion. I never tried to sow its seeds. The Picture was made in the Buda Arboretum of the Corvinus Horticultural University of Budapest.

picture: 9th July

  Asarina procumbens

It flowers and sets plenty of seed all summer and also sows itself like a weed. But survives winter only protected from moisture. The seed pod is sticky.

picture: 17th July

  Dodecatheon sp. (a hybrid)

I sowed the seeds in middle October and in april (after 5.5 months) germinated very well.

picture: 21st July

 picture: 23rd July

 

  Lilium martagon

I collected some half ripened seed pods with stem in the Alps in September. The seeds have been ripened on a sunny windowsill, the stems put in water. Sown on 25th January, on the surface of the compost, covered with an 1 cm layer of grit, and kept on about 16°C,  germinated after 5 weeks.

This picture is not of the plant whose seeds were collected. This was made on the Rax, near Wien in October:

 picture: 14th October

And finally:

  Rhodothamnus chamaecistus

I made this picture this June in the Dolomites. These are last year's seed pods:

Here is the flower from close:

The First Real Spring Day

We have every year the First Real Spring Day (though it may be followed by winter days again).
I think that from now on we will have every day some news in the "garden".

The Androsace is still sleeping wrapped up in hairy leaves. Besides can be seen the ugly brown foliage of a Potentilla nitida. It will never be as on its habitat in the Dolomites but I hope for green leaves soon. This plant was bought in a nursery and until now it has give us three flowers only once.

Androsace sarmentosa, Potentilla nitida

This last year's Aquilegia seedling (seeds came from the SRGC as Aquilegia scopulorum but I think it is not), gets dressed for the Spring Feast.

Aquilegia sp.

Draba imbricata

This is also a seedling from last year, I think:

Draba lasiocarpa

The Eranthis is already fading, the Hepaticas just in bloom:

Hepatica nobilis, Eranthis hyemalis

Its pollen is already ripe:

Also the first flower of the Saxifraga x elisabethae cv. has opened, 10 days later than last year:

Saxifraga x elisabethae cv.

Sedum sieboldii shoots with Tulipa dasystemon in the background:

The color of the houseleeks is most beautiful now, at the end of winter. In summer they become dull green.

Sedum calcareum 'Griggs's Surprise' (maybe)