Spring in late July! The Snowy Range fieldtrip to Wyoming

Silene acaulis

I have a bad habit of going to other places when the Colorado Rockies are in Superbloom. In this case, I was nearly a week in northern Wyoming in late June and almost two weeks in California up to last week...although the Medicine Bow (Snowy Mountains) are technically in Wyoming (just barely) they shared Colorado's explosive bloom this year. July 26 is pretty late to see alpine flowers--but the deep snows delayed quite a few choice plants--these were all blooming on our field trip last Saturday!

Silene acaulis

Moss Campion is of course widespread and circumboreal. But seeing these stunning cushions in full bloom is worth it!

Silene acaulis

Wouldn't this look lovely in your rock garden?

Phlox pulvinata

I was pretty sure this wouldn't be blooming: WRONG! Of course, the masses of it around the Observation Tower were long gone, but we found some in a chilly hollow a quarter mile or so down the slope. I love the icy blue color of the petals!                                                                                                

Phlox pulvinata

These smell heavenly!

Caltha leptosepala

There were masses of Marsh Marigolds around a little tarn--including a few that are IN the pond!

Allium brevistylum

A high point for me was finding this stunning onion--which grew in the greatest abundance I've ever seen in this species. I have seen it thriving in Yampa River Botanic Park--would it would do so for me!

Anticlea (Zygadenus) elegans

A particularly compact and cute form of Death Camas: mine is blooming at home riht now-- much taller and less appealing...

             

Pentemon whippleanus

There were masses of this Southwest of the Observation Tower: I was charmed by the lavender blue color of the corollas--this all over the west in a garden--it would be pretty impressive (varying from nearly black to near yellow, and a dizzy range of maroons, near reds and even gray!

Mertensia brevistyla

I-Naturalist named this for me: hope it's right!

Viola vallicola

Viola nuttallii in the Great Plains morphs into this at altitude. I'll buy that!

Erythronium grandiflorum

I was shocked to see glacier lilies still in bloom at altitude (some even still in bud!)

Aquilegia coerulea

But the kicker was finding these masses of Colorado Columbine, looking so lush!

Aquilegia coerulea

It was worth the drive just to find this massive clump of Columbine!

Picnicking rock gardeners

I was struck that our field trip of a dozen or so alpine plant lovers perched on rocks, just as the plant we love perch on our rock gardens: performance art at its best!

Stunning Calochortus blooming in a kick-ass garden

Calochortus fimbriatus

There is a remarkable garden in Berkeley (California, of course!) that has perhaps the most exquisite design showcasing succulents outdoors imaginable. I've blogged about Kipp McMichael's gem of a garden before...(click on the last sentence to access that post). Kipp is also a keen lover of bulbs, which I suppose could be considered root succulents.. especially Calochortus. I was tipped off by Kiamara Ludwig (the Bay Area's factotum) that he had some special ones blooming--at the end of July no less. So Jan and I hightailed it to Kipp's Ashby paradise, and were greeted with a spectacle I simply have to share! Three species of Mariposa lilies of the C. weedii alliance (mostly Southern California). I took a lot of pictures, which seem to have turned out pretty well..

Calochortus fimbriatus

It's worth comparing the different clones: the flowers somehow remind me of faience, or perhaps stained glass--or the Nasrid decoration on the plaster at Alhambra. The colors, however, are somehow reminiscent of something I can't quite put my finger on: a sort of very subtle Art Deco palette, or perhaps Pre-Raphaelite colorization. Whatever it is, I love it!

Calochortus fimbriatus

Notice the little windows at the base of the petals--for insects to escape? For the heck of it?

Calochortus fimbriatus

Calochortus fimbriatus

Calochortus fimbriatus

No, Virginia, the Mangave foliage belongs to a different taxon!.

Calochortus plumerae

There weren't quite as many of this lovely pink taxon. I know bright pink isn't so fashionable any more, but surely this soft lavender-pink passes muster. Does for me!

Calochortus plumerae

A glimpse of a corner of the amazing garden (a sort of palette cleanser before we see the last Mariposa..)

Calochortus weedii v. intermedius

This shows how they grow--quite tall!

Calochortus weedii  v. intermedius

I Googled the species--which is often a soft yellow tint--but here we are back to the faded flannel tones I find very evocative...

Calochortus weedii  v. intermedius

Just LOOK at all those flowers. And don't they complement the agave wonderfully!

Calochortus weedii  v. intermedius

Calochortus weedii  v. intermedius

The last show, showing the Mariposa dancing with the cycad. 

When I punched Kipp's address into my GPS I was amused that a note the APP proclaimed "Succulent yard"with a five star rating. I'd give it six stars myself!

 By the way, Kipp has a fantastic Powerpoint presentation on Calochortus on the Pacific Bulb Society's website. Check it out!

Wonders never cease! A surprising Chinese "foxglove"

Rehmannia piasezkii

Somewhere in my much too large of slide library I must have some unlabeled images of this (or closely related) taxon blooming up a storm in Northern China. A computer search did not find the images I took in the wild. Suffice it to say, I'll keep looking (it was enchanting growing among rocks in nature). I've tried growing it many times, and it hasn't persisted--although I did find it growing in quite cold areas in the wild.

Rehmannia piasezkii

One of my colleagues planted this specimen in 2016, It's been 9 years and it's not only persisting, but spreading.

Some more Rehmannias from previous gardens where the didn't persist............I believe I got this one as R. glutinosa.

Another ftom old files..

                                                                                   

A few more historical shots...pretty cool, no?

Familiarity breeds respect: A Balkan pink to die for!

Dianthus haematocalyx v. ventricosus

I took this picture this morning (July 7, 2025) in our new crevice garden. There are more compact "pinks" and some with even brighter flowers. But eventually one realizes that what really makes a plant is that it loves YOU and finds a special niche in which to flourish for you--then you have a winner.  Most of my pinks are done blooming--this one has just begun--on a hot dry slope to boot! 

Dianthus haematocalyx v.  pindicola

The commoner subspecies has somewhat longer stems but maybe even more floriferous. I have grown this for years and found it to be the toughest and most drought tolerant of pinks.

Dianthus haematocalyx v. ventricosus 

I photographed this at treeline on Mount Parnassos near Delphi in July of 2014. How satisfying now to have this same form in my garden today!

Dianthus haematocalyx v.  pindicola

Dianthus haematocalyx v. pindicola

 With this kind of show for weeks on end in our hottest weather--this, friends--is a winner!

Always something new! a cool new DYC

Oonopsis multicaulis

Okay, I can tell you aren't bowled over.....yet. But I was!

On our way back from Cody last Saturday we stopped at Hell's Half Acre--a rather miss-named spot between Shoshoni and Casper (it's a lot more than a half acre, and rather Heavenly in my opinion).

There! I hope you're a little more impressed. I know most people avoid damn yellow composites as assiduously as birders ignore little brown jobbies. But we connoisseurs know better...don't we? I think this will one day make a stunning addition to Xeric gardens! Just wait and see...

A panorama. He wasn't jumping off, btw.

Back to H.H.A.--where I've been stopping for the better part of the last century: in any other state (or country even) this would be a state park, or preserve, or SOMEthing. In Wyoming it's fenced off and most of those who drive by have no idea there's such a magnificent badlands by the highway. I dread what their tourist dept. will one day do to the site (it once had a restaurant that went bust. There are super covered picnic tables in an area that's inaccessible). Keeping fingers crossed that when it is "developed" the Oonopsis (and the sacred view) aren't desecrated by idiot engineers who have destroyed so much I have loved and admired in America.

You really had to be there: the pics don't capture the almost Bryce like vastness...

 Another glimpse of tiny plant and vast view. God! I love the West!

Her very own mountain! Anne Spiegel--mega rock gardener.

Iris tectorum fringing the driveway

I don't know another gardener in North America (nor perhaps in the world) who possesses such an ideal site for growing alpines. Too big to show in its entirety, you will catch glimpses here and there of a mountain sized rock that rises next to the Spiegel's lovely stone home, here caught at the perfect moment with roof iris blooming exuberantly.

Perhaps Anne will identify the wild-looking rhododendron at the corner near the front of the house--which so perfectly complements the iris. (She did: it's Rhododendron kiusianum)

Lomatium grayi

I couldn't resist showing the wonderful gray mound of foliage this wonderful Western umbel makes in the garden. Widespread in nature, it's woefully rare in gardens. Anne's (and my own) are the only gardens I have seen it in.

Raised beds formed with stacked stone hold wonderful specimens, like this Viorna section Clematis--not sure which species...

A trough with Lewisia x longipetala hybrids from Jelitto

Asarina (Antirhinum) procumbens

This grows everywhere for Anne--but I struggle to get it established: there is no justice!

Even out of bloom, Androsace ovczinnikovii is enviable...to have been here a week earlier!

The androsace shares a trough with a wonderful silver saxifrage (S. paniculata) and Minuartia sp.

More cool troughs--here with Alyssum sp. and Lewisia x longipetala

Globularia sp.

And even rugged conifers

Mini meadows on the terraces slopes

I have a hunch the Iris tectorum germinated from seed here...

One can never have enough roof iris. 

And even MORE

I was a week early to see the Oxytropis in bloom. No one grows the choice pea family plants like Anne!

A garden of great contrasts!

Waldsteinia fragarioides

I believe this is our native American species--very similar to W. ternata from Eurasia.

Primula (Dodecatheon) meadia

In a great white form...

Sempervivum in a crevice

Campanula (Symphyandra) wanneri

Ramonda sp.

Valeriana supina

Convolvulus compactus in a pink form.

Eriogonum umbellatum v. porteri

Aquilegia canadensis

Primula sieboldii

Asarina procumbens

There she is! Lots of exercise...

 

Iris tectorum (AGAIN! I love it)

And even a bog garden

Leucojum aestivum and Primula japonica

Erigeron compositus

A white ramonda...

Anne looking about the same as when I first met her 35 years ago! Gardening keeps you YOUNG!

Woodlanders: Polygonatum humile and lenten rose.

Our wonderful hosts. The dog is as delightful as he is sleek and beautiful.

A visit to the Spiegels in high spring exceeds all expectations.