Sunday, May 1, 2011

Lucky star

Sometimes I think I was born under a lucky star. Less than two years ago I am in email correspondence with an eminent Succulent authority in Switzerland, and a picture of an astonishing scarlet Sedum booleanum is sent to me. Mexican. But hardy in Switzerland. Yeah right.

A few months later, I open a small envelope with four or five very petite cuttings. I put them in small pots and send a few Bill Adams (Sunscapes Nursery) way for safekeeping. I plant mine out last spring and they practically disappear among the pebble mulch. I forget about them.

Bill sends me this picture a few days ago from his greenhouse. What can I say? Wowza? Last winter it got down to -22F. What are the chances mine survived outside? I go out and check just in case....and there one is (one at least made it)...

I remember the day I saw Delosperma nubigenum open its first blossom on the Steppe slope of the Rock alpine Garden in late April 1981. Ditto D. cooperi a few years later (same slope, only June). I recall watching the first flowers open on Agastache rupestris in 1994: I know in my heart of hearts that the millions of plants in cultivation of these three items all emanate from those very plants I admired. Will booleanum follow suit? Stay tuned (it may take two or three years), but all I can say is that I thank my lucky stars.

8 comments:

  1. Outside - stupefying! Choice color and dimension. A wake up call to a new dimension?

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  2. I was beginning to wonder if a tree fell in the forest...Thanks for noting, Elisabeth! Perhaps we should visit Bill (who knows, it may still be blooming). That was a signal day: I also saw Salvia indica in bloom for the first time. Fun to see great plants come on the scene. The Sedum should be a blockbuster!

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  3. Fantastic, not only for the red flowers and reported hardiness, but just look at the staked leaf arrangment, how cool is that... I WANT IT!

    Mark McDonough

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  4. Dang... I meant to type "stalked", not "staked".

    Mark McDonough

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  5. I will make sure you get some before long: it is the slowest damn thing under the sun, alas! Still hanging in there for me (and Bill)...also at one nursery on the East Coast.

    Glad you like it, Mark. Life sure is grand. I have so much to talk to you about.

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  6. I'm all ears :-)

    Mark McDonough

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  7. I want sedum booleanum!

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  8. If you weren't anonymous, I might be able to send you some!

    ReplyDelete

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