Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Starved for color! a look back at 2013


Angelonia and Gomphrena
Tony Avent was not amused when he visited last summer: "Friends don't let friends buyAnnuals" he boasted on one of his catalog covers some time ago (and his tee-shirt is still on sale). Those who follow my blog assume that I grow mostly tiny alpines, various xeric shrubs and lots of cacti and mesembryanthemums. So much of my garden (rock gardens, xeriscape) blooms from early spring to early summer--and then becomes a bit too much of a "textural study"...I've found over time that annuals in containers can make a splash of color to liven up this corner or that...And I have become addicted to growing them. This is my confessional...I like and grow everything. And after what seems like the longest winter since the Pleistocene, I am indulging in an orgy of annual worship! Come join me on a stroll around my garden as it was late last summer...

More pots (at least one has basil in it)
As luck would have it, I live a skip and a jump from Sheila Schultz, who can fairly be said to be Denver's container maven whose work is featured perennially in Fine Gardening. Sheila runs Denver Dirty Girls who make a living by designing containers. Since I cannot compete on the level playing field of design, I know I can beat anyone when it comes to Quantity!  I have FAR more pots than they do...especially if you factor in the 2 1/4" pots  that fill my nursery....


Salvia patens (on strike) with Nicotiana
This one would be wonderful if the dang Heavenly blue Salvia would only bloom the same time as the Nicotiana! They seem to alternate bloom times...maybe by this fall... 


I dote on the reds and oranges of the vast array of Pelargonium


Bessera elegans
I have a few pots given over to bulbs--this is the first year I've grown this amazing beauty! The flowering lasts a long time.


Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eiler'
Let's cleanse our palate with this wonderful black eyed Susan I never see in local gardens that much. I find the color easier to live with than the ubiquitous and rapidly becoming clichéd "Goldsturm"



Campanula pyramidalis 'Alba'

Had to sneak in the first blossoming I've had of this wonderful campanula (rather dwarfed in the shade of Orach and my darling Amorphophallus konjac, which I hope you notice in the background...Thanks, Tim Alderton and J.C. Raulston Arboretum!)




More pot madness (with black Millet)
 I've clustered pots willy nilly--if I only had the designers eye! and a staff of a few dozen helpers to do it right...


And MORE...

 
Another cluster--with who knows how many lurking, buried and smothered by the grasses and Cowpen daisy (which I don't have the guts to yank)...
 
And more...

I have no couth: I let these red Amaranths germinate and grow in my Pelly pots. I'm sure Rob and David would have yanked those...
 
Pelargonium sidoides

Robin tells me it's just sidoides, but Ernie insists it's a hybrid between sidoides and reniforme. Since Robin just sent us a box of pellies, we are going with her name.

More pellies...


Pelargonium reniforme
The other putative parent of the hybrid. I know I should have cleaned it up for you...My staff took the day off, alas.

Begonia
 I can look up the cultivar: although I know the name of every subspecies and hybrid in the alpine and perennial realm, I am slovenly and amateur with my annuals: I'm happy to know the generic names. I often get these from a few secret sources when they are destined for the dump, and the names are often missing...so much for my Curatorial credentials...

Salvia guaranitica
  I grow a number of tender Salvias in pots--and why not? This one needs a bit more sun...


Salvia coccinea and Pentas..
 I know pink and red are not supposed to go together. I don't mind the combo myself (as you can see--half my pots have red and pink in them). That's not a thistle on the lower right--it's a Berkheya! But those are Oxalis--I better get after them...


Dry border still chugging...
 Another palate cleanser--our resident analine wild Phlox that was here when we moved here, and some random Rudbeckia hirta self sown...
Tender cacti on summer vacation...
 These qualify as pots, Mr. Proctor! and add to my astronomical count...

Pentas, Ipomoea, Canna, Gomphrena
 This pot needs to be watered every day: it is so pitiful when they all wilt.
 This pot needs to be watered every day: it is so pitiful when they all wilt.


And MORE 
More of the same... ho hum (see all the cactus pots beyond--their numbers add up!)

And More...
 A few more pots...

And even more...
 Another stretch of them--with the Church meadow beyond.

Closer look...
 
Periwinkle is underutilized...
A few troughs to add to the pot count...


I like gomphrena...
Getting repetitive I fear...

More pellies and Millet
 The last in the row...


Pentas and begonias
 I'm fond of this one, not sure why. There are some gomphrenas that didn't show up very well (the "thrillers")...


By the front door...
 To the left of the front door. Love them Periwinkles...


Pentas and Plumbago and begonias too...

Angelonia joins in...



Euphorbia millii (Crown of thorns)
I finally broke down and grew one (a gift at a talk). It's bloomed non stop--I may have to get more!
Scarlet Pentas...woooooohooooooooo!
 I love the red color on this Pentas...

Periwinkle and Angelonia
 MORE Vinca and Angelonia--a good combo I think..

By the front door (other side)
 To the right of the front door: I better clean up the mess...

Periwinkle and begonia


White periwinkle, Pentas and Begonia...
 My last pot...I just realize I forgot to photograph the pots below the veggie garden--and the ones out by the meadow! You could have had another twenty or more shots! Oh well...I think this is more than enough...

Closeup of same...
I fear I have confirmed all suspicions you might have had about my mental competence...I know no limits, I'm afraid. Can't wait for a whole new year to overindulge all over again!


Friday, February 21, 2014

Botanics: Alpine House Heaven

John Mitchell, with the new Alpine House in the distance
In three recent Blog Posts I've posted quite a few pictures of Royal Botanic Gardens' gardens in their various forms--or to be more precise--I've shown lots of pictures of the rock gardens and the woodland gardens. There's infinitely more beyond these at Botanics, but oceans of rhododendrons, miles of strange shrubs and trees, perennial borders and all interest me lots--but the alpines and woodland plants are so numerous, vast and superior--well, I never get beyond these on my many visits to Edinburgh. In fact, I've probably not seen half of the gardens ever--even though I know they are bound to be full of interest for me!
A raised bed, bristling with Dactylorhiza in the foreground
I may have posted this picture before. So what: it's worth showing again--the wall garden around the perimeters of the alpine house section. This whole area is nothing but treasure piled upon horticultural treasure, and beyond the wall in the next shot lies the heavenly Alpine House backup greenhouses and cold frames we shall visit shortly. If you've not been to Botanics, get off your duff and go there. If you have, you know what I mean. It's horticulture at its most challenging and accomplished--all done with finesse and flair. John Mitchell (shown in the first shot) is to be commended and honored for raising RBG to an ever higher plane.

The Alpine House court, with the new Alpine House on the left
What can I say?
Imprisoned alpines...in the old alpine house
Even a sacred space like Botanics has experienced theft. So they do have to take precautions...alas!
Another view of the same
Better seen without bars!

Cushions galore

A wonderful pink Calceolaria
I will largely dispense with commentary henceforward: the pictures really speak for themselves....


A delightful medley of yellow violet and Jack.

Love that Alchemilla--notice the weedy Dactylorhiza on the right? Such a problem!

More weedy dactylorhizas!Growing with an Antennaria sp.

Even a rather coarse Anemone cf. rivularis looks right--check out the maidenhair spleenwort below it, however!

Brand spanking new Tufa garden: it looks very different now, you can be sure!

Brand new bog (all American, mind you...)

Tufa filled with holes for treasures...

One of many greenhouses for backup collections and choice alpines to be planted out...the back story!
Another view of the Tufa garden

Silene and anthericum (and Dactylorhiza) painting a picture in the Alpine yard.

There are numerous frames like this all in wonderful condition...

More frames....

MORE alpine house treasures in the Alpine yard...

John surveying some of the treasure trove...

The gems he's checking out!

More goodies

A little startled at being photographed so much perhaps?

Oh, to have a few of these back home!

MORE

AND MORE

And MORE (primulas in this case--finished blooming...)

A random wall in the Alpine Yard with various experimental styles of wall technique...

And more...

And more...

I should have made this the first picture: the very rare Primula scotica, here featured in the premier Scottish garden! In perfect bloom!

I think all those orchids are interlopers among the Aciphyllas: may I weed them out for you John?

More gems (South African mostly here..)

Cyananthus starrting to bloom....

You get the idea..


Utterly distinct from what's sold by the same name in the USA: surely a subspecies?

Silver saxifrages at peak...

Glorious Moraea alticola which I have worshiped throughout the Drakensberg, here with a bevy of ferns... love this.

Dare I end with these rather seemingly homely geraniums? I should end with fireworks and thunderclaps...but Botanics never end. Few places on planet earth have embodied such excellence, and provided a more tangible, ethereal and glorious bridge between the heart of humanity and the diminishing and tragically beautiful wild world we are so busy paving over. Botanics give me hope we can work out a balance...

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