Late summer gold

 I dropped by to pick Marilyn Raff* up to carpool to the mountains last Saturday and spied this golden mound in her garden. That did it: I have to blog about Eriogonum allenii--the shale barren buckwheat that Marilyn has championed in both her gardens over the decades.

Here is my specimen--now diminished after at least a decade--in my home garden. It's growing in a bit of shade, which explains its more open habit.

Here's the same plant another year with moon carrot providing a foil.

I suspect the most spectacular public garden display of this outstanding plant is at Denver Botanic Garden's Chatfield Farms: a dozen or so clumps here and there on the small rock garden that's adjacent to the labyrinth.

These pictures were taken just before COVID, but I am sure the buckwheat is still blooming well there: it's long lived, long blooming and just generally cool. I know there are a ton of yellow daisies that bloom in late summer. Unlike so many goldenrods (Solidago), this plant doesn't sucker or seed enthusiastically. Flowers last for the better part of two months, aging a gorgeous orange and red. The foliage is large and leathery, taking on wonderful tones with frost.

Here's a particularly sumptuous specimen at Chatfield

Here you can see the basal rosette of large, oval leaves. These take on wonderful orange and red tints in the fall.

At Chatfield again--showing what a terrific mass of color they can provide.

My specimen in late fall--it ages to a really lovely shade of tawny orange--yet another season of interest.

A map taken from BONAP (https://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Eriogonum%20allenii.png) showing the distribution of E. allenii in the wild. The map doesn't fully convey that the range is not just the Appalachians but the shale barrens that occur there which contain quite a few endemic and rare plants--many with affinities with our Western American flora

Here is the range of ALL Eriogonum species in the continental United States. It is obviously a genus with a primarily Western distribution. It's not surprising that the shale barren buckwheat has adapted so well to xeric gardens in the Western United States!

*Marilyn Raff is an accomplished garden designer and friend of many years. She designed and created gardens as a business for much of the late 20th Century in the Denver area, and she has volunteered at Denver Botanic Gardens for nearly 4 decades. She has authored six books, Most of which are available on Used Book sites such as bookshop.org or signed copies of some can be purchased directly from Marilyn on her website (https://marilynraff.com/books/). She is an artist and keen connoisseur of all manner of cuisine as well.