Photographic phenology: A year in flowers on Quince St.

January-31 Astropytum capricorne

We have had Adonis and crocuses (and heaths) bloom in January: This year the only flowers that bloomed that early were INdoors--like this Astrophytum. How to pick from over 5000 kinds of plans that I'm currently growing? I skipped most of the irises (of which I have dozens of pictures). I neglected to take pictures of the dozens of kinds of cacti. Not many ferns...I guess it's probably a rather good cross section. I take more pictures of novelties--plants I haven't grown before. And I was traveling quite a bit EVERY MONTH of the growing season! I hope you'll find some plants you like in the roster...I've listed them in the order they bloomed through the year...

February 19 Galanthus nivalis 'Flore Pleno'

February 19 Galanthus nivalis 'Viridapice'

February 19 Leucojum vernum

February 20 Adonis amurensis

February 20 Galanthus elwesii (Hackenberry Giant)

February 23 Helleborus niger

February 26 Iris x danfordiae 'Happiness'

March 3 Bulbocodium (Colchicum) vernum

March 3 Iris x danfordiae 'Happiness'

March 14 Narcissus hispanicus ssp. bujei

March 19 Prunus dulcis ex c Asia

March 21 Prunus dulcis

I grew this hardy almond from seed given to me by Fritz Kummert, who is quite ill in Austria as I type this: it's a dryland form from central Asia and when it blooms--WOW. Unirrigated in this spot.

March 22 Colchicum hungaricum

3-23 Fritillaria michaelovskyi

March 23 Hyacinthus orientalis

March 23 Primula abschasica

Tracing to a plant Linc Foster gave to Paul Maslin almost 50 years ago: this is a toughie!

March 23 Tulipa polychroma

Near the top of my list of favorite tulips..which says a lot!

March 26 Iris aucheri

March 28 Ipheion uniflorum

March 28 Leontice leontopetalum ssp. ewersmanii

I've grown this plant for 36 years.

March 28 Paeonia tenuifolia

March 29 Erythronium umbilicatum

A gift of Tim Alderton, wonderful horticulturist at J.C. Raulston Arboretum. He also has white forms!

March 29 Narcissus watieri

I'm amazed how well this has done!

March 30 Draba polytricha

March 30 Erythronium 'Kondo' & Veratrum nigrum 

March 30 Erythronium tuolumnense

March 30 Fritillaria sp

March 30 Narcissus watieri

Here in oblique light. Can't have enough of these (added another dozen this fall)...

March 30 Orostachys chanetii

March 30 Pulsatilla vulgaris

March 30 Pulsatilla vulgaris

March 30 Scilla sibirica

April 7 Anemone ranunculoides

More and more of this spreads every year, while I struggle a tad with Anemone nemorosa (which likes it a bit wetter)...

April 7 Corydalis glaucescens

This is suddenly showing up in a number of places: it's taken decades, but is becoming one of the best corydalis in my garden: blooms for a month or more.

April 7 Fritillaria elwesii

April 7 Narcissus lobularis

April 7 Pulsatilla rubra ssp. hispaniuca

I need a lot more of this one!

April 7 Ribes x gordonianum

April 7 Scilla hohenakeri

One of the many gems in my garden that trace to Jane McGary--ace bulb grower from Oregon.

April 9 Narcissus scaberulus

April 11 Trachystemon orientalis

April 24 Iris henryi

I cannot have enough of this: every clone is so distinct. This, I think, was my favorite of all...

April 24 Iris SDB

I don't know if I've ever had the name of this work-horse, but it's a solid performer and has lasted for decades.

April 25 Erodium absinthoides ssp. armenum

April 25 Geranium richardsonii

Our common subalpine geranium turns out to be a great garden plant: who'da thunk?

April 25 Onosma caerulescens

April 25 Silene caroliniana

April 26 Androsace sericea

April 26 Dianthus myrtinervius

Plants in the trade with this name are often just D. deltoides.

April 26 Viola pedata

My lime tolerant form from Kentucky...it gives me great joy!

April 27 Iris graeberiana

April 27 Iris odesanensis

One of Darrell Probst many treasures for our gardens, collected in Korea.

April 27 Pulsatilla albana v. lutea 

Misidentified for years as Pulsatilla aurea.

May 21 Delosperma 'Red Mt Flame'

Probably the most spectacular ice plant--it's widely distributed in commerce but still not "discovered"... those flowers are HUGE!

May 2 Gentiana acaulis

Thanks to Edelweiss Nursery, I have these everywhere...

May 4 Fibigia macrocarpa

May 21 Erigeron ursinus

My collection from the type locality in Utah.

May 21 Sedum ternatum

One of the best (and commonest) of sedums in nature (and rarely seen in gardens). From Eastern woodlands.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

June 1 Thalictrum tuberosum

Now if I only had Thalictrum orientale to keep it company!

June 2 Iris x variegata

A hybrid whose name I do not know...

June 2 Purshia stansburyana

I still prefer to call this Cowania. One of the most aristocratic (and aromatic) Western woodies. In Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey devotes a whole chapter in praise of it.
                                                                                                                                                                                                              

June 2 Rumex scutatus 'Silver Shield'

One of the very best woodlanders: I'm amazed it's so little known. Looks good even through most of winter.                                    

June 5   Lupinus 'Russel's Hybrid' selection

I would like to grow a lot more lupines.
                                   

June 5 Papaver dubium

Possibly my worst weed: I pull out hundreds. Probably thousands--just before they go to seed. And next year I have even more. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I let them GO to seed. But the flowers are pretty stunning. There's an even more spectacular color form grown in New Mexico I am tempted to introduce. Tell me not to please.

June 5 Rhodiola trollii

A plant that gave me far more joy than its size merits.

June 5 Senecio bigelowii

Who needs petals? (Or ray flowers for you sticklers)...

June 5 Stachys citrina

      I struggled for years to grow this--and now I have it all over my gardfen. But have yet to get a decent picture. Oh well..
         

June 6 Lilium martagon 'Album'

June 6 Penstemon 'Coiral Baby'

June 8 Goldfinch

I know it's not a plant. I've been hanging out with way too many birders..

June 8 Polygonatum sibiricum

I don't think one can have too many Solomon's Seals: I have a dozen perhaps--and that's nothing to what Tony Avent or Aaron Floden have amassed. I would like more...hint hint.

June 8 Pyrrhocoma crocea

One of the many gems that trace to Mike Kintgen, my colleague at Denver Botanic Gardens. This obscure Western wildflower is a DYC to most, but one of my most treasured acquisitions. Those flowers are huge, and it doesn't show the egg-yolk orange color properly. Us

June 8 Sideritis phlomoides

The name is probably wrong. One the plants I would never want to be without--fantastic foliage and garden performance in sun, shade, wet or dry.

June 13 Erodium rupestre

I can never have enough Erodiums. Except maybe E. manescavii: I have enough of that (hundreds)...

June 14 Eryngium giganteum

Not everything I grow is tiny. And yes, I do have Hemerocallis.  A dozen or more. So the disease begins...

June 22 Delphinium pylzowii

One of my many resident weeds: this pops up all over my rock garden--and I always leave a few here and there...but it does bloom for six or more months...

June 23 Geranium dalmaticum

Indispensable and wonderful in spring, summer and fall. Winter--not so much.

June 23 Salvia miltiorhiza

An exquisite woodland sage--looks easy to grow: and what great flowers! And an important Chinese herb to boot! Wonder why this isn't better known? Blooms for weeks in midsummer.

June 27 Gentiana kirilowii

Mike bone and my collection from the Tian Shan. Perhaps only a father can love this? It is pretty straggly. But the flowers are worth it!

June 29 Origanum 'Kent Beauty

I've pulled out bushels of this--it loves my garden a tad too much

June 29 Salvia chrysophylla

First time this bloomed for me: can one possibly have enough salvias? The answer is NO!

June 29 Spigelia marilandica

July 1 Spartium junceum

July 14 Lilium leichtlinii

July 22 Gentiana septemfida 'alba'

July 23 Origanum acutidens & Delphinium pylzowii

July 23 Platycodon grandiflorus dwf.

July 31 Pelargonium endlicherianum

July 31 Peuxcedanum terebinthinaceum

August 31 Scilla autumnalis

August 12 Impatiens glandullfera

A horrible weed in maritime climates. A benign garden annual for us.

August 15 Allium togashii with bees

An allium I wouldn't want to be without: looks better every year (and every year I dig up a big hunk to share with this nursery or that collector)...

August 15 Begonia grandis

I wish this grew for us as I've seen it growing in more humid climates (i.e.--reliably and aggressively)..

August 15 Gentiana x paradoxa

My poor Gentiana paradoxa keeps tossing out hybrid seedlings. Oh well--they are lusty growers and bloom for a long time...

August 15 Quince Veggie garden

Our vegetable garden is overrun with annuals: Jan doesn't have the will to weed them. Oh well...

August 15 Veratrum formosanum

One of the most wonderful plants one can grow. One of many that trace to Beaver Creek--we miss them enormously...

August 18 Brugmansia

And yes, I have to have a few temperennials which I schlepp in and out...

August 18 Kniphofia porphyrantha

Tracing to my collection on Mount-aux-source where it is tiny and always yellow. Oh well...

August 24 Colchicxum (Merendera) montanum

Espanto pastores (I scare the shepherds): one of the best common names ever.

August 24 Cunila origanoides

You can have your dinner plate dahlias: this svelte American oregano is MY kind of plant.

August 24 Putoria calabrica

As is this, that traces to Dan Johnson and my collection in Andalucia, September 2001.

September 1 Ipomoea purpurea

Another of my irrepressible weeds. Oh well.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            September -3 Zauschneria septentrionalis

Either 'Wayne's Silver' or 'Mattole Select'--I mixed them up. Took years to finally get this at home--we've had spectacular mats at the Gardens forever (which may have petered out come to think of it). Yes I know Peter Raven lumped these into Epilobium and has good reasons to have done so. Love Peter--but they'll remain Zauschneria for me and the hummingbirds which are likewise not colorblind.

November -22 Galanthus elwesii v. monostictus

A gift from Nancy Goodwin: which I memorialized in another blog. Montrose is America's supreme estate garden (OK, along with Filoli...I demur).
             

November 23 Othonna capensis

This never quits: one of my best introductions from the Witteberg spur of the Drakensberg--although Jim Archibald and I found it all overt the East Cape...

Deember 30 Rebutia marsoneri

I begin and end with indoor cacti--which swamp my home in winter, and escape outdoors in the summer. That's it for 2017--thanks for hangin' in there!

And BY THE WAY, if you're interested in getting seed of some of the plants you see above  (and in the other postings I do that show pictures from my garden) just JOIN the NORTH AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY: just click on that link to find out more. I donated almost 400 kinds of seed to their amazing seedlist which are STILL available if you join. And while you're at it, the Alpine Garden Society, Scottish Rock Garden Club and many specialist societies for Eriogonum, Species Iris Group of North America, Penstemon, Primrose all have superb seedlists too for obtaining unusual plants you can't find elsewhere. Join them all!