Ineffably beautiful pasqueflower

 

Pulsatilla patens (Asiatic form)

I think I have even more pictures of pasqueflowers than I do of snowdrops, adonis and crocuses--these four champions of late winter are so photogenic (and have so little competition) that we take no end of pictures--some (like these) almost capture some of their charm...if I'm not mistaken.

Pulsatilla patens again...

This will hopefully become my problem pasqueflower: half the size or less than the commonest species (Pulsatilla vulgaris) every one I planted has thrived and clumped up. Supposedly the same species as our Western pasqueflower (which I'm doubting) which is a devil to grow, this one is tough as nails (thus far anyway). There are two flies in the ointment.

Fly #1: they (like all my clematis and many other ranunculads) are magnets for some nasty species of beetle that devastates the foliage in the summer. They recover when those beetles disappear in August...but I can't help but think they'd do even better without the nasty pest.

Fly #2: we have travelled at inauspicious times. They set great umbrellas of shining seeds I keep waiting to harvest when they're perfectly ripe. I did collect a lot of its bluer native cousin in Wyoming last year as the  seeds on these shattered. Every last one of them. (I was so hoping to share this and grow more in pots). I only hope and pray all the scattered seeds germinate. I would LOVE to have this choke my garden the way Iberis taurica and Euphorbia cyparissius have done in the past! One can hope.

I believe this, the first in the series and the last picture are all the very same clump taken a few days apart. Just about as charismatic a plant as one can imagine...looks good going into winter. Hard to believe this should repeat this performance in a few months. Okay, maybe four...

As I type this I realize how emblematic this is of my gardening. Some garden to create beautiful vistas (I'd love to do this, but if I do it's an accident). Some garden for food (I should but I don't). I garden to find the most ineffably beautiful plants, and then try to persuade them to thrive and live forever nearby me. It's that simple!