It was hot today (felt like 38C!) and I noticed the delicate Rock harlequin (Capnoides sempervirens) flowering. I must say, the colours are just perfect to describe such a fiery day! It was sown successively from late winter to spring and older seedlings are the first to start flowering now; a few are still growing […]
If I leave aside the heat, the endless road constructions/detours and the million mosquitos hungrily awaiting into the woods, yesterday was quite a perfect day. The first seeds of the season were collected and a new, nice Trientalis borealis population has been found. Really perfect; only that I had to keep reciting Issa’s haiku. What […]
In preparation of going away for a little while, I looked around today to see who would remain in charge of the garden and the seedlings…The first ones asked found excuses of being busy flowering, setting seeds, or putting up new growth. So, I had to appoint by force the lord of the garden – […]
Finally some warm weather (then cold again…warm). However, spring is here and in the past couple of weeks Corydalis and Dicentra cucullaria, some of the first here, have not only flowered but started to set seeds! Watching the Corydalis solida and Dicentra cucullaria flowering and the bumblebee hungrily foraging them, I realized that I was […]
The season of ten thousand flowers has surely begun! More to follow… Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life. – Wumen
Anemone acutiloba (DC.) Laws (Flora of N. America) IN REVISION WORK ….April 6, 2018 April begins here with a joke, weather wise – we are expecting snow (2016)! Thus, it is a good moment to gather and publish my notes on Hepatica acutiloba (Sharp-lobed hepatica) before it gets busy.The seeds are also starting to germinate, […]
I am known to be on the lookout for promising ballerinas (see Arisaema and Primula –rina)… This year my eyes were drawn by the Carolina allspice seedlings. Surely there is great promise; I just don’t know if in the ballet because after the first stage the twirled cotyledons have rapidly put on some weight ;) […]
Say cheese! My morning routine of checking the germinatrix revealed that all Arisaema seedlings (triphyllum, flavum and consanguineum) will be 1 month-old tomorrow (counting since sowing). Time goes by so fast! I said it before but better to repeat – start Arisaema as early as you can, water plenty and they will have an extended […]
The lights were ‘fired up’ for a few impatient germinators and I started to sow more of the warm germinators. When it’s cold and drab outside there is really no other better thing than sowing and placing the little pots under the lights! I wasn’t thinking of sowing more Arisaema this year (I swear!), but […]
A short interruption from the thistles to draw a bit of attention to the purple bloom maple (more often called Korean maple). This small tree is native to Manchuria, Korea and around Vladivostok/Russia, where it grows on rocky forested slopes. In the gardens it is best grown in full sun to light shaded locations. Acer […]
Centaurs – Greek mythological figures with a man’s upper body and a horse’s lower half. Supposedly, they were using the (Centaurea) flowers for healing (Centaurea scabiosa as header image) Continuing the year of the thistle with Centaurea spp., which are not true thistles of course, but included in the big family. Actually, there are a […]
The beginning of the New Year has been busy with new seeds arrivals. Having a new garden space means also having new plants interests. Therefore, I declare 2016 as The Year of the Thistle! According to wiki, “Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp prickles on […]
‘Tis the season this year meant ‘enjoy the mild weather as long as possible’. A recent escapade into the woods inspired me to do more sowing in moss. Last year I sowed Saxifraga cuneifolia and Gaultheria procumbens, just for play and it worked very well; now I need more Saxifraga seedlings. I cannot really replicate […]
Part 2 For May and June I had to do a shortlist to keep it short. Most notable was the finding of unusual forms of green Trilliums, as well as many pink forms. The reddish flower in the pictures is a fading pink form (T. grandiflorum fo. roseum Farwell). And not just the colour variation […]
More seed adventures as I enter a new territory – that of the hemi-parasitic plants. Many beautiful and garden desirable species belong to this category, some not impossible to grow from seeds, most notably Castilleja spp. and Pedicularis spp. (Orobanchaceae, formerly Scrophulariaceae). By coincidence, just after I collected a few Castilleja coccinea seeds, someone asked […]
Being seed adventurous doesn’t mean only going into the woods and climbing mountains in search of plant seeds. It also means, trying new species from seeds and looking to improve or find new methods of sowing/germination. Wanting to avoid having to handle too many small pots, last week I sowed in the same container a […]
