Luetkea pectinata, Partridgefoot, is an endemic plant of Western North America, in alpine and subalpine areas, extending from Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, and east into Northwest Territories, Alberta, Idaho, and Montana, as well as South into Washington, Oregon and California. Apparently it is a common plant in BC, in alpine and subalpine zones, but not everyone has the chance to reach these places so I thought a plant portrait would be useful.

The partridge foot, is a ground hugging, evergreen sub-shrub forming extensive mats along rocky slopes, in meadows of moist open coniferous forest at subalpine and alpine level, where the snow cover usually start melting late toward early summer.
It is stoloniferous, reason why in favorable locations it can cover large areas, to an extent hard to imagine, until one sees it. You will also notice in pictures that with the help of stolons, it can easily populate the surface of large boulders, if it finds a thin layer of substrate to grow on, or it will grow in the boulders crevices.
It is also found growing in heathlands associations with Phyllodoce empetrifolia and Cassiope mertensiana, which is a good hint about the type of substrate it requires (pictures taken in Revelstoke area and Glacier National Park).

Seeds will be offered (in limited quantity) in the fall Seeds List, so take hints for cultivation from this information. We always need to try to emulate the natural growing conditions, especially for species growing at high elevations. It would make for an excellent crevice plant in a moist rockery.

The species was first collected in Sitka, Alaska and the genus Luetkea, with its only species L. pectinata, commemorates the early 1800s German-Russian military man and Arctic explorer with the name of Friedrich Benjamin Graff von Lutke (or Fydor Petrovich Litke), who charted the Alaskan coast in 1827.

Luetkea pectinata, Partridge foot, in flower in late July, Revelstoke area, BC

The common name Partridge foot, alludes to the fan-shaped leaves which are crowded in tick tufts, and upon a superficial look, one can think it resembles at a Saxifraga. However, the genus belongs to the rose family (Rosaceae, more specifically related with Spiraea). Some sources also call it Alaska Spiraea. Also, the specific epithet ‘pectinata’ alludes to the foliage, meaning ‘scalloped’ in Latin.

The flowers are white-creamy on dense, elongated clusters about 10 cm high, and later capsule-like, aggregate of follicles develop, which take a red color close to maturation; same it happens with the foliage, especially in exposed situations. The late summer/fall red coloration during fruiting enhances its appeal.

The dry follicles will open in late summer to release the fine, linear seeds about 3 mm long.
By the aspect of growing mats, it seems that its main propagation in the wild is happening by stolons.

Propagation: cuttings/detaching rosettes would be the easiest way to go, but we only have the option of growing it from seeds. According with various sources, the seeds will germinate at room temperature, without any need of cold stratification, which is good news. The seeds being very fine, we have to sow superficial and top up the pot with fine gravel or other such substrate to prevent the seeds desiccation. Use a very porous mix by adding perlite to a regular sowing mix, and keep evenly moist.

Another method I mentioned often for fine, small seeds is to enclose the pot in a plastic bag until the germination starts, then use the bag as a sort of coverall until the seedlings gain strength.
And of course, we can use the dome trays that many people found very handy. I never use heating mats for seeds germination, although they are often mentioned in various protocols, so I think they are not really necessary.

Luetkea pectinata seeds and fruits aspect; 1 mm grid

You can read detailed propagation protocols for it and other related species (see also Vaccinium membranaceum ;) here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm06232815/page19.htm

The reason this species is rarely seen in cultivation, at least in Canada, is probably due to the difficulty of establishing the seedlings. Probably SW Ontario location is too dry to grow it, but those in up-north regions, BC and Eastern provinces, should have better chances to cultivate this beautiful native wildflower.
We won’t know until we give it a try!

While waiting for Hepatica seeds to drop into the catching bags, ;) we can admire two dwarf Polygala species. I’m a big fan of Polygalas.

From the garden, flowering for the first time: Polygala amarella, the dwarf milkwort. This is a European species growing on limestone grasslands, slopes and rock ledges, up to subalpine level.

Polygala amarella, cultivated (grown from seeds wild coll. Carpathian Mts)

From our woods: Polygala paucifolia, the gaywings. I showed it many times but it flashes for attention, flowering more or less at the same time with Trillum grandiflorum. It is growing on deciduous and mixed forests, in part-shaded, slightly moist locations.

Polygala paucifolia in wild habitat

Polygala species are not difficult to grow from seeds, it is just that the seeds are very hard to “catch” and thus always in short supply; then the seedlings are best grown in the community pot for 2 years. Flowering can start in the third year and is very rewarding. Polygala vulgaris and P. major are also in line to flower this summer — it doesn’t get any better!

Timeline for Hepatica seeds: collecting maybe in the first week of June.
The offerings are taking shape in the Seeds Shop – check out the Hepatica category; final price/seeds per pck. will be established after collecting.

 

 

Some of the newly sown seeds are starting to germinate!
Warm germinators sown in February and grown under lights indoors, can be acclimatized outdoors in April/early May and in many cases planted in the ground by June. At least that’s my method, and I recommend it to those from a cold climate. The young seedlings are establishing fast in the ground and by late fall have developed a good root system to withstand the winter. An examples of last year with: Cerastium alpinum var. lanatum and Minuartia verna. By late summer Minuartia was also flowering.

Also from the screes and rock ledges of Carpathian Mts., the newly sowed Acinos alpinus is starting to germinate. I suspect it will be an easy to grow species at the edge of the rockery.

Acinos alpinus germinated seeds

Besides sowing new species, I also re-sow species with which I wasn’t successful, yet (from various reasons). Anthemis carpatica ssp. pyrethriformis, it is one of these species and I will persevere. It may be that I still have to found a proper location for it in the garden/rockery. In the featured picture, seen last year in July.

Anthemis carpatica ssp. pyrethriformis newly germinated seeds

More to follow….

There are many other warm germinating species in the Shop that can keep you company :) or maybe you got seeds from seeds exchanges or other sources. This is the right time to sow, if using indoor lights.

*For those who don’t use indoor lights and can only sow outdoors: keep the seeds in the fridge and start in late April/ early May (depending on the weather).

 

 

Few species with small size seeds

Talking alpines species which usually have fine seeds, I will show a trick for sowing.
As everyone knows, fine seeds require light for germination and they need to be covered lightly; perlite is a good choice, easy to find at almost any garden centre.
But not only I cover the seeds with perlite, I also lay a fine perlite layer on top of the sowing mix and water it lightly before spreading the seeds; this way the seeds will stick to the perlite and not get drawn deep into the mix ;) You can also use vermiculite in the same way.
I would say this is very important for warm germinators. For cold germinators, which will receive their cold/moist stratification outdoors, the light requirement is often replaced by the cold treatment, so you can use regular sowing mix for covering.

Especially when placed outdoors for cold/moist stratification it is good to enclose the pots in a plastic bag/Ziploc/plastic box. The small seeds are easily displaced because of the light mix covering and starting spring with the raise in temperatures, they can also dry out very fast; even a short period of dryness can be fatal if it happens at the exact moment of the germination start.

About Kernera saxatilis, or to use the common French name which is very suggestive: Kernéra des rochers.

This lovely rock garden species offered in the seeds-gift is hailing from mountain ranges of Southern and Central Europe. Generally it is overlooked by many and I feel I should promote it more.

You can find a nook for this delicate species in any rockery, big or small, trough, containers or any other planting holders. The small white flowers will appear on an elongated flower stems in the spring, and will be followed by ornamental beads-like fruits.

It gets even better because the leaves rosettes remain evergreen, a most desirable trait in any cold climate – pictured here in November 30th.

Kernera saxatilis leaves rosettes end of November; these are still young plants which will increase in size over the years.

Did I mention that it is very easy to germinate and grow?

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that we will have a white week. But it is so easy to make it flower-colorful!
Since Acinos alpinus seeds were packed for few last orders I thought “A” + purple would be perfect for Monday; plus, we can feel the high altitude summer sun!

Acinos alpinus (syn. Calamintha alpina) – an easy to grow species in a rock garden, edge of a flower border; sun and good drainage.

Acinos alpinus – go wild and combine it with any other color!

 

 

What else better for a grey November day than a Gentiana?

The Gentiana and allies category has been updated. Few species are out this year and one notable species has just been added. No gentiana lover would wanGentiana for a rainy dayt to miss Gentiana uniflora, the Far Eastern counterpart of Gentiana verna (in the top featured image).

But all other Gentiana species are worth growing: Gentiana dahurica, G. septemfida collected in the garden or Gentiana asclepiadea, Gentiana lutea and G. punctata collected in the Alps this year, thank you!, not to mention their relative Swertia perennis. There are never enough Gentiana!

 

Knowing that most Ranunculus seeds have short viability, about two weeks ago I put the Ranunculus crenatus seeds in moist storage.
I thought that it may not happen again to find such treasures and what a pity to have them go to waste.

Today, surprise in the Ziploc bag!
Few are still just about to germinate – so, this is the last call and be advised that the seeds may arrive at destination germinated! (don’t purchase if uncomfortable with the idea).

Ranunculus crenatus germinated seeds; if I assume correctly considering other alpines Ranunculus species, the first leaves will appear in the spring after a cold period.

I’m off to sowing :)

Few species that have been uploaded yesterday on the shop are seeds of opportunity.
Collected by chance during a short trip to the BC mountains, they are maybe one – time offerings. Who knows if I’ll stumble upon glacier lilies in seed (and in flower) some other time?

Seeds of Erythronium grandiflorum, Anemone occidentalis, A. parviflora and even Streptopus amplexifolius are best sown as soon as possible. Otherwise they may germinate in the second spring after sowing.
I can only advise ;)

Erythronium grandiflorum, glacier lily flowering at the snow melt line; the seeds were ready at lower elevation

Anemone occidentalis, early spring flowering (meaning July at high altitude :)

Anemone parviflora

Streptopus amplexifolius

*Since there are quite a few Erythronium seeds, part of them are kept dry and offered at a lower price – Erythronium grandiflorum dry seeds; sown right away they should still germinate in the spring; sown later they will need two seasons for germination.

I knew this it will happen sooner or later and I knew it will be a damn comp – running short on seeds for an order.
Luckily there are many other species that I can make up with for the missing Aster alpinus seeds.

Aster alpinus – good (upper right corner) and bad ‘seeds’

The embarrassing moment put behind, let’s have a look at a few more Comps flowers.

Back to the Friday’s seed with an ad-hoc seeds photo session up in the mountains.
I. ruthenica has a relatively wide distribution from Eastern Europe to Asia, growing usually at subalpine and alpine elevations.
I particularly like it for the fragrant, deep blue/violet, flowers and the narrow leaves which form tufts of grassy ledges on the mountain slopes.

Iris ruthenica falls in the category of arillate irises and since the arils are drying fast, I wanted to capture them as fresh as possible, so not a very good image but it serve its purpose

Spending time on the mountain slope gazing at the blue sky and the rock walls would have been satisfying enough; weaving my hands through the grassy tufts to find the iris capsules made the moment unforgettable. The flowers pictures was taken during another trip, in a different location.

Not so long ago I was wishing Harvey Wrightman and his family all the best in their new adventure of relocating the Wrightman Alpine Nursery from Ontario to St. Andrews. With great sadness I found out yesterday that Harvey passed away.

His passion and skill to growing alpine plants from all over the world were absolutely unique, at least for the Canadian plant world. I will always remember the visits to their open-house nursery day, which were akin to the alpine gardens of renown Botanical Gardens.

We wish him farewell in this, alas, last adventure, and we offer our deepest condolences to his family which continues the alpine plants tradition. He will be greatly missed.

Images from the nursery and rock garden at the Ontario location and also plants grown by Harvey are shown below in few previous posts.

Alpine Golden Nuggets from Wrightman Nursery

And then there were the Saxifrages…

Wrightman Alpines Nursery – Hello to a New Adventure!

harvey-grown-saxifraga

Fall has officially arrived and I thought it would be wise to start doing what I call my ‘petit inventory’ :) Lots of seeds have been sown this year and many have germinated. As usual, some seedlings have perished, while others have grown well; a few have been planted in the ground, and some are even flowering! (see Iris dichotoma and Scabiosa caucasica).

An inventory always helps me remember what I’ve grown during the year and it adds to the experience. In most cases, the inventory entails only 2-3 plants, or worse, 1 – truly ‘petit’! I will show a few from the alpine section for now.

Few Caucasian species are my joy and pride: Potentilla divina, Astragalus levieri and Eremogone lichnidea.

potentilla-divina

Potentilla divina a bit difficult to grow, I hope to get it through the winter

astragalus-levieri

Astragalus levieri – a high altitude species, easy to germinate but usually hard to establish; the young seedling was planted in the ground in May

eremogone-lichnidea

Eremogone lichnidea – another new species, I left them as they were in the seeding pot (some alpines react well to this treatment)

As well other species, like Silene jailensis and Paronychia cephalotes, have exceeded my expectations. I also have good hope to finally see the alpine thistle – Carlina acaulis, established in the rockery (seen in the Silene background).

silene-jailensis

Silene jailensis (a Crimean collection) – seedling planted early outside

paronychia-cephalotes

Paronychia cephalotes – another new one, the seedlings were looking so nice that I was afraid to prick them out and planted the whole seedlings pot in the ground.

As you notice, I have continued my experiment of planting asap very young seedlings in the ground, and it has proven again to be the better way to go, at least for me. They can have the roots going deep down fast and establish well throughout the season, while the ones left in pots are more difficult to manage water-wise, plus that the pots are not deep enough for their liking.

In the feature image: Artemisia umbelliformis (Alpine wormwood), another little alpine gem I’m happy to see doing well.

Next to come – the Chinese Podophyllum babies from the shady section!