Delphinium tatsienense vs. D. grandiflorum

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It seems we are naturally ‘inclined’ to want plants that bear names with an exotic resonance.
For example, D. tatsienense may ‘sound’ better than D. grandiflorum; not that the name should be the criterion when choosing what plants to grow.

Few years ago I bought seeds of D. tatsienense, I grew it, boasted about it, collected its seed, until doubts started to creep in about its identity.
I stopped offering seeds but kept some; I grew more seedlings with the precise purpose to have a closer look at it.

The differences between the two species are somewhat minute considering Flora of China (which always gives me the blues when I have to rely on it). Nevertheless, after looking closely and taking meticulous measurements I am pretty sure this is D. grandiflorum; and probably 90% or more, of what goes around in the trades (seeds and plants) as D. tatsienense is actually D. grandiflorum.

The Papilio butterfly, which was busy feeding when I was doing measurements on the cut flowers, gave me the sort of look – “does it really matter?”….Well, it matters for us.

Delphinium grandiflorum and Papilio polyxenes

All that’s needed for ID, if you have plants of either of them, are a strong hand lens & small measuring tape. Flora of China see here – link to Delphinium.
Disclaimer: following the link to the Delphinium keys might give you the blues.
Better grow some plants when the seeds are ready, regardless of the name!

 

Out in the woods – Trillium grandiflorum

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The time has come to admire again the Large white-flowered Trillium in all its forms and also few other woodland companions.

Although Trillium grandiflorum takes center stage at this time, it doesn’t grow by itself and I will show just a few species that were growing beside it in one particular area: Caulophyllum, Podophyllum peltatum (May apple), Maianthemum racemosum (False Solomon’s Seal), Uvularia grandiflora, Asarum canadense, Viola rostrata, Viola sororia. Others not shown here which associate in the wild/woodland gardens: Actaea species, Polygonatum pubescens, Thalictrum dioicum, Hepatica americana/acutiloba, Sanguinaria, Arisaema triphyllum, Viola pubescens and of course Trillium erectum.
Seeds of all are usually offered in the Seeds Shop by fall.

Caulophyllum and Trillium grandiflorum

Podophyllum peltatum

Maianthemum racemosum

Uvularia grandiflora

Viola rostrata

Viola sororia

 

Glaucidium palmatum – experimenting on germination

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Opinions seem to differ about the germination of Japanese woodland poppy; of course the time of seed maturation and provenience/origin, age of the seeds, can all lead to different results.
A little while ago, someone asked a question about this and then a discussion started on the Scottish Rock Garden Forum. This being a highly desired and expensive plant, I decided to repeat sowing seeds using GA3/1000 ppm, just like I did a few years ago in order to have a final idea about what’s happening.

Glaucidium palmatum and G. palmatum ‘Album’ (syn. var. leucanthum)
15 seeds of each/2017 season, collected in SW Ontario.
Treatment with GA3 1000 ppm/sowing next day March 23th.
Pictures taken April 18, 19th
*I only had a few seeds from 2016, and not the very best, so I could not look at the potential effect of their age. Last time I had also sown older seeds and they did fine overall but I cannot provide the % of germination.

The following pictures are of Glaucidium palmatum. Glaucidium palmatum ‘Album’ is starting a bit late, only 3 seedlings can be seen at this time. I did enough damage for now, patience…
I had to take pictures fast but they are good enough for our purpose of counting the germinated seeds:

I removed some of the potting mix and we can count 10 seedlings

plus 3 good that fell off here (I broke one root, sorry), plus some leftover seed teguments – probably 2 seeds were empty

All in all – 13 seedlings from 15 sown (2 unaccounted for).

I went further with the experiment (the pot was too small anyway) and took out all the seedlings, recounted and replanted them, 3/pot. It is the first time I transplant such young Glaucidium seedlings and it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Some of the seedlings may produce a first true leaf (I will update this post later) but most will remain at the cotyledon leaves stage.
Don’t worry when at some point the cotyledons start withering, keep the pots in a part-shaded location and water once in a while. Next spring they will emerge with the true leaf!
For better understanding, here are few older images, with seeds sown/GA3 treated, a few years ago.

Glaucidium palmatum seedlings going dormant for the remaining of the season

Glaucidium palmatum – the same seedlings, emerged early next spring, and I grew them under lights for a while

Following other people’s experience, a good alternative to using GA3 is:
– sow in late fall/winter and provide cold outdoors; some seedlings will emerge in the spring, some in the second  year after sowing.

*Others report warm germination with freshly collected seeds sown in early summer. In my opinion this is not time feasible in the Northern Hemisphere because the seeds mature late; by the time you buy the seeds or receive them from seed exchanges, it will be late fall/winter or even early spring. Those who can procure seeds early in the season can give it a try.

 

Hepatica pictures gallery

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A perfect day to think about the blooms to come!
Click on the picture to enter the gallery.

Hepatica – The queens of the woodlands

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As soon as I saw the first sign of Hepatica buds movement in the garden and the tiny new seedlings of the year, I felt a sense of urgency to organize all the material I’ve been gathering on Hepatica.
The queens of the woodlands will bring the forest floor to life once again in no time!

Having had other posts published and a lot of pictures I thought it would be easy; more than a week later, I was proven wrong.
I am almost done – this is the big purple button leading to their page :)

Explore the world of North American Hepatica!


These are the published sections of the page (you can enter by clicking the pictures as well):

Two more sections to follow shortly:
          Hepatica: Pollination, seeds & germination

          Pictures gallery

 

 

Warm Peonies

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Instead of getting warmer the weather seems to go backwards. Good news is that in the cold frames things are definitely moving in the right direction.

I noticed the first little red shoots of Paeonia japonica on April 1st. The seeds were sown last late summer: hypogeal germinators, forming roots during the warm period and the first shoots after the winter cold period (cold/moist stratification).

Paeonia japonica one year old seedlings with the first shoots peeking from the pot gravel, April 2018

This is the reason I recently recommended that seeds of Paeonia species (except Paeonia tenuifolia) to be bought and sown as warm germinators. The sowing can be done throughout summer (up to August in a cold climate).
If sown in late fall or winter nothing bad happens, just that it makes no sense to occupy the space with the pots since the seeds need a warm cycle first, plus in case of a wet winter the seeds may rot.

The summer-fall sowing is very straightforward, just use taller than usual pots, if possible: sow, water very well and protect the pots from the critters. Keep well watered and when the winter arrives, place the pots in a frost free location: cold frames, or ‘plant’ them in the ground.

Keep in mind that even if you don’t see anything there are (should be) roots inside the pots!
In this idea, keep an eye on the pots, not to receive excessive rainfall, especially when it gets very cold; this easily leads to roots rot.

Another sowing method is to provide the warm cycle required by keeping the seeds in moist vermiculite in a Ziploc bag (indoors at room temperature) until they form the roots and then place pot them up and place the pots in the fridge for 2-3 months for the cold period. This method requires more supervision; I did it once and now I think it is best to go with the natural cycles of warm and cold.

But if you purchase the seeds too late in the season or don’t have a cold frame, it is a doable method.

I am also thinking about a third method for those on cold climates who want/need to sow in October-November and don’t like to play with Ziploc bags: sow in pots as usual and keep them in the house until Dec./Jan. for the warm cycle (this would give the 2-3 months required), check gently to see if the roots have grown, then gradually place the pots outdoors under the snow (or in the fridge). Gradually means, first keep them for a while in a cold location (garage…); also keep in mind that we don’t usually have reliable snow cover.

I showed it with another occasion, and it is nothing new about it, but here’s what these peonies seeds are doing during the warm cycle,  no matter if sown in pots or kept in the Ziploc bags. We need to be aware at all times of the roots growing in pots that otherwise don’t show anything visible on top. If you let them dry out excessively or to freeze, of course no shoots will show up in the spring!

Paeonia rockii hybrid, emerging roots after a warm period provided in moist vermiculite; the roots will grow further, so best to use taller pots for sowing

As said in this older post The sleeping beauties, it is worth growing species peonies from seeds: they are beautiful, hard to find and when it happens to be available they are on the expensive side. Not all the seedlings may come true to species because of cross-pollination, but even the hybrids obtained from the species are special.

Little monsters – Podophyllums yet again

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How can one offer unusual seeds/species on a constant base?
Well, by first growing and establishing mother plants from which to collect the seeds, of course.

So, three years ago I engaged in growing from seeds various Chinese Podophyllums (which actually I promised to call Dysosma).
The protocol I use works wonders (see the related posts below) and in short time I ended up with more plants than I could ever plant in my garden. They surely grow like little monsters! After deep meditation, I decided to act like a responsible adult and part ways with a few of them.

Podophyllum versipelle x pleianthum, bare rooted plants, safe to be shipped at this stage

Then, I felt free to proceed sowing the next generation :)) It is a first for Podophyllum mairei!

Podophyllum mairei germinated seeds

Here’s to the next little monsters!

Podophyllum mairei – new sowings

Many warm germinators species have been recently sown as well; we’ll talk about them later…last touches are being made for re-opening the Seeds shop and accepting Pre-orders for the new season!

 

More Comps flowers and apologies

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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.

Seedless Friday – Compositae

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Well, not quite seedless – here’s one image. I didn’t have time to finish what I wanted to do for the Compositae family and, taking into consideration the weather here, maybe it is for the best. We can really use some colours at this time!

Centaurea salonitana seeds

So, just a gallery with mostly Centaurea and few others thistle-like species :)
The names are displayed on mouse hover, or click and browse through the gallery

Centaurea jankae

Centaurea salonitana

Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta

Centaurea pseudophrygia

Centaurea kotschyana

Centaurea drabifolia

Centaurea kotschyana yellow form

Jurinea mollis

Echinops crispus

Cirsium purpuratum

Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus

Swallowtail on wild Cirsium

 

 

 

Winter getaway – Dobrogea II

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Continuing the Dobrogea I with other species which call this particular and beautiful region home.
I hope you already got a taste of it; this should make it easier when growing some of these species from seeds and also help selecting the garden location.

First a mention for two endemic species:

Campanula romanica:

Campanula romanica growing on a lichen covered rock outcrop, North Dobrogea, Romania

Centaurea jankae: a species with few populations known only to exist in Romania and Bulgaria. Good luck (and broken stems by wind/animals) made it to find a few late flowers to photograph.

Centaurea jankae

Remembering the sunny days of past summer, the flowers, the rocks and wildlife:

Stachys atherocalyx, very similar with Stachys recta that I offered seeds from Carpathian Mts.

Stachys atherocalyx

Hedysarum grandiflorum, as well just one late flowering stem was waiting to be immortalized :)

Hedysarum grandiflorum

Hedysarum grandiflorum habitat

Convolvulus cantabrica, perfect in a rockery and probably hardy in our area (Ontario) with reliable snow covered. I have a two-year old Convolvulus tragacanthodes growing in the rockery, we’ll see how it comes out from this winter.

Convolvulus cantabrica in wild habitat

Cephalaria uralensis

Cephalaria uralensis

The Dobrogean tortuga for a variation

Dobrogean tortuga, Testudo graeca

Thymus zygioides, found growing in the company of Paronychia cephalotes

Thymus zygioides

One more view from Macin Mts.

And a little lizard (Lacerta) basking in the sun

There were many other species of course; maybe more to follow when the next wave of arctic air hits us!

 

Winter getaway – Dobrogea I

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Well, the trip interruption was a bit longer that I would have wished, but here we are on the road again (see first part of the trip here). In order to beat the polar vortex that descended upon us we need sun & flowers!

As I said, the drive from Southeastern Carpathians to Dobrogea region is not very long, depending on the destination it can take 4-5 hours. The Dobrogea region (with Dobrogea Plateau) in Romania is surrounded to the north and west by the Danube River and to the east by the Danube Delta and the Black Sea. Most visitors are aiming for the Black Sea sand beaches, bird watching and/or fishing in the Danube Delta, and very few aim to enjoy the particular flora of the region.

Given its position, the climate is slightly warmer and more arid than in the rest of Romania, winters are cold but with less snow and the flora is very specific with a combination of endemic plants and various species at their geographical limits. It is a special ‘meeting’ place for species of Mediterranean, Eurasian and even Caucasian origin!

Even if in late July it is very hot and dry and many species are at the end of flowering, there is still a lot to explore. I will start with a few Caryophyllaceae to keep the continuity and then show various other species.

Dianthus nardiformis is an endemic of this region and luckily being a late flowering species it was still very showy; photographed on the dry, exposed, rocky hills of Enisala fortress and everywhere else. Striking especially when dispayed against the lichens laden rocks.
Cultivated for a long time, this Dianthus makes for a good garden plant, although not as tidy (foliage speaking) as other species, but extremely floriferous, hardy and long lived. There is an impressive specimen at Montreal Botanical Garden to testify it.

Dianthus nardiformis

On the same dry, rocky hills surrounding Enisala fortress, it was a nice surprise to find Paronychia cephalotes. I have a young plant grown from seeds of Crimean accession in the rockery, and I look forward to see it flowering. However, seeing a species ‘perform’ in the wild is always much better!
It is a mat forming species with white, papery bracts posing as ‘flowers’. It is hard to think it belongs to Caryophyllaceae at a superficial look.

Paronychia cephalotes and Thymus zygioides, Dobrogea July 2017

From the neglected genus Minuartia, I will note Minuartia adenotricha, a species that you will also found on the other side of the Black Sea, on the Crimean mountains.

Minuartia adenotricha, Dobrogea 2017

Gypsophila pallasii is a similar species with G. glomerata offered in the seeds shop (as well of Crimean origin); doing very well on the dry, rocky substrate in the company of Echinops, Artemisia, Xeranthemum, Astragalus, Allium ssp. and many others.

Gypsophila pallasii at Capul Dolosman, Dobrogea 2017

A must have stop for plant lovers in Dobrogea are the Macin Mountains located in Tulcea County. These are among the oldest mountains in Europe, formed during the Hercynian orogeny with the predominant rock – granite, but also sandstone limestone. Their specific look is given by the eroded granite formations.
Although a very, very long time ago these mountains were taller than the Carpathians; today the highest point is Ţuţuiatu/Greci Peak with an elevation of 467 m above sea level.

Macin Mts., Dobrogea, Romania

In the quite dry-looking landscape of late July, Silene compacta stood apart with its rich magenta inflorescences. It is not difficult to assume that full sun locations and super good drainage would be mandatory for its successful cultivation. 

Silene compacta in Macin Mts.

Many other interesting species grow in the particular habitats of the Dobrogean plateau.
Winter getaway – Dobrogea II

 

 

Back to normal and a Viola

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The Seeds Shop activity is back to normal; special thanks to those who placed orders and waited patiently!

About the Viola

Last day in the Carpathian Mts. this summer was dedicated to revisiting a special place, no seeds collecting in mind, just pure enjoyment of the scenery.
Going up a narrow rock ravine to join a narrow terrace grass trail (known as “brâna”) I snapped a few pictures, which included a Viola and then kept going. On the return, I stopped to collect Aquilegia nigricans seeds and also took on the fly some from the mentioned Viola thinking it would be nice to grow it in the garden together with Polygala vulgaris, like in nature.

Viola cf. declinata, and Polygala vulgaris – Bucegi Massif, August 2017

I didn’t know on the spot which species it was, so I should have taken proper pictures for ID. But we know about ‘should and would’….
Taking into consideration the site, flowering period and flora of the region, it is very probably to be Viola declinata.
Another option is Viola tricolor subsp. saxatilis (syn. subsp. subalpina).

Close up pictures of the seeds may have a final say on this; or not…To follow…

*Allium thunbergii ‘Ozawa’ and Gentiana cruciata seeds were added to the inventory.