Centaurea

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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 few species with a true thistle-like look! Again, leaving the weedy ones apart, there are many worth cultivating besides the common C. nigra, C. montana and variants. ALL Centaurea species are most valuable to bees and attract countless species of butterfly, moths and other insects AND they are easy to grow from seeds!

In many cases, the involucral bracts (phyllaries) are very ornamental, a detail sometimes overlooked but which serves in species identification. Below, a few Centaurea sp. from the Carpathian Mts. (some endemic, some with a wider distribution). Bright pictures for a cloudy day!

Centaurea kotschyana

Centaurea kotschyana

Centaurea kotschyana

Centaurea pseudophrygia

Centaurea pseudophrygia

Centaurea pseudophrygia

Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta

Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta

Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta

And how about the yellow-flowered Centaurea? Here is the rare yellow form of C. kotschyana:

Centaurea kotschyana yellow form

Centaurea kotschyana yellow form

Two species in the Newly arrived Seeds category: C. salonitana and C. orientalis also have yellow flowers, but there are many other species. And I think the dwarf Centaurea drabifolia (endemic of Turkey!), seen here in the Rock garden at the Montreal Botanic Garden, can very well conclude this short post on Centaurea.

Centaurea drabifolia

Centaurea drabifolia

I hope I convinced at least a few to pay more attention to Centaureas. I look forward to combine in our garden, the yellow Centaurea salonitana together with Salvia pratensis in a flower bed, while the smaller Centaurea triumfettii ssp. stricta will be attracting butterflies in the rockery area ;)

You can also see the Carpathian Mts. endemic Centaurea pinnatifida here.

The year of the Thistle

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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 the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae”. But besides the ‘true thistles’: Cirsium, Carduus and Onopordum, other genera that don’t have spiny leaves are also included and called thistles: Jurinea, Centaurea, Carthamus, Carlina, Rhaponticum, Echinops, Silybum, Berkheya and so on.

Few plants are more beneficial to bees, bumblebees and butterflies than thistles; also, many birds are consuming their seeds. Quite a few are cultivated as economical/medicinal plants. The oldest cultivated ‘thistle’ in the world was Carthamus tinctorius (safflower).

Unfortunately the name ‘thistle’ brings to mind mostly awful weeds. However, there are many species that are non-invasive and highly ornamental; some are even endangered in their wild habitat! To name only 2 North American Cirsium species that are not weedy and have become endangered: the endemic Cirsium hillii (C. pumilum var. hillii) – seen in the image, and C. pitcheri. Cultivated in the gardens but not too often is Cirsium canum (Queen Anne’s Thistle).

Cirsium hillii

Cirsium hillii growing under a Jack pine (P. banksiana)

A most interesting genus is Jurinea. These are species familiar mostly to plant collectors; the genus includes alpine/sub-alpine species growing in mountain meadows, a few rare and/or endemics. In the image is shown Jurinea mollis growing in a sub-alpine meadow in the Carpathian Mts.

Jurinea mollis in Carpathian Mts.

Jurinea mollis in the Carpathian Mts.

Other great species practically unknown in cultivation are Jurinea iljinii – with a restricted distribution range in the western part of the Greater Caucasus, and Jurinea sordida endemic in Crimea. They all have in common, non-spiny, finely lobed leaves and purple (in various shades) flower heads, which take on a beautiful silky appearance when the seeds are ripened.

Jurinea mollis seedhead

Jurinea mollis seedhead

There are also nice, low-growing Jurinea ssp. for the rock garden (if you can find seeds) like J. depressa and J. macrocephala, to name just a couple. From the low-growing thistles category, I will have to contend for now with the alpine thistle: Carlina acaulis. You can read more about it here.

Carlina acaulis

Carlina acaulis

To be continued…

Thistles gallery

Echinops
Swallotail on Cirsium
Berkheya purpurea
Jurinea iljinii seedlings
Cirsium canum seedlings
Carlina acaulis seedling

Green Inspiration – sowing in moss

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‘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 this boulder, but if this Saxifraga likes to grow and spread on moss, it makes sense to sow it like that, right? Nature is best source of inspiration.

Saxifraga cuneifolia ssp. robusta in wild habitat

Saxifraga cuneifolia ssp. robusta in wild habitat (Carpathian Mts.)

Of course I don’t have a big, mossy boulder, but I am creative – an old decorative clay pot looks good ornate in moss.

For sowing on moss:
Prepare a pot, mossy stone…, your moss pieces and potting mix (best to add some sand to it);
Place the moss pieces you gathered, press well, water;
Spread the seeds on top, water again;
Enclose the pot/stone in a Ziploc bag, or cover just the top;
Overwinter outside; in the spring start opening the Ziploc or remove the plastic cover.

Saxifraga sowing in moss-1

The seedlings will be tiny (see in the images below taken last summer) and remain like that for some time, so keep it in a shaded spot and mist once in a while. A smaller pot can be kept in the Ziploc but watch it closely as the moss can overgrow the tiny seedlings (this can be rectified by trimming it). It depends on what type of moss is used.

Gaultheria procumbens seedlings in moss
Saxifraga cuneifolia ssp. robusta - seedlings in moss

Another Saxifraga that would enjoy this sowing/growing would be the North American Saxifraga virginica (correctly said Micranthes virginiensis).

Saxifraga virginica (Micranthes virginiensis)

Micranthes virginiensis (syn. Saxifraga virginica) in habitat

It is a fun sowing method and in the worst case scenario you will end up with a nice, green, mossy pot! It can be used for other shade loving species, particularly those that like a bit of acidic substrate like Vaccinium, Pieris, Rhododendron…Also it is a great way to germinate and grow any species which like a permanently moist substrate like Viola macloskeyi, Cornus canadensis and probably quite a few others.

Viola macloskeyi

Viola macloskeyi on a mossy hump in wild habitat – Why try to grow it in a different way?!

May the Green Inspiration follow you all throughout the New Year!

Update: Saxifraga cuneifolia spp. robusta (seedlings grown in moss) 5 years later :-)

New territory – Pedicularis

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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 me if I would be interested in hemi-parasitic plants. And so, I got the chance to exchange it for Pedicularis oederi seeds ;)

Pedicularis oederi, Oeder’s lousewort, is an alpine species found in China, Japan, Russia, C and N. Europe (very rare in the Carpathian Mts.), and North America. Like many other Pedicularis spp., it has beautiful ferny looking foliage and it flowers for a very long time, producing yellow/crimson tipped flowers.

Pedicularis oederi

Pedicularis oederi – growing in the Carpathian Mts. at aprox. 2000 m alt.

Another Pedicularis that I am dreaming to grow one day is Pedicularis verticillata – whorled lousewort or Bumblebee flower, with whorled inflorescences of rich, purple-pink flowers. It grows in alpine tundra turf and rocky slopes from Japan, Russia, arctic C, N, and S Europe to NW America.

Pedicularis verticillata

Pedicularis verticillata with Bistorta vivipara in the Carpathian Mts.

An alpine meadow with Pedicularis verticillata in flower it is a sight to behold.

Pedicularis verticillata2

The good news is that most hemi-parasitic plants have a wide range of hosts and have been shown to germinate even without their presence. Various Pedicularis are parasitic on species of Poaceae, Ericaceae, Salix, Aster; but many others species have been also cited as hosts. Most notably, a study done on Bartsia alpina and Pedicularis lapponica found that both would form haustorial connections with Pinguicula vulgaris (Lentibulariaceae).

One method that is working somehow for these plants, involves the direct sowing outdoors – if you have something looking like a natural meadow, which I don’t. For my experiment, I split the P. oederi seeds in 4 portions. Even if I am not successful, I am sure I will learn something from it.

– Seeds sown by a gardening friend outdoors in the vicinity of an Erica plant.
– Seeds sown at our place, outdoors in the vicinity of Polygonum affine and Deschampsia caespitosa.
– Seeds sown together with Pinguicula vulgaris in a pot that will undergo cold/stratification outside over the winter.
– Few remaining seeds will be sown together with Carex grayi (a nice NA native sedge that can grow in full sun).

But there are many other wonderful Pedicularis out there! The excitement of a new territory…

Update 2016: I wasn’t succesful with any of the above,yet. Sometimes it takes 2 years for seeds to germinate so the ones in pots are not a lost cause. The ones sown in situ probably have been disturbed by the squirrels. More sowings have been done, this time only in pots in pieces of turf. One has to persevere :)

The warrior Corydalis lutea

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C. lutea - November

Only a short note for this month’s end because I think Corydalis lutea (syn. Pseudofumaria lutea) deserves a special mention.
Transplanted during the summer in a crowded container where it lived for quite a while, made the trip to a new place, was dug & planted in the ground, not only it flowered continuously and provided food for pollinators and quite a few seeds, but it is still in flower today (featured image), after the last weekend’s temperature low of -9˚C (with snow cover).

It has shown up from seeds by itself in the spring, like it often happens, but I think it is a bit special. More of its seeds have been spread around today, so the ‘blood’ of this warrior’ will perpetuate in the new garden :)

C. lutea -July

Corydalis lutea in container, July

mid November

In the garden last week…

The magic trick – Paris quadrifolia

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Herb Paris, True lover’s Knot, Devil-in-a-bush

Renown of being hard to germinate because it requires several warm/cold cycles to break dormancy, Paris is often avoided by many people when it comes to growing it from seeds. A couple of days ago, during a check-up of the moist stored seeds, I had a big surprise. Almost all the garden collected seeds (in late summer) were already germinated! These seeds were cleaned and placed in moist vermiculite right away – an advantage of the garden collecting. Seeds that I collected in the wild and couldn’t place right away in moist storage look good but still haven’t decided to germinate.

Unless a magic trick is involved (not unusual at this time of year), cleaning the seeds after the berries are ripen and putting them right away in a bag with slightly moist vermiculite, which is the same as sowing them fresh, works very well for Paris quadrifolia.

Paris quadrifolia germinated seeds

Paris quadrifolia germinated seeds

Paris quadrifolia is a Trillium relative from moist deciduous forests of Europe and W. Asia, with a symmetric ‘constitution’ (Paris from Latin pars – equal). The four whorled leaves are topped up in early spring by a solitary, interesting flower with thread-like petals and a crown of golden stamens, followed by a deep blue berry (poisonous).

Paris quadrifolia

Paris quadrifolia

In medieval times this particular symmetry had Paris quadrifolia considered the ‘herb of equality’ and it was used in marriage rituals and as a guard against witches. It was also associated with medicine in medieval English tradition, being mentioned in Gerard’s Herbal as an antidote to toxic substances like arsenic and mercury.

According to other herbalists of the time, the black berries were also effective as a remedy for those who had lost their minds through bewitchment, or as an antidote for mental confusion due to supernatural causes :) (today it remains employed only in homeopathy).

In conclusion, for now we are safe from witches but if in the future we are to get confused, we shall use a few Paris berries…(which need “ to be administered in unequal numbers” :)))

C-section – Roscoea tibetica

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Update: I have serious doubts now that this is R. tibetica (or bhutanica) and although I had intentions I won’t add to the general confusion by offering seeds. I am waiting for other opinions regarding its identity (maybe R. australis?)…..probably it will be a looong wait.

Yesterday morning I had the wonderful surprise to find Roscoea (tibetica) in ‘labour’. The capsule was just starting to split open showing the seeds. The smallest of the genus, R. tibetica has a particular way of developing the capsule at soil level (easy to miss it), inside the stem actually, and I thought it would be interesting to show it, especially because this is also the final confirmation of its identity.

Roscoea tibetica capsule

Roscoea (tibetica) showing split capsule

Roscoea species have arilate seeds, so if ants are around (or earwigs) it’s wise not to miss the ‘delivery’. A bit of help is needed to extract the seeds without the stem being destroyed – a clean, small cut, followed by a bandage application (cheesecloth works perfectly) to secure the leftover seeds (the flowers open in succession so not all the seeds mature at the same time).

Size, shape and arils are good characters for Roscoea ID, especially considering that there is quite a bit of confusion going around – R. tibetica has seeds with deeply lacerate arils.

Roscoea tibetica split capsule with exposed seeds
Roscoea tibetica - more seeds remain inside

I presented Roscoea tibetica in the Little plants series; this year grew better in part-shade, sharing a container with A. fargesii seedlings. This is a great little Roscoea for the rock garden. Easy to grow from seeds, it can be quite variable; the form shown in the featured image has small purple flowers barely showing from among the stems, so one cannot really call it a showy plant. More than this, it starts growing sometimes in June, it flowers in late June, and by mid-August the seeds are ripen – ‘living in the fast lane’!

Roscoea tibetica foliage
Roscoea tibetica seeds with lacerate arils
Roscoea tibetica seedlings

One for collectors and people in love with ‘little plants’ :)

Good read on Roscoea: The Genus Roscoea – Jill Cowley, RBG Kew, 2007. Speaking of which, reading again about R. tibetica and R. bhutanica, it seems that my plant fits more likely with the later: “Leaf blades usually 2-6 at flowering time, slightly auriculate… Inflorescence enclosed in leaf sheats. Flowers opening just above leaves, one open at a time…..Seed aril shallowly lacerate.”

Happy to hear other opinion…

Earth octopus

Yesterday I spent quite some time into the darkness of the garage, doing archaeological plant-digging in containers. I was looking after various creatures that like to spend the winter dry and need to be unearthed by late April and be brought back to life (if possible).
A large earth octopus almost jumped out of a pot! Luckily it proved out to be a gentle one. I checked its legs one by one, all seemed to be fine; eyes wide open and smiling. It was carefully placed in fresh, rich potting mix as it likes it, free to swim and have fun.

Roscoea auriculata 2

The earth octopus (Roscoea auriculata)

I’ll wait with the water until it starts growing a bit (it’s an earth octopus with rhizomatous fleshy tentacles after all). Somewhere in mid-summer a strange phenomenon will happen: the earth octopus will bloom!

Roscoea auriculata flower
There were also a few baby octopuses (not completely developed, some have only 2-3 tentacles), all fine looking and ready to start earth swimming. Roscoeas are very pleasant plants to grow from seeds; it will take 3+ years for the first flowers to appear.

Roscoea auriculata it is a hardy ginger from Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, where it grows in grasslands at 2400-2700 m altitude. As the name suggests, it has consistently auriculate (eared) leaves on the pseudostem. The height can be variable 20-40 cm and the flowers are large, in various shades of purple to deep violet or even white. It can be mistaken with R. purpurea but it flowers a bit earlier and the flowers have usually white upper staminodes and a strongly down-facing labellum.

Warm lilies

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Lilium michiganense, Lilium canadense (plus few others) are the kind of lilies that require warmth for the first stage of germination (about 20˚C), and then a period of cold (0-5˚C for 2-3 months) for the true leaves to emerge. If you get these seeds in late fall or winter, this is the tried recipe to make sure that they’ll start growing leaves in the spring:

Place the seeds in a Ziploc bag with moist vermiculite and keep them during the winter months (Nov/Dec.-Feb/March) at room temperature. Check the moisture once in a while. After the tiny bulblets appear, place the Ziplocs in the fridge for the cold treatment (March-May). Pot them afterwards and place outside.

These bulblets had their photos taken and now are ready to switch places in the fridge with the seeds that are coming out for sowing. Some grow out of the seed and are visible, while some can remain more or less enclosed.

And bulblets of another woodland edge growing, tall Lilium (supposedly canadense); we didn’t catch it in flower last year, but it was an impressive exemplar. It has been placed on the ‘watch list’ for this year so we can properly identify it.

Although North American native species, these Liliums and also few others are almost never grown by commercial nurseries. Start growing your own, besides being ‘hot’ plants, they are pollinated by hummingbirds, sphinx moths and butterflies like the Monarch and Spicebush Swallowtail!

Lilium michiganense

Lilium michiganense

Berberidaceae seeds and embryos

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Update: GA3 treatment makes no difference for Caulophyllum or other species like it which have immature embryos; they only need to be kept moist (or sown fresh) and allowed the required warm/cold cycles, multiple times in case of Caulophyllum (2-3 years).

Speaking about the inside winter gardening, this year I am trying to use GA3 to speed up the germination of Caulophyllum thalictroides (and a few others). There would be much to say about Caulophyllum seeds, from the fact that they develop outside the ovary and have a drupe-like look, they must be kept moist at all times after collecting, to the fact that they have a tiny immature embryo (it’s very hard to see it even with a hand-lens) but a gigantic corneous endosperm…
But I am only showing my new method of treating the seeds with a GA3 solution and then placing them back in vermiculite in the same small plastic bags, instead of using moist towel/Ziploc or sowing in pots. At this point, the embryos are most likely at the torpedo stage.

Caulophyllum thalictroides - GA3 treatments
Caulophyllum thalictroides seeds - vermiculite storage

I think it is a great method for medium to large size seeds and a super space saver (which is of my high interest right now). It is easy to see if/when something germinates, and I had proof that the roots can grow quite a bit on the support they get from vermiculite (in contrast to keeping the seeds in moist towels, where the new roots get entangled and are easily damaged).

If someone is curious to browse the gallery (hover for caption): sectioned seeds/embryos of Caulophyllum, Podophyllum peltatum and of Ranzania japonica, a most intriguing species from the same family as Caulophyllum (Berberidaceae). Many members of this family, which simply fascinates me, are difficult to grow from seeds: think Epimedium, Podophyllum, Jeffersonia, Vancouveria…I will be most happy to grow Ranzania – it looks like a cool hybrid plant between Glaucidium and Anemonopsis!
A few Epimedium and Jeffersonia diphylla were sown early summer last year. We’ll see about that… Update 2017 – the first seedling flowered this year!

Helleborus journeying

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A short break from the deep freeze allowed me to unwrap and check the plant trays stored in the garage today. Anxiety was running high because I had noticed that a few species had started to germinate more than a week ago. Luckily, from under two sheets of fleece and plastic, the Helleborus seedlings showed their happy faces :)

While I had never thought of growing Helleborus from seeds until last year, this has proven to be a very fruitful and satisfying journey so far. The seeds have germinated promptly after being sown fresh during late summer; also the storage in moist vermiculite turned out to be a very good option for extending the fresh seeds offering period.

Helleborus hybrid - double flower)

These Helleborus seedlings are descendants of mountaineer mother-plants:

Helleborus purpurascens

Helleborus purpurascens – a native of alpine meadows and forests in the Carpathian Mts. (Romania to Hungary)

The hybrid double Helleborus seedlings have ‘blood’ of Helleborus torquatus – a species confined to mountain regions of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia, Hertegovina and Serbia – where natural double forms can be found). The most desirable forms have deep violet purple flowers (H. torquatus is one of the parents of the first dark flowered Helleborus hybrids).

Double flower Helleborus torquatus

Double Helleborus torquatus

Just starting to germinate is also Helleborus foetidus, a native of mountain regions from Central and S. Europe. In many cases, Helleborus seedlings will start to flower in the second year, which is another reason to happily continue the journey. Even if not all of them will be garden worthy, there are endless chances to obtain new forms with different flower colours or traits. It will be a long time until the melting snow will allow us to enjoy the Helleborus flowering on this frozen land; until then we can rejoice in growing seedlings!

And to keep them company under the lights there is another mountain plant, this time a peony – Paeonia mlokosewitschii (a native of the Caucasus Mts.)

Paeonia mlokosewitschii seedlings

Paeonia mlokosewitschii seedlings

Syneilesis punishment

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After wasting time with the ceremony, I was punished to do my homework on the weekend – there are still seeds to be added in the catalogue…

I didn’t think at Syneilesis until someone who participated in the Helleborus seeds trade, asked if by any chance I have a few Syneilesis aconitifolia good seeds…There it was the warning! Indeed, if you read on various gardening forums, it will be confirmed; ‘seeds’ are set copiously but only a small amount are viable. Such a pity, considering it is a warm, easy germinator. Luckily, I was gifted, again :), a whole bunch of dry inflorescences and after sorting through all of them with patience, I was left with a few good ‘seeds’ (and a REALLY big pile of ‘fluff’).

Syneilesis aconitifolia, the shredded umbrella plant, is a great foliage plant usually grown in part-shade, but who also tolerates full sun. When grown in a rich, moist substrate it will spread to form a healthy clump, but don’t worry, there will always be someone wanting a small division of your plant. Personally, I like it most in the spring when new shoots are emerging from the ground, with the leaves covered in silky hairs – the equivalent of a fuzzy mayapple!

Syneilesis aconitifolia

Syneilesis aconitifolia emergng in early spring

They maintain the fuzziness for a little while; then after expanding, the large, ‘shredded’ leaves will make you believe they belong to another plant! The name aconitifolia, actually suggests the resemblance with an Aconitum leaf (the deeply lobed kind). Tall flowering stems erupt in the summer bearing rather insignificant flowers.
There are also mentions of Syneilesis aconitifolia being used as a medicinal plant.

Syneilesis aconitifolia foliage in May