One to look out for
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One to look out for – Summer Alpines of Distinction
Geranium argenteum A few alpines give me a real thrill, with or without flowers. The silvery foliage of this species, formed over lax clumps is visible throughout the growing season and is amply enhanced at flowering with its soft shell-pink flowers with lovely veining. This is an easy alpine plant in terms of its cultivation […]
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Ranunculus calandrinioides ‘Dwarf Form’
In my earliest days of growing alpine plants I can recall fine plants of this North African Buttercup flowering in the early part of the year, from January onwards. This is such an early-flowering plant that some form of winter protection is essential to protect the beautifully shaped flowers from weather damage. Whilst running Edrom […]
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Campanula ‘Joe Elliott’
From time to time in the history of modern alpine gardening, an artificial hybrid of outstanding beauty is created either by chance or by careful hand-pollination. Many of the finest plants are created by chance and it was by this method that one of the finest of all hybrid campanulas was raised. Of greatest concern […]
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Iris winogradowii AGM
For many years I have grown this exquisite subalpine iris species belonging to the Reticulatae section, but I never feel as if I have found it easy or have I grown it to a sizeable clump. Right now it is increasing well! This is a rare species in nature, native to a few stations in […]
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Crocus banaticus AGM
This must rank as one of the most unusual and exotic of all Crocus species. It is one of the last of all the plants to flower in my garden, perhaps just preceding Galanthus reginae-olgae this year, blooming anytime from September into October (according to the season). I would always plant this species, native to […]
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Rhodohypoxis ‘Great Scot’ A.M.
This cultivar will ranks as the best, red-flowered cultivar amongst this renowned genus. Rhodohypoxis flower from late spring right through the summer and are native to the Drakensberg Mts of Lesotho, producing congested clumps of corm-like structures which I have found over a period of some 30 years, prefer to have a dryish to dry, […]
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Primula marginata ‘Casterino’
An alpine garden without any forms of Primula marginata adorning it, is missing out on one of the finest and easiest of all the European primulas. The species belongs to the Maritime and Cottian Alps of Italy and France occupying precipitous limestone (yet not exclusively) rock fissures and steep humus slopes sometimes preferring the dappled […]
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Prunus mume ‘Beni-chidori’
A few years ago, during the month of February I was visiting a friend’s garden in Suffolk and encountered a well-flowered specimen shrub of Prunus mume ‘Beni-chidori’. Perhaps it was the striking deep, purplish-pink flowers that caught my eye in the first instance, but the sensuous waft of fragrance that met my nose was a […]
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Ginkgo biloba
This is a thoroughly well-known tree yet still, I feel rather sparingly planted in gardens. Often known as the Maidenhair Tree, it is certainly a unique taxon, regarded as a living fossil and similar to fossils dating back 270 million years. It is native to E.China from the Tianmu Shan, Zhejiang Provence with some living […]
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Saponaria pumilio
A few weeks ago I had my eyes well and truly opened as to the above featured plant. I was enjoying a brief holiday in the Dolomites with friends and making a return to Bavaria via Austria and the high pass of Staller Sattel (2052m). It was Dieter Schacht’s suggestion that this might prove a […]