Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society

Volume 49 Number 4 Fall 1991 Cover: Cirsium acaule

Watercolor by Vickie Danielsen of Englewood, Colorado Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society

Volume 49 Number 4 Fall 1991

Features

Silver Saxifrages, by Rex Murfitt 243

American Sedums in Czechoslovakia, by Vaclav Plestil 249

Hormones for Fast Germination,

by Bob Stewart and Brigitta Presley 253

Interesting Plants of Mt. Olympus, by Josef Halda 261

Gardening in Pine Duff, by Jeanie Vesall 265

Prickly Charmers, by Panayoti Kelaidis 271

Chowder Ridge, An Alpine Showcase, by Ronald J. Taylor 285

Tools I Have Loved, Lost, and Thrown Away, by Sandy Snyder 291

Jovibarbas, I Presume, by Karen Matthews 295

In and Around the Black Hills, by James H. Locklear 297 Departments

Awards 305 Saxifraga cochlearis 'Minor'

242 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Silver Saxifrages

by Rex Murfitt

I grow a dozen or so varieties of leathery with usually conspicuous silvery silver saxifrages grouped around some incrustation. The concentration and trough gardens. It is a pleasant planting arrangement of tiny beads of calcium of mixed sizes, some plants forming carbonate along the leaf margins large, spreading clumps and others enhance the underlying leaf color, miniature carpets. Several plants have giving the whole plant a silvery look. bold rosettes as much as 3" across This group may also be called incrusted while others produce masses of small saxifrages. rosettes less than half an inch in width. Why should we grow these Together these plants make an interest• saxifrages? Why do they have such ing pattern, a lovely combination of appeal to gardeners? Without much shades of green and gray highlighted by doubt it is the silver color that first a few golden clumps. Most of this large attracts us. The intriguing makeup of group of silver saxifrages are represen• the individual rosettes and above all the tatives of a few species, and include symmetrical regularity appeal to some geographic forms, varieties, and natural love of neatness and form found within and man-made hybrids. rock gardeners. Furthermore, there is a The definitive definition of the group wide variety of leaf shape and size, lies in its botanical classification within from short and broad to long and the genus Saxifraga. In 1916 the narrow, and some leaves curve inward, species were described under the while others curve gracefully outward. section Euaizoonia—a Latin word This group offers a great range of which means everliving. Now the plants that will add variety and interest section that includes all the species to the garden. Their symmetry and discussed here is called Section Ligu- quiet beauty fit into any scheme, latae Haworth (Section Aizoonia whether large or small. About mid-May, Tausch). The plants are described as almost as a bonus, flower spikes begin forming leaf rosettes, usually so crowd• to elongate from the center of the ed together that they form cushions or mature rosettes, arching out into pani• thick mats. The leaves are fleshy or cles of chalk-white flowers often carried

243 on mahogany-red stems. One variety the leaves. Neither is true. Many lovely offers rose-red flowers, another delicate species originate from mountain ranges pink, a couple more lovely yellow flow• that are anything but limestone. Take ers. Most species have flower stems in Saxifraga cotyledon, for example. It the 6-12" range although some species comes from lime-free mountains, and have spikes to 2' tall. some writers say that lime must not be Silver saxifrages are not the easiest used near it. The presence of some plants to grow in all garden climates. I lime in the soil will not kill it, but do not am always dismayed when I hear them go out of your way to add extra. referred to as "lovely succulents." The The only species that does totally leaves are rosulate and somewhat dislike lime in any form is the rare S. fleshy, but that is as far as the resem• florulenta, which grows in cool shade blance to sedums, sempervivums, and in the Maritime Alps. It is in its own dudleyas goes. Whatever you do, get rid separate subsection of the incrusted of any ideas that they respond well to saxifrages, the Florulentae. This species droughty, sunny growing conditions. is by no means silver and lacks any They demand far more skill and care incrustation on its regularly arranged than the average succulent. Even in leaves. Reginald Farrer called this the favored Victoria, we have to disregard "Ancient King" and goes on to write some of the cultural advice to be found one of his glowing passages about it. in European books, particularly where Photographs of the large, flat, dark they recommend sunny, dry banks and green rosettes can be found in older crevices. When grown under these books and in the journals of the Alpine conditions, even with several inches of Garden Society. If ever you should have prepared soil, the long, hot, sunny days the opportunity to get a little seed, grab of midsummer on our continent will it. You can have several years of chal• damage them. Try to find spots where lenge and fun trying to produce the there will be some relief for at least half large, 6"-wide, monocarpic rosettes. the day. A place that gets relatively cool Looking through catalogs and books morning sun is ideal. Prepare the spot that mention silver saxifrages, one is with a good 6" of gritty soil enriched soon inundated with lists of names, but with a generous amount of leafmold to a large extent that is all they and peatmoss, and after planting top are—tantalizing names on paper. When dress with a few inches of stone chips samples of listed varieties from several to help keep the soil cool and moist. sources are grown side by side, it is Often summer produces more stress readily seen that many display such for these plants than any other season. minute differences that they hardly Where I have a plant happily settled warrant separate names. Furthermore, and growing attractively into its place in should you order one specific named the rock garden, rather than move it variety from several suppliers, chances and spoil its potential, I resort to shad• are you will receive as many totally ing with a screen of twigs, enough to different plants. This may not be all give some shade during the hottest bad, providing you can identify what spells of summer. you have received. There is a belief that silver saxifrages All is not totally lost among this demand copious quantities of lime welter of names, as some order can be added to the soil for successful cultiva• brought with a little study of the species tion. I have heard it said also that lime and varieties described under the will enhance the silver incrustation of Section Ligulatae. Many of our plants

244 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) are from four species, Saxifraga panic- south and central Europe. Many of its ulata (S.aizoon), S. callosa (S. lingula- forms have been grown for many years ta), S. cochlearis, and S. cotyledon. and are still worth growing today. The There have been many changes in size of different kinds will vary enor• nomenclature in this group in recent mously from minute, silvery carpets to years; in older books look for the names bold domes. Generally the leaves are here given in parentheses. Each of heavily serrated and incrusted. In some these four species has features that will forms, the leaves curve inward, produc• help in recognizing their differences. ing an attractive, globular-shaped Varieties and forms of S. cochlearis rosette. There is a range of greens have no marginal teeth along their through silvers and even a couple of beautiful silvery leaves. Closer examina• quite golden ones. The most consistent tion will show that these leaves also feature is the relatively inferior flower expand at the tip and curl back, so they color, from off-white to creamy yellow. remind one of tiny spoons. The flowers It is only fair to acknowledge that these are chalk-white and borne on light, hues blend well with the pure white of arching stems of mahogany-red. other species, setting them off to great I think Saxifraga callosa and its effect. This is true also of the red-spot• forms embody the very essence of ted, pink flowers of S. paniculata incrusted saxifrage beauty. It forms 'Rosea' and the pale yellow ones of S. spidery rosettes, irregular in outline, to paniculata 'Lutea'. Both are worth 2" across. The leaves are long and having and easily recognized at flower• narrow, blue-green, and richly incrust• ing time. ed. They are toothless along the I've mentioned the Ancient King, margins and become spathulate at the and here is a good place to pay tips. Younger leaves growing up homage to the most distinct Queen of through the mature ones give an Saxifrages, S. longifolia. There is a bit uneven appearance that is very attrac• of confusion between the true species tive. This species will have pure white and a hybrid called S. 'Tumbling flowers carried in gracefully arching Waters'. Both are well worth growing plumes, at least 12", sometimes nearly and take several years to grow to the 16". It cries out to be planted on cliff• enormous silver rosettes we see like rocks. In the late 1940s several pictured. This is good, because we have forms and superior selected forms were a few years to enjoy them before they available, and what a joy they were. flower. In both plants, rosettes die after Saxifraga cotyledon, although a very flowering. 'Tumbling Waters' will variable species, is quickly recognized by produce offset shoots, a trait inherited its broad, strap-like leaves beset with from its perennial parent S. callosa sharp, marginal serrations, like teeth of var. lantoscana (now included in var. a saw outlined in silver. It is very distinct australis). Saxifraga longifolia is the from the two species above. The rosette other parent. is usually quite robust and up to 9" Most growers on this continent keep across in some forms. Saxifraga longifolia and 'Tumbling Regretfully, S. paniculata itself Waters' as pot plants, as it is easier to cannot be easily summarized as it is so control cultural conditions. Start with diverse due to its wide distribution. This offshoots and root in sand. Pot off into species may be found in arctic regions, 4" pots and gradually keep potting into Labrador, Ontario, Quebec, Greenland, larger pots as the roots fill the pot. Iceland, Norway, and the mountains of Guard against too much heat and

Silver Saxifrages 245 you will see that the upright stems bear several flow• ers per stem, white and typical of the incrusted section. I grew it for a few years on a piece of tufa and so was able to move it in and out of the alpine house as weather dictated. I finally lost it when I let it dry out too much. I have Saxifraga 'Tumbling Waters' little hope of replacing it. humid damp. It is well to spray with Read Fritz Kohlein's tantalizing account fungicide periodically as the plants are of this species in his book Saxifrages. susceptible to some fungal attacks. Just as lovely on a much smaller There are two tiny species that scale is S. valdensis, a tiny clump of would grace any alpine collection, no silver-gray rosettes bunched together matter how difficult to obtain. The and as hard as concrete. The true plant minute S. caesia is a perfect miniature has tiny leaves about a quarter of an replica of a typical silver saxifrage, each inch long with a blunt wedge at the tip. tiny leaf bearing lime pits. The leaves Although each leaf rolls back at the tip, form perfect rosettes no more than an they do not have the spoonlike tips of eighth of an inch across. It is so close the small forms of Saxifraga and compact that for many years it was cochlearis. The flower stalks are up to classed as one of the cushion saxifrages 5" high, the reddish stems carrying of the Kabshia section. It was switched white flowers in an open head rather back to the silver saxifrages by Kohlein than a spike or panicle. Many garden• in 1984; Webb and Gornall (1989) ers grow a plant they believe to be S. consider it to belong to Section valdensis; but unfortunately the true Porphyrion on the basis of chromo• species is very rare in cultivation on this some number and several other consid• continent. The plant most often erations. If you are lucky enough to masquerading under this name is in all have a plant and get it to flowering size, probability our old and trusted friend,

246 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) S. paniculata 'Minutifolia'. The popu• of this species, the true species is not larity of this latter plant started over rated highly by most writers, mainly 60 years ago when Clarence Elliott because of the dingy white flowers. and Reginald Farrer introduced it Some admit that the foliage is at least from Monte Baldo in northern Italy silvery. The few plants I have grown under the name S. aizoon 'Balden- from collected seed show long, narrow, sis', now generally accepted as a toothless leaves, light gray, soft-looking, synonym of S. p. 'Minutifolia'. Since and slightly compressed into upright valdensis and 'Baldensis' both mean rosettes. The plants have a light, airy "from Monte Baldo", it is not surpris• look that is very attractive. ing that the misuse of the name It is bad enough trying to come to persists. grips with the true species, but when it The attractive, flat, silvery mats of comes to the hybrids from the wild and congested rosettes of S. aizoon gardens, the waters become very 'Baldensis' are a fairly regular sight in muddied. While there are many choice rock gardens today. Each rosette is selections to be found among the bright gray-green and well-silvered. hybrids, many have such subtle differ• The rosettes are less than half an inch ences between them that it is impossi• across, less under lean conditions. ble to be really sure. They could be The flowers are on reddish stems sorted out if there was access to a about 2" tall, and are creamy, not good, reliably named collection where pure white and in panicles. This little comparisons could be easily made, but plant has a good constitution and from single plants and books identifica• does well in crevices, screes, or tion is a very inexact game. The best troughs. advice is to resist the descriptions and I have never grown the true S. romantic cultivar names of the older hostii; it is not easy to acquire and collectors and start with kinds that are there are many imposters. Luckily, I easily recognized. have a friend in Vancouver who has Among the many hybrids 'Whitehall' access to wild-collected alpine seed stands out on account of its easily from Europe, and she is very generous recognized, dark gray, silver-edged with seed and plants. I have grown S. leaves, each with a striking red splash hostii var. altissima, a large variety, on the reverse. The rosettes are about from seed that she gave me. The result• 1" across and grow into pleasant mats. ing plants have thick, leathery, strap• At flowering they are smothered with like leaves of dark gray-green, quite 8" stems of creamy white flowers. This different from most of the other selection has a good constitution and is species. They have heavy serrations not an overpowering spreader. 'White- along the leaf edges. I am hoping to hill' is the name of a garden in England see crimson blotches appear at the base where I suppose it originated. The of the leaves this winter. This variety is hybrid 'Kathleen Pinsent' is easy to supposed to produce 18" flower spikes spot when its sprays of delicate pink with pink-spotted white flowers. It flowers open on their 12" stems. As grows very well in a crevice in a fair they mature they pass through several amount of sun and may well turn out to shades of pink to almost pure white, be a valuable addition to the collection. giving the whole plant a charming Saxifraga crustata, or at least its effect. It, too, is a safe variety for name, has been in cultivation for a long choice locations in the garden, as it is time. While we may grow many hybrids not inclined to be dominating. Some

Silver Saxifrages 247 say it has a poor constitution. I find it log, yet the owners will sell one or two wise to keep a few rooted rosettes on on request of a good customer. Corre• hand for insurance. It is interesting to spondence with other collectors some• know that this chance seedling in the times produces excellent results and alpine house of Commander Pinsent often leads to productive relationships. won an Award of Merit from the Alpine Little side rosettes appear on the plants Garden Society in 1934. in May and June and make excellent Another of the very few yellow-flow• cuttings. When carefully packed, these ered silver saxifrages is 'Esther', which travel very nicely through the mail. has the graceful stems typical of its What about raising saxifrages from parent S. cochlearis and the pale seed? No one will be surprised to hear yellow flowers of the other, S. panicu- that getting accurately named plants lata 'Lutea'. For some reason I am very from garden-collected seed is very partial to this variety, although one uncertain. Nothing will turn out as well-known writer on the genus does expected. After all, many of the hybrids not rate it too highly. Perhaps the originated in gardens! On the other yellow does fade quickly, but in the hand, it is fun to grow wild-collected right company this plant is an asset in seed from Europe. Even then there are the saxifrage garden. It grows into no guarantees, as wild plants hybridize compact pads of tightly packed rosettes in the mountains, too. usually 1.5-2" across, the pale, gray- Good luck in your efforts. It would be green, effectively edged leaves reflect• great to see silver saxifrages come back ing both parents. into fashion. I know that somewhere Finally a word about the popular S. tucked away in gardens and nurseries cochlearis and its forms. This species are many of the old and desirable vari• has been crossed with practically every eties, just waiting for renewed interest other species of silver saxifrage, and to be propagated and distributed again. some marvelous plants have been If we create a demand for these plants, produced. Unfortunately, they are all so we can leave the rest to the nurseries. similar that they are impossible to describe! However, regardless of the accuracy of the names, some of the Photos by the author. hybrids with spoon-like leaves must be grown, including 'Burnatii' and 'Francis Cade'. Rex Murfitt lives and gardens in Victo• How does one go about getting a ria, British Columbia. He trained at collection together? What varieties W.E.Th. Ingwersen's Birch Farm Nurs• could you grow first? Part of the secret eries in Sussex, England, and later start• is knowing what the good varieties are ed Stonecrop Nurseries with Francis H. before you start. A little more reading Cabot at Cold Spring, New York. He is and research will help enormously. For particularly interested in classical many of us, mail-order nurseries are an alpines, from saxifrages to the true important avenue to explore. Check alpines of North America. through all the lists of available plants that you can. You can also write to the nursery asking about specific plants even when they don't have them listed. Sometimes a nursery has so little stock that it doesn't list the plants in the cata•

248 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) American Sedums in Czechoslovakia by Vaclav Plestil

^^edums of the New World were another widely grown, green-leaved neglected for many years here, but in species. It seems that here in my condi• the last decade, particularly thanks to tions S. puichellum was on the border members of ARGS—these very lovely of its hardiness limits. and modest plants, as well as many Another plant widely grown here for alpines and other plants native to the a long time is S. oreganum Nuttall of US, have been introduced to our rock the Northwest, popular as a ground gardens. Many advanced alpine garden• cover, very decorative, and not too ers look at the sedums with some disre• invasive. In the last few years a red- gard as plants for beginners, assuming leaved form of unknown origin has they are very easy to grow and often appeared, less dynamic in growth, and become weedy. I want to apologize to bearing in summer reddish to salmon- these plants. Many of them are very colored leaves that turn to dark green modest and graceful, and many are also with the coming of late autumn. far from easy and do present a chal• Until the late 1960s S. spathulifoli- lenge even to the experienced grower. um Hooker and its several forms and My first American sedum was cultivars such as 'Cape Blanco', var. Sedum puichellum Michaux, brought purpureum, and var. pruinosum, were home from the nursery of Mr. Cestmir scarcely grown here. Now these plants Bohm, Sr., at Prague in the fall of have become very popular both for the 1958. This lovely Virginian species open garden—where they present no with four-parted flowers and character• problems to the grower—and in istic terete leaves of vivid green sprin• troughs. It was probably Suender- kled with red dots did grow for me for mann's nursery, best known as a very several years in the open. But one very renowned source of the porophyllum wet winter it died, and since then I have saxifrages, that first introduced Sedum not been able to get this plant again. 'Lebende Stein', a very slow growing, Seed under this name from various probable hybrid of S. spathulifolium European botanic gardens usually with S. obtusatum A. Gray. Can some• produces the European S. reflexum or body provide proper information on

249 produced nice plants, too. In 1988 some plants bloomed, but not those planted on the north side; these did grow and increase well, and the leaves and the relatively long intern- odes were nicely glau• cous green—but no flowers appeared. Root• ed cuttings tried in a sunnier spot were tinged with red in summer, as are many other species, and bloomed.

Sedum obtusatum About the same time I got some seeds of the history of this plant? Sedum 'West another closely related species, S. Pascoe', cited in Praeger's monograph oregonense (S. Wats.) Peck, which of the genus, also belongs to the S. when not flowering looks very similar. spathulifolium group. I do not have To be certain of having the true species this plant; it is probably now lost from I have ordered it from various sources, cultivation. including the Berry Botanic Garden in Sedum obtusatum, although a Cali• Portland, Oregon, and the ARGS seed fornia plant, I obtained one very rainy exchange. Seedlings did not bloom until afternoon as cuttings from Mrs. Edith last summer, and I am sowing the wild Dusek in Graham, Washington. Mrs. seed again, as I had mixed two species Dusek had it planted on the north side in the plantings. Sedum oregonense of a very small hill, the remainder of needs a very dry spot over the summer which was home to several penstemon and fall, as it has a distinct summer hybrids of the Penstemon rupicola dormancy during which growth stops group. She told me to protect it from for two months. It is native to Oregon. scorching sun and to plant it into a Also in this group, even geographi• crevice or a scree on a gentle, north- cally as it comes from southern Califor• facing slope. This I did. I remember nia and northern Baja California, is a several colonies up to 10" wide which true jewel among the stonecrops, we found with Wayne Roderick near Sedum n'weum Kayser. I lost it last Tioga Pass. There the plants had a rich winter, and it is still very rare in cultiva• set of buds. Another colony of S. tion. I got a little seed of this tiny and obtusatum I saw several days later in dainty plant many years ago. I do not the northern Sierra Nevada. It was on a remember now if I got it from Margaret scree covered with light scrub near Williams or Wayne Roderick. From Cisco Grove; here it had buds, but the these seeds several plants were planted plants were not so tight in habit. The in a moderately acidic part of the rock same year I got some seed of this plant garden. The epithet "n'weum" suggest• from both ARGS and Ron Lutsko of ed to me that this very tiny plant's Lafayette, California, and these rosettes may dislike hot, sunny places,

250 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) and it probably will—as do all sedums— Kukulkan. If you do not have this plant, demand very good drainage. A tiny try to get it somewhere as it is one of seedling planted in a saddle of one the "musts." Its rosettes form, under small ridge in the garden open to the suitable conditions, a dark green, tight west survived the best, and the plant cushion usually not more than 3" was there for many years. Everybody across. It grows easily everywhere in who saw it wished for a cutting, and I dry enough conditions and is excellent gave away many over the years when• ever there was enough plant to be cut. This sedum is slow-growing. After I took several small cuttings last fall, the winter proved fatal. Sedum purdyi Jepson, the spathu- late-leaved Californian species, is in several gardens here, but I myself have not tried it. Now I have a little seed. Another desirable species of this alliance that I never find on seed lists is S. yosemitense Britton (S. spathuli- folium ssp. anomalum). Does some• body grow this plant now? The name Sedum palmeri S. Wats., a true Mexican species, presents a bit of a challenge to us. This is a typical representative of the subshrubby Mexi• cans with flat rosettes of leaves. To my surprise I now have a little seed from Sedum laxum the Botanical Garden of Rouen, France, and am looking forward to for pans and troughs. Its small, starry, seedlings. This species is considered the white flowers yield a surplus of beauty. hardiest of the Mexican sedums and has The second plant is S. griffithsii Rose proven quite hardy in Dublin, Ireland; (syn., S. wootonii Britton var. griffith• see Praeger's notes. Why should it not sii Kearney & Peebles). be hardy even in Turnov, Czechoslo• The New Mexican and Arizonan S. vakia, where the winters are usually less cockerelii Britton is so very graceful, a moist than those of Dublin? tiny and white flowered plant, which Having remembered one Mexican tolerates a bit more moisture than the species, I must not forget the very love• previous species. It seems to prefer a ly and enjoyable sedums from Arizona, little protection against the hottest for me always connected with my sunshine at noon here. When planted friends Sonia Lowzow Collins and Sally in the hottest places the plants stopped Walker. Why? The first of them, growth in summer. Although they did Sedum stelliforme S. Wats., is really a also bloom in September, they were very diminutive, compact plant resem• less vigorous in growth, scarcely bling the shrubby true Mexicans. I increasing and turning reddish in all would say that this lovely, white-flow• parts. This species does best on a ered sedum had paid by its diminutive gentle slope facing east. Clumps that size a penalty for its exodus northwards have become too dense should be divid• from the ancient region of the god ed each year. This is another plant that

American Sedums 251 I can recommend even for troughs. from Betty's collections in the Washing• A most popular sedum here is S. ton Cascades. This became one of my stenopetalum Pursh. Of course, it is favorite sedums, easily growing every• known also under its synonym S. where on acid substrates and quite douglasii Hooker. It is easy everywhere adaptable to both colder and quite hot in dry, sunny spots. This species is places. It is fast increasing but not inva• perhaps most decorative as young sive. In partial shade it is a little shy in plants in their second year when they flowering, as are the majority of form semi-globular, tiny, dark green sedums. cushions about 2" in diameter. The next A second sedum with opposite year the size doubles, and the flowering leaves, S. debile Wats., I still have not stems appear. This is easily distin• acquired although I would very much guished from all other similar sedums like to try it here. It grows from Nevada by its vegetative "propagules" on the to Wyoming. So also does another flowering stems, which fall to the closely allied, but alternate-leaved, cush• ground in late summer and quickly ion-forming plant, very nice with its produce roots. For its small size, usually finely papillate leaves, S. leibergii Britt. not exceeding 4" in height, it is also to of the northwestern US. Judging by be recommended for the smallest rock their home range, neither of these gardens and pans. It is widely distribut• species would be too difficult here. ed in nature, from California to British The last North American sedum we Columbia. do grow is Sedum neuii from the east• Sedum hnceolatum, native to most ern US. This seems here to prefer of western North America, I saw in more mesophytic conditions (having 1986 in Colorado. At high elevations it average moisture) and also a bit richer was flowering in early July and at the soil mixture with a small proportion of highest elevations still in bud, where it humus. For most of my sedums I use was tinged with red from the intensive nearly pure mineral soils—as for cacti. I insolation. Its leaves became grayish- do not grow this species in full sun. Its brown at that altitude. But later at fine, flat, bluish-green leaves are about 2800 m in the Platte River welcome in small rock gardens. Here it Canyon, I found several plants in seed grows slowly, very far from being inva• among Antennaria, the ubiquitous sive. Sometimes the pale brownish- Erigeron flagellaris, Castilleja, and leaved form appears in gardens, very Oxytropis lambertii. These seeds nice and appreciated for its unusual became the source of a group of my color. It is labelled as variety bhutan- plants. Another plant is raised from icum. I do not know why, when this seed collected in Alberta. The Canadian lovely species of the American Ozarks plants, grown in the same conditions, has nothing to do with Bhutan. In any are less gray on the leaves and more case, the plant is worth having in the robust, about 6-7" tall when flowering, garden. I like it very much. Its counter• while plants from Colorado are only 3" part, S. tematum Michaux, which does high and are more compact, smaller in not form such dense clumps, has not all parts. But both these plants belong been grown here. to the typical variety lanceolatum. Drawings by Lisa Moran Thanks to Betty Lowry I have a most graceful species that forms wide carpets Vaclav Plestil is a leading European in age. It is one of two opposite-leaved authority on American alpines. He species, S. diuergens S. Wats., coming gardens in Turnov, Czechoslovakia.

252 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Hormones for Fast Germination

by Bob Stewart and Brigitta Presley

^\re you tired of staring for months are occurring in the seed. Either germi• and years at bare seed flats covered in nation inhibitors (dormins) are being chicken grit? Frustrated that the only broken down, or growth-promoting green things to be seen are the algae, substances are being synthesized, or mosses, and liverworts, with not a more likely a combination of both. It cotyledon to be seen? If you have may be that germination takes place always thought that there must be a when the level of promoters is high rela• better way, read on: instant germination tive to the level of inhibitors. It should be is at hand. possible to "trick" the seed by resetting This is a preliminary report on its internal clock through supplying an research being conducted by us on the excess of growth promoting hormones. use of plant hormones to promote seed These would normally be present at a germination. We have decided to time when the proper warm, cold, and publish our early results because initial light requirements had been met by the trials with some species were so striking natural environment. In the laboratory that we felt that we must share them. forced germination is accomplished by We also hope that these results will treating seeds with gibberellins, inspire others to get involved in this cytokinins, or both. research. Only positive results are Gibberellins are plant hormones that reported here, since they are much easi• are responsible for a number of different er to interpret than negative results. growth effects. They cause cell elonga• Where no seed germinates the seed tion resulting in long internodes and tall may have been sterile, a hard seed coat plants. They also seem to be present in may have prevented water uptake, or most germinating seeds and may well be perhaps the wrong concentration of essential for germination. There is some hormones was used. In theory, our data in the literature to suggest that approach should work with any seed gibberellin levels change when seeds are once concentrations are adjusted. stratified at low temperatures. The premise of our work is that Cytokinins are plant hormones during seed dormancy chemical changes responsible for breaking the dormancy

253 of axillary shoots and for the formation fact that both cytokinins and gibberellins of adventitious buds and somatic occur naturally in seed, making it impos• embryos. (Adventitious buds are those sible to separate their effects. In our that arise from any part of the plant, research we used cytokinin BA (6- rather than in "expected" places. They benzylaminopurine), but we plan to do can form on leaves, roots, or shoots, further work with 2ip (N6-[2-isopentyl] and often arise from the callus tissue adenine), which is biologically more that forms when a plant is wounded. active and a little less toxic to plants. The shoots that form on an African Zeatin would be better still, since it is the violet leaf cutting, as if out of nowhere, main naturally occurring cytokinin in are a good example.) Cytokinins are seed. It is very expensive, however. widely used in plant tissue culture. Early There are many different gibberellin attempts at tissue culture used naturally analogs, but the only inexpensive, wide• occurring cytokinins found in the liquid ly available one is GA3, gibberellic acid. endosperm of coconut seeds (coconut Many of the other gibberellins are milk). Cytokinins cause cotyledons to metabolized into GA3 by plants. Never• expand, and there is some reason to theless, they may prove more useful believe that they counteract the effect of than GA3 itself in the future. abscissic acid (ABA). Our treatments are as follows: Seed Abscissic acid is a naturally occurring is placed on a small square of aluminum growth substance that is classified as a foil with a few drops of solution of dormin. High levels prevent germina• either gibberellic acid, BA, both, or tion; normally this chemical breaks plain water (used as a control). We then down during stratification. ABA also fold up the foil and let the seed sit until plays a role in leaf drop and the winter it has swollen. Usually this is just dormancy of buds. Soaking non- overnight, but in some cases several dormant seeds in ABA will inhibit their days may be needed. Very hard seed germination. Perhaps this may be of use coats may need to be physically punc• for long term seed storage. tured. Hard seed coats, especially when It has been reported in the literature present in fine seed, greatly complicate that cytokinins may compete with ABA the experiments. We next let the seeds for the same binding site. Norm Deno, dry BRIEFLY so that they can be sown in a personal communication, questions without sticking together. We prefer to the validity of this work, and we tend to sow into 96-cell inserts (plug trays) filled defer to his judgment on matters of with a soilless peat and perlite mix, such chemistry. However, if cytokinins are as regular Promix or Sunshine potting applied to dormant axillary buds which mix (not the seedling grade mixes). We are supposed to be suppressed by ABA, cover the seed with chick starter grit and they will force a shoot in short order. place the trays under lights at 70°F. This This gives them great potential for train• is the same general method we use for ing bonsai, or forcing some extra shoots the germination of easy seeds in the for cuttings, or just making a plant more greenhouse. Direct sowing of one or bushy. It has also been proposed that two seeds to a cell avoids the tedious cytokinins have a permissive role in task separating roots during transplant• germination and work by enabling ing. The 96-cell inserts are a good gibberellins to function. It is certainly balance between smaller plugs that clear that cytokinins will break some require great care in watering and larger dormancies that gibberellins alone will pots that use too much valuable green• not. The research is complicated by the house space. If you don't mind trans-

254 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) How to Prepare Seed Hormones To prepare solutions, remember that 1 We mix fresh solutions once a month, but milligram per liter equals 1 part per this may not be necessary. million (1 ppm). Therefore, 1 gram of a chemical added to 1 liter of water produces a 1000 ppm solution. 1 gm § parts per grams liters of added to 500 ml equals a 2000 ppm million of distilled solution. If you buy your chemicals in 1 (PPm) | chemical water gm portions you will not need a balance scale to weigh them. Or contact your 200 1.0 5.0 local school or pharmacist and have some 1 portions weighed for you. 1 200 0.2 1.0 1 If you have trouble dissolving the 1 200 0.1 0.5 cytokinins, place the chemical in a small container and add dilute hydrochloric acid I 500 1.0 2.0 a drop at a time. Stir for several minutes 1 500 0.5 1.0 1 after each drop. When the cytokinin | 500 0.25 0.5 dissolves, add water to bring the total volume up to that desired. Be very careful 1 1000 1.0 1.0 handling the acid—wear safety glasses 0.5 0.5 and do not splash. Do not heat these 1 1000 chemicals, and store them in a cool place. 1 1000 0.25 1 0.25 1

planting, you may place the seed on a when treated with gibberellin alone. piece of filter paper that has been Plants treated with cytokinin alone show moistened with the hormone solution some germination but less than the and plant the seed as soon as the root other groups. The control group, just emerges. Brigitta has the patience for treated with water, showed almost no this, but Bob much prefers the direct germination. sowing method. These treatments are just as effective To date we have tried these treat• with the difficult campanula species, ments on a number of species, and in including Campanula allionii, C. some cases the results have been strik• tridentata, C. cenisia, and campanula ing. One of the greatest successes has relatives such as Edraianthus pumilio been with gentians. When treated with and Phyteuma comosum. Proper gibberellic acid at 200-1000 ppm, seed hormone concentration is essential to of all the species tested, American, success as we discovered in the case of European, and Asiatic species have all P. comosum. Treatment with 500 ppm given positive results in 1-2 weeks. We gibberellic acid had no effect, but with have not yet had the opportunity to try treatment with 1000 ppm germination any New Zealand or South American began in 5 days. Preliminary results with species. If anyone will send us seed of a number of species would seem to indi• Gentiana scarlatina, we would love to cate that the harder the seed is to try it. Treatment with a mix of germinate, the higher the concentration cytokinins and gibberellins works just as of gibberellic acid that will be required to well or maybe in some cases a little stimulate germination. In the case of better than one hormone alone, and the Gentiana uerna we treated samples plants remain much more compact than with 200, 500, and 1000 ppm

Hormones for Fast Germination 255 gibberellic acid and found that the Aquilegia jonesii x A. saximontana germination rate was directly related to germinated 90% in 10-14 days when the concentration. That is to say, treated with 500 ppm gibberellic acid. doubling the concentration doubled the Glaucidium palmatum germinated number of seeds that germinated. At 100% in 7-10 days at 500 ppm 200 ppm there was very little germina• gibberellic acid. All penstemons we tried tion; no germination occurred in the responded, but in the case of some of water control. We leave it to the reader the easier species the water controls to determine the optimum concentra• also germinated. More difficult species tion, but we hope that anyone experi• like P. cardwellii only germinated when menting will keep us informed of the treated with gibberellic acid or a mixture results. of gibberellic acid and cytokinins. Another big success has been with Lewisias responded positively, including Dionysia, where 95% of the seed treat• L. tweedyi, which is always slow to ed with 500 ppm gibberellic acid germi• germinate and normally needs a period nated in 5 days and less than 5% of the at 40°F. Lilium duchartii germinated control group ever germinated. 100% in 1-2 weeks when treated with Androsace has germinated at a 90% 500 ppm gibberellic acid, as did rate in as little as 3 days, and we have Nomocharis. The latter also germinated also had good results with Soldanella when treated with 50 ppm BA and with and Primula. Primula parryi has a mixture of gibberellic acid and BA. germinated 100% in 5 days when treat• We would like to thank everyone who ed with 500 ppm gibberellic acid. Prim• sent seed for these experiments, partic• ulas were one of the few groups that ularly the many outstanding growers of showed toxic reactions to cytokinins. At Czechoslovakia. Research is continuing, 50 ppm BA roots were inhibited and at and if you would like to contribute you 200 ppm there was no germination. can help by informing us of any success• This is not all that surprising, since es or failures you might have. Or if you tissue culture levels of these compounds have some excess seed you would like are in the range of 2-10 ppm. There• us to try, please send it to us. fore, with cytokinins, less may be better.

Chemicals can be obtained from Carolina Biological Supply, 2700 York Rd., Burling• ton, NC 27215, (tel.: 1-800-334-5551) or Sigma Chemical Company, PO Box 14508, St. Louis, MO 63178 (tel.: 1-800-325-3010).

Kahn, A.A. 1982. The Physiology and Biochemistry of Seed Dormancy and Germination. Elsevier Biomedical: New York. . 1971. Cytokinins: Permissive Role in Seed Germination. Science 171:853- 859. Hartman, H. T., D. E. Kester, and FT. Davies. 1990. Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices. 5th Ed. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Bob Stewart owns and operates Life Form Replicators, a 68-acre nursery and tissue culture operation on the Red Cedar River in Michigan. Brigitta Presley operates Peren• nial Plantation, another nursery. A word of warning about the plant hormones discussed here: An unforseen consequence of their use has been an engagement between the two researchers working with them. Bob and Brigitta plan to be married February 14.

256 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Campanula oreadum (p. 262)

Chamaecytisus depressus Viola striis-notata (p. 263) Trachelium jacqulnii (p. 263)

258 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4)

Jankaea heldreichii (p. 261) photos by Josef Halda

Viola delphinantha (p. 262) Alyssum handelii (p. 263) Plants of Mt. Olympus

by Josef Halda

1 he flora of Mt. Olympus of Thes- trichomanes and A. ruta-muraria, and salia in northern Greece is very rich many other interesting plants, including and diversified. This is due to a range of Campanula versicolor, lnula uerbasci- altitude from just above sea level to folia, Teucrium chamaedrys, Asperu- 2917m at its highest point. It is very la purpurea. difficult to choose just a few species to Jankaea does not want too much describe from the more than 1500 soil—as is normal in chasmophytes. It vascular plants that grow in this region. is able to grow and survive in moss or Probably the most famous plant of on stones alone, or in crevices with not Mt. Olympus is a gesneriad, Jankaea much humus or leafmold. Competition heldreichli Boissier (photo, p. 260). from other more invasive plants, such There are many stories about this as grasses, teucriums, Phlomls, plant—how to grow it, how to propa• Verbascum, Campanula, Cornus, gate it, and how difficult it is in cultiva• Corylus, Acer, etc., is probably a tion. Its compact, white-hairy rosettes reason why Jankaea inhabits only walls are very smooth and soft and are visible and steep stone where the others from long distances on the limestone cannot survive. Plants produce many cliffs and boulders where they usually seeds—in a single capsule there are grow. The lavender flowers of the thousands of very tiny seeds, which are Jankaea will be finished blooming by easily dispersed by air movement. the end of April at lower elevations In culture, competition from different (350m), while plants of the higher algae, mosses and liverworts is danger• elevations are still under winter snow ous for seedlings, which are hardly cover. At 2500 m plants can still be more than 1 cm in diameter for the first found in flower at the end of August. year. Seedlings that survive the first These plants prefer damp, shady year will grow faster the second and rocks, but you often may see very large may be transplanted without difficulty. individuals on the south slopes of cliffs, A good soil mix for seedlings as well as together with the attractive ferns for mature plants is 1 part leafmold Ceterach officinarum, Asplenium from Corylus or Fagus, and 1 part very

261 small limestone Viola delphinantha (photo, p. 260) particles. Slugs grows a little bit love the tiny, higher, at moder• tasty seedling ate elevations morsels and (100-2600 m), often finish our mostly on east, duties in grow• northeast-, or ing them. The north-facing method of rocks and cliffs, where there is little watering is very competition. This is one of only three important in seedling survival. All woody violas in Europe. It inhabits deep watering should be done from the little terraces or very tiny crevices in bottom of the pots, since water stand• walls that are not too moist. It makes a ing in the center of the rosette can be woody taproot and has many leafy fatal, especially during the dormant stems with tiny, dark green leaflets. Big season. The plants are in danger when (2.5cm), single flowers with long spurs they are dry, as they need constant are mostly pink, but sometimes purplish moisture throughout the year. In nature and rarely white. Fruits grow very they are able to survive some dry peri• quickly (as in all violas), and they open ods during the summer, but they have about one month after pollination. good connections with subterranean Seeds are very distinct from all other moisture. Although they look quite dry, non-woody violas; they are long, they have enough energy to start narrow, and pale brown. Most other growth in the next rainy season. Viola species have seeds that are globu• Seedlings will bloom the third or lar or elliptic and more or less yellow. fourth year under optimal conditions, Viola delphinantha is a long-lived but in poor conditions it may take many species—in acceptable conditions you years for them to bloom. The color of can find 30- to 50-year-old plants. In a the flowers varies from pale lavender to garden this species is mostly killed by pale purple or violet. I have seen white conditions that are too moist or by flowered plants only once in my life. slugs. Propagation is very easy from On the rockery, plants need vertical fresh seed or half-soft cuttings in June. crevices or small, protected indenta• Campanula oreadum is one of the tions with an overhanging lip exposed most beautiful p. to north, northwest, or northeast. campanulas /""^ ) )~*^ —C i XT Plants must have good drainage—one (photo, p. 257). It reason that a vertical growing position grows on rocks or is better than a horizontal one. A rich walls that are not soil using composted cow manure with too moist and are old beech leafmold will produce rosettes exposed mostly more than 20 cm in diameter. to the north, Propagation is by leaf cuttings, basi• northeast, or northwest, often in cold cally the same method as for African gorges. Multiple rosettes of fleshy, glan• violets (Saintpaulia ionatha). The leaf dular leaves create small, dense clusters. must not be too old. Under plastic bags Generally the flowers are borne singu• the leaves make roots very quickly, in larly, rarely in twos or threes. They are about a month, and in three months held erect and have a long, tubular the cuttings will produce a few little side corolla, mostly dark blue-violet, but it is rosettes. possible to find pale blue- or white-flow-

262 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) ered plants. Fruits contain many flat, grassland in middle and higher eleva• yellow-brown seeds that germinate tions, where it creates cushions or mostly the second year. Being a long- carpets 15-30 cm in diameter. The flat, lived species, its seedlings bloom black seeds germinate easily, but for later—usually the third or fourth more desirable, dwarf, large-flowering year—and they are very sensitive to forms, it is better to propagate by overly moist substrates. Beware, as cuttings after bloom. slugs like the young leaves and often Often D. haematocalyx grows also the flowers and flower buds. together with the Omphalodes lucillae, unlike C. robust Jouibarba oreadum , heuffelii, which indulges in has big, pale, moist, wet, bluish-green stony walls rosettes to 20 cm and terraces in diameter and in higher pale yellow, tubu• and alpine lar flowers on elevations, leafy, succulent stems 15-20 cm high. exposed to the north, where it creates In the garden it grows easily anywhere clusters sometimes to 30 cm in diame• in sunny, warm places with rich, stony ter. Leaves are broadly lanceolate, an soil. It does not create outside rosettes, unusual bluish green, a little fleshy. Bril• but big, mature rosettes split every year liant blue flowers are plentiful on stems into two, sometimes even three, 10-15 cm long. After pollination big, rosettes. Propagation by seed is much triangular seeds 2-3 mm long develop, quicker than by division. Seedlings which, if fresh, germinate very quickly, grow quickly and bloom, under good the first week after sowing. In the conditions, the second year. garden, this species needs a cold, Edraianthus graminifolius also north-facing crevice, with plentiful often grows with moisture. It is possible to propagate Dianthus from cuttings using the outside rosettes, haematocalyx, which will root quickly in a light peat- Jouibarba, sand substrate. Teucrium mon- Trachelium jacquinil grows on dry, tanum and T. sunny walls and rocks at lower elevations, aureum, Iberis where under good conditions it creates sempervirens, the white-flowered big clumps up to 30 cm in diameter Centaurea pindicola, and many other (photo, p. 257). Pale blue, long, tubular attractive plants. Edraianthus creates flowers, clustered in tight globes at the rosettes with dark green, long, narrow ends of leafy stems appear in June, July, leaves, with many long outside stems and August. In the garden it needs a carrying globes of pale violet, tubular warm crevice facing east, south or west. flowers, which do not quite open. This Seeds are very tiny, and it is best to sow species grows easily from fresh seed them directly in the desired position. everywhere where the soil is not overly Slugs, again, are very dangerous for moist. seedlings and for bigger plants, too. Gentiana uerna ssp. pontica grows Dianthus haematocalyx ssp. at higher elevations on snow fields and haematocalyx, a bright purple-flowered in deep, moist alpine pastures that are species, grows on rocks and stony covered by snow for a long time each

Mt. Olympus 263 year. It creates cush• Saxifraga spruneri is easy from seed, ions 15-20 cm in but seedlings grow very slowly and after diameter. In the the first year are hardly bigger than 5 mountain spring these mm in diameter. Cuttings are not toler• are full of bright blue ant of moisture and thus must be kept flowers that shine dry. Arabis bryoides creates tight, dark between the grasses green cushions with almost stemless, and stones, together pure white flowers, often with yellow- with cushions of Saxifraga scardica, blooming Draba athoa (photo, p. 258), blooming white or pale pink, or little greenish-yellow Saxifraga moschata or clusters of purple- dwarf, white-blooming Arenaria creti- violet Saxifraga ca, that creates big carpets 40-100 cm sempervivum, in diameter. Fresh seeds of Arabis the green-bloom• germinate quickly and it is possible to ing rosettes of make cuttings in early summer, too. Beta nana, or the Potentilla deorum inhabits the high• dwarf white- or pink-flowered Cory- est summits, grow• dalis parnassica. ing on sunny-faced In alpine screes, you can see a rocks, creating small special community with dark blue flow• clusters of silver- ered Veronica thessalica, purple hairy leaves and pale Linaria alpina, white Achillea yellow flowers on ambrosiaca, the tiny yellow flowers of longer 8-10 cm stems. Potentilla often Euphorbia capitulata, white Ceras- grows together with Saxifraga scardi• tium theophrasti, big carpets of lilac- ca, creating a special association. pink Aubrieta gracilis (photo, p. 259), These are just a few of the wonderful yellow-flowered Alyssum handelii with plants that grow on Mt. Olympus. Most silver-gray leaves (photo, p. 258), and of these are not yet available through in moist screes the charming Viola the horticultural trade, but hopefully striis-notata, with big, pale lilac or pink they will be as soon as people become flowers and tiny, fleshy, dark green aware of their vast potential and ask for leaves (photo, p. 257), together with them. Ranunculus brevifolius with ornamen• tal bluish leaves and bright yellow flowers Drawings by Jarmila Haldova. with reddish calyxes. Rocks and cliffs at alpine elevations Josef Halda is an energetic and ambitious have some special plant explorer from Czechoslovakia. species; one of these, Saxifraga spruneri, inhabits steep, often vertical walls, creating big cushions up to a meter in diameter. It has glandular leaves, stems, and calyces, and tiny, creamy white flowers. At lower elevations it grows under "roofs"—rock overhangs—that provide protection against rain and moisture.

264 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Gardening in Pine Duff by Jeanie Vesall

Far northeastern Minnesota rises was the garden I envisioned, lightning from the shore of Lake Superior. The struck, and the centerpiece of the granite hills are laced with streams and garden was mortally wounded. We shrouded with dark forest—part of the nursed the 46-year-old tree as it lost boreal forest, the largest, most norther• clumps of needles into the garden ly forest on earth. Conifers dominate below. Many of the plants began to the landscape. But it is the carpet of suffer even before we made the deci• plants growing in the duff of evergreen sion to remove the pine. How could needles beneath the trees that has everything have gone so wrong? The always attracted me. lightning was surely the fatal blow, but I had been saving a special place in had I contributed to the decline of my the garden for the plants that form this garden, let alone that magnificent tree? carpet. Our wooded property has large Before I would try another pine duff red and white pines planted over 40 garden, I needed to understand the years ago among oaks and birches. factors that influenced the success of Many of the gardening books I have trees and other plants in a coniferous read regard the ground beneath conifer• forest. I turned to study the ecology of ous trees as a gardener's nightmare. the boreal forest. Christopher Lloyd, in The Well- Northern Minnesota has the largest Chosen Garden, writes that the dark, area of boreal forest in the lower 48 dry, rooty areas under certain trees States. It is a region of long, cold should be left bare and that we accept winters and short summers. Much of this as "no more of a disgrace than a the yearly precipitation falls as snow balding head." I chose a different during the six to seven months of option. I built a special garden for bore• wintry weather. Lake Superior supplies al plants beneath a large red pine and moisture, and as a result heavy made it the centerpiece of the rock amounts of snow accumulate. In some garden. regions of boreal forest, such as the The pine duff garden was a special subarctic interior of Canada, precipita• project for three years. Finally, when it tion amounts can be quite low. Yet

265 Linnaea borealis because of the low rates of evaporation winter or in periods of drought. The in the cold climate, the interior of the most hardy species, including jack pine, boreal forest is damp. white and black spruce, and balsam fir, For almost half a million years, have a system to clear the liquids from glaciers exposed and scoured the within their cells when the temperature granitic and metamorphic bedrock goes below -40°F. This prevents poten• underlying this forest. Soils have had tially destructive ice crystal formation little time to develop since the glaciers' within the cells. last retreat 10,000 years ago. Amaz• Conifers are also at an advantage on ingly, many of the plants, even the the poorly developed, infertile soils of coniferous trees, are able to tap enough the far north. The nutrients they absorb nourishment through fractures in the from thin soils are conserved in their rocks to cling to life. evergreen foliage. Many herbaceous Evergreen trees have an advantage and shrubby plants in the boreal forest over deciduous species in this northern are also evergreen. This strategy has environment. Leaves are photosynthet- helped these plants survive the limita• ic factories. The needles of conifers are tions of northern climate and soil shed gradually throughout the life of the composition. tree, not all at once each fall. During No matter what the environment, warm spells in early and late winter the the type of soil influences the species of needles may be able to carry on photo• plants it supports, and the plants play synthesis. In spring, the foliage does an important role in the formation of not have to be fully regrown, and the the very soils in which they grow. Soil trees are immediately ready for the formation involves physical, chemical, short growing season. These persistent and biological processes. It begins with needles are covered with a waxy cuticle weathering and chemical alteration of that helps conserve moisture during the rock. Plants begin to root into this

266 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) weathered material. As they grow and decay by retarding the growth, number, die they leave behind organic materials and activity of microorganisms. At the that support a population of soil organ• level of decomposition, the humus isms. These soil organisms turn plant forms a dark layer on top of the soil. It and animal debris into humus by the does not become interspersed with the process of decomposition. Through gravel or sands common in glaciated mineralization, microorganisms ulti• areas. Fungi are more abundant in mately turn humus into simple chemical these cold soils than bacteria and carry compounds that living plants can again out most of the decomposition. Sapro- absorb. These chemicals further alter phytic fungi feast on dead or inert the soil as they combine with rainfall. materials. Mycorrhizal fungi form mutu- The woodland gardening I was most alistic relationships with the roots of familiar with was done under deciduous living trees. Their white, threadlike trees, in particular oaks and birches. A strands, mycelia, increase the water- wide variety of plants accepted the soil and nutrient-absorbing surface of the conditions under these trees. In order to roots. While many forest trees have successfully grow the boreal plants, I mycorrhizae, they play an important needed to know how conditions under role in these nutrient-poor soils. Bacte• conifers differed. ria associated with the roots of alders In a deciduous woodland, the humus {Ainus), a common understory shrub in that forms is called mull. The litter layer the coniferous forest, are capable of is decomposed readily and forms only a nitrogen-fixation. However, their total thin layer over the mineral soil. This contribution to the fertility of the soil is environment supports a large number insignificant because of the domination and variety of soil organisms. Bacteria of conifers. are the main decomposers. Some of Finally, I had a clue to the decline of the bacterial species are capable of my duff garden—earthworms. Last fall, nitrogen fixation, that is, converting I removed a wheelbarrow load of nitrogen from the atmosphere to an worms and their castings from the path organic nitrogen compound that is near the red pine. In less than two returned to the soil and can be used by years, they had completely changed the plants. Earthworms, common in these soil under the pine. No longer was soils, ingest the litter and deposit the there the characteristic heavy litter layer castings on the surface. The castings over a thin humus layer. The soil had are higher in total nitrogen, organic no distinct layers. The worms had carbon, calcium, magnesium, and phos• mixed everything together. It resembled phorus than the soil the worms take in. the deep, fertile loam of the nearby In addition, the worms mix and bind deciduous woodland gardens. During the mineral soil with the humus. The the construction of the original garden, final soil is a fertile, well-mixed loam. the natural humus layer under the red In the boreal forest, the type of pine was disturbed. To rebuild an acidic humus that forms is called mor. A thick humus layer, I had worked peat moss, litter layer of needles from the conifers chopped pine needles, rotted pine bark, builds up over the acidic soil. Conifer granite grit, and oak leaf mold into the needles may take three years to fully sandy soil to a depth of 6-8". I'm sure decompose. Both their cutaneous coat• the oak leaf mold enriched the bed and ing and high cellulose content slow the helped attract the worms, and they process. The acid reaction of the soil further incorporated the organic materi• and the cold climate slow the rate of als into the subsoil. The higher fertility

Gardening in Pine Duff 267 can't alter the influence of the weather. The heat of our summers might limit the lifespan of some of the boreal plants as much as the soil structure. The main plantings in this new area are repre• sentatives of the northern coniferous woodlands of Minnesota. These same species will grow in a peat garden, but they have a natural affinity for the conditions under the pines. It is important to keep these mostly ever• Goodyera repens var. ophiodes and Coptis groenlandica green plants watered and coupled with our warm summers may misted on hot days until they take root. have allowed a different group of soil I have found that they will endure microorganisms to take hold. Such a considerable dryness later. Many boreal change could bring in plant diseases or plants grow as fine-rooted, running interfere with the mycorrhizal associa• stems barely anchored to the sphagnum tions of the trees or the herbaceous moss. They benefit from a short stay in plants. The pine and the boreal plant a pot of peat and sand to increase the beneath it, accustomed to relatively root system before planting in the infertile soil, began to decline soon after garden. the worms took over the bed. Linnaea borealis, symbol of the I have started to develop another boreal forest, has been most successful pine duff garden under several large red here even in the sunnier areas. It pines. Where the natural litter and continues to spread and flowers freely. humus layer remained undisturbed, this One of my favorite plants, Poly gala time I have planted directly with no paucifolia, will need several seasons to "improvements" to the soil. Where the recover from the loss of the original litter layer had been raked away, I pine duff garden and the resulting trans• added a thin layer, barely 2-3", of planting. The same is true for Epigaea chopped pine needles, sphagnum peat repens. For both of these plants, I moss, and some granite grit to keep the loosely pin down some of the stems soil from compacting during planting. into the duff to encourage rooting. None of this supplemental material was Mitella nuda was too successful. It dug into the soil. Instead, I placed it on grew over, under, and around the small• top of the acid sand that forms the base er plants. Some of the other species soil. Only pine needles are used as a that like it under the pines are Cornus mulch to protect the new plantings. No canadensis, Clintonia borealis, fertilizers are used. I did scatter a small Mitchella repens, Pyrola spp., Mone- amount of sulfur at planting to boost ses uniflora, Goodyera repens, the acidity. In time, a natural litter layer Coptis trifolia var. groenlandica, should accumulate, and I hope the low Arctostaphylos uua-ursi, and Gaul- fertility will keep out the earthworms. I theria procumbens.

268 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Two other species have given me wick, carrying away additional moisture trouble. Gaultheria hispidula hung on from the crowns. Eventually, the heat for a while. I plan to try establishing it and humidity of our summers necessi• on a rotten, moss-covered log tate spraying the lewisias with a fungi• completely out of the sun. A small cide and removing small side crowns patch of pipsissewa, Chimaphila for cuttings. umbellata, grew best when totally An assortment of shrubs and ferns neglected at the far reaches of the serves as a background for all the small, garden under a pine. As soon as I move mat-forming species. Small, hardy it to a place of honor, I lose it. rhododendrons grow near a sunnier I am not a purist about growing only edge of the beds. Dwarf hemlocks our native plants. The pine duff suits {Tsuga), Abies balsamea 'Nana', other species as well. Shortia galacifo- Microbiota decussata, Betula nana, lia and Galax aphylla grow and flower, and Vaccinium spp. are tolerant of the although they are slow to increase. heavy shade of the conifers. Most ferns Since many of the boreal species have grow well in these conditions. Two small, intricate flowers, I have added a favorites are Woodsia ilvensis and W. few exotics for more show. Iris oregana, both native to the coniferous gracilipes, a beautiful white or laven• woods. Weathered granite boulders and der-flowered species from the wooded fractured, dark gray rocks to form slopes of Japan, prefers the well- crevices, moss covered logs, and moss drained soil under the pines. Cycla• cushions pinned to the soil add the men fatrense, one of the few cyclamen finishing touches to the pine duff to survive our zone 4 conditions, gardens. remains perennial and flowers during The needle-covered ground under late summer. Several species of pine trees is not destined to be a barren soldanellas grow despite their alleged wasteland. Beautiful plants from north• need for limestone. I wedge ramondas ern Minnesota's coniferous woodlands and haberleas into rock crevices, and are naturally suited to this unique habi• their foliage benefits from the umbrella tat. The gardener need only learn to effect of the pine needle canopy. This respect the intimate connection is also true for Lewisia tweedyi. The between plant and soil to grow a pines protect our plants from the rains, garden beneath the pines. and the pine needle mulch acts as a References Kricher, John C. 1988. A Field Guide to Eastern Forests of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co.: Boston. Lloyd, Christopher. 1984. The Well-Chosen Garden. Harper and Row, Publishers: New York. Pielou, E. C. 1988. The World of Northern Evergreens. Comstock Publishing Associ• ates: New York and London. Sutton, Ann and Myron.Sutton 1985. Eastern Forests (Audubon Society Nature Guides). Alfred A. Knopf: New York. Drawings by the author. Jeanie Vesall is an avid rock gardener and gardens with her husband, David, in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Gardening in Pine Duff 269 270 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Prickly Charmers

by Panayoti Kelaidis

I doubt if the Trapp Family would chickenwire-like armature so many ever have tripped so blithely through a plants in Mediterranean climates seem steppe or Mediterranean landscape to have developed independently in carpeted with thorny shrubs. Plants that unrelated plant families. Acanthamnoid have the wherewithal to defend them• plants occur in dry climates on all hemi• selves seem to strike terror in the hearts spheres, although their numbers and and hands of timid gardeners. Spines, proportion are much higher in that vast bristles, glochids, prickles, thorns, and floristic region that stretches from their infinite permutations serve not Portugal and Morocco in the West all only to repel herbivores and pests, they the way to the dry rainshadow of the can torment the hand that would culti• Himalaya 4000 miles to the east. vate them. And yet anyone who has For years it was assumed that spini- lived in a desert or Mediterranean land• ness in Mediterranean plants was an scape seems to develop a nostalgic love evolved adaptation to intensive grazing of these and other plants that are by herbivores. One would assume that somewhat unfriendly on first acquain• wherever grazing animals gather in tance. They are an acquired taste. greatest numbers, plants would resort Take the prickly alyssum (Ptilotrich- to their most defensive posture. Various um spinosum) of the western Mediter• clever botanists noted that those ranean mountains. You see it in a regions on earth where herbivores friend's garden, a symmetrical mound occur in the largest numbers—the as densely blooming and compact as savannahs of Africa and India, the annual alyssum, only the plant is a pampas of South America, the Great gnarled shrublet a foot across and a Plains of North America, and the grass• decade old! Most gardeners never lands north and east of the Black Sea in notice that it is one of the spiniest of Asia—are in fact not particularly rich in garden plants. This Spanish and spiny plants. So other explanations are Moroccan alpine is a fine example of often proffered to rationalize spininess acanthamnoid spination, a term in plants: maybe spines provide shade, botanists use to describe the crumpled or a mathematically calibrated mesh to

271 condense fog or dew for a little added most are characterized by a spiny habit. precipitation? Ptilotrichum macrocarpum has Few gardeners will stay awake nights provided showy white flowers in the worrying about the etiology of spines: Rock Alpine Garden over the course of what intrigues one more after a while is many years. It tends to form a lower, the dramatic architecture of spiny flatter mound with less attractive spines plants. Plants that have the acantham- but is still a year-around silver shrublet noid, chickenwire habit will often form that makes a permanent addition to a billowy shape as they mature, and sunny, limy gardens. The flowers are many have tiny evergreen or silver only a centimeter across, but they are leaves that give them year-around inter• that papery white perfected in so many est in gardens. These rounded mounds crucifers. They're produced in such can perform much the same function in profusion that a colony makes quite a a dry rock garden as dwarf conifers— statement in the late spring garden. providing a permanent framework Ptilotrichum cadevallianum is similar, around which evanescent alpines bloom smaller in size, larger in leaf, and less and disappear. Most spiny plants have brilliant in bloom. Likewise, Ptilo• deep taproots, a water-thrifty character, trichum lapeyrousianum. and never grow into large plants. Connoisseurs of spiny plants eventu• Therefore they never become the main• ally discover Vella spinosa. This tenance nightmare that not-so-dwarf remarkable shrublet is also a crucifer, conifers are apt to be in time. although very different in its effect. It Let's consider a few of the common• also grows in the Iberian Peninsula in er spiny plants that you can grow from rocky habitats at somewhat lower eleva• seed or obtain from rare plant nurs• tions. Vella has slightly coarser spina- eries. Ptilotrichum spinosum 'Purpur- tion and deeper green, rough-textured eum' may be the best known in leaves that give it a dark presence in traditional rock gardens. The typical the garden which contrasts delightfully form of this makes a lavender-purple with silver-leaved plants. The flowers, mound that glows with flowers for produced over much of the spring and upwards of a month in late spring in early summer, are four-petalled stars Colorado. This color combines well that have been called straw yellow by with practically any other hue, particu• some and biscuit yellow by others. The larly the yellows, whites, and pinks so flowers have a brassy, moonlight glow common in late May and early June. It that looks different in every light—a loves hot, sunny climates and limy soils, fascinating addition to the sunny rock so don't be surprised if it looks a bit garden. Even the fruits of this plant drawn and unhappy planted among strike a distinctive note: rather than the rhododendrons or in shade. There must flat siliques so typical of crucifers, be attractive white forms of the species, Vella forms swollen, one-sided capsules but here I must confess that the only that are interesting in their own right. ones I have ever seen or grown are a In both southern Spain and the high• rather dingy white, not nearly as attrac• est reaches of the Atlas Mountains of tive as the dark lavender cultivars. Seed Morocco, the spiny alyssum often is occasionally offered in exchanges, grows with two superficially similar but cuttings are the only way to perpet• plants in altogether different families. uate the fine purple forms. The hedgehog broom is a legume. Several other species in this genus Erinacea pungens has far heavier are cultivated from time to time, and spines and shrubby habit than the

272 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) alyssum. It can grow over a foot in lavender-pink flowers are a perfect size height and broader, making a dramatic to complement the tiny leaves and twig• mound in a large rock garden. Unfortu• gy habit of this slightly tender shrublet nately, large specimens are almost as from the Balearic Islands off the coast rare as hedgehogs in North America. of Spain. I find this subtle plant irre• After a number of years, if it is happy, sistible, and I am constantly propagat• lavender-blue, butterfly-like blooms ing bits to test for hardiness in the Rock cover the plant in May and June. Alpine Garden. From time to time a Collecting seed from a mature plant is a plant survives the winter, but I cannot task undertaken only by masochists and recommend this plant for outdoor devoted nurserymen. Cuttings are no culture in USDA zone 5 or colder. substitute, as they root slowly and errat• Nevertheless, Paul Maslin grew this out- ically, and the resultant plants are of-doors for many years nearby in the painfully slow to mature. "Banana Belt" of Boulder, Colorado. Superficially, the spiny umbel, Perhaps germ plasm from higher eleva• Bupleurum spinosum, looks much tions in Majorca would produce a reli• more like spiny alyssum than its hedge• ably hardy plant? hog broom associate. It is fascinating to Few plants seem to delight the intel• see what different morphological lectual curiosity of average people more features each plant seems to select to than a spiny, shrubby dwarf mullein or form the spines. In the Bupleurum, the a spiny dwarf chicory. Practically every• twiggy petioles that produce the flowers one knows the weedy mullein and transform into naked, gray-green spines chicory of waste places, and neither as the seeds are shed in late autumn. In plant would seem by any stretch of the the garden in Colorado Bupleurum imagination to beg admission to a rock spinosum blooms several months after garden. But, in fact, there are a number its alpine associates. The first flowers of tiny mulleins that make fine rock open mid-August, and peak bloom garden plants. Only Verbascum occurs a few weeks later. The seed spinosum from a few high mountains doesn't ripen until after heavy frosts. in Crete produces spiny armature, Like other bupleurums, the flowers are however. Seedlings form wavy, silvery chartreuse umbels that leave novice rosettes that soon sprout the first twig• gardeners cold. The color combines gy spike covered with tiny, lemon- surprisingly well with the reds, purples, yellow flowers. In warm, dry climates oranges, or yellows that are common in this can form a miniature shrub a foot the garden in late summer, and so or more in height, although in makes a valuable addition. Several Colorado it rarely lives more than two plants of this have survived -25°F or three years before succumbing to the weather two years in succession with cold of winter. A seedling with habit no damage whatsoever—it is one of the intermediate between the Cretan very hardiest spiny plants. species and a larger flowered mullein The mint family is particularly abun• from Western Asia occurred sponta• dant and diverse in the Mediterranean neously in the alpine section of the region. Teucrium subspinosum is one Royal Horticultural Society's garden at of the few of this family that produces a Wisley. This was subsequently named modest spiny armature. This compact for the curator's wife, Letitia Aslet, and germander rarely grows more than 5-6" 'Letitia' is much showier and longer- tall in cultivation; an old plant may lived—a delightful acquisition for a rock grow nearly a foot across. The pastel garden. It roots readily from cuttings,

273 forming a mound a foot in height and Dianthus or Arenaria. The flowers are almost two across when ideally suited. unlike any other plant in the vegetable Since the cross appears to be sterile, the kingdom, however: frilly white petals plant blooms far longer and more heavi• are produced in two neat ranks forming ly than its fruitful parents. Purists will still an absurdly symmetrical rectangle. insist on acquiring the Cretan endemic, Several people have noted that in which is definitely the spinier plant. bloom this plant has a whimsical and The spiny chicory is likewise some• unmistakable resemblance to stadium what tender in Colorado, although it lighting, something I would hesitate to will bloom the first year from seed if mention in print if I had noted it only started early enough in a greenhouse, myself. I doubt if the timid souls who and it makes a wonderful addition to an insist on common names are still read• alpine house. The early rosette is a ing this far into this article, but if one deep, steely green like the larger chico• has, may I suggest the common name ry only with a neat, almost prismatic of "stadium light flower" for the modest indentation on the leaves that makes Drypis? It produces its starry modules them decorative in their own right. The over much of the growing season. twiggy shrub gradually grows to 6-8" Unfortunately, the flowers glow only in tall and broad, producing myriad blue the daylight hours—otherwise its future miniature blossoms much like the road• in sports arenas would be more promis• side chicory in color and shape. Unfor• ing. tunately, these bloom best in the late Plants with chickenwire armature afternoon, evening, and early morning; may be largely restricted to the Mediter• I rarely saw the flowers when I grew ranean floristic province, but thistles this plant at work, but it's perfect in the seem to grow everywhere. Not just home garden for the commuter. In an Scotsmen but under pressure everyone irrigated garden, flowering occurs will concede the architectural beauty of throughout the summer. Collecting the thistle rosettes and their glowing, bristly tiny seed capsules among the spines is blossoms. Even the weediest sorts a task known to inspire colorful remind me a little of Acanthus, which language. Like the weedy chicory, the after all inspired the ancient Greeks to spiny dwarf is edible and frequently design their most elaborate and poetic collected to be eaten as a potherb in capital for their columns. Greece. If you decide you don't care for Many thistles are naturally variegat• it in the garden, boil it up and serve ed, adding to their value as foliage with lemon and olive oil! plants in the garden. Even the nasty The spiny chicory is particularly prickliness that annoys us so much abundant in the eastern Mediterranean when we try to remove these plants Basin, where it occurs over a wide without gloves is a trait I have come to altitudinal range and in many ecosys• appreciate more and more as curator of tems. Drypis spinosa is far rarer in a public garden. There are certain nature, appearing sporadically on cliffs places in the garden where the public in the Balkan peninsula. This plant insists on creating short cuts. Wise doesn't produce an armature like the designers are supposed to plan paths others, but seems to have a variety of there, but sometimes, in the interest of spiny tips on leaves and flower bracts art or science, you may not choose to alike. The foliage makes a fine mound• accede to logic and need to repel ed cushion resembling its traditional people or pets. May I recommend alpine cousins in the pink family like Cirsium spinosissimum? As the Latin

274 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) suggests, it is considerably spinier than must confess that I usually cut fruiting its cousin, bull thistle (Cirsium arvense). stems and remove biennial plants as the It is also biennial, and forms almost as flowers fade and the swallowtails lose big a rosette as its weedy counterpart. It interest. I doubt that the choicer thistles is nevertheless a bona fide alpine, would ever become pests in the garden found in high pastures throughout the even if you let them go entirely to seed. European Alps. Unlike its weedier A few self-sown seedlings are always cousins, the rosette of the spiniest this• welcome, but dead-heading and removal tle is little more symmetrical, more are time-honored ways to keep vigorous variegated, more thorny, nastier—and seeders from becoming a nuisance. irresistible. Few plants attract more Who could blame you for taking such a comment than this foliar extravaganza precaution? in a garden. The unbelievably spiny Most visitors to the Rock Alpine rosette and its possible applications are Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens reason enough to grow this plant, but I notice the giant rosettes of Onopor- must tell you that all thistles have an don acaulon that I allow to plant them• added bonus. Their blossoms are the selves here and there strategically preferred source of nectar for swallow• through the whole garden. The broad, tail butterflies. When the spiny thistle is mealy-white leaves are dramatically in bloom, it is rarely without two or toothed, each tooth ending in an three swallowtails perched atop its yard- emphatic spine—this is a plant that is high stems, and I have counted dozens noticed in the garden. It is similar in of butterflies, sometimes four or more effect to the better known Silybum species, hovering over my colonies at a marianum, or St. Mary's thistle, which time. is however more variegated and often A yard-tall Cirsium is out of place in larger. Both are biennial with stemless most alpine gardens, but another flowers just as attractive to butterflies as member of this genus is trim enough for those of other thistles. Onopordon is fastidious tastes. Cirsium acaule has found wild in the western Mediter• been confused with CarJina acaulis ranean region, while SiJybum grows (another outstanding alpine thistle throughout the Mediterranean and has discussed below). The short-stemmed naturalized many other places as well. rosette is similar, although somewhat There are a few thistles that not only greener in the Cirsium. The rich purple are not weeds but qualify as choice flowers are perfect miniatures of the bull alpines. Three genera of plants closely thistle, however, and are produced for related to Cirsium are found on alpine weeks on end in early summer. In rich summits of the Mediterranean. Each of soil, C. acaule can form a large, hand• this trio actually consists of a pair of some clump almost a foot across with species of almost equally outstanding several crowns and dozens of stemless merit for the garden. flowers, although in scree it is generally The best known of the choice thistles half that size. Either way, this abundant are the high alpine thistles of the Alps, alpine of the high Alps makes a fine, Carlina acaulis and its cousin, C. restrained, and long-lived addition to the acanthifolia, which has more deeply alpine garden. cut leaves These are favorite plants of No matter how fascinating in foliage hikers in the Alps and are universally and bloom, a thistle going to seed even• praised in rock garden books, where tually becomes unkempt and can fright• they occur far more frequently than in en farmers and delicate garden visitors. I gardens. Neither species is difficult to

275 grow, and they have persisted for luminous, lavender flowers that glow upwards of eight years for me so far in with an almost extra-terrestrial beauty the garden. It must be their unfortunate only last for a few days. The slowly association with thistles that prevents developing buds are almost as showy, them from more frequent cultivation. however, for weeks and months before Both species have deeply cut rosettes flowering, and the seed head is quite quite similar to a compact bull thistle in respectably attractive as well. overall appearance (plenty spiny The final pair of thistles also comes enough to endear themselves to from high mountains, this time in psychopathic mentalities). Their merit Turkey. Most members of Jurinea are lies in their immense lavender flowers rather coarse plants of marginal horti• sparkling like ground-level fireworks. cultural interest, but the two varieties of These come in midsummer when the the closely allied Jurinella moschus are garden needs a pick-me-up. Once the outstanding alpines recently introduced precious fluff of seed is released, the by Josef Halda and a few other Czech empty, brassy involucre forms a huge collectors. Jurinella is a small genus cup in the center of the rosette that is largely distributed in western and almost as lovely as the flower heads. It central Asia. Jurinella moschus v. will last all winter if you can keep dry moschus has more coarsely cut foliage flower arrangers away from it; it is irre• of a waxy texture and unusual blue-gray sistible for anyone given to that practi• color. The flowers are lavender shaving cal hobby. I have only had a single brushes produced at ground level begin• self-sown seedling of these choice ning in March and on and off to May. plants in all the years I have grown Jurinella moschus v. pinnatisecta is them, a dismal track record for a thistle. undeniably showier, with a much larger I have yet to meet anyone who could flower like a turquoise sea urchin over a resist the alpine thistle of the Atlas filagreed rosette. Josef Halda believes mountains. Carduncellus rhaponti- that they are so distinct that they might coides and its congener C. pinnatus well be regarded as separate species both grow at high elevations in the rather than varieties. Either one would mountains of Morocco where they form be a thistle admissible to the most polite neat, waxy tufts 4-5" across that even• company of alpines. tually clump up into multiheaded There are still cacti and the hedge• mounds. The almost succulent foliage is hog domes of a hundred kinds of always trim and neat. Visitors to our Acantholimon, the bristly hemispheres garden always notice these and ask of Onobrychis cornuta and 0. echni- where they can get them. Plants do da, roses, and the steely blues of Eryn- produce seed and can be divided, but gium. Spiny plants have much to offer never quite fast enough to satisfy the the rock garden in bloom, leaf, and demand. Even avowed thistle haters architectural beauty. Let's grasp their make exceptions for these aristocratic utility firmly and without fear, however plants. I would be hard-pressed to say gingerly we weed around them. whether I preferred C. rhaponticoides or the even thistlier C. pinnatus. The Panayoti Kelaidis has been rock garden• former has smooth, dark green leaves ing for the past 30 years in and about with a bristly edging of hairs, while the Denver, Colorado. Over the years he has latter is dramatically slashed and cut, grown thousands of species of plants and like, well, like a snazzy, high-class this• has learned to love the peculiar and the tle. If these have a fault, it is that their prickly, as well as more accessible alpines.

276 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4)

Phacelia sericea (p. 288) photos by Ronald Taylor

Anemone drummondii (p. 286)

278 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4)

Haplopappus (Tonestus) /ya//ii (p. 288) photos by Ronald Taylor

Claytonia lanceolata var. chrysantha (p. 289)

280 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) South slope of Chowder Ridge with Mt. Baker in the background (pp. 285-289) Saxifraga oppositifolia (p. 287) Photos by Ronald Taylor

Silene acaulis (p. 287)

282 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Sunset and moonglow over Mt. Baker

Cassiope mertensiana (p. 289) Potentilla fruticosa (p. 287) Photos by Ronald Taylor

Mimulus tilingii (p. 286)

284 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Chowder Ridge, An Alpine Showcase by Ronald J. Taylor

I he North Cascades is one of clumps occur in the area of the "T" nature's masterpieces with its many formed from these joining ridges. panoramic vistas. Although beauty is an These meadows are lush and strikingly individual interpretation, no one can fail attractive with their array of colorful to be impressed by the grandeur of the wildflowers. Wild animals are frequently lofty mountains and the striking observed as they move between forest contrast between the greenery of the and meadow or feed on the lush mead• forests, the multi-colored wildflowers of ow vegetation. Blue grouse are often the alpine and subalpine slopes, the heard but seldom seen as they emit brilliant white of the snow, and the their low basal calls from the shelter of scarred, pale blue of the ice fields. To tree clumps. The shrill whistles of this setting are added the many lakes marmots pierce the thin mountain air and the sparkling streams that cascade as sentinels warn of approaching downward to form the rivers below. danger. The burrows of marmots char• The crown jewel of the North acteristically mark the meadows, espe• Cascades is the Mount Baker Wilder• cially in dense vegetation below ness of Washington State. Chowder snowfields. Pikas are common inhabi• Ridge, a major part of this wilderness, tants of coarse talus slopes and rock contains the largest area of continuous outcrops. Deer frequent the region, alpine vegetation. The ridge crest is grazing on the meadow vegetation or approximately 3.2 miles long and is browsing on the shrubs in and around oriented from northwest to southeast, tree clumps, but never wandering far butting against the west slope of Mount from the safety of the continuous Baker. The elevation varies from forest. Mountain goats range from the approximately 6500' to over 7500', the upper limits of the forest zone to the highest point being Hadley Peak. Near alpine slopes of Chowder. Bear forage the center of Chowder Ridge and through the area, especially in autumn perpendicular to it, running toward the when the huckleberries are ripe. Final• north, is Cougar Divide. Expansive ly, everywhere there is evidence of subalpine meadows and scattered tree small rodents such as the heather vole

285 which burrows beneath the snow leav• blanketed by Cascade huckleberries ing long dirt mounds, nests of dried {Vaccinium deliciosum, photo, p. 277) plants, and latrine piles. which have brilliant fall colors of red, The north slope of Chowder Ridge is orange, and yellow. The purple fruits of steep and covered above by permanent these 6" shrubs are as delectable as the or late melting snow fields toward the Latin name suggests. A prominent, west, and by the Mazama Glacier adja• mat-forming associate of the huckleber• cent to Mount Baker. Vegetation is ry is partridge foot (Luetkea pectinata). sparse on this expansive slope except This low herb has attractive small flow• toward the base, as noted above, and ers in dense, terminal clusters, and where the scree, talus, and rock divided leaves that resemble the foot of outcrops are interrupted by benches a partridge. appearing as islands of dwarf shrubs The scattered dwarf shrub communi• and stunted mountain hemlocks and ties at middle elevations on the north subalpine firs (krummholz). From a slope are dominated by red and white distance, the north slope is indeed heather (PhyJlodoce empetriformis spectacular with its contrasting colors and Cassiope mertensiana, photo, p. and rugged topography. The foothills 283). Associated plants represent a mix immediately above Cougar Divide are of subalpine and alpine species. Among the former are the conspicuous subalpine daisy {Erigeron J>A peregrinus) and broad-leaf 4* lupine (Lupinus latifolius). On wet scree slopes the unusual and attractive Tolmie's saxifrage (Saxifraga tolmiei) is a frequent inhabitant. Along streams formed from melting snow, the beautiful alpine monkey flower (Mimulus tilingii, photo, p. 284) can occasionally be seen. An unusual attraction of the north slope is the fossil fauna, primarily clam shells. It was because of the abundance of these fossils that Chowder Ridge got its name. The ridge is largely of sedimentary origin but has andesitic deposits asso• ciated with volcanic eruptions of Mount Baker. Alpine glaciers of the Pleistocene peri• od were also involved in form• ing and shaping the ridge. The crest of Chowder narrows progressively from the northwest toward the south• east, developing into a series of

286 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) spire-like pinnacles around Hadley Peak these shrubs spread along the ground, and toward Mount Baker. Along this rooting at the nodes, they tolerate the southeast section of the ridge, the south high winds and resist uprooting. On slope is uniformly very steep and scree and gravelly slopes, the small covered primarily by loose talus. Here rocks have been sorted by percolating the vegetation is sparse and floristically water and gravity. Here the vegetation depauperate but still interesting. The is arranged in long stripes 9-18" wide, predominant species is shrubby cinque- each stripe separated by about 3* of foil {Potentilla fruticosa, photo, p. scree material (photo, p. 279). Cushion 284) which spreads to form broad and plants dominate these vegetation stripe often spectacular mats. Other very attractive mat-forming plants of this area are Drum- mond's anemone (Ane• mone drummondii, photo, p. 278), smelow- skia {Smelowskia ova- lis), spotted saxifrage [Saxifraga bronchialis), and Davidson's penste- mon (Penstemon da- uidsonii). The unusual purple saxifrage (Saxi• fraga oppositifolia, photo, p. 282), a Erosion Patterns species uncommon to the North communities, with some of the most Cascades, occurs in abundance here, common species being moss campion growing as if painted on vertical rock (Silene acaulis, photo, p. 282), spread• walls and cliffs—an unlikely habitat for ing phlox (Phlox diffusa), cliff paint• a flowering plant. brush (Castilleja rupicola, photo, p. While the east half of Chowder has 279), and a variety of grasses and spectacular topography with Mount sedges. Frost heaving is evident where Baker in the background, the west half the soil is rather well developed on shal• is an alpine showcase. The ridge crest low slopes supporting herb-field consists of a series of rounded promi• communities discussed below. nences and shallow depressions. The The most widespread community south slope remains steep but largely types on the western half of Chowder covered with vegetation. The various are herb-fields, fell-fields (cushion plant erosional phenomena that shape and communities), and dwarf shrub commu• characterize alpine areas are conspicu• nities. Fell-fields occur along or near the ously evident. Solifluction with mass ridge crests and are characterized by sloughing of soil occurs along some of scattered cushion plants separated by a the steeper drainages on the south rocky substrate. These communities are slope. Near the crest, wind scars and the rock gardens of the alpine zone blow-outs are frequent. Here the domi• with their spectacular assortment of nant plants are dwarf shrubs, including cushion plants. The stereotype cushion Cascade willow (Salix cascadensis) and plant of tundra areas in North America, crowberry (Empetrum nigrum). Since Silene acaulis, achieves its greatest

Chowder Ridge 287 leaves; alpine golden- rod (Solidago multi- radiata); Lyall's goldenweed (Haplopappus lyal- lii, photo, 280); and Saxifraga bronch• ialis, with its brilliant• ly spotted petals, obvious only under close examination. Two uncommon fell- :f vv,; * field species, rare

•£•„_ south of Canada and . - • - - 3 '- * ~ ^ ^ 22 Alaska, are Gen- Solifluction tiana glauca and Aster sibiricus. abundance in these fell-fields. The flow• Herb-field communities are charac• ers are tubular, restricting the nectar terized by having more or less continu• rewards to long-tongued insects. Indi• ous vegetation comprised of a rich vidual plants may be pistillate, stami- assemblage of plants with a cushion or nate or perfect (hermaphroditic). matted habit. These communities occur Perhaps the most common cushion along the ridgetop and gentle south plant of Chowder is Phlox diffusa, slopes where the soil is relatively stable. another species with tubular flowers. The most conspicuous species of these Saxifraga bronchialis is also very abun• herb-fields include Phlox diffusa; dant, forming large mats that become Potentilla diuersifolia; Oxytropis senescent in the center and along the campestris; Solidago multiradiata; an trailing edge, leading to fragmented alpine form of yarrow (Achi//ea mille- cushions often of unusual shapes. An folium); small-flowered (but beautiful) alpine form of the prairie lupine {Lupi- penstemon {Penstemon procerus); nus lepidus var. lobbii) is common bellflower {Campanula rotundifolia), a here and reflects the volcanic influence very attractive form of the species with in the orogeny of the ridge. Other unusually large flowers; and a variety of conspicuous species of the fell-fields graminoids (sedges and grasses). It is include: an alpine ecotype of field within these communities that the chickweed (Cerastium arvense); two northern fairy-candelabra {Androsace species of stonecrop (Sedum diver- septentrionalis), can be found. This is gens and S. lanceolatum); field crazy- the only annual plant known to occur weed {Oxytropis campestris), the on Chowder Ridge, and although it is favorite forage species of bumblebees; small and inconspicuous, it deserves vari-leaf cinquefoil (Potentilla diversi- honorable mention when discussing folia), one of the favorite food sources alpine wildflowers. of syrphid flies; silky phacelia Dwarf shrub communities of the (Phacelia sericea, photo, p. 278), an alpine zone have close floristic affinities extremely attractive plant with its dense with the subalpine heath communities, clusters of bright blue flowers and but differ in having a predominance of exserted purple anthers contrasting yellow heather (Phyllodoce glan- with the gray-green, silky, fern-like duliflora). This species frequently

288 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) hybridizes with the red heather in environment. Unlike the animals, the mixed communities, producing a pale plants cannot seek shelter during pink-flowered intermediate. Other adverse conditions. They must have dwarf shrubs include some combination special morphological and physiological of Saiix cascadensis, snow willow adaptations to survive. They must be (Salix nivalis), Vaccinium deliciosum, generalists, in the sense that they toler• Cassiope mertensiana, and Empetr- ate the extreme and variable climatic um nigrum. and adverse soil conditions. Many have There are other habitat types on a cushion habit, providing protection Chowder Ridge. These include rock from wind and desiccation yet concen• outcroppings and rock crevices. The trating solar energy at ground level and former are marked by a colorful combi• warming the roots. Most plants are nation of crustose lichens and a few covered with silky hairs, which form an specialized flowering plants, such as insulation layer against rapid tempera• Payson's draba (Draba paysonii), a ture change and water loss during hot dense cushion plant with a brilliant and windy summer days. And, finally, display of bright yellow flowers. In rock all must be metabolically in tune with crevices alpine sorrel (Oxyria digyna) is the unpredictable, non-rhythmic climate a regular inhabitant. conditions. There are also small pockets of Chowder Ridge is not easily accessi• subalpine vegetation in protected sites ble. It can be reached from Skyline along the ridgetop. A conspicuous Divide, a six-mile hike terminated by a representative of these sites is Cusick's scramble up the rocky west end of speedwell {Veronica cusickii), an unusu• Chowder, or from Cougar Divide, a ally attractive member of the genus. five-mile hike terminated by traversing a Also, a plant of unusual beauty found in very steep north slope snow field. Both these refugia is the yellow-flowered routes have their ups and downs, most• form of spring beauty {Claytonia ly ups. Neither should be attempted lanceolata, photo, p. 280). This rare earlier than July 4th. Skyline and color form has traditionally been treat• Cougar Divides are accessed from the ed as a separate variety {Claytonia Mount Baker Highway, east of Belling- lanceolata var. chrysantha). ham, Washington. Visitors should Although many animals spend part check in at the Glacier Ranger Station of their life in the alpine zone, few live en route. there the year round. Those animals most often associated with the high Ron Taylor is an avid outdoorsman who treeless slopes of Chowder Ridge are divides his time away from his profession• mountain goat and ptarmigan, the al responsibilities between working on his latter as fearless as the former is wary. 5-acre "plantation" and hiking in the The ptarmigan is a master of camou• North Cascades. He and his wife Gloria flage with white plumage in winter and raise native and cultivated trees, shrubs, gray in summer. Even during the time and flowering herbs. Chowder Ridge is of molt, its white and gray colors match his favorite montane retreat, both for those of its world of boulders. Never• research and relaxation. He is the author theless, the ptarmigan is frequently of four field guides: Sagebrush Country observed, often with several chicks. (with Rolf Valum), Mountain Wildflow• In spite of its awesome beauty, the ers of the Pacific Northwest (with alpine area of Chowder Ridge, like the George Douglas), Rocky Mountain alpine zone everywhere, is a hostile Wildflowers, and Northwest Weeds.

Chowder Ridge 289 290 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Tools I have Loved, Lost, and Thrown Out by Sandy Snyder

For ten years I have been acquiring Digging is a skill that I didn't realize I gardening tools. Now I have two sheds didn't have until I acquired it. I am an and a garage full of all the hand tools expert on shovels now because I have for gardening that I might ever want. I broken so many as I was learning how have learned that I need only a small to dig. Most people won't stop work closet full of these to garden enjoyably and get another tool when they run and with efficiency. This little tool closet into a root or a rock, and so they use would contain shovels, trowels, cultiva• the shovel for a multi-purpose tool. tors, and a very good pair of pruners. That's how most shovels break. Think carefully about what you want The most important thing is to have a tool to do for you before you buy. a shovel that is weighted so that you Does the tool have the specifications a can handle it easily with a load of dirt. tool must have for you to use it easily? Too heavy a shovel tires you too easily Most tools are too good to just throw and becomes cumbersome. If the shov• out, so whatever does not really fit you el is too light or too small it will not be and your needs will clutter the tool shed efficient. You won't be able to get into for years. a rhythm. The grip should be of the proper diameter and the handle should There are hundreds of different kinds be the right length—so that it is not of shovels. Usually the shovel's shape always getting in your way even though determines the specific job that it can you are the one using it. The perfect do. Shovels come in many different shovel is different for each gardener shapes, sizes, hefts, and qualities. and for each job. Your size and strength Consider yourself lucky if you went out and your preference for heft are and bought the correct shovel for you factors. and your needs the first time. And luck• The time to buy a shovel is when ier still if it is serving you well after you need one. The shoveling job you many years. My first shovel was perfect want to accomplish dictates the type of for me but I broke it—because I didn't shovel you should buy. Are you spread• know how to dig properly. ing dirt or digging holes? For spreading

291 dirt you want a wide, the garden has been built is one that I flat shovel. For digging have heard called a lady's shovel. It is holes you want a long handled, has a pointed tip, and is I pointed spade. Do not terrific for moving large and small buy a shovel because perennials, digging bulb holes, and m the price is right or planting in hard soil. because you might Another perfect shovel for the rock need one someday. I gardener is the poacher's spade. Origi• guarantee that just nally this small, sturdy shovel was used because you have that by the squire's estate workers who shovel, the appropriate walked the land at dusk looking for job will never present rabbit holes. A swift cut of the spade itself. The bargain would open the warren and flush out shovel will hang the game. This well-balanced, sturdy around for years tool works as well in the garden as it getting in the way. did in the field. The best source I know Another reason for this shovel is Smith and Hawkens, not to buy a shovel is for about $50. because you like the As for trowels, there is a great selec• color of its sturdy fiber• tion. There are fat and skinny ones. glass handle. You may The one you choose depends on the justify the shovel's job. For a rock garden, I prefer the price because the long, skinny variety that is sleek and handle is so state-of- not too fat to grip. I hate a trowel with the-art it will never a fat grip. Again the balance of the tool break. The handle is is important. But the most important important because thing is that the trowel should not bend shovel handles seem to when you are digging with it. The break regularly during cheap ones always break—usually right the first few years in half at the base of the blade. Some• when a person is times they bend and sometimes they enthusiastically learn• break at the weld. The quality of ing to dig. If the color• construction is very important. Some• ful shovel does not times you will buy a rugged trowel that satisfy you by having is simply too heavy and rough to use. the right digging angle, The trick is finding a delicately balanced the right weight—so trowel that retains its strength. that you can lift easily By the way, a quality hardware store and still get the job or garden center, or a worthwhile mail• done—and the right order house will refund your money if size for you, you won't you break their tool in normal use. I use it. You might start have broken many tools and I always wishing this expensive take them back. One retailer has shovel would break just discontinued a whole line of tools so you could throw it because of my experiences. away. You might think that the cultivator, or As a rock gardener, scratcher, is a tool that would be easy the shovel I find that I enough to buy, and that it would satisfy use most often after your requirements even if you gave no

292 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) thought to how and what you will use it is why I like to tie a hot-pink plastic for. It is made to do exactly what the bow on most of my tools. This tape name implies, scratch around in the soil. identifies them as mine and helps in But think again. Do you need a long- relocating them. However, it does handled one that has the advantage of detract from the sleek appearance of a allowing you to stand up and fluff the fine tool. soil around the plants at the edges of A good, sharp pair of pruners is a the path? Or a short-handled one that pleasure and a necessity if you are a allows you to sit down but still look as if gardener. The blade should be made of you are working? For me, the real bene• good steel so that it will easily take a fit of a long-handled scratcher is that sharpening edge. Even if you know when you are on your knees you can how to sharpen, it is very difficult to cultivate most beds without stepping sharpen pruners made of poor steel. into them. With the short-handled You should be able to disassemble the scratcher you have better control and pruners and replace the blade after it manipulation. You have to make up wears out. I find the best pruners are in your mind whether both sizes are neces• the $30 range, and I particularly like sary in your tool shed even though all of Felco. Felco has many different shapes the work could be done with either one. and styles to suit your preferences; all I like having both in my collection are of high quality in that price range. because I can never predict how the I bought a good pair of pruners for weather or my mood will determine my $30 and then lost them the next day. I approach to gardening, and either may went through several pairs of pruners dictate my choice of handle. this way, each time scaling down the Scratchers have many different price. Finally I asked myself why I was prices. Some look cheap—and they putting up with such a cheap, shoddy are—but they still do the job well. pair of pruners, if this was the tool I Others look as if they should never be needed most and most often. The touched because they are so shiny you answer was that when I was finished don't want to get even a finger print on using my pruners I had no place to put them, much less dirt. I have finally them but my back pocket. This was not discovered the most important thing to satisfactory because they were not safe look for when buying scratchers: Buy there. They fell out easily. The blade cut one with a little curl included into thin, through my jeans. They punctured and strong, wire-like prongs. This tool is like ripped my truck upholstery because I a dream compared to the others. It is forgot I had them in my back pocket. So an old-time tool that seems to have I bought a leather scabbard that I could been re-introduced into the market. It is attach to my belt. It kept the garden light, sturdy, and springy. Lumps of pruners handy when I needed them and clay cannot clog it. Its handle is longer provided a quick, safe place to carry than average for a short-handle cultiva• them when I did not need them. This tor. And if you can find it on sale, it can arrangement more or less worked unless cost as little as $3. At the better garden I forgot to wear a belt on my jeans. shops it is usually priced at $13. The Then I would have to stuff the bulky only disadvantage of this tool is that its scabbard and the pruners in my back handle is made of a dark wood and its pocket. This is not very practical, and it springy thin wire prongs are black. If hurts if you are wearing tight pants! you leave the tool lying somewhere in If I forget to take the scabbard and the your garden, it is difficult to find. That pruners off my belt when I have finished

Tools 293 gardening, people look at me in a Garden equipment and accessories strange way. Once I went to the grocery are usually not light, colorful, and fun. store after gardening. My jacket was just These tools were designed and manu• covering the top of the pruners. While factured for strong men who would do pushing the grocery cart around the the real gardening work. Throughout aisles, I felt someone following me. I history, women were not recognized as turned around and was asked by a secu• gardeners. There were weeding rity officer if I was carrying a gun. Inci• women, but they did not need much in dents like this are embarrassing. the way of tools. Gardening for Sometimes it takes an awkward situa• Ladies, by Jane Loudon, was published tion to motivate a solution My solution in 1840. It seems that it was a revolu• was a colorful gardening belt made of tionary idea for women to dig or do 2"-wide webbing. I thread the pruner anything heavier than weeding or pick• scabbard through the belt. The whole ing off a few dead blooms. "Digging ensemble snaps on and off easily with a was very laborious and peculiarly unfit• quick-release, black plastic 2" belt buckle. ted to the small and delicately formed I like this arrangement because it is so hands and feet of a woman. If you do easy-on and easy-off. When I go out to dig, you must take out only a little earth garden my most-used tool is at my side. at a time when the ground is tolerably When I go to the grocery store, it is dry because of the danger of taking hanging on its hook in the potting shed. cold by standing on the damp earth." The newest tool I would allow closet Jane could dig because her gardening space for is the Cordless ClipQuik by husband made a specially sized shovel Weedeater. If your rock garden has for her. It is surprising how little cushions and mats the ClipQuik makes thought is given even today to making short work of cutting off the ragged tools for less than macho people. stems left on a dianthus or thyme after Now that there is no longer any stig• it has gone into seed. It is a small ma on gardening, no matter what your machine held in one hand and is much gender or station in life, and now that easier to control than a weedeater technology allows us to have light, designed for edging lawns. This durable tools, I want more. I want my machine has a rechargeable battery and garden tools to resemble sporting it may run out of power too soon if you equipment, to look sleek and sexy, to have large areas to clean. But for a be colorful and custom-designed to fit controlled cutting of small rock garden my size and strength. It's been done for plants, I think it is perfect. The price is backpacks, tennis rackets, and running about $23 at hardware stores. shoes—why not for gardeners? A Few Mail-order Sources of Tools Smith and Hawkens, 25 Corte Madera, Mill Valley, CA 94941 Great Western Bag Company, 1416-18 No. Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63102 Kinsman Company, River Road, Point Pleasant, PA 18950 Woman's Work, PO Box 2547, Kennebunkport, ME 04046

Drawings by Vickie Danielsen.

Sandy Snyder is a great gadget collector and tester and has recently been hired to test tools. She gardens in Littleton, Colorado, and at Denver Botanic Gardens.

294 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Jovibarbas, I Presume

by Karen Harris

I—Ake the famous Dr. Livingston, better with partial afternoon shade Jovibarba has somehow gotten lost. through the summer months , but Actually, it is not so much lost as jovibarbas need full sun to develop the hidden amongst the sempervivums, most vivid coloring. gone incognito. Many reference books Five species of jovibarbas are gener• and nurseries simply lump the species ally in cultivation. Jovibarba aUionii is of Jovibarba with sempervivums. The from the southern Alps of France, physical resemblance of these two Austria, and northern Italy. The small, genera is striking. Nevertheless, round, yellowish-green rosettes are less Jovibarba is readily distinguishable. than 2" in diameter when mature. The The primary difference between the lanceolate, incurved leaves that make up genera is that sempervivums have 8-16 these rosettes taper upwards to a point. untoothed petals (usually 11 or 12), and Both sides of the leaves are covered the flowers are star-shaped, while with very fine hairs. A magnifying glass jovibarbas have 6- or 7-toothed petals is sometimes needed to see this and the flowers are distinctively bell- pubescence. This species rarely flowers. shaped. The two genera do have much Jovibarba arenaria is the smallest in common. Both belong to the family species, with pretty, star-shaped rosettes Crassulaceae. They are all stemless, about the size of a chick pea. Adult succulent plants that form fleshy, mono- plants are not much more than 0.5" in carpic rosettes. Plants increase by form• diameter. This species is indigenous to ing new rosettes at the tips of axillary the eastern Alps of Austria and Italy. stolons (except in J. heuffelli). The bright green leaves flush red when Jovibarbas thrive in the same kind of given full sun. Again, the leaves have well-drained, gritty soil that the semper• fine pubescence. It is not difficult to grow vivums require. Scree conditions and but the tiny size requires some special rock crevices suit them very well. Too care as it is easily lost in the garden. much water will cause the rosette to Even in a trough it must be watered rot. While both genera need sun, the carefully or the minute offshoots will be sempervivums often hold their color buried by splashes of sand.

295 from different geographical areas. Another prolific species is J. sobolifera. Native to more northerly areas of central and eastern Europe than the other species, J. sobolifera is a cheerful, bright green with distinctively incurved leaves. The leaves have cilia at the edges, but no additional Jovibarba heuffelii does not repro• hairs. A mature plant may reach 4" duce by the usual offsets. To propagate across and 2" high, so that the rosette this species vegetatively, the plant must has a somewhat flattened appearance. be cut into pieces each with a section It rarely flowers. Its numerous offshoots of the thickened rootstock attached. are often referred to as "rollers", an apt Rosettes do not die after flowering, and name, as the small, round globes will this species flowers relatively readily. break off and roll as far as they can. The blossoms are pale yellow to cream. They root wherever they land and This is a highly variable species found sometimes show up in rather unexpect• throughout the Balkans with a wide ed places—especially if you have a range of forms that differ in color, kitten who discovers these little balls. pubescence, and size. All of the vari• All of the jovibarbas are ideal plants eties have a growth habit that results in for troughs, gritty scree areas, or a neat hillock of rosettes. This can be a containers. They are effectively very effective focal point for small displayed in the side pockets of large arrangements. strawberry pots. I have noticed that the Jovibarba hirta was first described by roots run much farther than one would Linnaeus in 1755. It is distributed expect. Pots for growing jovibarbas throughout the eastern Alps and should be at least 6" deep, preferably Hungary. Another highly variable deeper. Plants in smaller pots will species, it generally has larger and more languish. Potted specimens benefit from open rosettes than the other jovibarbas. a soil change at least every other spring. The rosettes are frequently stellate with Anyone who enjoys collecting dark coloring; leaves tend to be open sempervivums would also undoubtedly and have a downy texture. These are find jovibarbas interesting. They are quite prolific and produce numerous fascinating specimens and merit greater offshoots. This species is useful if you attention and recognition than they want to cover a relatively large area receive in contemporary rock gardens. quickly. Several varieties are available Sources include: Squaw Mountain Gardens, 36212 SE Squaw Mountain Road, Estacada, OR 97023 Jim/Irene Russ Quality Plants, HCR 1, Box 6450, Igo, CA 96047 Porterhowse Farms, 41370 S.E. Thomas Rd., Sandy, OR 97055 Country Cottage, Route 2, Box 130, Sedgwick, KS 67135 Drawings by Jill Buck. Karen Matthews gardens in Adams, Massachusetts.

296 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) <^UIS.BUJK In and About the Black Hills by James H. Locklear.

one has done more to open When these ancient mountains were the eyes of gardeners to the horticultur• uplifted, rock strata to the outside were al potential of the Great Plains flora pushed up and tilted on edge to varying than Claude Barr. On his ranch near degrees. Barr wrote with fondness of the Black Hills in South Dakota he two areas of limestone that were started one of the first native plant exposed by this process, the Greenhorn nurseries in the United States, from limestone, which rings the outer perime• which he distributed plants of the Great ter of the Hills, and the Minnekahta Plains to gardens throughout this coun• limestone, which lies closer to the interi• try as well as overseas. His writings, or. While interesting wildflowers can be which included numerous articles for found throughout the region of the the Bulletin of the American Rock Black Hills, there are special concentra• Garden Society, brought well-deserved tions of plants wherever these two areas attention to the little-known plants of of limestone are exposed. this region. His most lasting contribu• At his ranch south of the Black Hills, tion, however, was his book, Jewels of Barr was nearest to exposures of the the Plains, through which we gain Greenhorn limestone. From a distance access to his 70-plus years of experi• the escarpments and hills formed by ence with the flora of the Great Plains. these outcroppings, which lie between While Barr roamed from Canada to the forested Black Hills and the Texas in his search for garden-worthy surrounding mixed grass prairie, appear plants, some of his best finds came barren and devoid of any interesting from his own backyard—the Black plant growth. Growing on the crests in Hills, the badlands, and the surrounding gravelly soil, however, are a number of Dakota prairie. This region is host to a attractive rock plants. great assortment of beautiful, hardy Narrow-leaved musineon {Musineon plants, many of rock garden stature. tenuifolium, photo, p. 302) is one of Viewed from the air, the Black Hills the finer ones, with flat-topped clusters region is basically an oval-shaped dome of bright yellow flowers held above low rising out of the surrounding plains. tufts of foliage in the spring. The dark

297 green leaves are finely divided, almost large area of distribution within the fern-like, making this an attractive plant northwestern Great Plains, P. alyssifo- even after it is finished blooming. The lia displays its widest array of colors on distribution of this member of the pars• the limestone areas associated with the ley family is centered in the Nebraska Black Hills. Lavender is the most Panhandle and adjacent Colorado, common color but pinks of various South Dakota, and Wyoming. hues can also be found as well as whites Another special plant found on the and near blues. The flowers may be Greenhorn is a little erigeron, star-shaped with rather narrow petals Erigeron ochroieucus var. scribneri or full-faced with wide petals. The flow• (photo, p. 302). Barr enthusiastically er size of P. alyssifolia is larger here declared this the "crown jewel" of the than anywhere else in this species' plains daisies. Not exceeding 4" in range, being an inch or slightly more height and only about 6" wide, this across. Edgar Wherry recognized this diminutive plant bears numerous gold- large-flowered Black Hills phase as a centered daisies with white ray florets special subspecies, P. alyssi folia ssp. during its spring blooming period. The abdita, and listed it among those variety scribneri is a dwarf phase of the members of the genus "deserving wider species and occurs in rocky areas horticultural use" in his book, The throughout much of the northwestern Genus Phlox. Great Plains. Also occurring in the region are two One of the most striking plants other phloxes, plains phlox (P andico- found in the region is the leather flower la, photo, p. 303) and Hood's phlox {Clematis hirsutissima, formerly (P. hoodii). Both have white flowers known as C. scottii). This beautiful, and a creeping habit and are smaller in non-vining clematis, which is some• size than P. alyssifolia. A joint research times associated with the Greenhorn, project involving the Dyck Arboretum produces dark blue, bonnet-shaped of the Plains in Kansas and the Univer• flowers that are borne on gracefully sity of Nebraska Department of Horti• arching stems in the spring. Barr culture is evaluating the horticultural discovered a pink-flowered form that potential of these three species. apparently has been lost to horticulture. Supported by a grant from the Perenni• This species is not unlike C. fremontii, al Plant Association, collections have which occurs on the limestone-under• been made of superior wild-growing lain prairies of northcentral Kansas, individuals of each species. These will except that its foliage is pinnately eventually be grown in field comparison compound. Like many other plants in trials along with three cultivars of the this region, the populations of this popular garden plant, P. subulata. species in the Black Hills represent It is fitting that part of these trials will eastern outliers of a mainly Rocky be conducted at the University's Mountain-centered distribution. research station in North Platte, Nebras• Of all of the plants found on the ka, where Glenn Viehmeyer, an Greenhorn limestone, none makes a acquaintance of Barr and fellow explor• more impressive show than the er of the Great Plains flora, did his alyssum-leaved phlox (Phlox alyssifo• pioneering work in Penstemon selec• lia, photo, p. 303). This mat-forming tion and breeding. This work, along phlox is covered with fragrant flowers with other interesting projects involving over a long period in the spring and Great Plains natives, is still being carried early summer. While it has a rather on at North Platte by Dr. Dale Lindgren.

298 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) The Minnekahta limestone outcrops away from the Hills are the setting for closer to the interior of the Black Hills, numerous attractive wildflowers. Many in areas typically vegetated with open of rock garden stature grow in spaces stands of ponderosa pine. This rock is between the prairie grasses, including itself quite attractive, having a pinkish- Nuttall's violet (Viola nuttallii), the gray cast. It occurs at a number of yellow-flowered violet of the High places around the Hills and is conve• Plains. False dandelion (Microseris niently exposed at the south entrance cuspidata) is another that manages to of Wind Cave National Park. find a place in the prairie turf, its Weathered outcroppings of this lime• dandelion-like flowers held aloft on stiff stone are another good place to find stems above a basal tuft of wavy- the large-flowered form of Phlox margined leaves. alyssifolia, which appears even more In Jewels of the Plains, Barr spoke attractive against the pink backdrop. of the challenges of gardening in the Blooming with it in the spring are nice tight, sticky clay soil that supports the patches of mertensia (Mertensia prairie grasses of this region. He specif• lanceolata), with drooping clusters of ically mentioned the tendency of this sunset-colored rose and blue flowers. soil, known locally as "gumbo," to cling Gray ragwort (Senecio canus) is here to anything when slightly wet, particu• as well, its bright yellow daisies larly digging tools. I can attest to this, contrasting beautifully with its silvery having personally experienced how foliage. In crevices in the limestone the gumbo can stick to vehicle tires when little rock fern, Cheilanthes feei, can wet, turning them into oversized glazed also be found. donuts incapable of any sort of traction. Potentilla concinna, an herbaceous One plains wildflower that seems to cinquefoil of dwarf stature, also occurs flourish in this difficult soil is Oeno- on the Minnekahta limestone. While thera caespitosa (photo, p. 301), only sporting its bright yellow flowers in known appropriately as the "gumbo early spring, its neatly divided foliage, lily." It is one of the few plants that can silvery beneath and green to gray on grow in the raw clay soils of the top, makes it a beautiful subject through• badland formations that are scattered out the growing season. Another early throughout southwest South Dakota. spring bloomer, Anemone patens, can The large, white flowers of this evening be found growing in thin soil over the primrose open up around sunset and limestone. Known to many as the begin to wither the next morning. On pasque flower, this plant is the state flow• cloudy mornings they will remain open er of South Dakota. Quite appropriately, for longer periods of time. the emblem of the American Rock Another species that takes gumbo in Garden Society occurs here as well, in stride is crested beardtongue {Penste- the form of the species Dodecatheon mon eriantherus). This species can be pulchellum (photo, p. 304). All this in found growing in barren badland soils just one corner of Wind Cave National as well as among the grasses of the Park! A checklist of the Park's flora is prairie. Reaching 8-12" in height, it available from its headquarters. bears dense, elongate clusters of laven• While Barr found many treasures in der flowers in the spring. Each flower the Black Hills, his perceptive eye was has a spreading lower lip which displays also cast upon the surrounding grass• a dense growth of gold-colored hairs. lands. In May and June the beautiful Some of the best displays of wild- expanses of mixed grass prairie that roll flowers in Claude Barr country are

Black Hills 299 found on the tops of the rocky hills and mens. This he did and Barneby was able buttes that here and there rise above to determine that, indeed, these plants the prairie. Almost any of these will were not A. tridactylicus; they were have the draba milkvetch {Astragalus instead a species new to science. spatulatus) present, floating dozens of Thanks to Barneby's discernment, Barr purple blossoms above little mounds of now had a new name to list in his nurs• foliage. Depressed nailwort {Parony- ery catalog—Astragalus barriil chia depressa), a more lax-growing In the midst of Barneby's technical relative of the cushion-forming P. description of A. barrii, published in a sessiliflora, is also common. Alpine scientific journal in 1956, is a warmly- bladderpod {Lesquerella alpina) is written tribute to Claude Barr: "It is a equally abundant in rocky habitats in pleasure to associate this delightful little the region, producing numerous bright Astragalus with the name of Claude A. yellow flowers over low mounds of Barr, keen observer and successful culti• silvery, spoon-shaped leaves. vator of the prairie and badlands floras, While found only occasionally in who through the medium of his nursery South Dakota, silver-mounded miner's at Prairie Gem Ranch near Smithwick candle (Cryptantha cana, photo, p. has done much to introduce to garden• 301) is rather common to the south in ers here and abroad the beauties of the the Nebraska Panhandle and adjacent native vegetation." parts of Colorado and Wyoming. With Today Barr's milkvetch (photo, p. attractive silvery foliage and sparkling 304) is known to occur in southwest white, gold-centered flowers, this low- South Dakota, northeast Wyoming, and growing plant is one of the most beauti• southeast Montana. Its restricted distri• ful wildflowers found in the region. Barr bution makes it one of a small number called it the gem of its genus. of species that are truly endemic to the One May morning, some 40 years Great Plains. Most of the populations ago, Barr found what must have been of this attractive little plant occur in the his most treasured discovery. At an Powder River Basin country of north• isolated rise called Limestone Butte, not east Wyoming, but even in this area it is far from his ranch in Fall River County, not very common. In South Dakota it is he came across a little cushion-forming known from only a handful of locations; milkvetch that he had not encountered I am glad that one of these is Lime• before. With silvery, three-parted leaves stone Butte and that Claude Barr was and rose-colored blossoms, it resembled there exploring one spring day. It is Astragalus tridactylicus, a species of fitting that one of the most beautiful the Rocky Mountain foothills in north• species in the flora of the Great Plains eastern Colorado and southeastern should be discovered by and named for Wyoming. Barr was able to propagate the man who so loved this region and this plant and later offer it through his its plants. mail-order nursery, Prairie Gem Ranch. For information about the Claude A. Eventually some of these plants were Barr Memorial Great Plains Gardens, obtained by Rupert Barneby of the New write director Cynthia Reed, Great York Botanical Garden, an international Plains Botanical Society, PO Box 461, expert on the genus Astragalus. Barne• Hot Springs, SD 57747. by, who was familiar with A. tridactyli- cus, had some question about the Jim Locklear is director of the Dyck identity of Barr's plants and requested Arboretum of the Plains at Hesston, that Barr supply him with pressed speci• Kansas.

300 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4)

Musineon tenuifolium (p. 295)

Erigeron ochroleucus var. scribneri (p. 296)

302 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Phlox andicola (p. 296)

Phlox alyssifolia (p. 296-297)

303 Astragalus barrii (p. 298)

Dodecatheon pulchellum (p. 297)

304 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Awards

Marcel LePiniec Award J.C. Raulston

In the 1940s, a wheat farm on the prairies of Oklahoma was the world of nature that J.C. Raulston first explored, and a childhood fascination with flower and seed catalogs was his introduction to the lore and lure of plants. As loving director- caretaker of the eight-acre North Carolina State University Arboretum, J.C. even now has maintained his wonderment and has vastly expanded the Arboretum's plant collection to some 7000 taxa from at least 45 countries since its opening in 1976. Through teaching, research, extension service, and a plant evaluation program, he has single-handedly galvanized horti• culture and the plant nursery industry in North Carolina. Further, his continuing emphasis on special, non-native plants that are potentially adaptable to culture in this country has influenced and inspired others far beyond the borders of the Southeast. In short, he has catapulted the Arboretum from a secret garden into a center of national renown. Some of the plants that J.C. has introduced to nurserymen and the gardening public through the North Carolina State University Arboretum are species from a Korean collecting expedition in 1985 with Barry Yinger, who was then with the US National Arboretum. These include Patrinia scabiosifolia, Scilla scilloides, Styrax japonica 'Sohuksan', Vitex rotundifolia, Viburnum awabuki 'Chindo', and Hosta yingeri. Species that the Arboretum has highly promoted include the evergreen ground cover Ardisia japonica 'Chirimen'; Nandina domestica 'San Gabriel' and 'Alba'; Rosa 'Petite Pink' (Scotch rose) and 'Snow Carpet'; Prunus mume; Dehsperma nubigenum; various cultivars of Hippeastrum and the now ubiquitous fastigiate Leyland cypress, X Cupressocyparis leylandii. Two unusual introductions by the Arboretum include Liquidambar styraciflua var. rotundiloba (a fruitless sweet gum) and Lagerstroemia fauriei 'Fantasy' (a selected red bark crape myrtle from one of the five plants that originated from a Japanese collection distributed by the US Arboretum in the 1950s). During the last decade under J.C.'s helmsmanship, nurserymen have been the beneficiaries of some 200,000 propagation cuttings annually and a staggering 45,000 plants representing over 250 taxa from distributions through the Arboretum. To spend a day following Dr. J.C. Raulston is to exhaust oneself from the sheer magnitude of his energy. His travel calendar and speaking engagements are consistently over-extended. He tallies up more flight mileage than some airplane pilots. He never boasts of his many visits to botanic gardens, arboreta, or horticul-

305 tural production areas even though they have included all 50 US States, 55 coun• tries, and some 600 public gardens. In his horticultural peregrinations, J.C. has driven at least 35,000 miles throughout North Carolina to teach university exten• sion evening classes for landscape and nursery professionals. His car is usually generously filled with plants (and associated soil) scooped from gardens, backyards, and the errant side trips of various plant pilgrimages. Last year, J.C. reached one of those typically unrelished decennial birthday milestones, and a surprise celebration flooded his house with scores of students, former students and friends. His guests spoke of occasions when J. C. touched their lives as teacher, advisor, listener, and dispenser of sage advice. Although a horticultural scientist by formal training from undergraduate work at Oklahoma State University through graduate work at the University of Maryland, this Renais• sance man is equally comfortable at the theater, an art exhibition, or a symphony as he is in quest of the sole remaining species of Cercis is missing from the Arboretum's collection. We are fortunate—indeed rich—to be contemporaries with such an indefatiga• ble plantsman, teacher, and friend who is an aesthete in both nature and art. For these reasons, the American Rock Garden Society is pleased to present to Dr. J.C. Raulston the Marcel LePiniec Award for unrelentingly contributing to the diversity of plant material in our gardens and landscapes.

—Bobby J. Ward

Marvin E. Black Award

Ted Kipping Surely all his many friends throughout the ARGS will be pleased to learn that Ted Kipping has been chosen as the first recipi• ent of the Marvin E. Black Award. For many years Ted has had an important influence on local and national ARGS meetings. His exciting ideas for coordinating themes, his broad acquaintance with interesting and appropriate speakers, and his extensive knowledge of plants in the wild as well as in cultivation, have made him an indispensable source of inspiration for large conventions and impromptu gatherings. He played a major role in involving the Western Chapter as host for Western Study Weekends and has always been a creative force in planning their programs. He accepted the 1990 ARGS annual meeting for the Western Chapter and planned its basic concept of field trips at Lake Tahoe. He has made numerous trips to give slide shows promoting these rock garden meetings. Always concerned with spectacular presentation, he has sought out the latest in audio-visual technology to help speakers communicate with ease and precision, and to delight the eye with a feast of images. He is well known throughout the plant world for his excellent photography and has contributed countless slides to editors worldwide. His tempting pictures reproduced in a myriad of books, maga-

306 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) zines, and journals have done much to promote the cause of rock gardening. As an active participant in numerous and varied horticultural societies, he has made valuable contacts with a broad spectrum of people, spreading his knowledge of rock gardening to them and bringing their valuable expertise within our circle. For many years Ted has held monthly potluck-slide show meetings in San Fran• cisco. All kinds of plant enthusiasts are invited to speak and attend. It is quite a popular local event, and editors have recruited photos and articles from presenta• tions there, while clubs have discovered speakers for their programs. Ted attends almost all the local, regional, and national rock garden meetings, as well as those of other plant societies. At these gatherings he is always meeting new people, introducing gardeners with similar interests, and getting ideas for new meetings. May it be with strangers on a mountain trail, friends on a garden tour, or honored guest speakers at an international conference, Ted is always stimulat• ing others with his enthusiasm for the plant world. He is one of our members best qualified to receive this honor. His award is well deserved indeed.

—Margery Edgren

Award of Merit John Wurdack

Dr. John Wurdack's association with plants has been lifelong and has two distinct aspects. As a professional botanist, he has had a distinguished career as a taxonomist, field botanist, herbarium curator, and expert in the Melostomataceae. John has been associated with the New York Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution, where he currently serves as herbarium cura• tor. His remarkable career has spanned over 40 years and includes numerous collecting trips to South America and the Caribbean, over 130 professional papers and field collections of tens of thousands of plant specimens including many previously undescribed species and genera. Our interest in John's botanical activities is, however, more focused upon his avocation: seeking out and growing rare and unusual plants for the garden. When not traveling in South America, John has searched out and collected seed of large numbers of rare plants of the southeastern United States, many in their type local• ities. Long before there was a list of endangered species of plants, John was distributing seeds and seedlings of plants like Iliamna corei, Echinacea tennesseensis, Zephranthes simpsonii, Clematis albicoma, and its rare and beautiful shale barren subspecies Clematis a. ssp. coactilis, along with C. addis- onii and C. versicolor. Other southeastern plants that John has grown and distributed include—and this list is by no means complete—species of Hexastylis (or Asarum), Trillium, Rhexia, Tradescantia hirsuticaulis, Nolana alabamensis, Croton alabamensis, Sedum pulchellum, Talinum species, and Tennessee cedar glade endemics including Leavenworthia, Psoralea subacaulis, and the near endemic Hyper-

Awards 307 icum frondosum. His current interest in the genus Arisaema and other fascinating Asian woodland plants makes a visit to his garden an excursion in the unusual. John has been a stalwart in the Potomac Valley Chapter, regularly contributing rare and unusual plants to our plant exchanges and serving as chapter chairman. He has served as program chairman for three winter study weekends, lining up speakers and topics for our education and pleasure. His wide acquaintance with botanists, horticulturalists, gardeners, and plantspeople has been a great asset. For his unflagging interest in the American Rock Garden Society for over 25 years, for his service to the organization, for his friendly assistance on matters botanical and for his many contributions to our gardens, we are pleased to present this Award of Merit to John Wurdack. —Donald Humphrey

Edgar T. Wherry Award

Richard Jaynes

The Dr. Edgar T. Wherry Award, which may be awarded for outstanding contribu• tions to the study of the flora of North America or the introduction of such flora into horticulture, was bestowed upon Dr. Richard Jaynes of Connecticut. Dr. Jaynes received his BA from Wesleyan University and his PhD from Yale. Dr. Jaynes has previously received 13 awards from vari• ous botanical, horticultural, agricultural, and scientific organizations for his work in chestnut trees and laurel. He was employed at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station for 25 years as plant breeder and horticulturalist and in that time published over 100 papers. Many of his publications deal with the propagation of Kalmia, Castanea, Pieris and Rhododendron. He resigned from the Experiment Station in 1984 to continue his work with Kalmia, do consulting, grow Christmas trees, and establish a small nurs• ery. Dr. Jaynes is the leading authority on the American chestnut and its hybrids. The two nut tree books he edited (1969, 1978) were and are the most compre• hensive references available on the culture of nut trees in the United States. Work that he initiated with colleagues on biological control of chestnut disease is still being actively researched. The world authority on Kalmia, he has released most of the new cultivars now being commercially propagated, primarily by micropropaga- tion. His research on Kalmia is in large measure responsible for the increasing popularity of this American native. He is the International Registrar for Kalmia cultivars. Here we add the Edgar T. Wherry Award to the many other laurels that Dr. Jaynes has earned.

—Harold Epstein

308 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) ARGS Coming Events 1992 Eastern Winter Study Weekend 24th Annual Eastern Winter Study Weekend A Weekend of Eclectic Excitement January 24—January 26,1992

Speakers: Norman Deno, on seed germination; Fred McGourty, on small perennials suited to the rock garden; Verna Pratt, on Alaskan wildflowers; Ian and Carole Bainbridge, on western European alpines of the Dolomites and Pyrenees; Fred and Joann Knapp, on plant hunting by amateurs; Reynold Welch on destruct- ing a rock garden

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1992 Western Winter Study Weekend From the Carpathians to the Caucasus: Alpines for the Connoisseur Portland, Oregon February 28—March 1,1992, The Columbia-Willamette Chapter invites you to a weekend focusing on the rich flora of the mountains at the heart of the Old World, with an international roster of speakers on topics from ecology to propaga• tion. Speakers: Christopher Grey-Wilson, Fritz Kummert, Zdenek Zvolanek, Jane Bock, Panayoti Kelaidis, Josef Halda, Norman Singer, Geoffrey Charlesworth, Faith Camp• bell, David Hale, Steve Doonan, Phil Pearson, Jan Palmer, David Palmer Site: Monarch Motor Hotel, Southeast Portland Fee: $60.00 ($80.00 after Jan. 16,1992); meals additional Registrars: Jan and Dave Dobak, 2584 N.W. Savier St., Portland, OR 97210-2412; write for brochure

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THE ALPINE GARDEN SOCIETY Membership of the Alpine Garden Society puts the American Alpine gardener in close touch with those throughout the world who share his interest in one of the most absorbing branches of horticulture. The Quarterly Bulletin of the A.G.S. is respected internationally as one of the most informative publica• tions of its kind. It will bring into your home a distillation of the experience and ideas of some of the finest gardeners, plant explorers, and horticultural thinkers of our time. Among the many other benefits of the Society, its uniquely comprehensive seed list alone is worth more than the modest subscription of $23.00 US. For Overseas Members Apply to: The Secretary, The Alpine Garden Society Lye End Link, St. John's, Woking, Surrey, England.

313 Calochortus Fritillaria fOT Other Western Native Bulbs

For over 20 years C.H. Baccus we have specialized in 900 Boynton Ave. dwarf Rhododendrons, San Jose, CA 95117 Azaleas and dwarf coni• (408)244-2923 fers. We also have one of New England's largest selec• SASE For July mail order list. Spring tions of rare spe• container and Fall dormant bulbs cialty Alpines, sold by appointment only. perfect for the trough or rock garden. Free 120-page Mpine, 'Primula and Auricula Seed. catalog when you visit us. Field House Alpines To send for catalog, Leake Road, Gotham, Nottinghamshire, NGIIOJN include $3.00 England Sde tyentfor the. United States and Canada: fe June M. Skidmore NURSERIES, INC. 6730 West Mercer Way 1159 Bronson Road, Fairfield, CT. 06430 Mercer Island, WA 98040 (203) 259-5609 (Sorry we do not mail order.) Send $1.00 for List

Unusual Alpines & Hardy Plants Nursery Nursery established 1927 mc. From our extensive plant collection we can offer an interesting range of P.O.Box 693 Truro MA 02666 Garden Shop on Depot Rd. Alpines, Primulas, Saxifrages, Hardy Perennials, Shrubs, and Dwarf Con• New England grown Heather ifers. All are fully described in our We grow the hardy cultivars of current catalogue. (Please send $2.00 Calluna and Erica in 4\ 5 1/2" in notes, not cheques.) Seed List also and 1 gallon pots. Excellent available (2 reply coupons please). availability of cultivars selected Orders dispatched worldwide by AIR for their unique foliage and flower color. Visit our garden MAIL, carefully packed. shop April-OctWe ship UPS the year-round! Wholesale-Retail Holden Clough Nursery Color catalog loaded with all the information you will need in Dept. ARGS, Holden, Bolton-by-Bowland Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 4PF England selecting plants for your garden Telephone: 2007 615 only $1.00. (508)349-6769

314 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) LIFE FORM REPLICATORS v* ship afm&t anyvnar*! Write for Seed List with 2000 kinds of perennials and rock plants Send 30c for NEW 100-cultivar descriptor* $2.00 list of hardy haatnt and heat hart. PO Box 857 Jb&tfis JJiaaxfiArs Fowlerville, Michigan 48836 $0t, 850, tfaa.uk 985*1 Also wanted: Seed collectors and (ZO(J H8Z W3 growers—let us know what you can supply.

Wildflowers of the COLLECTORS DWARF BULBS Southern Appalachians Our 1991 catalogue contains Choice, hardy, reliable, showy. many old favorites for garden and FROM OUH NURSERY TO YOUR GARDEN. Alpine House. be it woodland, rock, moist or dry. In addition, we offer numerous rare Send $2 for 4 pp. illustrated descriptive catalog and new introductions. or SASE for list of wildflowers, hardy ferns and perennials. Full and Descriptive Catalogue $2.00 POTTERTON & MARTIN Sunlight Gardens Nettleton, Nr. Caistor, North Lines. Rt 1 Box 600-R3 LN7 6HX, ENGLAND Andersonville, Tenn. 37705 tel 472-851792

^ojdbo/tougfc

oWtutee/ty, 3nc. Growers oh Dwarf and Unusual Conifers, Broadleaves and Trees Custom Grafting & Liners Available LANDSCAPE DESIGN & INSTALLATION CONIFER & ROCK GARDENS W. David Thompson By Appointment Only Street, Maryland 21154 (301) 836-7023 Retail & Wholesale

Homeplace Garden CAMELLIA FOREST NURSERY Exceptional List of Rhododendrons, Hardy Camellias * includes Dwarf Species and Hybrids, Dwarf Conifers £ Azaleas, Dwarf Conifers, Maples, and Choice Natives Rare Asian Trees and Shrubs # Write for Catalog, $2 Catalog, $1.00 Rt. 1 PO Box 300 125 CAROLINA FOREST ROAD Commerce, GA 30529 CHAPEL HILL, NC 27516 Phone (404) 335-2892 919-967-5529

315 WILD FLOWERS of Forest Floors Mountain Meadows WOODLAND ROCKERY 6210 Klam Road Otter Lake, MI 48464

MAIL ORDER CATALOG $1.00 ALL WILDINGS NURSERY PROPAGATED

American Penstemon Society PERENNIALS, WILD FLOWERS, ROCK GARDEN PLANTS, Learn all about the largest CONIFERS, FLOWERING SHRUBS genus of flowering plants endemic to North America. SEND $3.00 FOR OUK PERENNIAL REFERENCE GUIDE Bulletins twice a year, seed SORRY, NO SHIPPING exchange, round robin corre• spondence, and yearly meet• Sam Bridge ings. Join us by sending $10 Nursery N' Greenhouses to Ann Bartlett, 1569 South Holland 437 North Street, Greenwich, Conn. 06830 Court, Lakewood, Colorado 80232. (203) 869-3418

SUBSCRIBE! • From the tropical rainforests of Panama to the micro mosses of the Arctic tundra, we explore the art and science of our botanical heritage. • In each quarterly issue, emphasis is given to the conservation and horticulture of our native plants. • WILDFLOWER is a forum and catalyst for gardeners, field- botanists, naturalists, teachers and all who share the vision to comprehend and preserve our green planet.

Regular* 1 year $25 2 year $45 Family* 1 year $30 2 year $50 Library* 1 year $30 WILDFLOWER - Subscriptions All other countries $30 US 1848 LIVERPOOL ROAD • Payable in US dollars for US subscribers. Make che• BOX 110, PICKERING que payable to the Canadian Wild/lower Society. ONTARIO CANADA L1V 6M3

316 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) Wild Collected and Cultivated Seed of Cushion and Saxatile Plants Send $1 for November catalog to PO Box 200483, Denver, Colorado 80220.

M \ KURT I BLUEMEL, INC.

Rare Plant Division

Choice Plants of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Write for List, $2 2740 Greene Lane, Baldwin, Maryland 21013 301-557-7229

For spring or fall planting. UPS delivery. (No shipments to CA, please.)

WOODLANDERS Pacific Horticulture NURSERY GROWN TREES, SHRUBS, a magazine about PERENNIALS, plants and gardens of the west SOUTHERN NATIVES & EXOTICS illustrated color quarterly Please send $1.00 for mail-order list or $2.50 to include Descriptive Catalog #2. annually, in US currency: US $15; WOODLANDERS, DEPT. RG Canada & Mexico $18; overseas $20 1128 COLLETON AVENUE write to: AIKEN, SC 29801 Circulation Department PO Box 680, Berkeley, CA 94701 PRIMULA WORLDWIDE An international symposium

APRIL 10-12, 1992 PORTLAND, OREGON

PRESENTED BY THE AMERICAN PRIMROSE SOCIETY THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY & THE BERRY BOTANIC GARDEN

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Ann Lunn, Registrar 6620 N.W. 271st Avenue Hillsboro, Oregon 97124 U.S.A.

OFFERING COLLECTOR'S PLANTS FROM Unique, Rare, Fresh Seeds! AROUND THE WORLD Collected in the high mountains g/COLLECTORS of Turkish Kurdistan and other high mountains of Turkey, NURSERY Greece, Bulgaria and the Alps. $1.75-3.50. Descriptive price list MAIL ORDER CATALOG - $1.00 $1, credited on orders. * 1602 NE 162ND AVENUE Josef Jurasek, Lamacova 961 VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON 98684 15200 Praha 5, Czechoslovakia ALL PLANTS NURSERY PROPAGATED

Seed Collecting Expedition to the Tibetan Borderlands, 1991

Shares are being finalized in this year's Chadwell & McKelvie expedition, with a donation from each going towards the establishment of the Kohli Memorial Botanic Garden. The main location and supplementary destination enable reliable access to high-dpine areas. The following are well represented: Cremanthodium, Oxylropis, PotentiHa, Primula, Androsace, Saxifraga. Arisaema. Delphinium, Nepeta. Anemone. Gentiana. Waldheimia, Draba, and some Meconopsis. Previous collections from neighbouring districts have proven hardy and more adaptable to cultivation than many plants from the wettest pats of the Himalaya. An immediate application for a prospectus should be sent to the address below: Seed Lists From Around the World Chris Chadwell also offers a selection of wild collected seed from JAPAN. HIMALAYA.Incl. Paraquilegia, Meconopsis, Primula, Dicentra, Rhododendron. Send 2 US Dollar Bills (not a check) for a prospectus or any seed list (available in October) to: Mrs. D. Chadwell, 81 Parlaunt Road, SLOUGH, SL3 8BE ENGLAND

318 Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society Vol. 49(4) A • R • G • S BOOKSTORE

Books Meconopsis*, by J.L. S. Cobb New $23.00 Book of Primroses, by B. Shaw New 27.00 Gardens of Roberto Burle Marx, by S. Eliovson New 35.00 Trees of Georgia, by C. Brown &L.K.Kirkman New 27.00 Alpines*, by Will Ingwersen 45.00 Wildflowers of the Western Cascades, by R.A. Ross & H.L. Chambers..15.00 Wildflowers of the Northern Great Plains, by F.R. Vance, et al 13.00 Flora of the Black Hills, by R. Dorn 5.00 Jewels of the Plains, by Claude Barr 17.00 Manual of Saxifrages*, by D .A.Webb &R.J. Gornall 40.00 Saxifrages*, by F. Kohlein 25.00 Flowers of the Mediterranean, by O. Polunin & A. Huxley 25.00 The Dolomites, R. Farrer, 8.00 Gardening with Native Wildflowers*, by S.B. James & L.E. Foote 25.00 Garden Plants for Connoisseurs*, by R. Lancaster 23.00 Botany for Gardeners*, by Brian Capon 23.00 Creative Propagation*, by Peter Thompson 26.00 A Rock Garden in the South, by E. Lawrence, ed.N. Goodwin, A. Lacyl7.00 Sucessful Southern Gardening*, by Sandra Ladendorf 18.00 Cuttings from a Rock Garden*, by H. Lincoln Foster & L. L. Foster....23.00 Auriculas*, by Brenda Hoyatt 14.00 Campanulas*, by Peter Lewis and Margaret Lynch 22.00 Orchids of the Western Great Lakes Region*, by Fred Case 26.00 The Opinionated Gardener*, by Geoffrey Charlesworth 14.00 Rocky Mountain Alpines*, publ. Alpines '86 Int'l. Conference 30.00 Alpine Wildflowers of the Rocky Mountains*, by J. Duft & R. Moseley ..7.00 Rock Gardening, by H. Lincoln Foster 18.00 The Bernard Harkness Seedlist Handbook, by Harkness et al 23.00 This is only a partial listing; titles listed in the last issue are still available, as are many additional books. Decals, library binders, etc., also available. Order now for Christmas! Please mail inquiries and orders to: Ken Nitschke (517) 835-4325 American Rock Garden Society Bookstore 1071 South Acaule Lane, Midland, MI 48640 USA Please print name and address clearly. Your zip code or postal code must be included. Allow 8-12 weeks for overseas shipment. All orders must be prepaid in US dollars by check on a US bank or by international money order. Add postage and handling: First Book, US $3.00 Outside US $4.00 Each Additional Book $1.50 * denotes a hard cover Chapter Chairpersons.

Adirondack William Dress, 716 Elm Street Ext., Ithaca, NY 14850 Allegheny Walt Betzold, 131 Rochester Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15229 Berkshire Geoffrey Charlesworth, HC 66 Box 114, Sandisfield, MA 01255 Columbia-Willamette Richard Wagner, 2047 SE 20th, Portland, OR 97214 Connecticut Richard Redfield, 379 Brook Rd., Box 324, Scotland, CT 06264 Delaware Valley Morris West, PO Box 75, Brogue, PA 17309 Emerald Virginia Sebring, 463 Lindley Lane, Eugene, OR 97401 Gateway June Hutson, 10601 KnoHside Circle, St. Louis, MO 62123 Great Lakes Ken Nitschke, 1071 South Acaule Lane, Midland, MI 48640 Hudson Valley Edith Young, Box 332, RFD 3, McDougal Ln., Peekskill, NY 10566 Long Island Shelley Herlich, 43 Greenfield Lane, Commack, NY 11725 Fred Knapp, 58 Kaintuck Lane, Locust Valley, NY 11560 Manhattan Lawrence Thomas, 340 E. 74th, #11G, New York, NY 10021 Minnesota Florence Keller, 6412 Indian Hills Rd., Minneapolis, MN 55439 Mt. Tahoma Doreen Pohlman, 10623 125th Street East, Puyallup, WA 98374 New England James L. Jones, 45 Middle St., Lexington, MA 02173 Newfoundland Bodil Larsen, Site 78, Box 36, St. John's, Newfoundland A1C 5H4 Northwestern Micheal Moshier, 815 17th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122 Ohio Valley Harry Butler, Rt. 1, 2521 Penewit Rd., Spring Valley, OH 45370 Ontario Trevor Ashbee, 57 Winston Cr., Guelph, Ontario, N1E 2K1, Canada Piedmont Bobby Wilder, 1213 Dixie Trail, Raleigh, NC 27607 Potomac Valley Don Humphrey, 6540 Oakwood Drive, Falls Church, VA 22041 Rocky Mountain Dick and Ann Bartlett, 1569 S. Holland Ct., Lakewood, CO 80226 Siskiyou Vanca Lumsden, 625 Gibbon Rd., Central Point, OR 97502 Southern Appalachian Ruth Samotis, 2618 Hebron Road, Hendersonville, NC 28739 Tacoma Candy Strickland, 8518 28th Ave. East, Tacoma, WA 98445 Watnong Barry Yinger, PO Box 565, Far Hills, NJ 07931 Western Marian Reeve, 4325 Mountain View Ave., Oakland, CA 94605 Wisconsin-I llinois Tom Homer, 25706 Malchine Rd., Waterford, WI 53185

Bulletin Staff_

Editor Gwen Kelaidis (303) 322-1410 1410 Eudora Street, Denver, Colorado 80220 Advertising Manager Al Deurbrouck (412) 653-0281 6915 Hilldale Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236 Bulletin Board Editor Jacques Mommens, Millwood, New York Proofreading Assistants Barbara and Ted Cochrane, Madison, Wisconsin Bernice Petersen, Littleton, Colorado Editorial Advisors Brian Bixley, Toronto, Canada Margery Edgren, Woodside, California Guest Artists Vickie Danielsen Lisa Moran Josef Halda Ron Taylor Jarmila Haldova James Locklear Jeanie Vesall Jill Buck Rex Murfitt Officers President Sandra Ladendorf (919) 942 1734 123 High Hickory Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 Vice President Norman Singer (413) 258-4486 HC 66 Box 114, Sandisfield, MA 01255 Recording Secretary Irma Markert (315) 393-4683 102 Proctor Avenue, Ogdensburg, NY 13669 Treasurer Robert Mills (609) 924-5003 150 Prospect Road, Princeton, NJ 08540 Administrative Member-at-Large Ernest O'Byrne (503) 935-3915 86813 Central Road, Eugene, OR 97402 President Emeritus Harold Epstein (914) 834-1551 5 Forest Court, Larchmont, NY 10538

Directors of the Board- Nancy Goodwin, Hillsborough, North Carolina 1989— 1992 Joan Means, Georgetown, Massachusetts Sandra Snyder, Littleton, Colorado David Vesall, White Bear Lake, Minnesota 1990— 1993 Morris West, Brogue, Pennsylvania Barrie Porteous, Agincourt, Ontario Stephen Doonan, Issaquah, Washington 1991— 1994 Phyllis Gustafson, Central Point, Oregon Ernest O'Byrne, Eugene, Oregon

Managers Executive Secretary Jacques Mommens (914) 762-2948 PO Box 67, Millwood, NY 10546 Seed Exchange James L. Jones (617) 862-9506 45 Middle St., Lexington, MA 02173 Bookstore Kenneth Nitschke (517) 835-4325 1071 South Acaule Lane, Midland, MI 48640 Archivist Mamie Rook (301) 778-4038 RD 3, Box 278A, Chestertown, MD 21620 Slide Collection William Plummer (607) 962-2640 10 Fox Lane East, Painted Post, NY 14870 Library Janet Evans, c/o Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 325 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

You are invited to join the American Rock Garden Society. Membership includes a subscription to the Bulletin and participation in the seed exchange, as well as other benefits. Annual dues, to be submitted in U.S. funds by check on a U.S. bank or by International Money Order, are: General Membership, $25.00 (domestic or foreign, single or joint); Patron, $50.00; Life Member, under 55 years old, $350.00; over 55 years old, $300. Membership inquiries and dues should be sent to Secretary, ARGS, PO Box 67, Millwood, NY 10546. Address editorial matters pertaining to the Bulletin to Gwen Kelaidis, Editor, 1410 Eudora Street, Denver, Colorado, 80220. Advertising matters should be addressed to Al Deurbrouck, Advertising Manager, 6915 Hilldale Drive, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236. The Bulletin is published quarterly by the American Rock Garden Society, a tax-exempt, non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey. Second Class postage is paid in Millwood, New York and additional offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society, (ISSN 0003 0864), PO Box 67, Millwood, NY 10546.