Something really interesting about these guys is the difference in size between parviflorum and pubescens. A large egg was held right next to each flower. This is a young pubecens and its flower is already over twice the size of the fully mature parviflorum. Eventually the pubescens will be four times the size. Parviflorum is at the top and pubescens at the bottom.
The yellow lady's slippers are really awesome this year! This is the nicest parviflorum (small variety) I have ever had. I bought it a couple of weeks ago for $10 CAN at the horticultural society's perennial sale! A guy who has massive clumps of these has done some dividing this year. The pouch is the size of your thumbnail around.
Sometimes when you buy some lily bulbs you get a plant that is really advanced already, and when you plant it it grows about 6" tall and blooms. That happened to me this year. Here it is! A 4" flower is small for this type of lily, but it looks really cool on a 6" plant. The plant should grow normally next year.
This plant is from my first-ever batch of columbine seeds, which I sowed three seasons ago. It is the first to bloom out of two plants that remain. It has a very large flower with a light scent.
I am an Iris freak, and Japanese iris (Iris ensata) is my favorite type. They are unique in that their standards (upper petals) are very small, making the falls (lower ones) even more focal. They are also the most floriferous type of iris. This is one of my favorite varieties for its ice-white flowers. These guys like a wet acidic soil, the opposite of bearded iris, which must have a sharply-drained, alkaline soil.
OT lilies are a cross between Oriental and trumpet lilies. With these, you get the best traits of each type: the fragrance and large size of Oriental lilies, and the trumpet shape of the trumpets. These have HUGE flowers with a great fragrance. I don't remember the cultivar name of this particular one.
Let's face it, I'm not a big fan of asters, except coneflowers. But this is definately a nice little groundcover Margeurite daisy, and you can see why it is named "Snow Carpet". This photo was taken a few days ago before it really started blooming; if I get the time after I post all these updates I'll take another photo.
I should really call this "unknown columbine" because although its flowers look like those of Aquilegia alpina (alpine columbine), the plant grows to 18" tall and has huge leaves. A. alpina would be (should be!) no more than 8" tall (probably 6) AND the leaves and flowers would be smaller. Nonetheless, until I find a better name, that's the one I'm keeping.
Dodecatheon meadia (shooting star) is another one of my favorite perennials, a member of the primrose family. It is relatively unknown as a garden plant but gaining popularity, and some people recognize it as a wildflower. D. pulchellum (saline or few-flowered shooting star) is a native of my area. I own one but it is too young to bloom right now. This one pictured here has grown in to an impressive clump. I planted it three seasons ago (spring 2004) as a double-nosed plant with one stem; today it has six shoots and four stems (time to divide). These are vigorous plants that are fairly easy to grow. I find that they dry out too rapidly in the sun and wilt (tags usually say full sun) so I grow them in partial shade. They will take infinite amounts of water in a well-drained soil and perform best when fertilized with other perennials. They lose vigour after 3 or 4 years and will need division. It is called shooting star because of its nodding, star-shaped flowers, which are borne in clusters on stalks 12-16" tall. They make excellent companions for lady's slippers and look best with yellow ones.
