Sunday, May 06, 2007

A New Bed Under Construction...


These photos show my new front yard bed under construction. In front of the Cyp. pubescens (not seen in the photos) is a Cyp. macranthos which like the rest of my Cyps that have not been bought this year, is still emerging. Behind the shooting star is a Cyp reginae, emerging and newly bought. Behind the Arisaema is another Cyp reginae (not emerging yet) and behind that, the Cyp Gisela that was blooming last week (visible in the photos at the very back). The Arisaema sikokianum is the same one previously pictured in the greenhouse. It has not been planted, the pot only sunk in the ground, just like the Arisaema ringens pictured before. I grow all my Arisaemas this way (except A. triphyllum) and store them indoors over the winter.

Cypripedium pubescens & Dodecatheon pulchellum





More new plants, freshly planted. Last year when I photographed Cyp. pubescens in the wild, I noticed that it often grew with saline shooting star (Dod. pulchellum), another one of my favorites. I decided to plant this beautiful, full-sized plant with a pulchellum in my garden.

Cypripedium Gisela



As I said in my previous post, I have been shopping! These pictures were taken a week ago, but
I had some technical difficulties with the blog and couldn't post them. Gisela is one of the best lady's slipper hybrids for the garden. This is a particularly nice clone.

Arisaema ringens and sikokianum (variegated form)




The gardening season is now well under way, and I've been shopping! The top two photos show A. ringens, a large Asian species with very dramatic flowers. This plant is about 16" tall and at least 2' wide. The bottom two show A. sikokianum fma. variegata. This form occurs in nature but this is a named cultivar which is hard to find.