harvey's blog

I was asked how I got into rock gardening. We lived in BC in the early 70‟s and spent a year wandering and working. I had a very good friend who was from the East Okanagan area, near Lumby. At that time forestry was king, and the wood came into the mills so fast the burners could hardly keep up with the waste – smoke filled the Shuswap valley so thickly it would drop the jaw of a medical professional today. No one seemed to care. Travelling east from Lumby on Hwy #6, the road climbs into the Monashee.

The plants in genus Dionysia are some of the most demanding in cultural requirements that few people attempt to grow them. They possess beautiful flowers, form tight domes of tiny leaves and the intriguing habit of growing on near vertical walls with a ledge of rock protecting them from full sun and weather.

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Of all the shrubs that can be put in a rock garden, Daphnes are at the top of everyone’s list. It helps to have the image of the nymph who escaped the lust-filled Apollo by turning into the laurel - now Daphne laureola. But plants must have more than mystique; gardeners are practical, earthy types, and their plants must perform. Two of my favorites are Daphne velenovskyi and Daphne arbuscula, and the derivative hybrids and cultivars. Read entire article »

The biggest pleasure of the past season was watching the new plantings of Chinese gentians growing in the garden. Gentians are slow to develop. G. acaulis takes 3 or 4 years to form a mat/mound of ~15 cm circumference. At that size, it is a colony of individual plants both competing and helping each other to survive. As the mound expands, the population increases. It adds to the vigour of each individual. Observation: gentians like company.

One can also plant a single gentian within a low growing mat and see a similar enhancement of growth. We use Arenaria spp., Gypsophila aretioides, Raoulia tenuicaulis, Androsace villosa types, etc. for this purpose. Basically, the mat should be non-invasive and with shallow roots. Gentians will have longer, thicker roots. Some will push deep into the soil. The sympodial types such as G. verna will also make numerous shallow roots from the branches as they sprawl out along the surface.  Monopodial types like G. septemfida will send out roots from the crown only. Both types will benefit by having the crown within the mat, which will mediate the scorching sun of summer and the cold wind of winter. Perhaps the whole host of micro-organisms that are associated with the mat are more beneficial also.

A hint of the beauty that section ornatae holds was offered in the description and photo of  gentiana futtereri -  the large flowers coming in all shades of blue with prominent striping will rivet the attention of any garden visitor – blue has that ability  to bewitch the viewer. The recent collections from Halda, Jurasek, Pavelka and Holubec have provided over 100 separate collections of ~ 40 different species. It’s a daunting challenge to grow all of these, so some selection is necessary. However, like any obsession, the more I grew these, the more I wanted to grow them all. It is a unique opportunity we have, right now. Given the rigours of seed collecting, a bounty such as this is rare.  As Halda cogently said to me last year, “Keep these. You never know when they are available again.” So, we value them all, and hope to make selections that will be worthwhile for the garden.  The lack of lime sensitivity is perhaps the best characteristic seen so far. This important, for as Wilkie noted in, “Gentians” (published in 1935), “ …G. farreri is a good, hardy species and will flourish in a good garden soil free from lime. During the growing season it likes plenty of moisture below, and at all times open exposure and sunshine.” -   basically very good advice as to culture of gentians – rich soil and adequate moisture. The part about “lime free soil” we can now discard.  Halda related once how he brought back some plants of gentiana grandiflora from Siberia, rather rare in cultivation even for the Czechs. His mother, who insisted on fertilizing all of her gardens with rabbit manure, asked for a plant. He demurred and testily she said, “Give it to me and I will grow it.” Of course he relented, and indeed, gentiana grandiflora did thrive in her garden. So, the following 3 will enjoy the richer soils of ordinary gardens. I would add, that from what I have seen of their growth habits, they will also appreciate an association with a low mat such as silene acaulis or, what I favour more, gypsophila aretiodes ‘caucasica’.  You will find that the adventitious shoots will hide in the protection of the mat. Photos in the wild, from China, show these gentians growing in meadow conditions. Halda describes flowering times of August – October, a rather broad season if you think about it. Of course what happens is the actual timing of the season in the wild, and now in the garden. This year may have been a bit more advanced than usual, but it seems that these gentians will bloom in mid – late summer; that is, from the limited number I have seen so far. I expect that more variation in flowering season will occur as we have more experience.