My first encounter with this charming little native primrose was on the wave swept shore of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula, where limestone pavements shelve incrementally down to the water’s edge. Nestled in tiny, moist cracks in the limestone, never far from the spray, were some small pink flowers with yellow centres, Primula mistassinica.… Continue reading May I Introduce: Dwarf Canadian Primrose
Tag: rock garden
Spring Visit to Alpine Garden, MBG
Remembering a visit to the Montreal Botanical Garden, May, 2018. Beaux Arbres will have Shooting Star (Dodecatheon) for sale in the spring. Rock Whitlow-grass at the Montreal Botanical Garden Eastern Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) The Alpine Garden at MBG is divided into areas planted with species from different regions of the world. I was delighted… Continue reading Spring Visit to Alpine Garden, MBG
September Highlights
Rock Pink Rock Pink (Talinum calycinum) has been in bloom for weeks and it just got better and better, as long as the warm weather lasted. I love the bright magenta of the flowers against the natural greys of the rocks and stone mulch. I hope it proves to be hardy, here in western Quebec, but… Continue reading September Highlights
Miniature Crevice Garden
This hypertufa trough, planted only weeks ago, is doing remarkably well. I used a technique I read about in the North American Rock Garden Society quarterly, and sandwiched a thick clay mud between vertical slabs. One would think that the little Erigeron pinnatisectus or Feather-leaf Fleabane, perched at the top, would not have had a… Continue reading Miniature Crevice Garden
Talinum: a pretty, hardy succulent
The long, blistering-hot dry period we just went through proved the garden value of a pretty, hardy succulent from the American mid-west. Rock Pink (Talinum calycinum) is a member of a genus which includes some summer-rain-intolerant species from the Rockies, collectively called Fame Flowers. We are growing Rock Pink for the first time this year.… Continue reading Talinum: a pretty, hardy succulent
New Species for the Fletcher Wildlife Garden Sale, June 2
I am almost too busy getting the plants ready for the sale to blog about them but there are a few new species that are too interesting to ignore. Seeded earlier this year and already big enough to plant now, the lovely biennial Swamp Thistle (Cirsium muticum). I know, Swamp and Thistle. Don’t let your… Continue reading New Species for the Fletcher Wildlife Garden Sale, June 2
Fun with Hypertufa Troughs
The hypertufa troughs I made last fall weathered over the winter (to wash out alkali from the cement) and now comes the fun part: Planting them! This trough, which broke along one side when unmoulded, was especially fun to do. I call it “Strata Garden.” It is modelled on the popular Crevice Garden style but… Continue reading Fun with Hypertufa Troughs
Sun-loving Violets
by Trish Murphy This article was originally published in OHS News, April, 2018, the newsletter of the Ottawa Horticultural Society. One of the things we think we know about violets is that they grow in shade, shyly, among mossy rocks. The other thing we think we know about violets is that they invade lawns. Many… Continue reading Sun-loving Violets
2017: A Year in Native Plant Gardening
It was wet. We expect the swale garden and the lawn below it to be wet in April and well into May, from snow melt running down from the hills which surround us. This year it was continuously and unrelentingly wet until late July. The swale was continuously full of water, which would be lovely… Continue reading 2017: A Year in Native Plant Gardening
Native Plants for Rock Gardens
Charming and diminutive plants from Ottawa Valley’s natural rock gardens Species from slide show, in order shown Early Saxifrage (Micranthes virginiensis) Early Buttercup (Ranunculus fascicularis) Common Bluets (Houstonia carulia) Long-leaved Bluets (Houstonia longifolia) Hairy Beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus) Dwarf Hairy Beardtongue (P. hirsutus var. pygmaeus) Field Pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) Hooked-spur or Early Violet (Viola adunca) Bird’sfoot… Continue reading Native Plants for Rock Gardens
Beaux Arbres Plantes Indigènes / Native Plants 