July's blog from Douglas Justice continues the geography/biography theme from last month, with two trails and a section of the garden named for botanists, listing plants named for the botanists, as well as plants on those trails that should be in bloom this month. The blog includes lots of photos. This month I learned who coined the term "cultivar". You can learn that too - toddle on over to July in the Garden 2022 - UBC Botanical Garden. It was the day before July 1, so a lot of the plants mentioned are not yet in bloom. But there are plenty of flowers to be seen. Here is Inula magnifica in the Wharton Glade. It's early for Rhododendron auriculatum, but R. glanduliferum is in bloom now, also in the Wharton Glade. Also in that glade is what I think is Philadelphus brachybotrys, looking splendid right now. My biggest surprise was figuring out that I actually photographed the Astilboides tabularis mentioned on the Stearn Trail. No flowers yet - the ones it's collecting are from the Stewartia behind it. These leaves are about a half meter in diameter. I hadn't got that impression from the photo in the blog. It's next to one of the many Kirengeshoma palmata. I think this one is listed as K. palmata Koreana Group. Buds are just beginning to open. I think the Stewartia is S. rostrata. "Rostrata" means "beaked". Are the sepals here beaked?? The Astilboides tabularis are in front of it (catching the fallen blossoms). The third area mentioned is the E. H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden. Here is one plant of the many standouts that were mentioned - Berkheya purpurea. Here are two landscape shots of the E. H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden.
Beautiful photos as usual, Wendy. I just bought Berkheya purpurea last week from a friend who runs a specialty nursery. She has a large patch of it in her demonstration garden. I decided to divide the plant to share with another friend who appreciates attractive, drought-tolerant, deer-resistant plants but was horrified by how the thing had developed so many threatening-looking roots and new shoots while still in a one-gallon pot. Now, I don't know where I can plant it that its aggressive nature won't become a problem.
Hmm - maybe "large" really is the operative word there. I have no idea if it has to be controlled here.
Here are a few more from the E. H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden. To the right of the Berkheya is a planting of Dierama dracomontanum. This is an unnamed species of Cotula. I don't think Kniphofia angustifolia fruits get posted very often. Delosperma cooperi is very eye-catching.
I'm going for colour now. The garden's Facebook page says, understandably, that the flower mix planted in the parking lot area is getting a lot of attention. It is West Coast Seeds Pacific Northwest Blend and is available for sale in the Shop. @Daniel Mosquin has posted on FB and Instagram another take on this dizzying group. It only took me 24 hours to remember the name Cerinthe. I've seen these on the internet as Cerinthe major 'Purpurascens' and Cerinthe major var. purpurescens - note that the final word in the name is spelled differently. I didn't realize that the showy purple bits are bracts (or are they just leaves?), but I think there are two or three flowers in the second photo. In the contemporary garden, Nadia and I were interested in these flowers. I think they could be Campanula medium, but that's not listed as being in the garden. I'm a big fan of Phlomis russeliana; I posted it for ID one year, and @Andrey Zharkikh explained: "This is not a composite-type inflorescence (head) - there is no special podium for the flowers (receptacle). Rather all flowers have individual pedicels attached to the stem. This type of inflorescence called "verticillaster" and it is common for Lamiaceae".
The August blog is out now, in which Douglas Justice followed up on two premature mentions in the July blog. It's still July, so not totally premature. Here are Kirengeshoma palmata from a few locations. This on the north side of Upper Asian Way still has no open flowers. These three are K. palmata Koreana Group, just across Upper Asian Way, lots of open flowers. These were on Lower Asian Way. I don't know if they're in the Koreana Group - I didn't hunt for labels, and none popped out at me.. The Rhododendron auriculatum has a few flowers open. Our access was a little restricted.
It was in this July blog that I got all excited and confused about Astilboides tabularis. I found some other locations today and didn't feel confused at all. I even saw flowers today. The cluster of Astilboides mentioned in the blog, though, is fronted by another peltate plant, Peltoboykinia tellimoides. These leaves look a lot like Darmera (or Peltiphyllum), and it's also in the Saxifragaceae family, but the flowers are different. Here is a location of Peltoboykinia Sp. with a red label, species not confirmed. There's a flower, though. Next to the Astilboides and Peltoboykinia is another plant with large leaves, but it's not peltate (the leaf petiole is at the normal location, at the leaf margin). I think this is Petasites hybridus.
