I haven't finished with May postings yet, but the June blog is out, so I may as well post the link: June 2021 in the Garden - UBC Botanical Garden. Douglas Justice writes "I can't hope to cover all the roses in the Garden". But he tried - he wrote three-pages worth, including some other flowers along the way. The blog has the usual collection of excellent photos. There are some single whites with photos next to each other, which is helpful. Most of these roses haven't started blooming yet, but I did happen to photograph a couple of lone flowers. This is Rosa nutkana var. nutkana, Nootka rose, with the largest flowers of our native roses, on the path through the Garry Oak Meadow. And here's one that didn't make it into the blog, Rosa roxburghii f. normalis, in the Asian Garden.
Here are two more roses from the blog. Rosa x odorata 'Mutabilis' will bloom all summer until frost, always with a variety of colours, since the flowers darken as they age. It so often looks great, but I find it hard to get a nice variety of colours on decent-looking flowers all in one photo. Rosa 'Cooper's Burmese' is just starting to flower. The trellis will be covered with flowers, and I remember getting good photos of it from the garden shop last year. Rosa nutkana var.nutkana, Nootka Rose, posted last week, has more flowers open now.
Here's some stuff not in the blog. The highlight of my day was running into Douglas Justice at the stand of Phyllostachys edulis, moso bamboo, where he reminded me of what he described as a "vestiture of dense, velvety hairs" in his December 2020 blog. Can you just feel this? It's as nice as new Neolitsea leaves (which I have posted in their own threads). Yay - I guessed correctly that this was also a bamboo - Pleioblastus argenteostriatus. I posted Claytonia sibirica last month, after spending an hour figuring out what it was. I forgot, but a nice close-up of it was the March Spring Contest Winner on ubcgarden's Instagram page. I also saw Chrysosplenum davidianum somewhere on social media, but I can't remember where and can't find it now. Thanks, whoever posted it - it made me pay attention today. My mission for the day was to find two species of Neillia that I haven't seen yet. I still haven't seen them, so here's Neillia thibetica, which I did post four years ago. This has such great leaf tips - you can even see them when you enlarge the first photo. I keep seeing Impatiens omeiana - Mt. Omei Balsam, around town and not remembering what it is. It has nice red stems. Here's some colour - Primula vialii, Chinese pagoda primrose.
Here are more roses, and some repeats. Rosa henryi is in full bloom in the Asian Garden. Not far away, on the south side of Lower Asian Way, is what I'm pretty sure is Rosa elegantula 'Persetosa'. I only had two names to choose from. This is Rosa villosa, also in the Asian Garden. Rosa x odorata 'Mutabilis', posted above, is looking better than ever. There will be more.
On to the North Garden now, with one more stop at the Nootka Rose. This is probably enough of these for this year. Douglas's blog has a whole section on the Harold and Frances Holt Physic Garden. The fancier roses are not quite open yet. Here is Rosa x damascena, damask rose. Rosa canina, dog rose. I did not find the label or interpretive sign for Rosa rubiginosa, sweet briar rose or eglantine; I hope this is it.
Douglas mentioned "even more exuberant hybrid roses" in the Contemporary Garden. These are both just named Rosa sp. I like this white one, many flowers single with a few extra petals, red stems, and occasionally very fine red leaf margins. I was going to ignore this double red rose, but the fragrance was impossible to ignore from several meters away. I like the leaves, which look like Rosa rugosa to me. When I query R. rugosa double flowers, two names come up that look like this: 'Hansa' or 'Moje Hammarberg'. If the garden isn't going to identify it, I'm certainly not going to. I think that's it for roses this time. Here is Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko'. It's not true that I've learned to recognize Deutzia. I definitely needed the label. Laura Caddy gave me the name of this Phlomis fruticosa, which I described as looking like Phlomis but a shrub. She said that's what the name means. It's in the Asia Minor section of the Alpine Garden. I don't think I've noticed the Fremontodendron 'California Glory' before. I love the shape of this.
The foliage of Rosa rubiginosa smells of fruit, this is evident from some distance during summer. The white Rosa sp. is the now widely grown "Darlow's Enigma", which I regard as a study name (and put therefore in double quotes) because it arose as a result of my pointing out a previous name being used was incorrect.
Here are a couple more Rosa canina photos, from last week. And Rosa gallica 'Versicolor'. This is also in the Physic garden. Thanks to Douglas for encouraging us to look at the grasses in the Garry Oak Meadow. Here is Koeleria macrantha, June grass. And Eriophyllum lanatum, woolly sunflowers, also in that meadow. At the other end of the garden are these Anthemis sancti-johannis, St. John's chamomile, native to Bulgaria. It's pronounced AN-thi-mis, definitely not what I was saying to myself. I thought they looked spray-painted, maybe because of the uniform colour of the rays and fertile flowers, but that's the case for the woolly sunflowers too, so I'm not sure what creates that impression, maybe that there's not space between the rays, so the colour is so solid.
What was the story with the Laurus nobilis? I guess all this new growth is from that tree. The leaves had no fragrance, but I guess they're much too young to have fragrant oils yet. I'm still working away at plants in the June blog. Last week one of the several Magnolia macrophylla was very exciting, with lots of flowers. Note the great ears at the leaf bases - when there are not flowers, those ears easily distinguish this from M. tripetala. The Kalmia latifolia were a little past peak bloom. I definitely recommend reading Douglas's explanation in the blog about "curious-looking, evenly-spaced bumps" on the flowers. Here is the cultivar 'Richard Jaynes', in the Carolinian Garden. And 'Raspberry Glow'. In the North American area of the Alpine Garden are a white-flowered 'Shooting Star' and a K. latifolia with no cultivar name (I think, based on Garden Explorer and my list).. Back in the Carolinian Garden, the Rhododendron calendulaceum were almost finished, with only one plant that still had fresh-looking flowers.
Here are some other flowers I enjoyed seeing. On the way to the Bigleaf magnolia is a nice stand of Penstemon digitalis. Walking along the south (or maybe it's west) side of the Carolinian Garden, I recognized the leaves of Ptelea trifoliata. I caught the end of the flowers one year, but I've never before seen them at peak bloom. But it was the bark that caught my attention this time. How awesome is this?! That was right next to another tree with compound leaves in 3's, Staphylea trifolia, American bladdernut, with fruits already. Here is another old favourite from the Carolinian Garden: Zenobia pulverulenta, dusty zenobia or honeycup. It's in the Ericaceae family.
Wendy, if you get to the Garden this week, look for Rhododendron hemsleyanum on Upper Asian Way a little past the Moon Gate. It is a treat for the eyes and the nose. May be fading soon though.
Eric, I photographed it last week but I haven't got around to posting it yet! Thanks for the nudge. I'd have been very sorry to miss it, so I appreciate the hint. I expect to bring a friend on Thursday, and we'll try for another sniff. I need to figure out a way to record fragrance. I didn't remember that. I was interested in how similar Rhododendron hemsleyanum looked to R. decorum at first glance, which I see is in the same subsection (I think I'm about ready to start reading about subsection characteristics). I noticed the same large crinkly white flowers with yellow centres, with prominent pistils topped with large green stigmas, and the large ovary visible from the front of the flower. The leaves are a little different from those of R. decorum, with a dusting of tomentum on the top. There didn't seem to be indumentum, but the leaves felt sticky on the undersides. I don't think the wiggly leaf margins are a usual characteristic. The red leaf bud scales were a very noticeable difference. Just a bit past there is Rhododendron asterochnoum, and I'd like to thank that nice garden visitor who turned the label around for me. I thought it looked familiar, but then I thought I didn't know it when I saw the name. But, it turns out I posted new leaves on it, but not since 2014 (3) May in the Garden - great new leaves | UBC Botanical Garden Forums. These are long leaves! According to R. asterochnoum | Chimacum Woods, what's unique about this are "hairs on the mid-rib and veins. This indumentum on the back of the leaves is diagnostic, but variable." For once, I actually captured the distinctive feature. Eric introduced me to Helwingia himalaica two years ago, which I posted at June 2019 in the garden - so much to see in June, with more description. Two weeks ago, he showed them to me again. I wasn't too happy with my photos and tried again last week, but the flowers were already past their peak. I made a comment in that first thread - I think there is a female flower by itself in the fourth photo there. Here's a reminder of what these looks like. Flowers seem to be mixed three or four petals, but that's not an indication of male or female. I haven't noticed any female flowers this time.
I'm still not finished with June flowers, and I have three more roses from the blog yet to see. Those had better hurry themselves up with their blooming. In the meantime, I was super excited to recognize this as a Philadelphus, in the Alpine Garden, before I saw the label - Philadelphus microphyllus var. madrensis, mountain mock orange. Then as I was leaving, I ran into Linda Layne who told me the plant with the white flowers had such a wonderful smell, which I had not noticed at all. And yet, yes, they do have a nice smell, just not one that grabs you when you're in the neighbourhood. The rest of these are also in the North American section of the Alpine Garden. Vancouveria hexandra has been posted before, with its inside-out flowers. Nearby is Vancouveria aff. planipetala. Thalicrum thalictroides gives a similar impression. My favourite fern last week: Adiantum aleuticum.
I just read in the Facebook posting from Dart's Hill Garden that wavy leaf margins are typical of R. hemsleyanum. I don't know if it's possible to link to a specific posting. Their FB page is at (2) Darts Hill Garden Park | Facebook.
It was at least four more, not counting the ones I decided not to look for. The flowers of Rosa 'Madame Alfred Carriere' don't look creamy pink to me, but I saw this cultivar with a label in Stanley Park this week, and they looked similar. Flowers on the Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate' are way too high up to photograph. But you can see good photos on Garden Explorer: Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate' - rambling rose | UBC Botanical Garden. A few Rosa helenae flowers are at eye level. There are 27 good photos of this species on Garden Explorer: Rosa helenae - Helen Wilson's Rose | UBC Botanical Garden. Rosa palustris does not seem to be interested in putting in an appearance this month. Perhaps next month will suit it better.
I recorded the flower colour of Rosa 'Madame Alfred Carriere' in our database as pinkish cream white. It's basically a soft white with light pink blush.
Thanks, Eric. Maybe I'm late in seeing the flowers and they've lost their pink blush. I only just figured out where they'd be. It was Eric who pointed out huge Cephalaria gigantea, giant scabious, on the entrance plaza. Next to it was a very showy Eryngium x abelii 'Big Blue', co-ordinating nicely with Penstemon heterophyllus 'Electric Blue'. While I was searching to find a rose in the BC Rainforest Garden (which I didn't find), I did find this Philadelphus lewisii, mentioned elsewhere on the forums recently. Here is Clarkia amoena in the Garry Oak Meadow, which I saw featured on Facebook recently, so I was looking out for it.
It was still June when I saw these Rhododendron glanduliferum, several of them on both sides of Lower Asian Way. Another rhodo with big white flowers. The ones on the north side of the path were more recently opened.
