It's spring (!), though no-one in the Pac. NW realizes it, because we're all cold and wet, but today was a nice day, sunny and maybe 15C degrees, and I got to finally see Nadia again after what seemed like forever, and Douglas Justice's May in the Garden 2022 - UBC Botanical Garden blog had me chasing after rhododendrons in the Carolinian Forest Garden and flowers in the Garry Oak Meadow Garden. Here is Rhododendron canescens, one plant just opening, and one next to it pretty much fully open. Rhododendron prinophyllum Rhododendron minus var. minus Nadia and I were pretty sure we'd never be able to figure out which camas we were seeing in the Garry Oak Meadow, but I found the posting at Flowers in Park where I was supposed to have learned to distinguish them, and based on the spent flower petals twisting together over the ovaries, these seem to be Camassia leichtlinii subsp. suksdorfii (great camas). The Plectritis congesta and Castilleja levisecta added considerably to the colour.
I'm always very excited to find some new plants in the garden. Here is my discovery on May,20(after missing this garden for 2 years). Lucky day! Anemone sylvestris, snowdrop anemone or snowdrop windflower, native to meadows and dry deciduous woodlands of central and western Europe and temperate Asia. Antennaria umbrinella, umber pussytoes or brown pussytoes, N America Antennaria umbrinella - Wikipedia Campanula wanneri=Symphyandra wanneri, Mountains of Central Europe Dianthus cruentus, will wait to see in bloom Dodecatheon austrofrigidum=primula austrofrigida. Primula austrofrigida - Wikipedia Erigeron scopulinus Erigeron scopulinus - Wikipedia Erodium pelargoniflorum,storksbill, Geraniaceae family. Resembles a pelargonium, with soft, apple-green, heart-shaped leaves and white flowers. The upper two petals spotted and streaked with pinky-red, the lower three, delicately veined in pink. Glaucidium palmatum,Japanese wood poppy in family Ranunculaceae. The foliage alone makes Japanese Wood Poppy a memorable plant with four-petaled mauve to lilac flowers resembling miniature peonies or poppies Lathyrus aureus, Golden Perennial Sweet Pea, a bushy clump of light-green lacy leaves, with spikes of golden-orange pea flowers appearing in early summer. Physaria reediana=Vesicaria alpina=Lesquerella alpina, Brassicaceae. Phyteuma hemispermum, Campanulaceae. Basal leaves linear to lanceolate, grassy. Flowerheads globular, to 2cm wide, deep blue. Native Range:Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines, in stony grassland and screes over acidic rocks. Primula kisoana, hardy primrose. Native Range: Japan Saxifraga zimmeteri,a natural hybrid between S. paniculata and S. cuneifolia found last century in Austria. The leaves are margined in grey. Flower stems 10cm high bearing sprays of white flowers, petals 3-5mm long. Thalictrum thalictroides,Rue Anemone Thalictrum thalictroides - Wikipedia Triteleia ixioides, pretty face or golden star. Triteleia ixioides - Wikipedia Veronica Tidal Pool,Creeping/Prostrate Speedwell, a new hybrid creeping Speedwell from the Chicago Botanic Garden. This plant has inherited the best traits of both its parents ( V. armena and V. pectinata ‘Rosea’). Dense and fast spreading with silvery blue-green leaves.
