Plant of the Month

From John Gilrein, Plant of the Month coordinator

Since our September speaker will be talking about rocks, rather than plants, our September Plant of the Month wasn’t dictated by the topic. One of our members, Harold Peachey, grows a lot of plants from seed, and I was able to obtain a nice, diverse assortment of plants. There may be a few surprise additions, but the current mix includes:

• Gentiana depressa (1),6-10”x18-24”, nice green mound after blooming, purple flowers, good looking foliage.
• Primula japonica (2), flowers in various pink shades, red, or white.
• Aquilegia, early blue (3), low growing, blue flowers.
• Aquilegia frangrans (3), the only fragrant columbine, purple to light yellow flowers.
• Allium x 'Mt. Everest' ,18”, late blooming (now) white flowers (3)
• Veronica alpina (3), mat forming, blue flowers.
• Ruellia ciliata f. depressa (3), very small plant with purple leaves with white flowers.
• Cheilanthes lanosa (3) (hairy lip fern, these are still small), lip fern is a versatile fern for sunny areas or woodland edge-even a cave man could grow it!

Key to cultural recommendations (numbers after plant names above):

1 – Sun to part shade, good well-drained soil.
2 – Part shade to sun, damp to moist soil.
3 – Sun to part shade, well-drained to very-well-drained soil.

As usual, the plants will be a good deal for our members. Thanks Harold for the interesting selection from your private nursery!