It’s back to school next week (for everyone else in my household anyway), so come in, sit down and be quiet: it’s time for another Six on Saturday. Eyes to the front or I’ll send you to Mr Propagator’s office. Let’s begin the lesson.
1. Sempervivums in a teapot
Well that’s that.
2. Pulsatilla vulgaris
With Easter (or Passover for any Jewish folks out there) only a month away, my white-flowered Pasque Flower (Pasque refers to the Hebrew word for passover) has it’s work cut out to be flowering by then. It’s a headstrong fellow though, so I’m sure it will make it in time. It lives on the rockery, which is an area that has been neglected of late, hence last year’s growth still lying around the fresh new shoots.
3. Crazy Mixed-up Kid
Sensible grown up 
Close up of grown up 
Mixed-up Kid
Corydalis heterocarpa, when behaving itself, grows a mound of ferny foliage in it’s first year, then flowers in it’s second (the just-forming-flowers featured last week). The renegade on the right has decided to go straight ahead and flower straight away, without any regard for convention (and before I’ve had a chance to plant it out in it’s final position). Crazy Mixed-up Kid.
4. Corydalis Babies
I’ve already shown a couple of photos of Corydalis seedlings in previous Six on Saturday posts, but here’s a nice clear shot of some C. solida seedlings for your information and education. They stay looking like this for the rest of the spring and early summer: just a single leaf. This tiny little leaf is all that the plant has to work with to form a tuber, and make it through it’s first winter. It seems like a tough way to make a living, but it seems to work!
5. Signs of Life: Dicentras
The herbaceous Dicentras are starting to pop up all over the place; here’s Dicentra formosa ‘Moorland Mist’. It’s a very nice white-flowered, glaucous-leaved cultivar I bought from Farmyard Nurseries.
6. Dicentra peregrina?
I’m pretty excited about this particular tiny, tiny speck of green. I think it’s a seedling of Dicentra peregrina. D. peregrina is one of the most exquisite plants in the whole Fumariaceae family (or Fumarioideae sub-family, for the pedants out there). It is also quite tricky to grow, adding to it’s allure. I bought a bare root plant a few years ago, which struggled on for a short while before perishing. Last year, Edrom Nurseries supplied me with a beautiful plant in full flower. Again, it perished, but not before setting seed, and quite prolifically at that. If the above does turn out to be one of it’s seedlings, I will be a very happy sausage. Let’s just hope I can give it the right conditions this time! Below is a bonus picture of D. peregrina before it became ex-Dicentra peregrina:
There’s the bell: it’s home time. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and don’t forget to do your homework; please see Mr Propagator for more Six on Saturday posts.
Your love of corydalis and dicentra is beginning to rub off on me! I’m almost as excited by that tiny little seedling. Rooting for you!
They do say excitement is contagious! We’ll hope for the best!
D. perigrina is certainly a beautiful plant. I haven’t ever given dicentra any great attention in the garden but, from your posts, I have realised I have a few growing here – generally, the tougher, open-garden types. D. cucullaria is growing in a trough and I like it very much. I must watch them with more attention in this coming year.
I must admit, I generally don’t grow things that don’t succeed in the open garden. However, with D. peregrina, I’m determined to succeed, so it might get a bit more special treatment!
I love the prolific sempervivum spilling out of the teapot. The container definitely adds visual impact. I have been curious about Pasque flower – thank you for providing the insight into its name. The furriness of the emergent shoots is quite fetching. Congratulations on your apparent success in germinating the rare and difficult specimen. After seeing your picture of the blooming plant, I undrrstand your desire to perpetuate its presence in your garden.
There are actually 3 teapots in total – 2 which lost their lids (I think the heat mean that the glue doesn’t hold them together for very long after repair) and one which has broken right through the middle. They’re all looking quite nice now, with the sempervivums looking right at home!
D. peregrina is a beauty! I might be wrong about the seedling, but it looks promising 🙂
I love you pot but you already know that…
My dicentra spectabilis are showing their red colours these days and I think I could have added them to my Six …. whatever, maybe next week or on Twitter for the pics.
I think we’re already at the point in the year where you have to choose between things to show, rather than scouring the winter garden for anything interesting!
The teapot planting is a great idea. I must check if my Pasque Flower is coming up. It tends to get swamped by other things and sulks when moved. Fingers are crossed for the Dicentra peregrina seedling.
Cheers – I’ll need it!
That teapot is perfect! Interesting and pretty Six-on-Saturday .
Thanks!
I looked up Dicentra peregrina growing in the wild in Japan looks like it needs lots of light, lots of good drainage ie mountain scree type soil, and maybe a pile of icecubes every few days during the winter, but without the gin and tonic. Well worth the effort I reckon. Go for it Andrew, I shall sit on the sidelines in my mountain gear and cheer you and your seedlings on!
If you’ve looked it up, you’ve probably seen some of the photos of it growing in the wild – intricate little clumps of beauty in the middle of bare slopes of scree – amazing! Interestingly, the compost for plant I received from Edrom Nurseries didn’t seem excessively gritty, but they’re up in Scotland, so I should think the light levels and temperatures make growing them there a little more forgiving.
I’ll keep the gin and tonic for myself and listen out for cheers!
I can see why you’re so excited about the potential peregrina. It look exquisite. I had no idea the seedlings spent the first year with just that leaf. Plants never cease to amaze me.
Wishing you luck with D. Peregrina, may it reward you perseverance! It’s a lovely, delicate thing. I also find it amazing that those tiny Corydalis babies form a tuber from just one leaf, they are hardworking little things. And I think could copy your sempervivums in a teapot idea, as I recently broke the lid to a nice Habitat one.
Thanks, I may need it…
Go for it! The only problem is drilling a hole in the bottom – the glaze on ceramic teapots is rock solid. If you can lay yours hands on a tile drill bit, that should do the trick. About half and half compost to gravel for the soil mix.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for your seedling too. The teapot of sempervivens made me smile.
Thanks 🙂