Re: Question about plants

In a message dated 6/23/02 4:37:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
lindsey@mallorn.com writes:

<<  Armeria juniperifolia: 
 
       The label listed it as being hardy to zone 2, but some Web sites
       list it as being hardy to zone 8.  Being in 5b myself, I hope that
       it's the former.  Anyone know for sure?

Armeria juiperfolia is for sure hardy into zone 4  and maybe hardy even 
farther north.  We lose it here for two reasons (NYSzone4)  the first is that 
this plant requires a high pH soil that is gritty and underlying with 
materials that will insure perfect drainage in the fall and winter months.  
We have acid soils and have to make amended beds for Armeria, add lime.    It 
is the cutest little plant you can grow  but is not long lived so needs to be 
propagated every couple of years.  The second reason we lose it is excessive 
summer rain and humidity.  It would live better, and does, on an ash pile 
than a garden location.  It needs special siting to stay with you.  It is 
surely worth a try.  You will be out driving now and spot a rock and bring it 
home with you.  If you lived in neighborhood, you could have all you want, 
that is mostly what is in our garden.
 
    Othonna capensis 'Little Pickles':

I don't know a whole lot about this one.
 
 Anacyclus depressus:

I do well with Anacyclus.  If you bought a plant about to bloom, make sure 
you collect the seeds.  It is very easy from seed which need to be planted 
right away, when mature, and will germinate in the fall. live over and make 
blooming plants the following spring.

I did not always do well with Anacyclus, losing the millions of plants I was 
able to germinate and raise until the summer humids hit and the summer warm 
rains fell.  It is a native of Morocco in arid mountains.

How it found a life here was, pardon us again for all this repetition, in the 
driveway gravel.  There is also a little terrace/plaza over a gravel section 
- drainage all the way down for about four feet.  Between these terrace flat 
rocks, Anacyclus will thrive.  It will not grow outside of what is called 
scree conditions.  It is blooming here in late June, right now and I am 
cutting off the flower heads and drying them.  I will replant between the 
flat stones and have a new crop next year.  Sometimes an old plant lives over 
but the biennial behavior is more common.  Gravel mulch is essential.

Good luck with the lot.  Pretty soon you will build a little area that these 
plants like and one more plant addiction will overtake you.  Summer warm rain 
and summer humidity are problems.  Another trick is to place several rocks 
very close to each other and fill the narrow cavity with gritty (really 
gritty - limey mix and try the plant there)  All can take full sun but must 
have water when in growth.  Some of these plants will stay with you if you 
cover them from excessive fall rains.

Trying to make a mountain top in the garden which is not a mountain top is a 
real challenge.  Buy a few that do not die easily and it will encourage you.  
Gypsophila repens is one, the saponarias are others, all sedums, semps and 
their many relatives are more.  Dianthus deltoides will grow and bloom if the 
pH is high enough if the others fail. 

Most alpines die until you get the knack of the plant you want to grow.  It 
is easier in the West than on the East Coast.  We do not have the best 
conditions.

Claire Peplowski 
NYS z4

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