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The genuine Dutchman’s Breeches, Dicentra cucullaria flowered in early April |
Last week a photographer came to take
pictures of my National Dicentra Collection for a glossy magazine. They will be
published at dicentra time next year.
Unfortunately different dicentras flower at
different times and professional photographer Neil had only one visit. At least
he was lucky in that several cultivars of the most popular species of Dicentra
formosa were in their prime. Even so, the various varieties of this Dicentra formosa mature in a staggered sequence.
Neil had his work cut out as conditions for
photography were poor. The sun shone brightly and the wind was strong!
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Neil does not know I sneaked a picture of him at work |
My advantage is that I am there all the
time! To wet your appetite I am taking
the liberty to post some of my new pictures taken this year. Where I know what
they are I have given their name! I keep nice seedling variations of Dicentra
formosa and some remain anonymous!
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They sometimes have to fight it out |
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One of the golden forms. To me it looks like permanent chlorosis |
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'Adrian Bloom’ one of the best reds |
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Some call it ‘Pearl Drops’ some call it ‘Langtrees’. It has an excellent constitution and has a long season |
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This was given to me with no name by famous Yorkshire gardener Nancy Boydell and that’s what I call it. |
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Neil came when Dicentra peregrina was in its prime |
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It has magnificent foliage |
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Another strange mixture |
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Dicentra canadensis is known as squirrel corn |
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Dicentra cucullaria ‘Pink Punk’ starts into flower |
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'Stuart Boothman' has very nice foliage |
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My personal favourite. I brazenly call my own seedling ‘Roger’s Pink’ although salmon sometimes seems more appropriate |
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‘Bacchanal’ generally acclaimed as the best red |
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I pulled this seedling out of a mixed up clump last month |
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Now where did I take this picture – I might then know its name |
Links
You can tell I am besotted with dicentra
with nine previous posts. To some extent my blog is my own personal dicentra record as I
have no other.
You can find more kinds and cultural information by
clicking the links
This takes you direct to my first six
articles
You can do a more refined search by using
the search boxes. The box at the top takes you direct to most relevant articles. If you scroll right to the
bottom of the blog roll the search box gives a more detailed prioritized list of every mention.
For example if you insert ‘spectabilis’ in
either box you will find Dicentra spectabilis
I have a couple of dicentra that I have forgotten the names of - maybe I should buy more.
ReplyDeleteNice to see a professional photographer using my prone technique - makes me feel less stupidm
Come to my open day in September and I will give you some - and I won't think you are Zena Lovage this time!
ReplyDeleteYou feeling stupid?
An offer I can't refuse and maybe the best one that I have had all day.
DeleteI have developed feeling stupid (or even stupidm) as an art form.
Yes, I can tell that you are crazy about Dicentras. Amazing photos, I especially like 'Bacchanal'. Also the picture of Neil at work.
ReplyDeleteYes Jason. In view of Sue's comment I can imagine her in the same pose!
DeleteThe fact that the "glossy magazine" would only send their photographer once is just so typical of the media! They want everything to be ready for them, they don't understand that nature does its own thing in its own timescale. I expect that after Neil's efforts they will only use about 3 photos anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd the article will be written via a telephone interview!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful collection Roger.
ReplyDeleteHere I only have a white and a red spectabilis
Thanks Alain. You should try a few more, perhaps 'Pearl Drops'
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful they are! I particularly like the shape of the peregrina
ReplyDeletePeregrina is very difficult to grow Belinda - if you look at my recent post about Japanese plants I explain why. I am keeping my fingers crossed with my success so far
ReplyDeleteHow pretty Dicentra cucullaria is! I have not heard of it before and have promptly put it on my wish-list. I love dicentras and have several ‘Baccanal’ along with some spectabilis - ‘Alba’ and ‘Valentine’ although the latter has not come up yet so I fear he didn’t like being dug up from my previous garden and spend last year in a pot.
ReplyDeleteI would love many more dicentras for my woodland bed, but they need to be easy going and not require much fuss :-) I read your post about buying plants from Japan, why do you feel Dicentra peregrine is difficult to grow – more difficult than Baccanal’ for example?
I really enjoy your thoughtful comments HELENE. Isn't it a nuisance when your spell checker changes peregrina to peregrine.
DeleteI will send you a few cucullaria tubercles when my plants go dormant. You can e mail your address to nodiggardener@gmail.com
peregrina is difficult to grow because of severe climate differences with its native Japan. Even there it is only wild at certain altitudes where it is a protected plant. It grows in deep volcanic soil -I suppose you can reproduce this in a suitable alkaline lumpy compost but perhaps not the natural depth.
It likes high rainfall but its natural soil is very well drained.
It does not like our extremes of temperature or their rapid changeability.
It stands loads of cold but not extreme or changing. It is susceptible to very high temperatures. It likes bright conditions but apparently the light intensity is not extreme in fairly cloudy Japan? I am shading with a little fleece when the sun is really strong. My pots are on the shady side of other larger plants in my well ventilated greenhouse. Will I put them outside soon?
A good gardener said to me that if he needed to reproduce the complete climate of another country he would not bother!
My perigrinas from Japan are doing very well at the moment!
Me and my different spell checkers (I write in 3 different languages) are at war at times – but I am afraid the mistake writing peregrine instead of peregrina was all down to me, I don’t use predictive text as that’s hopeless when you are multi-language!
DeleteThank you so much for your offer of cucullaria, a separate email is on the way to you – I hope I have some plants of interest to you that I can offer in return :-)
I will definitely not have a go at Dicentra peregrina, and I agree with the good gardener of yours – I wouldn’t bother reproducing the complete climate of another country for some plants either. Plants in my garden will need to adapt to the climate and soil I have and what I am able to give of care - or go to some other gardener!
Roger, you might want to edit out your email address, or it will get picked up by a spambot. There are ways to try to make it invisible, such as nodiggardener(@gmail.com) (remove brackets) or nodiggardener at gmaildotcom but no guaranteeing that they will work!
DeleteThanks for the tip Sarah - think I will risk it!
ReplyDelete