Wow Brian……that goes right to your soul. We don’t have gentians, but here are two wildings for “Post Daffodil Depression,” as David Burdick puts it. Wood larkspur, Delphinium sp., and our Camas, Camassia leichtelinii, that helped the Native peoples survive by eating the bulbs. These found in a park near Corvallis about 50 yards from each other the same Sunday, Mother’s day when Len and I went for a walk there. There were hundreds of Camas, but only a few Larkspur. Cheers to all.
Barbara and Len in Oregon
Beautiful, Brian!
I grow a couple of different gentians here in Cincinnati, and they’re very blue (haven’t flowered yet this year) but not as deep a blue as the ones you sent photos of to Daffnet. I was surprised that the gentians I have survived our climate with sometimes severe winters and hot, dry summers. I wish I could tell you what species these are that I grow, but that information has been lost over time. The one in the photo below might be auculis.
Bill Lee
In the High Sierra in California there are several gentians. Some are blue, such as G. amarella and G. holopetala, and one, the Alpine Gentian (G. newberryi) is an off-white, and a late-season bloomer in the tundra. In the Lodgepole Pine forest from 8000-11000 feet, there is the Green Gentian, (Frasera speciosa, Frasera tubulosa, Frasera albicaulis etc) which has a tall spike with many greenish blooms arrayed along it. It is not uncommon to see a spike a meter in height. But the blue ones are certainly my favorites!
It is interesting to watch along the edge of the highway when travelling through Oregon, where Barbara lives. the Camassia lechtlinii ranges in color from quite a deep purple through nearly white, but typically each patch is a single color, and if I recall correctly, the color grades from dark to light as one goes south.
Unfortunately my old photos of the gentians are on film rather than digital, and so I can’t easily send them on.
Melissa
At 05:48 PM 5/21/2009, B Weber wrote:
Wow Brian……that goes right to your soul. We don’t have gentians, but here are two wildings for "Post Daffodil Depression," as David Burdick puts it. Wood larkspur, Delphinium sp., and our Camas, Camassia leichtelinii, that helped the Native peoples survive by eating the bulbs. These found in a park near Corvallis about 50 yards from each other the same Sunday, Mother’s day when Len and I went for a walk there. There were hundreds of Camas, but only a few Larkspur. Cheers to all.
Wow Brian……that goes right to your soul. We don’t have gentians, but here are two wildings for “Post Daffodil Depression,” as David Burdick puts it. Wood larkspur, Delphinium sp., and our Camas, Camassia leichtelinii, that helped the Native peoples survive by eating the bulbs. These found in a park near Corvallis about 50 yards from each other the same Sunday, Mother’s day when Len and I went for a walk there. There were hundreds of Camas, but only a few Larkspur. Cheers to all.
Barbara and Len in Oregon
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In the High Sierra in California there are several gentians. Some are blue, such as G. amarella and G. holopetala, and one, the Alpine Gentian (G. newberryi) is an off-white, and a late-season bloomer in the tundra. In the Lodgepole Pine forest from 8000-11000 feet, there is the Green Gentian, (Frasera speciosa, Frasera tubulosa, Frasera albicaulis etc) which has a tall spike with many greenish blooms arrayed along it. It is not uncommon to see a spike a meter in height. But the blue ones are certainly my favorites!
It is interesting to watch along the edge of the highway when travelling through Oregon, where Barbara lives. the Camassia lechtlinii ranges in color from quite a deep purple through nearly white, but typically each patch is a single color, and if I recall correctly, the color grades from dark to light as one goes south.
Unfortunately my old photos of the gentians are on film rather than digital, and so I can’t easily send them on.
Melissa
At 05:48 PM 5/21/2009, B Weber wrote: