Iceland, Southwest

We returned late this past week from 12 days in Iceland.  It was our first trip there despite it being on our short list of vacation destinations for decades.  We were lucky to travel with a close Icelandic friend and her family who live in NJ.  She had a very ambitious itinerary for us, and we kept moving in order to pack as much as possible in the time that we had.  

Above is Lake Thingvallavatn at Thingvellir National Park, the area where the Icelandic general assembly first met in the year 930.  It's a gorgeous natural area, with rocky outcroppings denoting the rift in the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.

I was constantly amazed how the geography changed every few meters.

This area was nearby the above photos.

The clear water allows for deep visibility.  Diving is allowed in one area, despite the water being quite cold.  One person I spoke with said that when he dove the water was so clear that he had to get over the fear that he might fall.

The Icelandic Turf House near Selfoss, a group of wooden farm buildings partially built with stone and turf for insulation.

I saw many of the alpines that I grow at home in their native habitat.  The arctic thyme was everywhere, and blooming a gorgeous pink.

The non-native lupinus nootkatensis was brought in to help control soil erosion.  It's all over the island now, but quite iconic and beautiful.

lathyrus japonicus (sea pea) I think

mertensia maritima, oyster plant

armeria maritima, sea thrift, going to seed, plus more thyme

 The natural distribution of these alpine plants over the southern end of the rocky Reykjanes Peninsula made me wonder if I'm overthinking plant placement in my garden.  

And seeing the inhospitable soil and windy conditions that these plants grown in made me realize that these are seriously tough customers.  I probably coddle them too much at home in the troughs.

The ubiquitous moss over a lava field.

We visited the Setlun geothermal area nearby, where the earth bubbled and steamed in a sulfurous stench.  

As a farm boy from Iowa, where one can drive 5 or 6 hours with no change in ecosystem, I was blown away by how close together all of these strange landscapes are on one small island.

There's A Riot Going On

With over 6" of rain (so far) this month, things are banging in the back garden...

...and in the front.

Hypertufa Basket

When my wife finally threw out her broken wicker laundry basket, I knew just what to do.

Mine is a little heavier, but it's going to last longer.

Bog Planter

I know I'm late to the pitcher plant craze, but I've been infatuated with this container of bog plants this spring.  It's the first thing that I look at when I get home from work.  The planter is a two-walled plastic one I picked up on sale last summer.  The plants are almost all from last August's trip to the incredible Rare Find Nursery.  There are five different sarracenias, plus bog asphodel, a small spiranthes orchid, a cardinal flower, and a dwarf cranberry.  

For drainage, we drilled a hole into the inside wall of the planter a couple inches from the bottom.  Since the planter has no drainage hole in the bottom, this allows the bottom couple inches of planting medium to stay moist.  We used a mix of peat moss, decomposed pine needles, and granite chips, with a little sand if I remember correctly, to ensure that the plants were growing in the low fertility medium they need.  We top-dressed the planter with a couple inches of pine needles for the winter, and buried it in the garden up to the rim to help keep the temperature more stable.

detail of sarracenia alata

vaccinium macrocarpon 'Hamilton

sarracenia 'Carolina Yellow Jacket'

About half of the tubes have bugs in them. I was so excited to see a dead mosquito in one.  Only about a million to go...

sarracenia 'Scarlet Belle'

I can't wait until these all bulk up and fill the container.

Memorial Day Weekend

It's 90 degrees today but I'm still finding it hard to believe that it's Memorial Day weekend.  Spring has been so late and compressed and busy that I still have a list of gardening chores that I wanted to get done before it got too hot.  Before today, I guess.  

Below are a handful of spring lovelies that I'd like to share before it's too late.

A couple saxifrages

More saxes and a draba gone to seed

antennaria 'Nyewoods'

Semp gone supernova

Silene sp. grown from seed by my friend Susan Deeks

Silene uniflora coming on

saponaria ocymoides

ramonda myconi at neighbor Ray's 

About that Haberlia...

Yes, it's a gorgeous time of the year in trough land.  Each day when I get home from work I first rush to the driveway to see what's blooming, then later on I (reluctantly, sometimes) go in to see the family.

My new crush is this haberlia sp. Case (possibly haberlia ferninandi-cobourgi according to the Wrightman website, which I believe is synonymous with haberlia rhodopensis).  I bought it four years ago from Wrightman Alpines Nursery at the annual plant sale at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, NY.  I had never seen it for sale before and was excited to try it, as I told Harvey Wrightman as he rang me up that day.  He assured me that it was easy, as long as it was north-facing, planted vertically, and free draining, but he warned me that it was slow to come to blooming size.  Haberlias are gesneriads like African violets, but hardy, and evergreen, here in zone 6B.  They originally hail from limestone cliffs in Greece and Bulgaria.

I planted it between two larger-sized rocks, north-facing, in a trough...and waited until this year for it to bloom.  It's a gorgeous thing in bloom, and totally worth the wait.  Harvey passed away in 2016, but I still think about him, and his patience and generosity with a total stranger that day, every time I enjoy this haberlia.  

Thankfully his daughter Esther is still running the nursery, and coming to the Stonecrop sale every April.

The Drabas

I feel like I say it every year, but I'll take the yellow drabas over yellow forsythia any day.  Above is draba lasiocarpa.

Draba rigida is much tighter, of course.  This one grows across the street at Neighbor Ray's.

This is draba novolympica growing in tufa.  It must be happy; it set seed and had a baby below.

Draba siberica is a little weedy looking, but it sure is bright on a cloudy April day.