Garget, Sex Blite, Scoke

Garget, Sex, Blite, Scoke

-by Andrew Osyany

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I knew "Scoke" would grab your attention! On a recent whizz through the paperback reprint of the Britton and Brown Northeast flora I jotted down a bunch of the common names. No longer common, I am sure, but many have such a good resonance. Wouldn't it be nice if in the place of all the insipid hybrid and cultivar names that we see, like Double Delight, Brotherly Peace, Raspberry Froth and their ilk, we could have some of these old robust names resurrected? Come and delight doubly in my Bilsted rose and don't you think that of these two variegated monsters, Hosta 'Coakum' is even more ugly than Helleborus 'Spattling'?

Through the kindness of Peter Gill, my previous plant ramble has been posted on our web-site
http://wwww.onrockgarden.com. This allowed the article to be accompanied by a number of scanned-in pictures which were not part of the printed article. Have a look. I think the concept works very well and, if authors co-operate, we could continue to do this. The mechanics would mean that the illustrated web-site article would appear some short time after the newsletter. Or, perhaps more realistically, when you get a new Journal issue, click on the web-site and see last month's feature on the web-site.

Thank yous are due for the number of private and public echoes to my plant ramble, especially about Houstonia and Verbascum.

Mimulus

The summer 2003 issue of the NARGS Quarterly has an excellent article on mimulus by Mark Akimoff, dealing with MM. guttatus, cusickii, eastwoodiae, longiflorus, aurantiacus, primuloides, lewisii, tillingii, cardinalis, nanus and mentioning a bunch of others. The article very much bears re-reading, and if you are not a NARGS member, weep and convert.

Mimulus lewisii

mimulus acutidens

Being a chauvinistic New World man, and knowing of the huge numbers in North America, I was surprised to find out that the genus Mimulus appears also in Asia, India, Australia and South Africa.

Mimulus bigelovii

Mimulus tillingii

Mostly, mimulus is available by seed only and, mostly, only a very few of the 150+ species are available. Very broadly, some want constant wet, mist, streamside and the like, and they are yellow, spreading and persistent. The pink to red ones tend to be more difficult and less persistent and, preponderantly, in the xeric category. The most astonishing mimulus I have seen are the various tiny pink annuals in California, sporting 2cm diameter flowers barely off the ground. Perhaps I should mention that there are also tall-growing pink dryland mimulus in California. If this article gets to the web-site, expect to see a bunch of unidentified pink mimulus, both small and large.

The shrubby members are sometimes called Diplacus and though these have been hybridized because they are so elegant and tractable in mild climates, a regular winter in the east will kill them off. An irregular warm winter will see them through in a sheltered spot. However, they are easy to grow and flower as a winter pot-plant. Look for seed of MM. longiflorus, puniceus and aurantiacus which are usually available.

Mimulus puniceus

Mimulus nanus

Mimulus aurantiacus

The tiniest-flowered one that I have encountered is M. pictus from Ginny Hunt's SeedHunt, Box 96, Freedom, CA 95019-0096. The most minuscule trough wouldn't be too small to hold it. BTW, Ginny has an almost great catalogue (inexplicably, it's 80% Lamiaceae), good seeds and very generous packets.

Mimulus pictus

Mimulus angustatus

Many years ago I 'erranded' my older sister to collect seeds for me on the Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and she came back with a lot of unidentified accessions. One little annual had largely white flowers with well traced pink edges, and a dark brown centre. What a jewel. Only by paging through the wonderful Peterson's Pacific States Wildflowers book was I able to discover that I had M. angustatus. This looks very much like M. tricolor, but neither has ever shown up in any commercial or rock garden society seedex. However, I have had some interesting seed from Ron Ratko's Northwest Native Seeds, oreonana@mbay.net, and The Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers, http://theodorepayne.org, which also has a printed catalogue that can be ordered.

Mimulus sp.

Mimulus cardinalis is a larger, long-season splendid-flowered plant, which likes moisture but is perfectly happy in a normal garden bed. Some accessions have been short-lived, but some have lived up to four years. Seed of this is usually easily available and the plant should flower the first season.

Mimulus cardinalis

Mimulus ringens

Mimulus rupicola

Mimulus rupicola

Matthiola

The family used to be known as the Cruciferae and I wish that the name had been retained in the new homogenized format as Cruciferaceae, rather than being replaced by Brassicaceae. Of course, I do want to honour cabbages as kitchen delights as well as in endearment usage (mon petit chou), and as descriptions of turgid and robust alpine plants. Still, the prominent four cross-positioned petals are so characteristic of the family; it is so seldom that a family is described by an overwhelming physical characteristic that I secretly root for the stickinthemuds who are staying with the old name. This family is one of the really important ones in the gardens, fields (both as mustard, canola and cole crops and as dreadful weeds) and, as the supplier of the universal laboratory/genetic studies plant, Arabidopsis thaliana.

There are about 55 Matthiola species. To my knowledge they are all Mediterranean. Plants tend to be slightly tomentose (short-hairy), have largish entire leaves and be annual, biennial or short-lived perennial. Strong fragrance is common in the genus - the kind that is found in the wallflower cousins, sweet but often underlain by an astringency. Some knowledgeable people claim that it is a horsy smell but, to me, no horse ever smelled that good.

Possibly everyone is acquainted with hybrids of Matthiola incana, which are called stock, (all right, Shakespeare called them gillyvors) and used as annuals or biennials. In Mediterranean countries the more perennial types are used as pot plants, nicely blooming through the winter with largish, attractive and fragrant flowers. We can do this, too, especially if we can provide a cool sunny environment. I was very pleased with my experiment with this.

Ideal for interplanting with M. incana is M. bicornis, or night-scented stock. A thoroughly weedy-looking plant, fortunately gently re-seeding in some real tough spots. In the evenings the shrivelled up flowers open and pour out horseless honey fragrance. This seems to waft in an invisible cloud and may be stronger some distance from the plants than right above them. My children's patrimony is the memory of that fragrance by our front door. I've moved house since the patrimony days, but the plant has accompanied me. Although Chiltern's carries a supposedly superior selection (Starlight Sensation), I don't really see or sniff any difference in my environment.

Commonly seen in New England rock gardens is M. fruticulosa valesiaca. This is a small-leaved species with up to a dozen lovely pink flowers on each of a dozen 15cm stems. I have had zippo success with this elegant plant. The literature mentions that it prefers acid soil and, maybe, that is what is lacking with me but is in plentiful supply in New England. Normally the majority of crucifers like neutral to slightly alkaline soil. In any case, this is a plant that I would be happy grow anywhere, even in a trough.

Other species I have tried from seed but didn't manage to bloom so far are MM. anchoniifolia, creciosa, fragrans, fruticosa perennis, integrifolia, longipetala, scapifera. However, these failure stories won't discourage me. I did manage to bloom M. thessala, which is perennial and re-seeds. The notation in my database says "dingiest flower in garden". M. montana is also hardy for me and it also re-seeds. My accession comes from Kaz Dag in Turkey at an elevation of 1,500m, and the database notation is "junk". My success stories won't discourage me, either. I know that there are better selections out there and I shall, in due course, report on resounding success.

Liz Knowles showed a lovely picture of ground-hugging M. tricuspidata in Corsica; this is an annual, so would have an easy prominent spot in my garden, if only there were a source of seed!

Mimulus
The summer 2003 issue of the NARGS Quarterly has an excellent article on mimulus by Mark Akimoff, dealing with MM. guttatus, cusickii, eastwoodiae, longiflorus, aurantiacus, primuloides, lewisii, tillingii, cardinalis, nanus and mentioning a bunch of others. The article very much bears re-reading, and if you are not a NARGS member, weep and convert.		Mimulus lewisii
mimulus acutidens	Being a chauvinistic New World man, and knowing of the huge numbers in North America, I was surprised to find out that the genus Mimulus appears also in Asia, India, Australia and South Africa.	Mimulus bigelovii
Mimulus tillingii	Mostly, mimulus is available by seed only and, mostly, only a very few of the 150+ species are available. Very broadly, some want constant wet, mist, streamside and the like, and they are yellow, spreading and persistent. The pink to red ones tend to be more difficult and less persistent and, preponderantly, in the xeric category. The most astonishing mimulus I have seen are the various tiny pink annuals in California, sporting 2cm diameter flowers barely off the ground. Perhaps I should mention that there are also tall-growing pink dryland mimulus in California. If this article gets to the web-site, expect to see a bunch of unidentified pink mimulus, both small and large.
The shrubby members are sometimes called Diplacus and though these have been hybridized because they are so elegant and tractable in mild climates, a regular winter in the east will kill them off. An irregular warm winter will see them through in a sheltered spot. However, they are easy to grow and flower as a winter pot-plant. Look for seed of MM. longiflorus, puniceus and aurantiacus which are usually available.	Mimulus puniceus	Mimulus nanus
Mimulus aurantiacus	The tiniest-flowered one that I have encountered is M. pictus from Ginny Hunt's SeedHunt, Box 96, Freedom, CA 95019-0096. The most minuscule trough wouldn't be too small to hold it. BTW, Ginny has an almost great catalogue (inexplicably, it's 80% Lamiaceae), good seeds and very generous packets.	Mimulus pictus
Mimulus angustatus	Many years ago I 'erranded' my older sister to collect seeds for me on the Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and she came back with a lot of unidentified accessions. One little annual had largely white flowers with well traced pink edges, and a dark brown centre. What a jewel. Only by paging through the wonderful Peterson's Pacific States Wildflowers book was I able to discover that I had M. angustatus. This looks very much like M. tricolor, but neither has ever shown up in any commercial or rock garden society seedex. However, I have had some interesting seed from Ron Ratko's Northwest Native Seeds, oreonana@mbay.net, and The Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers, http://theodorepayne.org, which also has a printed catalogue that can be ordered.
Mimulus sp.	Mimulus cardinalis is a larger, long-season splendid-flowered plant, which likes moisture but is perfectly happy in a normal garden bed. Some accessions have been short-lived, but some have lived up to four years. Seed of this is usually easily available and the plant should flower the first season.	Mimulus cardinalis
Mimulus ringens	Mimulus rupicola	Mimulus rupicola
Matthiola
The family used to be known as the Cruciferae and I wish that the name had been retained in the new homogenized format as Cruciferaceae, rather than being replaced by Brassicaceae. Of course, I do want to honour cabbages as kitchen delights as well as in endearment usage (mon petit chou), and as descriptions of turgid and robust alpine plants. Still, the prominent four cross-positioned petals are so characteristic of the family; it is so seldom that a family is described by an overwhelming physical characteristic that I secretly root for the stickinthemuds who are staying with the old name. This family is one of the really important ones in the gardens, fields (both as mustard, canola and cole crops and as dreadful weeds) and, as the supplier of the universal laboratory/genetic studies plant, Arabidopsis thaliana.
There are about 55 Matthiola species. To my knowledge they are all Mediterranean. Plants tend to be slightly tomentose (short-hairy), have largish entire leaves and be annual, biennial or short-lived perennial. Strong fragrance is common in the genus - the kind that is found in the wallflower cousins, sweet but often underlain by an astringency. Some knowledgeable people claim that it is a horsy smell but, to me, no horse ever smelled that good.
Possibly everyone is acquainted with hybrids of Matthiola incana, which are called stock, (all right, Shakespeare called them gillyvors) and used as annuals or biennials. In Mediterranean countries the more perennial types are used as pot plants, nicely blooming through the winter with largish, attractive and fragrant flowers. We can do this, too, especially if we can provide a cool sunny environment. I was very pleased with my experiment with this.
Ideal for interplanting with M. incana is M. bicornis, or night-scented stock. A thoroughly weedy-looking plant, fortunately gently re-seeding in some real tough spots. In the evenings the shrivelled up flowers open and pour out horseless honey fragrance. This seems to waft in an invisible cloud and may be stronger some distance from the plants than right above them. My children's patrimony is the memory of that fragrance by our front door. I've moved house since the patrimony days, but the plant has accompanied me. Although Chiltern's carries a supposedly superior selection (Starlight Sensation), I don't really see or sniff any difference in my environment.
Commonly seen in New England rock gardens is M. fruticulosa valesiaca. This is a small-leaved species with up to a dozen lovely pink flowers on each of a dozen 15cm stems. I have had zippo success with this elegant plant. The literature mentions that it prefers acid soil and, maybe, that is what is lacking with me but is in plentiful supply in New England. Normally the majority of crucifers like neutral to slightly alkaline soil. In any case, this is a plant that I would be happy grow anywhere, even in a trough.
Other species I have tried from seed but didn't manage to bloom so far are MM. anchoniifolia, creciosa, fragrans, fruticosa perennis, integrifolia, longipetala, scapifera. However, these failure stories won't discourage me. I did manage to bloom M. thessala, which is perennial and re-seeds. The notation in my database says "dingiest flower in garden". M. montana is also hardy for me and it also re-seeds. My accession comes from Kaz Dag in Turkey at an elevation of 1,500m, and the database notation is "junk". My success stories won't discourage me, either. I know that there are better selections out there and I shall, in due course, report on resounding success.
Liz Knowles showed a lovely picture of ground-hugging M. tricuspidata in Corsica; this is an annual, so would have an easy prominent spot in my garden, if only there were a source of seed!