Doronicum orientale is a fairly common plant but the better option, a cultivar called Finesse, is not found in a lot of gardens. It is a lovely yellow colour and fills that blooming void between spring bulbs and peonies. Easy to grow, and reliably hardy in many zones.
Doronicum orientale ‘Finesse’:photo by Robert Pavlis
Common names for the species include leopard’s bane and oriental false leopards bane. All parts of the plant are poisonous to humans, if ingested. In my zone 5, full sun garden, which does not normally get watered, the plant dies back and goes underground by mid-summer.
The flowers look like stars due to the very narrow petals which are a good identifier for Finesse. Other cultivars have wider petals giving them the more common daisy look.
Doronicum orientale ‘Finesse’:photo by Robert Pavlis
Other cultivars include:
Species – taller at about 70 cm (2.5 ft)
Leonardo – very compact, 25 cm (10 in)
Little Leo – semi-double, 40 cm (16 in)
There is also a cultivar called Magnificum, but the descriptions for this seem to match the wild species, except that it might be slightly shorter.
Doronicum orientale ‘Little Leo’:photo by Robert Pavlis
Contributions to this page were made by: Robert Pavlis
Plant of the Month for April, 2019
Dodecatheon pulchellum
(doh-dek-ATH-ee-on pul-KEL-um)
General Information:
Dodecatheon pulchellum has unusually shaped flowers that stand out nice in the garden. It is hard to find in nurseries but easy to raise from seed.
Dodecatheon pulchellum:photo by Robert Pavlis
The information in this post is for D. pulchellum, but I can’t be certain the pictures are of that species. The seed was obtained from the ORG&HP society seed exchange, labeled as D. jeffreyi, but I think that name is incorrect. Dodecantheon species are all very similar, and even D. pulchellum is quite variable. The pictures may also be a garden hybrid. In any event all Dodecatheons are great plants.
Common names include pretty shooting star, few-flowered shooting star, dark throat shooting star, western shooting star and the prairie shooting star. Its normal habitat is wet alpine and sub-alpine regions, but it can also be found in very dry desert locations.
Dodecatheon pulchellum: photo by Robert Pavlis
I have always grown it on the wet side, but maybe I’ll try a dry scree garden. If they get too dry they will go dormant in late summer. Divide as they go dormant or in early spring. It is in the Primulaceae family. The most common color forms are light to deep pink, but white and red forms are available.
Life Cycle: perennial
Height: 45cm (18in)
Bloom Time: early summer
Natural Range: western North America
Habitat: wet alpine and sub-alpine medeows
Synonyms: Dodecatheon meadia var. puberulum
Cultivation:
Light: sun to part shade
Soil: well drained
Water: moist
USDA Hardiness Zone: 3 - 7
Propagation: seed, division
Seedex availability (ORG&HPS annual Seed Exchange): usually
Sow @ 20°C. Seed germinates within 3 months.
Requires darkness.
leaves die back in July; keep seedlings growing as long as possible
Robert Pavlis
Plant of the Month for July, 2019
(dig-ee-TAH-liss pur-PUR-ee-uh)
General Information:
I walked outside a few days ago and immediately spotted my monster foxglove. It is a cream yellow, growing in a fairly shady spot where the color just glows. But what made it really stand out is the large uncharacteristic flower at the top of the inflorescence (flower stem). It was a rare peloric mutation.
The formation of peloric flowers in foxgloves is fairly rare but they have been report for many years. The proper botanical name for this plant is Digitalis purpurea monstrosa. The term monstrosa is Greek and means huge or monsterous.
Digitalis purpurea monstrosa (peloric flower): photo by Robert Pavlis
A normal foxglove develops an indeterminate inflorescence that steadily gets taller until the plant can't support more flowers. The flowers open sequentially starting at the bottom. In a peloric foxglove, a terminal flower develops and opens before any of the other buds. This stops any further growth above the peloric flower. The remaining flowers open from the bottom up and have a normal shape.
A normal foxglove flower has bilateral symmetry, where the left side mirrors the right side through a vertical axis. The peloric flower shows radial symmetry. You can draw any number of axis through the flower and the two halves mirrors each other, provided that the flower developed properly.
Pelorism is normally found in plants that have a bilateral symmetry, such as gloxinia, orchid, snapdragon, Pelargonium, Primula auricula and members of the mint family.
The genetics of peloric foxgloves was deciphered a hundred years ago. It is controlled by a simple Mendelian recessive gene. If you cross a peloric plant with itself, all of offspring will be peloric. If this plant is crossed with a fully normal plant, all of the F1 offspring (first generation) will look normal, but will carry the recessive gene, which is expressed in the F2 generation.
Digitalis purpurea monstrosa (peloric flower): photo by Robert Pavlis
The expression of the gene is a bit more complicated than that because peloric plants don't always form the top peloric flower, in which case they look quite normal. It is not clear what causes the expression of the gene, but the environment is referenced by several people. It could be a decrease in light, or unusual temperatures, indicating an epigenetic effect.
All of the flowers on a peloric plant, including the top one, will produce seed that contains the recessive gene.
So where did my plant come from? I had been growing some hybrid D. purpurea nearby but since they are biennial and I mulch heavily, foxgloves tend not to self sow very much. A few did flower in the same spot as the peloric one, but they did not show pelorism, nor were they a creamy yellow color with almost no spotting.
D. lutea, a reliable perennial in my garden also flowers close by. It is yellow, but much smaller in size. I also grow D. lanata and D. grandiflora on the other side of the house. Cross pollination was certainly possible.
This year, the plant in the picture is the only D. purpurea that is flowering in the garden so cross pollination is not likely within the species.
The subject plant has made four flowering stems so far, and each is topped with a peloric flower. It is the only fully yellow one that I found on the internet.
This is the first peloric plant I have seen in the garden, and the weather this year has been very unusual. It has been very cold and wet. It is middle June, and normal late spring weather has still not arrived, causing many plants to behave differently this year.
This plant won’t win an award for its flowers, but it is a very versatile plant that grows well in sun, part shade, full shade, moist or very dry. It has a nice light green colour all summer and gives a good red fall show. For a shade garden, it is a true competitor to hostas.
Diervilla lonicera;photo by Robert Pavlis
For an uncommon plant, Diervilla lonicera sure has a lot of common names including bush honeysuckle, low bush honeysuckle, northern bush honeysuckle dwarf bush honeysuckle, and yellow flowered upright honeysuckle. It is an Ontario native that is not very common in either the wild or the garden.
The small yellow flowers are protogynous, where the pistil matures before the pollen, and plants are self-sterile. It is host to the Fawn Sphinx Moth.
Diervilla lonicera;photo by Robert Pavlis
In full sun the plant grows and spreads quickly with suckers. In full shade it is a much slower growing shrub, but it seems happy in full shade under sugar maples. After 3 years in part shade in the author's garden, the plant has not started to sucker.
Dictamnus albus always makes a big splash in the garden when it is flowering and even when it is not flowering it is a very interesting plant with good leaf structure. Even the star-shaped seed heads are interesting. So why is this plant not seen more in gardens? It is very slow growing and I think it costs nurseries too much to get it to a saleable size. Fashions have changed and this fantastic plant has been left behind in favor of more modern plants. That is a real shame since few garden plants will match the presence of a mature Dictamnus.
Dictamnus albus ‘Purpureus’: photo by Robert Pavlis
The most common name is gas plant, but some people also call it burning bush, dittany, and fraxinella. The name gas plant refers to the of fragrant, flammable oils produced both during flowering, and while it produces seeds. The fragrance is lemony and quite pleasant. If you touch the plant, you will feel the oils produced. Some, consider this to be the burning bush referred to in the bible.
Is the gas plant really flammable? Have a look at this video.
Before you go and touch this plant you should be aware that it causes phytophotodermatitis (ie skin reaction) for some people where exposure to sun produces blisters. I don’t have this problem and most people don't.
Dictamnus albus ‘Purpureus’: photo by Robert Pavlis
The gas plant has a long, deep tap root which makes it very drought tolerant but also difficult to divide or move. It is best to leave the plant where it is, and grow a new one from seeds. But even this can be a bit tricky. When the seeds are ripe, they are shot out of the seed capsule as soon as you touch them. It is best to bag seed heads and wait until they drop into the bag.
Seedlings grow slowly, but are not difficult to raise. The plants are quite tough and should flower in 3-4 years. Once established, it will last a very long time.
Dictamnus albus 'Alba': photo by Robert Pavlis
Available in three main colours, pink with stripes (D. albus ‘Purpureus’), white (D. albus ‘Alba’) and a much less common red (D. albus ‘Rubra’). I looked for a picture on the internet for rubra and could not find one. Several nurseries sell a so-called rubra, but the pictures are clearly that of Purpureaus. Does a red one really exist?
Website administrator's comment: The Royal Horticultural Society is the primary reference used by ORG&HPS for confirming the name of cultivars. RHS lists D. albus var. albus and D. albus var. purpureus indicating they are varieties, not cultivars. In addition, they specify that D. albus 'Rubra' is a synonym for D. albus var. purpureus. See RHS database
Life Cycle: perennial
Height: Plant is 60cm (2 ft) tall with the flower spike adding 30 cm (1 ft)
Bloom Time: Mid summer
Natural Range: Europe, North Africa and much of Asia
Seedex availability (ORG&HPS annual Seed Exchange): usually
Sow immediately. The viability of these seeds is short or the species propagates best with fresh seed. Stored seed might be coaxed into germination with temperature cycling and patience.
