Probably the most spectacular, certainly the most dazzling, are
lewisias. Their flowers, in brilliant cerise, shocking pink and radiant orange, look almost too good to be true.
For example, bitterroot (
Lewisia rediviva) was noted as being "expensive stuff" by Nlaka'pamux elder Annie York, who said that a 1.5-m string of dried bitterroot would be worth about one salmon in the early part of the 20th century.
And don't be without pillarbox red
Lewisia, or the rosette-shaped saxifrages, of which there are dozens.
By July 1 the corps had made it over the still snowy Continental Divide, just in time for Lewis to record the Bitterroot Range's namesake,
Lewisia rediviva, with its fleshy, low-slung leaves and ephemeral, light-pink flowers.
Another good plant on my raised bed is the
Lewisia Ashwood Carousel which was in flower in March and should continue having bursts of flower right through until l ate autumn.
Dear Diarmuid Could you please tell me where I can buy
Lewisia seeds from?
LEWISIA This pint-sized perennial is ideal for the rock garden, scree bed or even cracks between paving slabs, where it will have the good drainage it needs.
Here a few names to tempt you: arenaria, campanula, dianthus, gentiana, hepatica,
Lewisia, penstemon, primula, thymus and saxifraga.
A FAMOUS rock star in gardening circles is
Lewisia cotyledon.
The species, popular today, is
Lewisia cotyledon, an evergreen alpine that likes acid soil.
For vibrant colour, choose from a variety of evergreen, low-growing phlox,
lewisia, gentian, armeria and alyssum, and if you can fit them in, plant some bulbs in autumn to add some height, such as dwarf narcissi.
Eleven months later, though, when Lewis saw the plant in glorious bloom in the Bitterroot Mountains, he noted it in his acquisitions journal as a "singular plant." He gave a plant to German botanist Frederick Traugott Pursh, who renamed it
Lewisia rediviva, after Lewis.
Lewisias are generally easy to flower, but one species -
Lewisia tweedyi var.
My choice would be Gentiana verna or
Lewisia cotyledon.
Wall Heath Horticultural Guild, talk, Cyclamen,
Lewisia and Auriculas, by Mr Philip Burden, Community Centre, Enville Road, 7.30pm.
