Alpines

One of my talks is titled 'Small is Beautiful,' an apt way of describing why I am drawn to alpine plants.  Even in a very small garden it is possible to have a great range of different plants that sit under the umbrella term of 'Alpine.'  Hopefully these six pics from today help to illustrate that.

Top row: Rhododendron campylogynum, a tiny species native to the Himalayas where it grows at over 14,000 feet.  Erigeron nanus, a mountain plant from NW USA.  Saxifraga canaliculata, a mossy species from Northern Spain.
Bottom row: Saxifraga cotyledon (probably a hybrid of it) found in the mountains of Europe.   Anthericum liliago a [plant of high meadows in European mountains.  Dianthus sylvestris, the Wood Pink also from Europaean mountains. All are growing in troughs or a raised bed out in the garden.   All three along the bottom row are plants I have seen on my travels in Switzerland which makes them extra special to me.   The Saxifraga cotyledon should have much taller sprays of flowers but all the main stems were broken by heavy footed [s]flying rats[/s] seagulls last month.  These are smaller side stems that survived the massacre.

After a rather lazy morning I was getting ready to walk over to the other side of town and join the singers in the Tywyn Carnival Parade when a message appeared from a friend with a problem.   Trying but ultimately failing to find them what they needed meant that I ended up joining in a little after the start of the parade.  Just seven of us were able to make it but between the high buildings in the High Street at least, our singing rang loud.  We were supporting a local business which is launching a mobile chilled seafood option - a fridge on a bike!  An extra pic of us along the seafront.  We had a load of fun, ending up in the school fields close to my home.  Hot, dry and a little hoarse, we adjourned to Kings Cafe for an ice cream afterwards.

Home for a rest, food, some holiday planning and a bit of watering then off to walk Meg at Rhydyronen where John joined me before we settled in the caravan with Jane and Jack for a cuppa and a catch up.