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Gentiana occidentalis |
 |
| | Outlandish rocket bud |
| Family |
gentianaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial |
| Flowers |
deep blue (May-July) |
| Size |
2-4" |
| Light |
part shade |
| Seed ripens | mid-June |
Gentian species from the Pyrenees in Europe. From my seed-starting attempt in 2010, just one seedling developed into a plantlet; it stayed small through all of 2011, during which it remained in our nursery area, until in spring of 2012 it finally seemed large enough to survive out in the rock garden. I'm glad the one survivor hung in there, because it's a pretty little gentian, with closely clustered shiny narrow leaves, and in September of that year it finally rewarded us with a single dark blue tubular flower. The flowering time casts some doubt on the identity of my plant, but it seems like it was just confused: in following years, it bloomed in mid-spring. Since then, it has done nicely, especially in its new location after I overhauled the rock garden in 2014, looking very put-together even just in foliage. It is also completely evergreen, looking fresh as rain just after the snow cover melted off following a winter with sub-zero temperatures.
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| | March 15, 2015 - evergreen |
| 
| | Six weeks later |
|
| | Seed collected from the inner tubes of the spent flowers |
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. Seed for this plant is included on my seed trade list One or more images of this plant are included in my stock photo catalog About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Gentiana occidentalis
- Seed from NARGS '08/'09 exchange, cold-stored through summer. Baggy 70F (3w) - 35F (8w) - 70F (22%G, 17-27d). Just one out of six seedlings developed.
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