Garden-News

October 23 | Work in autumn Part II

Garden-News

Courage for Disorder

The second part of the report on the autumn works in the gardens of the Alpinum Schatzalp is about cutting back the plants. Because this measure will shape the winter and, above all, the upcoming season. The Alpinum garden team reports:
Continued from October 6th
Pruning is a completely different chapter. We constantly ask ourselves the question, what are we cutting back and are we cutting back at all? Basically, it should be said that we are not doing anything wrong if we don’t prune at all in the fall. This leaves insects, small animals, spiders and birds with hiding places as well as one or two morsels of food. In addition, the teasel plants or the rose hips with snowcaps and hoarfrost are a wonderful sight in winter. At least we shouldn’t deprive ourselves of this completely. Courage to be disorderly is a keyword that we can easily stick to.
But if we want to cut, there are a few hints to keep in mind. First of all, pruning is always an injury to the plant if it has not yet completely grown in, i.e. gone to rest. Therefore, perennials are cut back completely, if at all. Above all, we should cut those that we don’t want to go to seed and take over the bed more and more next year. But that also means that we leave those we would like to see seeded out. So we are already playing with next years design.

Don’t cut too much or too hard – But if we think about sub-shrubs, such as lavender and sage, a complete pruning is sometimes fatal, because the woody lower parts of these creatures then freeze and do not manage to sprout again in the coming spring. So it’s best to leave trees alone and wait for the coming year to see how the plants coped with the winter. Then We can reshape. In order to protect the small and large bushes from snow breakage, it is recommended to tie the plants together compactly but loosely enough with coconut tape. But let’s be careful not to pull on them too much so as not to damage the bark and nerves.
At any time you can take a walk with us on the Schatzalp and watch how we act in autumn with our cheeks red from the cold. Maybe you can already catch glimpses of next year. Because, as you have just read, a lot is happening during this time. When it’s completely over outside or dark, cold and wet, we can still revise our plant lists, write new labels and information boards and prepare next year’s program.
Our theme for the botanical weekend has already been decided. We will celebrate the coming year 2024 with “medical and psychoactive”. So if we don’t meet again this year because you are now preparing for next year in your own garden, we wish you all the best and thank you very much for a great season, your visits and your consideration for our most fragile but most important living beings.

SEEDS OF THE RED FRUIT FEVERROOT (TRIOSTEUM HIMALAYANUM)

The red-fruited fever root (Triosteum himalayanum) is not cut back. With its fruit decoration it delights the eye even through the winter.


October 23 | Work in Autumn Part I

Garden-News

Planting season in the Schatzalp Gardens

Since a little snowfall in September it has been clear:

we are rapidly approaching the end of the season. So what do we do to prepare the garden and its inhabitants for winter? Clear away? Is that even true? The Schatzalp garden team reports.
“Not quite, because first we have to enjoy the wonderful autumn. The many colors and spicy smells, the new plant catalogs and flower bulb markets. It’s not for nothing that the golden months are harvest time. Harvest time, another tidying, final expression. It’s partly true, because we botanical gardeners are also harvesting now. However, primarily seeds of some plants that are important to us so that we can exchange them with other gardens or sow them again ourselves. This is how we protect stocks and preserve species that are important to us. A nice task. Here you can observe completely different plant wonders. There’s no thought of finishing yet anyway. It’s high season again for us and for the work in the garden. Autumn is not only harvest time, but above all, planting time. The next, the next few years of these temporary works of art need to be created. Preferred before hibernation.
Many plants love autumn as a planting time. They are now developing the root system again in preparation for their resting period. Candidates that should only be planted in autumn are, of course, the onions/bulbs that bloom in spring: tulips, daffodils, checkerboard flowers or the many types of ornamental allium. Bulbs are planted in abundance in the ground approximately twice as deep as they are tall. Many perennials and deciduous trees also prefer to be planted in autumn. Peonies, for example. If they are planted in spring, they will take almost twice as long to grow or will not bloom. Here the autumn buds, the small, red, pointed-conical shoots on the tubers, determine the planting depth. These should only be visible at the highest horizon of the earth. Many irises, also prefer autumn. When it comes to planting depth, it depends on which species we are dealing with. The representatives of the Iris Germanica hybrids, for example, would like their rhizomes to be placed above ground, i.e. on the ground, whereas the Iris Spuria hybrids would like to have their rhizomes planted deeper into the ground.

Cheating in autumn – Autumn is also a particularly good time to plant short-lived, biannual species such as mullein. These plants form a rosette of leaves in the first year and overwinter in this state. If they do well, they will bloom the following year. It is therefore possible to cheat a bit with autumn planting and be able to marvel at the flowers in the first year.
Protect the beds – But as always, there are of course also plants that don’t like autumn as a planting time. These include, for example, specialists from the Alpine zone. These experts are no longer able to dig their roots deep enough into the earth in time and prepare sufficiently for winter. What is certain, however, is that a newly created bed with residents preparing for winter should be disturbed as little as possible. So it’s better that we move the ski slope and curling track to another location, because a meter of loosely fallen snow insulates down to minus 20 degrees. One meter of accumulated or compressed snow only insulates to minus 5 degrees. In addition, the new shoots, although very strong, find it much more difficult to grow through packed ice. If you are not sure of the borders of the bed, a small ‘fence’ with a string helps to remember the plants you have planted even in winter and to wait with anticipation for their shoots in spring.
Believe us, every spring it’s more exciting than any ‘action thriller’ to take a look at the beds again and again and watch what’s happening there.”

Seeds of Heron`s beak (Erodium)

The seeds of the heron’s beaks (genus Erodium) have a twisted tail with which they can bore into the ground.


October 23 | Plant of the week Part XVII

Garden-News

The torch lilies are lit

A very special genus of plants comes from the mountains of South Africa to European gardens. The torch lilies (Kniphofia) have long since faded in the valley. On the Schatzalp, in the botanical garden, they are planted in a cooler area and are still in bloom.
They are named after J. H. Kniphof, a doctor from Erfurt (1704 – 1763). In the autumn sunlight they honor their common name with bright colors. They bloom from yellow, orange to whitish greenish and even with black-brown flowers. There are about 70 species, 47 of which come from South Africa. The winter-hardy species in our mountains, around 20 in number, all come from the Drakensberg, most of them from Lesotho. They usually grow in damp to wet places with plenty of summer rain, but can also tolerate drier locations. As garden plants they have made a career primarily in England, New Zealand and the USA. From there many garden hybrids came to Europe.

Kniphofia caulescens

The picture is showing the wildform Kniphofia caulescens at the Thomas Mann Square


October 23 | Plant of the week Part XVI

Garden-News

A banquet table for insects

The umbelliferous plants (Apiaceae) are still scarce to see  in gardens. On the one hand, it is because they are simply dismissed as wild chervil, which is commonly known and on the other hand, they have come into disrepute due to the large giant hogweed. Which has become famous as an invasive neophyte. This plant family is one of the most important for animals and humans. They are usually valuable fodder plants and seem to be a banquet table for insects of all kinds. They can be wonderfully incorporated into meadow-like plantings in terms of design. They are currently gaining some importance due to the naturalistic use of plants. The Alpinum Schatzalp houses a very large range of Apiaceae. This also applies to some Angelica, which may remind some people of giant hogweed and are wrongly dismissed as such. But be careful, the family also harbors one or two poisonous species. Here you can see a photo of a short-lived, 2-year-old species from eastern Siberia and northern China, Angelica gigas. It is not phototoxic and impresses with beautiful dark red inflorescences. It is a plant for fresh and wet locations.

Angelica gigas

The picture is showing Angelica gigas


September 23 | Plant of the week Part XV

Garden-News

A botanical challenge

There are around 700 different Allium species known, many of them are a botanical challenge in cultivation. Allium? Never heard? The common name is leek. Most of us will immediately think of garlic, wild garlic or chives. Almost all alliums are edible, at least none are poisonous. The alpine gardener can immediately think of tons of dwarf species for the rock garden or the Alpinum. Alliums belong to the family Amaryllidaceae. The genus is found throughout the northern hemisphere. There are only 5 to 7 truly blue flowering species. In the Guggerbachtal Alpinum on the Schatzalp, one of the most beautiful and rarest Allium species is still blooming. It comes from the Himalayas, more precisely from Nepal and Sikkim as well as the neighboring countries facing northeast. It is up to 4800 m above sea level. M. still to be found. As can be seen in the picture, Allium sikkimense is also interesting for butterflies; they like to snack and spend the night on the plant.

Allium sikkimense

The picture is showing Allium sikkimense


September 23 | Plant of the week Part XIV

Garden-News

Noble white of the mountain

There are an estimated 40 species of Edelweiss worldwide; they originally come from the Tibetan highlands and have conquered the mountains of the northern hemisphere over thousands of years and adapted to the locations.
The native Leontopodium alpinum is somewhat variable in flower height, timing and flower shape. One of our most beautiful varieties at the Alpinum Schatzalp is the shown variety, which blooms until autumn. Through the conquest of the Alps and their filming, the Edelweiss has become world famous. It is called Edelweiss in all languages. The wild species are protected plants worldwide. Below you find the lyrics by Richard Rodgers from The Sound of Music, film with Julie Andrews.

Edelweiss, edelweiss
You greet me every morning
Small and white, clean and bright
You seem happy to meet me
Snowblossom, may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss……
Bless my home forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss…….
You greet me every morning
Small and white, clean and bright
You seem happy to meet me
Snowblossom, may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss……
Bless my home forever

Leontopodium alpinum

The picture is showing a variety of Edelweiss


September 23 | Plant of the week Part XIII

Garden-News

Diversity ensures diversity

There are around 500 different species of knapweed worldwide; they belong to the family of Astaraceae. One of the most important species for insects is certainly the common scabious knapweed.
Centaurea scabiosa is often accepted by butterflies. Here it is visited by the Silver-Green Bluelings. The female is slightly larger and can be recognized by her brown upper side.
One of the most important reasons for a high insect population is the diversity of plantspecies. In the Guggerbachtal Alpinum, at Schatzalp, we find an extremely high population of butterflies.
Some days we literally walking through clouds of butterflies.
The knapweed is a native species that grows along roadsides, in semi-dry grassland communities on limestone, and is ideally adapted to warm climates.
Depending on the location, it grows to a height of 30 to 150 cm and delights us with its flowers from July to early autumn.

Scabiose Knapweed with gossamer-winged butterflies

The picture is showing Centaurea scabiosa and Lycanidae


September 23 | Plant of the week Part XII

Garden-News

Bodyguards at Schatzalp

Beautiful plant combinations that also work in the long term are in demand. In the “Big Five Garden” we see Clematis orientalis with Geranium Wallichianum-Hybr. ‘Crystal Lake’ socialized.
It’s about more than just beauty, this combination has been delighting us for a number of years. The Geranium wallichianum come from Nepal and grow there in sparse forests, on forest edges and in the undergrowth on meadows. In Europe, they can fail in the winter when there is a sharp frost.
But with a bodyguard like the Clematis orientalis they are protected. The shoots of the clematis lie on the geraniums that deminish in in late autumn and thus ensure their winter protection, even if there is not that much snow.

Geranium und Clematis

The picture is showing Geranium Wallichianum-Hybride ‘Crytal Lake’ and Clematis orientalis


August 23 | Plant of the week Part XI

Garden-News

The Weather Thistles

The weather thistles close their blossoms when it rains and increasing cloudiness, what a fitting name. They protect their seeds that are already ripening.
We know our native Carlina acaulis, also called silver thistle. They grow up in our area, mostly on the roadside and forest edges and tolerate extreme drought. What joy, not only for the insects. By the way, they are under nature protection. The sister of the silver thistle, how could it be different, is the gold thistle. It comes from the mountainous zones of southern Central Europe and also requires hot, dry, limestone locations. Her name is Carlina acanthifolia, which means acanthus-leaved thistle.
In contrast to Carlina acaulis, this is a monocarpic species. It therefore dies after the seeds have ripened. And if you want to keep it, it has to be tightened again and again.

Carlina acaulis

The picture is showing Carlina acaulis


August 23 | Plant of the week Part X

Garden-News

Magical Fireweed

There are about 215 species in this genus. They have already shocked many gardening enthusiasts. Their urge to spread is due to the rhizomes that grow underground. In particular, our native Epilobium angustifolium, the narrow-leaved fireweed, does not always provide pleasant surprises. As a typical pioneer plant, it spreads strongly in promising places on acidic soil. The bright pink to crimson inflorescences add color to the landscape. The seeds also fly far and should be cut off in the garden. Nonetheless, the flowers are adorable. The white-flowered form Epilobium angustifolium fo.albiflorum appears to us to be particularly attractive because it is rare. We find them in nature mostly in communities of fields. In the garden it must have strong growing partners or be planted where the rhizomes cannot spread further.

Epilobium angustifolium fo. albiflorum

The picture is showing Epilobium angustifolium fo. albiflorum