I *love* gentian plants … I don’t know why – I just do … they feel plentiful and joyful, and stunning in their colours …
We have a gentian which grows wild here, and if I could, I’d fill my garden borders with it – the Northern wild Gentian – it grows on lake banks and the machair beds, flowers around August, and is not blue, as most gentians are, but a purpley-pink …
Unfortunately I’ve been unable to find seeds for this variety, so contented myself with eight named varieties from Edrom Nurseries online …
They came beautifully packaged for transit, and today, having obtained a big bag of ericaceous compost, some grit and some wood chippings, I’ve transplanted them into bigger pots …
The finished product I’m aiming for is something like this:
Gentian Sir Rupert
and this:
Gentian Tough’s Form
However, what I have now is this:
My eight different autumn gentiana varieties, in their new pots, on top of my makeshift potting bench, aka a pile of old pallets under the window …
I am taking the cowards way out, keeping them in pots instead of putting them in the ground, but gentiana are notoriously difficult to grow and keep, and I felt the least I could do was protect them from sheep, dogs, slugs, snails, insects, and soil aberrations, and make them portable in case of gales …
The six small pots contain my acorns, a very long-term project … 🙂