The UN-Delospermas...

Stomatium agninum Giant Form

While Delosperma has gone and become a household name, practically, sold in box stores and practically on every street corner, there is another large genus of ice plants--one that is largely restricted to the colder parts of the karoo--most of the species of which are very old tolerant. This is the genus Stomatium...which suffers a tremendous inferiority complex. For one thing almost all Stomatiums are yellow (except for a few white ones that can be pinkish). Pretty much the same shade of butter yellow to boot. Then there's the problem that their flowers open only at night. These are clumpers--not big mats like so many Delosperma. although these clumps are incredibly variable in their shape and the toothing of the leaves. Worth growing for that alone. And their flowers often smell like Juicy Fruit gum. I kid you not! I obtained the one above from the Huntington botanic garden, where it grows liberally. I find it to be one of the hardiest mesembs. Those leaves are BIG!
 

Stomatium NOT mustellnum ex Naude's Nek E.C.  (probably S. gerstneri)

I'm not sure how this got the wrong name. I'm quite sure it's S. gerstneri. If possible, it's even hardier than the LAST species. John Lavranos collected this on Naude's Nek in the East Cape, where I have seen it subsequently. It makes some of the biggest and densest clumps in the genus                                                                                                                              

Stomatium NOT mustellnum ex Naude's Nek E.C. (probably S. gerstneri)

And here it is in bloom!

Stomatium lesliei

This was a real stunner: was being the operative word--it wasn't hardy where I grew it. I'd like to try it again in my crevice garden. I was surprised that I-Naturalist had no records of this species...

I think this is the same as the Stomatium in the next picture...a pretty tough one I lost the data for. This reminds me a bit of Faucaria--Tiger jaws. Only smaller--how's "Kitten jaws" for a common name?

Kitten-jaws in bloom. I can almost smell the Juicy-fruit fragrance

The next six pictures I took over the three extraordinary August/September visits I took to South Africa in 2022, 2023 and 2024. I wish I had gone in 2025! The areas we traversed were at the margins of the genus' main distribution in the Great Karoo: how I would love to see them there! Localities and dates I took them are shown next to the names. 

Stomatium difforme Laingsburg to Calipzdorp

Stomatium mustellinum ("pyrodorum")Akkerendam Calvinia 

Stomatium mustellinum ("Stomatium pyrodorum' Calvinia nat. res. 08-30-2022

Stomatium sp. Laingsburg 09-14-2023 

Stomatium suaveolens Dankbar dam 09-13-2023

Stomatium villetii Dankbar dam 09-13-2023 

And now I have a sad tale to tell: Stomatium grew in Denver Gardens long before anyone know anything about Delosperma. There was a remarkable Danish perennial grower named Alf Jensen who had greenhouses in Arvada just south of where Ward Road abuts into 44th Avenue near the great curve of I-70. For decades he was the only source of unusual perennials--especially alpines--I remember how he would bring long wooden crates filled with hundreds of tiny clay pots full of Campanula portenshlagiana or Globularia or Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Tiny Rubies' or one of dozens of other treasures to our sale, and sell them pots and all. I'm sure he bought the pots by the thousand from Colorado Clay works back when they actually were a factory that made pots. No fancy soil-less mixes back then--Alf used SOIL! And boy, did his plants grow. His real love, however, was succulents. He had hundreds--probably thousands, in some of his greenhouses. I heard the people who bought his property (some time in the mid 1980's I believe) when he retired were selling off his plants, so I went and was shocked to see huge specimen aloes, and all manner of beautifully grown tender cacti selling for pennies on the dollar. I was sorry I never got to visit while the nursery was active. I heard he had an enormous Yucca brevifolia var. jaegeriana he grew in his garden that he transplanted to Canyon City when he sold his home and nursery. I've always wonder if it made it.

And apparently he grew other succulents in the ground including Stomatium fulleri. He's sold this to a volunteer at DBG who told me about it--she'd been growing it in her garden in Littleton for years. For years before I ever saw a Delosperma or dreamed how this Family (Aizoaceae) would utterly transform my life. I'm embarrassed to relate that when she told me that I didn't believe her....

But Alf was still selling plants, and I got one and grew it in my parents garden before I had my own. She was right--it was hardy. I need to get it again--and apologize to her now that I think of it!

Wisest of gardeners...and much more!

Keith Funk alongside his incredible garden

 After a long Colorado winter, even the most sophisticated colorist yearns for color--and the day I visited Keith and took this picture is proof of that statement: a garden with all the subtlety of a Tuba orchestra performing Souza. Don't be fooled, this fella has myriad arrows in his quiver, as you'll see!

I praised my friend of four decades calling this display "festive": now that I think of it, our friendship could  well be described as a festival of fun, mutual respect and learning.

Brace yourself, sweetie: this is that very same slope taken three months later: Keith is nothing short of being a garden magician! His garden morphs from week to week, and every corner reveals new dazzling vignettes.

A slight change of pace from the festive rock garden I think you'll agree: Keith and Retha's outdoor living room is an incredible verdant oasis: what a wonderful place to sip lemonade on a hot summer's day (although I'm afraid we tend towards slightly higher alcohol content in our drinks there...)

Every year the oasis transforms: Keith grows no end of fantastic annuals and perennials under lights and other monstrous tropicals that he overwinters like these bananas and cannas...he propagates these and much more and has a modest little nursery space where you can buy these for a fraction of the price you'd pay elsewhere if you come on garden visiting days...do note the alpine trough bottom center: he does it all...speaking of which I realize I forgot to photograph his vegetable beds!

Here the "festive" front rock garden is morphing into the summer Rembrandt colors in late afternoon...

Keith and Retha have opened their garden for years for the Garden Conservancy--from Spring to Fall: I guarantee you, every time you visit it will be a different garden!

Iris sintenisii var. urumovii

One of the countless treasures in Keith's gardens: I have lusted over this (I'm a nut for wild iris) and he's given me both seed and propagated divisions for me: a better friend one couldn't have! Multiply this plant by thousands and you have nothing less than a first class private botanic garden!

A view of one of several sweeping borders...

Rudbeckia cv. ('Goldsturm'?)

Black-eyed susan along a path on the West side of the house--more treasures beyond...

Pinellia pedatisecta and Asarum europaeum

Just look at the sweep of wild ginger on the bottom right and the aroid in the middle--one of the pests he obtained from me. In maritime climates many Pinellia are regarded as terrible invasives. In my very dry garden they are well behaved. In Keith's lush garden they are somewhere in between...I think Keith is wavering on this one...

More wonderful views of the peaceful back yard on Garden visiting day.

Wonderful container extravaganzas--different every year!

Indoors Keith maintains a wonderful assortment of gems--like these sexy begonias...

And many benches groaning with orchids--one of Keith's passions. He has a premier collection of all manner of orchids (he's a mainstay of the Denver Orchid Society and repeat past officer including president). I can't imagine how many ribbons he's won!

Another simple, elegant cluster of containers. I have taken hundreds of pictures in this garden: I'm trying to give a taste: It is impossible to capture all its facets in a short blog post...

I'm not a huge fan of garden sculpture, but I admire this serene Flora garlanded with recognizable foliage of Monstera, Manihot and possibly Marihuana as well as a daisy whose Latin name I hope begins with an "M". I know the Mother goddess treads his lawn when no one's looking...

What pictures cannot convey is Keith's enormously winning personality: he and Retha glow with love for one another, for their family, friends and the entire community. They possess restless intellects, integrity and a social conscience. For three decades Keith has shared his wisdom, wit and wonderful humor from 7:00-9:00AM on Saturday mornings that you can watch on Facebook at this link. Or on radio if you are in the Denver area at 810 KLVZ radio (or if you click the Station letters you can also listen to him on your computer).

If you haven't deduced it yet, I am a big fan of Keith's (not uncommonly calling into his program). I think he has the most beautiful and diverse private garden in the Front Range, and believe he's the best horticulturist in our region (OK, along with Kelly Grummons!). Do check him out if you haven't!

And if you're on Facebook you can see a short movie clip I did a few years ago of his festive front garden by clicking here!

And he now has a brand-spanking new website!  The Garden Wise Guy

January Un-Winter blossoming...

Iris reticulata 'Beautiful Day'

Hermodactyloides irises (a.k.a. "reticulatas") are poking up their noses all over the garden. This appropriately named cultivar was the first to open (today, January 18). I am crazy about these--the cheapest thrill on Planet Earth (they are ridiculously cheap, notwithstanding the absurd "tariffs" imposed willy nilly by the orange stain on America: WHEN will we be delivered?). I planted this one ten years ago--it comes up regularly but refuses to clump up. 

Daphne mezereum

There WERE flowers open, but the picture of this budded stem turned out better...they call it the winter daphne--but the only time I've seen it blooming in nature was in April in Sweden. Oh yes, in June in the Alps!

Origanum dictamnus

Okay, not blooming but very cute! Dittany of Crete is of course de rigeur for me to grow...(it's endemic on my ancestral island--to explain the last sentence: you see it growing in pots all over Crete).

A draba that LOOKS like hispanica but came under a different namel

Sempervivum (one of Chris Hansen's psychedelic hybrids, not sure which one)

Tetraneuris (Hymenoxys) acaulis 'Sol Dancer' 

This amazing selection of Perky Sue from High Country Gardens blooms non stop--even in winter. Definitely a cut above.

Gazania linearis 'Colorado Gold'

Plant Select's fantastic selection of the highest altitude gazania is hardy at 9000' in Colorado and also never quits blooming.

Physaria bellii

Endemic to a narrow band of Niobrara shale from the edge of Denver to Fort Collins--this is perhaps our showiest local rarity. I'm amazed to see it starting to bloom already!

Helleborus niger

I don't know if the Christmas rose was blooming on Christmas (we were in California): but it was fully out on New Year's...

Adonis amurensis

This is from a week ago: neglected to take a picture today: the clumps are looking pretty full right now...

Daphne odora

Not (alas!) in my garden: my good friend Ross Breyfogle has not one but TWO robust specimens in his private garden near DBG. I photographed these a week ago, and hope they'll be open tomorrow when I drive by to visit. He got those and I got a rooted cuttings from Rod Haenni's wonderful garden where this supposedly tender shrub thrived for years. Mine is perhaps 4" tall--no buds. But it's made it through two vicious winters. Obviously it likes Ross' clay loam better than my lean sand!

And there was much more: Viburnum farreri 'Nanum' is devilishly hard to photograph: it has hundreds of little pink pom poms that waft heavenly fragrance everywhere depending on the time of day and wind. Cyclamen coum, crocuses. Erica carnea  and 3 species (and many forms) of Galanthus are blooming too.  And a whole cavalcade of blossom is about to burst if things don't cool off a tad! For once I'm joining the skiers and praying for snow and cold weather!

Peak experiences: Pinus longaeva revisited (Or escape from Dr. Strangelove)

Pinus longaeva

2025 was a year of first for me: first time in Rome and Ravenna, first visit to Xi An (ancient capital of China) and four mountain ranges in China, and first visit to Torres de Paine in Chile. Although I had already driven to the White Mountains of California--it was in a drier midsummer and so long ago this felt like a first visit--we hit these peaks in full bloom. Of course, the bristlecones are stunning in any light. 

A respendent, glorious day with puffy clouds didn't hurt.

Like any sensible tourist, I took way too many pictures of these hoary behemoths...they are even stunning when they've been dead for centuries!

It's hard to pick out a favorite--I took dozens of pictures...

Leptosiphon nuttallii

One of my all time favorite wildflowers: I ought to dedicate a whole blog post to it. I first knew it as Linanthus nuttallii--then it morphed to Linanthastrum nuttallii, and now it rests (perhaps a tad nervously) under yet another synonym...Widely distributed in the West, it is rarely seen in cultivation--despite it's blooming for a long season, adaptability...and when cut and dried it smells like vanilla!

Stenotus acaulis

Glorious to see so many favorites blooming. This is even MORE widespread from steppe to tundra across the West, and even more rarely seen in gardens.

Eriogonum gracilipes

Even more thrilling to find the local endemics, like this gem. On my first visit decades ago it was past bloom: this year we hit it spot on! The flower was breathtakingly variable in color...this was my favorite one, however.

Pyrrocoma apargioides 

Just what we need, a new yellow genus. I would love to grow it anyway (I'm an Asterophile), and delighted to add a new genus to my list!

Phlox condensata

Here and there all over the White Mountains--and helping justify its name! It seems even whiter than what we have in the Southern Rockies!

Castilleja linarifolia

I didn't key this out at the time, and guessing the I.D. (it sure looks like the Wyoming state flower) although there are several other similar species in the area...

Pinus monophylla

Almost as dear to me as the timberline pines, my home garden boasts both Western piñons as well as three species of tree line five needle pines. I confess...I'm a pine nut (figuratively speaking that is).

Eriogonum caespitosum

I thought this was a monstrous clump of E. ovalifolium at the time...the foliage on E. caespitosum is quite distinct--and when I zoomed in on my image it was clearly caespitosum. The forms I grow from the east end of the range of the species are not so powdery white!

Scott Skogerboe and fallen bristlecone

Scott is on the left, btw: a dear friend and one of the boon companions who made this trip so memorable.

Salvia dorrii

I was THRILLED to see wide mats of an almost prostrate form of the wonderful dryland sage of the Great Basin growing among the bristlecones. SO thrilled I only took one or two mediocre pictures: I must go back and spend a few hours worshiping and photographing these properly!

Calochortus excavatus

Photobombed by a fly!

The same in its glory

This is a Mariposa I'd never seen before. One I would dearly love to naturalize in my Xeriscape...

I have been privileged to meet many remarkable people in my life. I only met Dana once--and spent an hour or two with him in his home a few blocks from my house where I grew up (Paul Maslin brought me there). Dana was a distinguished geophysicist (his biography is intriguing) If you read that writeup, you will not see any mention of his hobby: he was a passionate student of the genus Pinus. He was also the man who distinguished the California bristlecone from the one in the Southern Rockies. He shook up the American botanical world when he published Pinus Longaeva D.K. Bailey (how dare a non-botanist do such a thing). In fact, he published four major works in Phytologia, Annals of Missouri Botanical Garden and as parts of books that cemented his place in the Botanical firmament. I shall never forget a house absolutely permeated with pine scent from the hundreds of paper bags full of pine specimens he had stashed absolutely everywhere. I remember he commented that his Home Insurance was cancelled when they found out about it.

You can even see his type specimen if you click that link, deposited at the CU Herbarium (which was also about 4 blocks from where I grew up)

Pinus longaeva distribution

Generalized distribution of the more westerly Bristlecone Pine above and the Rocky Mountain species below

Here is the picture of the merry band of tree-worshippers who not only paid homage to Pinus longaeva, but a host of Sierra treasures (here clustered around an enormous trunk of a felled Abies magnifica above Mammoth, California...a tree which I am now determined to grow in Colorado. What a wonderful time we had! Beam me back, Scotty! And see to it the Epstein files really get published without redactions while your at it...(whoever dreamed the "president" of the US would start a World War to distract us from them!) Such is the strangeness of our time.