The Stinzenflora flowering season is coming to an end. The Double Meadow Saxifrage is one the late flowering stinzenplants. That does not mean that there is not much else to see in the various terrains. 

Flowering: start full decreasing
Present: here and there regular massive

Stinzenflora-monitor Calendar 2019 week 18. Scroll horizontally to view all plants. Learn more about a terrain or stinzenplant? Click on the name in the table.

Flowering Hawthorn, White Dead-nettle and Cow parsley at Jongemastate are definitely worth a visit. With regard to the Stinzenplants that are currently flowering, competition with other species can, as previously indicated, cause that the bloom of the Stinzenplants is hardly visible. The question is whether this can be solved in the somewhat longer term by means of adapted management.

At Dekema State, Bear’s Garlic is in full bloom, partly in competition with Ground Elder, and the Bluebells have also expanded in recent years. Star-of Bethlehem, that is now flowering ,also tries to rise above competing plants. If that works, the white stars in the sun are beautiful to see.

At Hackfort the combination of recently planted Drooping Star-of-Bethlehem and Bluebells can now be seen in bloom at the same time. You will not see this combination in areas where the Drooping Star-of-Bethlehem has been standing for much longer, because it has already produced its seedpods. According to Stinze Stiens, the now flowering variety has a somewhat darker leaf, the flower stems are less high, and the flowers are somewhat darker green-gray than the early-flowering variety. The expectation is that the flowering of the Wild Hyacinth will end in the coming week.

The Schierstins reports that the Double Meadow Saxifrage is popping up in more places than they used to be. Martenastate reports that the bloom of the Double Meadow Saxifrage, which is now in full bloom, is less than last year.

This week we were at the estate Beeckestein near Velsen, together with Edwin Visser, who is plant breeder and runs the website haarlemsklokkenspel.nl , the Dutch name for Double Meadow Saxifrage. Along the wide avenues that are bordered by double rows of Lime trees, the Double Meadow Saxifrage flourishes massively under and between these trees in a good year. This is probably the richest location in the Netherlands for the Double Meadow Saxifrage. This year, however, flowering was less than 10% of what it was last year. Edwin suspects that it is because it was so dry in the period that the plant put the energy in the bulbs. The leaves died earlier last year than normal. What also stood out was that the old dead leaves of the Lime trees were still visible on the ground. The degradation process of these leaves is much slower on these sandy soils than on the richer clay soils in Friesland. In the past there was also a very rich vegetation of Double Meadow Saxifrage at the forecourt of Huis te Manpad in Heemstede under the Lime trees. The trees have since been replaced, the grass has become denser and the Double Meadow Saxifrage cannot cope with this increased competition.

A plant that has been planted at various locations in recent years is the Phaesant’s Eye Narcissus, which is now also flowering, as can be seen in the orchard at Dekema State and at Hackfort.

The Mourning widow now blooms, just like the Leopard’s-bane. The Leopard’s-bane that looks very similar to the Plaintain-leaved Leopards-bane, has been flowering already for some time. The Leopard’s-bane is present at Philippusfenne and Stinze Stiens. Stinze Stiens also has one spot with the Plantain-leaved Leopard’s-bane.

At Elswout estate, near Overveen, there are also some beautiful places with probably Leopard’s-bane especially along the waterfront.

Last week we visited a number of special sites in northern Germany. We reported briefly about Gottorf last week. This ‘Stinzenpflanzen’ journey has given rise to a new blog with a report and some reflections and some historical information (only in Dutch). This can provide inspiration for how to deal with historic greenery and Stinzenplants.

Depending on the nature of the terrain and what you are aiming for, there are very different solutions possible. It can also be a challenge to ensure that there is still enough to experience after the flowering season of the Stinzenplants, not only for humans, but also for bumble bees, bees and butterflies.

If you became inspired this season by the stinzenpplants and want to do your own gardening with Stinzenplants, you can use the book Tuinieren met Stinzenplanten, written by the well known Trudi Woerdeman. The book has a lot of information and the second edition has just appeared. Recommended but only in Dutch. It seems that the second edition is already almost sold out! So if you are interested, don’t wait too long.

 

 

 

• Volgende: Stinzenflora-monitor 2019: Calendar week 19
• Vorige: Stinzenflora-monitor: Calendar week 17