Poppy seeds for the steppe

Today I spread the last seeds at the steppe roundabout in Lund. Most of the seeds are bought from Jellito Staudensamen in Germany and all arrived earlier this spring except for one item. Papaver croceum 'Wonderland Yellow' or Papaver nudicaule as it's also called, was a rest and came to my post box the other day.

First I mixed the seeds with Vermiculite in a bucket and then I walked around and throwed the mixture all around. I don't know if the poppy will germinate and establish at the calcareous steppe as I never tried it before under this conditions, but that is at least what I hope and expect. Many other seedlings are now emerging in the gravel and especially the Carthusian Pink, Dianthus carthusianorum and Chives, Allium schoenoprasum are abundant just as expected.

The two traffic islands are more densly planted then the roundabout itself.

Most plants are now settled and many tiny seedlings are visable in the gravel

At least some isolated flowers

Slowly, slowly the plants at the Steppe Roundabout in Lund begin to establish in the harsh and inhospitable environment. Yet the planting is irrigated regularly however and that will continue through the summer, but from now decreased to once a week.

Of course the planting still looks very sparse and scanty and it might be difficult for the viewers to cotton on the design idea and appreciate the display. Unfortunately it will take two or three years before the roundabout will show its real character.

Some few plants have at least started to expose their flowers. In order of appearance this is what has happened. Already when planted in April the Aubrieta 'Blaumeise' was set with flowers, followed by Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei' and the sanguineum-hybrid Geranium 'Tiny Monster'. Then Knautia macedonica 'Mars Midjet' opened its dark red flowers, next Veronica spicata and Prunella grandiflora. This week Dianthus carthusianorum began to bloom.

Solitude standing

Yesterday the one and only pine tree, a big Pinus nigra, from Bruns in Germany was planted in the roundabout. All the rocks have also been placed out already so now we are only waiting for the perennials to arrive. Next week the planting will start.  

The first rocks are here

The largest rock is a 5 ton piece of lime stone

Today 13 big boulders came to the roundabout. We directly started to place them out and will continue with that tomorrow. Now I hardly can't wait to get them all on site, so we soon can start with the planting. The solitude tree, a big Pinus nigra, will arrive early next week.

This rock is here turned upside down for best exposure

The Home Town Steppe Roundabout

Late spring snow? No, just chalky sand!  

“No prophet is accepted in his own town” as the modified old Luke saying says. Until now it has been the veracity as I haven’t had any landscape project in my own home town Lund here in the south of Sweden, no, not even a single planting so far.

However now at last I got the mission by the Lund municipality to turn a big roundabout and two traffic islands into a dry calcareous flowering steppe, planted with a wide range of lime loving plants, all originated from Eurasia.

The chalk layer in the roundabout

The preparing has already started. First the former lawn was removed and then a layer of about 10 cm of macadam was spread out all over the soil. Next step was to add about 20 cm of a whitish chalk in the size 0,2-2,0 mm, from Ignaberga. The last top layer consists of about 15-20 cm of calcareous macadam, 0-25 mm, from Falköping.

Next week some big rocks and boulders are going to be placed out at strategic places in the roundabout, companied by smaller but still big stones.

In the Easter week we so will plant the roundabout with many different perennials and grasses. I’ll of course come back here to report about the result after finished planting.

Now the last layer of calcareous gravel is placed out

The Calcareous Slope

We used 40 tons of limestone, both boulders and gravel, when we in 2005 created a calcareous slope in acidic Sävsjö in the middle of the county of Småland in southern Sweden. Until yesterday I had never visited this landscaping project during the peak flowering period in June and July. Six years have passed and nowadays most of the bare stones and gravel are covered by vegetation. Some planted species have gone completely extinct, while others have increased enormously in number. Most abandoned is the soft Hairy Melic (Melica ciliata).

All plants chosen for this limestone planting are true lime lovers and they all tolerate very high pH.This time of the year the slope is filled up mainly by the lovely Carthusian Pink (Dianthus carthusianorum), the free flowering Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria) and the colorful Broad leaved Thyme (Thymus pulegioides).  Other species that can be found in bloom in July are a rose form of Bloody Cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum), St Bernhard's Lily (Anthericum liliago) and Viper's Bugloss (Echium russicum).

Broad leaved Thyme (Thymus pulegioides)

Melica ciliata, commonly called Hairy Melic or Silky Spike Melic  

together with Carthusian Pink (Dianthus carthusianorum)

Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria) and the Viper's Bugloss (Echium russicum)

Carthusian Pink and Pincushion Flower

The single flower of  Carthusian Pink, Dianthus carthusianorum