There were some cute native saxifrages growing in my yard in Oklahoma, providing extremely early (but small) white to pink color. I had no luck with the rock garden saxifrages.

Wow, thanks for the fast replies!

Interesting too. Did not know there were natives ones...I wonder if they would cross with the Eurasian ones.

Babs, no hurry for a photo though it would be nice. I think the distinctive feature of them is either the strange rosettes/leaf arrangements, or the veination and/or coloration. Probably best to start with a plain green one, but this one sure is tempting: Saxifraga stolonifera 'Maroon Beauty'

David, feel free to take this with a PNW grain of salt, but I really like the succulent types of saxifrage, like London Pride or S. umbrosa 'Primuloides'. I have several colonies of each, as well as denticulata, x arendsii and the stolonifera. And I'd agree those last two may not be very suitable or stand up well to summer humidity.

I do not see why the more succulent forms couldn't work for you. Riverbend Nursery in VA was selling them (not sure of current production) so someone in that area must be having some success.

Thanks for the tip, gardengal. I've actually heard of that nursery, wholesale I think.

I know the S. stolonifera as "Strawberry begonia" down here in Texas, where it likes humidity and heat but not sun. It is grown in a lot of shade gardens where people water their gardens. I loose them to dry heat. I think they even grow them in Houston with 60" of percipitation. I have to water them where I am and give them lots of compost. Since I can't do the watering part , I gave up growing them when I moved to my new place.

Wow. That's interesting to know about S. stolonifera. Maybe the winters are the problem on the east coast, not the summers.

When I had a tiny garden, I grew saxifrages in stone troughs...but they never survived the hurly-burly of my scree beds on my allotment...not even the workhorses such as s,oppositifolia...and as for the Kabischas - they were a fleeting delight...but the more robust and woodsy s.fortunei (you can see the bergenia similarities) are infintely more forgiving (practically immortal) and flower when not much else is looking lively.

I miss my early alpine forays... - tiny, perfect jewels which, unless in their native environment, always seemed to need fussing over...even in dry east anglia, they had to be covered in winter. I could see myself retiring and keeping them again.

Edit - Rockeries were the ur-gardens of childhood, in the north of England, with limestone pavements and hills and millstone grit. Same in Scotland...they never seem to thrive as cheerfully further south and yep, winter wet is as much of a killer as summer heat.

That specific saxifrage is edible too. I just learned that. I have never eaten them. They say they are hardy to Z 7 so that might be good enough for you. I would be tempted to mulch them during the winter.

Ah, let me once more have a little rave over bergenia omeiensis...utterly delicious and nothing like the leathery snail hotels with hideously coloured flowers (B.cordifolia...gak!). Anything which grows on Mt Omei seems to thrive in my garden but ymmv, David.

Had a Chilean moment myself this year.

"That specific saxifrage is edible too."

I'm not surprised, they look tasty!

I currently have 2 saxifraga stoloniferas grown as a houseplant but I am going to transplant them in my garden next spring. From all the reviews I see about this plant, it seems perfectly hardy down to zone 6b and 6a if protected. I'll keep you updated on how it goes next year.

You could experiment with some of the babies hanging off of it.

Hey David, just wanted to tell you both my saxifragas have died :(

But I can tell you this. Last month when I went to an arboretum in Morris Plains, zone 6b, I encountered a saxifraga stolonifera that was fully dormant and not Evergreen. It was coveted with leaves(not intentional)

Interesting. Are you sure they are really dead?

Though sometimes alpine plants, even from a place like Asia, that can survive in Denver, survive in the PNW or England, but can't survive us. Just too much wet and too much deep, persistent cold combined.

Have you looked at the irregulares group, David. Some of the fortunei types are bloody gorgeous (and grow exceedingly well in cold, wet Scotland). Although I have already mentioned oppositifolia, it is a workhorse and has survived when the mossy saxifrages are just a memory. I am currently lusting after a rather lovely Japanese fortunei 'Shiranami'.

I'm sure they are dead. All the new tiny growth has also perished. And don't forget these were attempted houseplants. In a good 5-1-1 mix.

Out of curiosity, is anyone familiar with Saxifraga paniculata, either as a garden plant or in the wild?

Did not know about that one. Thanks WoodsTea.

Sad updates on my other horticultural esoteric: the Morina seems to have rotted, and the rare "zn 7" rated South African forbs sure look dead. But who knows, on a pile of sand and rubble, they should have formed deep roots. Getting seeds of some weird stuff from Jelitto, for one more round of experiments before I hang up my seed flats FOREVER HAHAHA. (really do not like messing with seeds, as I am impatient, but sometimes you have no choice) For example, must try growing an Aciphylla from seeds, because they are so hard to find in US nurseries. These are carrot relatives of NZ, that evolved to look like yuccas! Probably not going to care for our summers our winters, but worth trying. My first NZ Carex seemed completely unfazed by heat and humidity, which surprised me, but looks dead now. Hopefully just playing dead!

Speaking of which...only bit of positive news this winter, really, on the "truly experimental" plants front, is Nolina erumpens, in a rain sheltered spot on sand and grit, seems fine. Nolina microcarpa in pure chicken grit, but not rain sheltered, rotted. A replacement will have to get one of those last rain sheltered spots. Love the look of them though and hope to cross them someday. They seem more exotic looking than yucca...but maybe just familiarity breeding contempt!

Actually David, one of my saxifragas is very much alive. I spotted 2 new growths on this one. Although I am wondering why a naturally Evergreen plant died off all its leaves INDOORS. Meaning it wasn't even extreme cold temperatures that did this.

Water issues, perhaps, Hergura. Winter air is really dry and sometimes we overcompensate and overwater, so it could have gotten too dry or too wet or both.

I've only been watering once in 3 weeks and only when the mix gets completely dry. I use the 5-1-1 too so good drainage. Or should I not have waited until it got completely dried and let it be consistently moist?

Perhaps someone who has owned these more recently than I could weigh in, but my memory is that they don't want to be totally dry, especially with dry air and a fast draining mix.

Probably too dry then. I was so careful of root rot especially because its winter and plants are close to dormant so I thought they wouldn't take too much water but guess not. Gonna plant this soon in a few weeks and see how it does

Good discussion.

Deciding how much to water something in winter can be tricky. I apparently just lost a desirable beardless iris, of all things, to winter overwatering! Pulled it up and it was totally rotted. (it is possible something else happened) And rare South African geophytes can be extremely tricky. Even the ones that come from wet winter parts of SA. Though it's worth noting that of the entire universe of plants where root rot is a concern, root rot in summer is more likely. Those organisms, broadly speaking, love warm, wet soil and are most virulent in those conditions. The exception is usually desert plants...like the Nolina microcarpa that annoyingly died on me.

Heruga your potted Saxifraga stolonifera looks like the cultivar that just came on Fedex from Far Reaches. At this stage I mean, just starting growth. Given the increasing expense of buying mail order from the PNW, I will for several years maintain it as a house/garage plant, and just try offsets in the garden. Hopefully I will someday have a ravishing patch under some of my rhodies, as seen in the Berkeley Botanical garden! (though perhaps it will never be in leaf at the same time the rhodies are blooming, as I saw in late January 2011)

BTW, NHBabs, is that Arabis to the right, in your picture? They struggle with the hot summers here, and I would never get a nice expanding colony like that!

Actually one of my saxifragas I think died from root rot. I tried pulling the plant up and there were no roots in the mix! Mustve rotted away. And I bought these plants from gardensoyvey. It was a species saxifraga stolonifera, no cultivar. I do however buy my Japanese hemlocks from farreaches farm :)

I just dug up a Saxifraga stolonifera from my sister's old garden to transplant to mine. She has moved and the house will be going on the market soon, so I snatched a few chunks of plants I had given her when I lived in full sun that I am missing now in my very shady woodland garden!! btw, it is fully evergreen here........

Gardengal what was your lowest temperature in your area so far this winter for your saxifragas to be completely Evergreen?

28F at my house......maybe a few degrees colder at my sister's.

That... is pretty warm. I guess they won't stay evergreen for me where it goes down to 0 degrees. Unless I plant it right up the foundation on the east side to give it macroclimate?

David, the Arabis is the screaming purple in the lower left, and I think our soil is too acid for it since it is barely limping along after something like 5 years. The Saxifrage is the expanding white-flowered colony over to the right.

Looking back at previous comment I have no idea why on earth I mentioned Japanese hemlocks from far reaches farm. But anyway, I think I am doing better with saxifragas. I learned that they are highly susceptible to rot. In September I bought some new ones and I had them heeled in(potted) under an overhang for the winter but the rain still somehow got in and they started rotting pretty bad. So in late December, I saved some by plucking a few baby ones that were still alive and stuck them in one of my 4 inch square pots in a 5-1-1 mix. I am keeping them as houseplants for the winter but plan to take them outdoors in the summer. I think that as long as you keep it in a well draining mix it should do ok.

The ones I bought last year was already in its own mix and I just repotted that into a 5-1-1 mix so now I'm thinking I probably over watered it. The original mix was probably always wet while the 5-1-1 was just about moist. I also potted it into a pot 3 times bigger.

Some new growth

I am starting to give up on saxifraga stolonifera and thinking of an alternative saxifragaceae plant as I really like that family. First, that saxifraga pic I posted right above died one day when I left it in the sun in May and forgot to put it back in shade. All the foliage cripsed to death and never returned. Another I planted one in the ground early this spring under a prunus mume but due to the tree dropping a lot of foliage due to stress it gets morning shade but afternoon sun. They aren't dying but they aren't growing any bigger than when I first planted it. I have another one in a 6 in square pot and that one is in shade and I only water them when I feel its dry but they aren't getting any bigger and in fact getting smaller with some foliage turning brown and eventually dissapearing. Neither bloomed for me either. Do these saxifragas just not like the east coast as you say? They seem to be very fussy plants. They can't take dry whatsoever, no direct sun, yet they rot easily in wet conditions and demand excellent drainage.

Wow Heruga, I never knew about your saxifage issues, how terrible! I just grow the species in that family that are native to the east, and I've never had a problem with rot. Keeping them watered well is a job tho.. Didn't you have another plant that you 'healed in' in a pot in the ground? I did that to some blue flag irises to stop them from spreading. They eventually started to decline and when I used the crowbar to get them out it was just one big, pot shaped mass of carbonous root fiber. I checked my Lonicera cuttings for roots and saw some sticking out. Both cuttings had big, healthy root systems. I planted them in dappled light. I'm trying cuttings of bald cypress, Taxodium now. I wanted to try rooting an evergreen. I do loves those trees but I'd still like a dawn redwood and that prehistoric Australian gymnisoerm whatever it's called. Wollemi pine I think. Those eastern foamflowers are nice.

I hate to bring this up at all since several of you have had issues with this plant...........But that chunk of Saxifraga stolonifera I snatched from my sister's old garden is still sitting - unplanted - in the same plastic bag I transported it home in, a year and a half ago! Just haven't yet gotten around to revamping the bed it is going into so it is waiting patiently for me to get to it :-) And it is doing fine - still fully evergreen and it even flowered well this season.

I already have an edging of spotted London Pride, Saxifraga xurbium 'Aureovariegata', along the front of that bed so have not yet figure out how to incorporate the stolonifera into the same planting without conflict. I may just have to figure out another spot for it although my options are limited..........

As always, I am the procastinating gardener in my own garden. Not so much for clients :-) They take up more of my time.