I wish! I pined after them many years ago, but couldn’t get the seed. Now I don’t have the room ;-).

Funny how important location is for what you call ubiquitous. I would never call the plants you mention ubiquitous, nor Alchemilla mollis, which often gets that designation thrown at it too. Now if you mention daylilies, especially fulva and ‘Stella d’Oro’, or hostas, we are in business, as far as I am concerned.

But when I am in the Netherlands, I agree with you… Sorry for going off topic, but this just struck me.

I bought 3 Patrinia scabiosifolia plants a few years ago and they never grew and then dissapeared. I really dont have room for any now. What plants look good growing next to them? Valeriana officinalis is kind of similar. Ive had 1 Valerian blooming for a few years and it's never made seeds. Do I need 2 plants to get seeds?

Reminds me of Scabiosa ochroleuca, in a way. Which I love, but it hates me. It disappears in my garden. I have to wonder if we have opposite types of conditions? I can't kill Echinacea, and it reseeds here, like crazy, and you said earlier that yours disappear. I also can't grow geum. Really wrong conditions for it. And delphinium. And lilac. And lupine... those things just do not do well in my humid air with heavy soil.

I have 3 sitting in pots. i dreamed of a yellow cloud and thats ss far as the design goes. its 96 so i cant plant tiday or tomorrow. your reports are not encouraging but ill persevere.

i had one valerian. the fragrance was overwhelming and i found myself avoiding that spot. and the seeding!!

hundreds and hundreds of seedlings.

I tried them 3 times at my previous garden in fast draining sand. I couldn't keep them. I think one survived the winter but that was it. I haven't tried them at my new garden in heavy clay. I really loved the look of them, but they just weren't for me.

O very interesting, Heruga. I keep many of my plants in pots and move them around thye garden as I am a ditherer when it comes to placing in permanent spots. Unlike many on here, I rarely dig up and move plants around (because it is all so crowded and difficult to access)...so some plants have been in pots for years, awaiting planting...somewhere.

They are a very varied species - gibbosa has shiny, rather lovely foliage and florets of a clear, bright yellow. Am going to tuck it in amongst ferns underneath a ceanothus.

Also, very much looking forward to villosa - reminds me of valerian officinalis (which I love).

Are you growing the scabiosifolia, Marie?

Yes, I bought 3 starts from bluestone and potted them on. thet are 1/2 gallon pots. The hearty main plants have offshoots. taking a lead from Heruga iIll try separating from main plant and have some for next year.

At midnight from my bed, thats the plan fir next year!

Questions. Patrinia is in the Valerian tribe Valerianoideae of the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae, of the order Dipsacales. It's closely related to Valeriana and Centranthus. Have you grown any other species in that tribe like Nordostachys jatamansi or species in Fedia? I see that Nordostachys jatamansi is called Spikenard. Our native Aralia racemosa is also called Spikenard, but it is in an entirely different order, Apiales. It seems to be used to make perfume and is quite beautiful. Fedia species are called sea blushes. Ive been growing only 1 Valeriana officinalis plant for a few years, and it has bloomed for a few years, but it doesnt make seeds. Do I need to plant another unrelated Valerian to get seed production? I also want to try growing the native Large Flowered Valerian, Valeriana pauciflora again. My Golden Alexanders, Taenidia integerrima and dill have yellow umbells, so I don't need Patrinia to have yellow umbells. Totally off topic but do you grow Sheep's Bit, or is it growing wild in East Anglia? It grows in southwestern England too. I think it's prettier than Scabiosa and Chickory.

Large Flowered Valerian, Valeriana pauciflora

Large Flowered Valerian, Valeriana pauciflora

I grow something called jasione perennis - sometimes called sheep's bit scabious. Never heard of fedia - sea blush sounds lovely. Our native wildflowers are somewhat limited - because of glaciation and island isolation, so I have never really delved into jst growing natives. I am mostly just keen to grow things...and doing it from seed is the best for me because I am not really interested in fancy hybrids and I can afford to save, forage or even buy seeds.

I was wondering what was going on for you with your valerian, Jay. I don't understand why yours is not making seed. They certainly don't need to cross pollinate with another plant to make viable seed -mine is full of it right now. Are you looking for the right thing? They are small, yellowish, oval seed with a little furry pappus(?). Not too unlike centaurea annua but the fibres at one end are much finer - like willowherb.

Rouge kindly referred me to this thread after i asked about patrina on another thread. I had no recollection of this discussion and no idea I posted.

So far- one full season- I am underwhelmed and a bit confused by patrina. scabiosafolia.

I swear it bloomed this spring. I thought it was late summer bloomer. Nothing else was blooming. Actually, nothing had reached full height or size. The patrina just looked outsized and out of place.

Right now (2 months later) the goldenrods are 6 feet tall, the althea ”lit’l Kim”

is 6 ft and way past the height the catalogue promised. I see some side shoots on the patrina which i hope will bear the acid yellow umbels. I hope 3 patrinas will be in proportion to the rest of the garden. Their footprint is bigger than i anticipated, at least 1.5 across.

If you want to read a love letter to patrina, find Nancy Ondra’ s blog ”Hayefield” and the article on Patrina, her favorite four season

plant. She is first a plantswoman, then a mama to llamas. Now, she harvests seeds from her vast plant collection and sells them for very little. Jay , I’m thinking of you.

I hope some of you meet her for the first time now. Dont forget to read her article on patrina before you go down a hundred rabbit holes on the blog!

Marie, wow what an awesome seed list Nancy Ondra has. A few things I've never heard of before. Imo I think Patrinia scabiusifolia looks a bit rough for my taste. I think I prefer the soft edges of Patrinia monandra and the white flowers of Patrinia villosa are nice too. Maybe the acid yellow pairs well with Lady's Mantle? I've only known about Patrinia for a few years. I ordered 3 plants and planted them in a temporary spot. They needed helicopter care which they didn't get, and then they dissapeared.

Jay, so glad you made a connection. Shes got years of experience recorded in her blog in writing and photos. please tell us if you order from her snd the outcome.

Patrina would miss lady’s mantle bloom by 2 months,, unless you meamt the LMfoliage. Almost any thing goes wih that.

I meant the glaucous, hydrophobic leaves of Lady's Mantle which itself has acid yellow flowers, so basically any plant with wide, glaucous leaves will make the acid yellow of Patrinia scabiosifolia pop. I suppose burgundy and purple might work too?

I don't see Alchemilla leaves as glaucous. More soft and velvety than grey and waxy.

.

Oh, ok, I was confusing Lady's Mantle with Lady's Smock, Cuckoo Flower.

Which isn't glaucous either.😉 I wonder what plant you have in your minds eye?

Sadly, patrinias are another in the ever-increasing list of fails (along with the entire ranunculaceae family). I may have a coupla uninspiring p.monandra, The allotment has had a brutal testing this year, for one reason or another.