What a story this one comes with, first off it’s a ubiquitous cushion plant that has been in the alpine/rock garden trade for many years. So I thought to myself why hasn’t someone figured out what species it is yet? We currently have a lot of fine people working on the new edition of the Oregon Flora in three volumes. So I reached out them and asked. That email then made it’s way around the world to a researcher in Germany who was as floored as I was that it hasn’t been figured out yet. He even went out and found them in a local nursery. Imagine that. This one little plant that was supposedly collected in the Alps of Oregon, our own Wallowa Mountains has made its way around the world. I heard Paul Spriggs the intrepid Crevice Garden artist sing it’s praises lately, even saying that growing it over a cat skull introduced this nortoriously shy flower species into blooming. I’m still waiting for flowers on mine, I’ll have to find a cat skull somewhere and give that trick a try. I may just settle for oyster shells in the meantime. There are limestone fingers mostly on the Eastern Flank of the Wallowa mountains where one might go try to find this little gem and get it to a botanist for a proper name!

It’s a tough, easy cushion/mat former and even if shy flowering should be in every rock garden. Throw a handful of dolomite in with it to see if that coaxes it into flowering, or better yet, ask the Wrightmans what they did, they have fantastic pics of it in bloom.