Alpine Garden Society

Ulster Group
Plant of the Month, July 2005
   Telesonix jamesii  by Liam McCaughey
In the year 2000, we went to Colorado with AGS Expeditions and  John and Hilary Birks. On the second day, and quite unacclimatised, we drove to the top of Pike's Peak, 14.000 feet, and of course went blue. The classic plant of Pike's Peak is Telesonix jamesii, which we saw growing in the pink granite of a formation called the 'Devil's backbone'. Telesonix  is a member of the saxifragacea.

It is a crevice plant, and so on finishing the construction of our first 'Czech' crevice garden last May, this was the first plant to go in. So far, as you can see from the pictures, it seems happy. 

According to a piece on the  NARGS website, it comes in two forms, one on granite as on Pike's Peak, and the other on limestone - we hope ours is compatible with County Down silurian shale.