LEWISIA LONGIPETALA 'LITTLE PLUM'

I had a lovely surprise yesterday while mooching around Gordon Rigg's garden centre in Walsden, West Yorkshire.  I found another Lewisia.  They have such lovely, delicate flowers that it is difficult to believe, as it is with so many alpines, that they are very hardy.  This one is little plum.  I was going to plant my collection in a large terracotta pot as a display but I'm afraid the rosette of leaves would not look so attractive once the flowers have gone.  I have decided to pot them individually in smaller terracotta pots and move them around so that I have a clearer view of them when they are in flower and can tuck them away when not.



Lewisia cotyledon 'Special Mix'

Lewisia tweedyi 'Rosea'

Lewisia cotyledon 'Lechner'

Lewisia longipetala 'Little Plum'

Apart from Lewisia longipetala 'Little Plum' having pretty, candy-striped petals, I find other aspects of this alpine attractive.  There are toothed margins on the edges of the base of the flowers which remind me of the Venus Fly Trap.

Lewisia longipetala 'Little Plum'



The rosette of leaves, Lewisia longipetala 'Little Plum'

The label describes it as 'plum-pink coloured flowers on short stems above evergreen rosettes of narrow fleshy leaves.  Fully hardy.  Height & Spread 15cm x 20cm (6in x 8in).  Position: Border edges, rockeries, banks, gravel gardens and containers in sum on well drained soils. 

Lewisia longipetala 'Little Plum' - Macro