Description
Dionysia –
There are about 42 species of tufted or cushion forming, sub shrubby, evergreen perennials, in this genus. They occur on shady cliffs in arid mountainous areas of Southwestern and Central Asia. The leaves, usually oblong to spoon shaped, often with a woolly coating beneath, are borne in rosettes at the ends of branching shoots. In spring or early summer it bears long tubed, 5 petalled, salverform flowers, with spreading lobes, are carried solitary or in umbels.
Only grown in climate with cool to cold winters and needing protection from excessive damp on the foliage, these plant are normally grown under cover in pots or in the hollows of tufa rocks in full sun. Make sure that the cushions are sitting up on a bed of coarse gravel to stop crown rot.
Prone to aphids and gray mold.
D. involucrata – This dense, cushion forming perennial from Northeastern Afghanistan and Tajikistan grows 3″ tall and “ wide. It produces obovate to broadly spoon shaped, finely toothed, dark green leaves, to ½” long. In early summer it bears stalked umbels of violet or violet-purple flowers, to ½” across, with white eyes that darken with age. Relatively easy to grow.
Zones 5-7
