Playing favorites

"Man-despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of top soil and the fact that it rains".....great quote from a seed catalog, author unknown

Fritillaria recurva
From A Field Guide to Pacific States Wildflowers:
Note the 1-5 widely separated nodding bells are orange-red with yellow spotting and a yellow interior. The 8-10 linear leaves are in 2-3 whorls near the stem center. 1-3'. Dry open woods. SW. OR., California North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada.

What a beauty......I probably should mention I have a bit of a fetish for yellow-orange spotted flowers, Hence the fascination with Mimulus and Pardanthopsis and the like. I really like this plant, for one it's native to Oregon, which is of course the greatest state around. Plus it just stands out in a field of plum-brown-green flowered relatives.

Lewisia tweedyi
With a whole world of flowers out there, of course it's impossible to pick a favorite, but I have to say that the two species above certainly come near to the top of the list! This is a wonderful old L. tweedyi, I started it from seed about 9 years ago and it spent much of life in a long tom plunged in a sand bed. It eventually cracked the long tom to pieces and when I went to pull it out the 2" diameter root had made it's way through the geotextile groundcloth 2' below. I split it into 6 pieces and they have all come through the move, but this piece takes best in show.

Finally starting to feel like spring is here! Temperatures forecasted to be in the 70's this weekend. Started harvesting the first of the Asparagus I started from seed 3 years ago. The purple sprouting brocolli that overwintered was delicious for dinner and it was topped off with some sesame oil, oven roasted kale chips.