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Monday, December 2, 2013

Brrrrrr!


Frost blankets in place for a chilly week ahead. Forecasted temperatures down in the low teens.

Cheers,

Mark

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

First frost!


Crocus banaticus

Sorry about the double post on the shipping season ending. The blogging app on my phone stopped working but I got it up and running again. Hence the double post as an test of the phone.
!

The growing season has officially ended for the tender inhabitants of the garden. A freeze warning was issued yesterday and it came true last night. It was 28 degrees F in the greenhouse when in left for work at 6:00 this morning. I like to post such things because this blog is also my personal gardening journal and it helps track the weather from year to year.

Well, another growing season is in the books, but that's the exciting thing about growing bulbs, some are just starting into growth and some are starting to bloom as we speak.

Cheers!

Mark

2013 shipping season is closed.


Sternbergia lutea

Hey all, thanks for your orders. I have a small pile of boxes left to ship. But as of the posting of this I am now officially closed for 2013.

Thanks to all the folks for your orders. If you haven't paid yet, please do so.

All the best,
Mark

Friday, October 11, 2013

Elvis has left the building

Sternbergia lutea
 
 
Shipping has ended for the 2013 season. Thank you to all who placed orders, I hope the bulbs bring you many years of enjoyement.
 
Based on preliminary feedback it looks like international shipping was a success! Just a few bugs to work out, mostly related to the massive amount of paperwork that APHIS requires on my end. All in all I am pleased with how it went and hope that I am able to get more bulbs to the folks oversees in the years to come.
 
I have a few payments yet to recieve so if you haven't paid for you bulbs yet please do so.

I will get back to blogging with some fall flowers as they come on, and it won't be long before winter has entrenched it's icy grip and we start seeing the super early....or are they super late? Flowers starting up. I think November is about the only month that there isn't something starting into bloom in the bulb house.
 
Have a great Fall!

Mark
 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Fall is in the air!

Crocus kotschyanus
 
Temps have cooled and rain has returned to the valley. I said a fond farewell to summer on float down the wild and scenic Deschutes river.
 
I think I'm going to close up shop a bit early, so if you see anything you still want off the bulb list get your order in now. I'll accept orders up until, Sunday September 29th.
 
Cheers!
Mark
 

Thursday, September 5, 2013

update to bulb list-Still some great fall bloomers left



Thank you to everyone who got early orders in, I know not everyone gets everything they are after but I assure you there is always next year.

Still some great selections of fall bloomers available like the Colchicum 'octoberfest' pictured above.

or C. "Glory of Heemsteede"


or some of the Biarum selections being offered.

Biarum marmarisense

Colchicum 'Nancy Lindsay'

Fritillaria purdyi X biflora

Fritillaria purdyi

Get them while you can!!!

Cheers, 

Mark

Thursday, August 29, 2013

I think we cleared customs!


The fall bloomers are starting.

I had a nice talk with the department of agriculture today and I will be proceeding with international shipping this year. All the details will be worked out when the catalog posts early next week.

A basic run down for international customers of how it will work. I have to process your order and have it ready for shipment, its then inspected and certified on my end. All the phytosanitary paperwork will be included with the shipment which should allow you to receive your order. However I don't have any control once it leaves here so I will be asking for prepayment on international orders. Obviously this isn't a perfect system and should you run into problems on your end I will help to resolve the situation the best I can but please understand that all countries have different requirements and I will have done everything I can on my end to make sure you are in compliance with your countries phyto requirements. International customers will have to cover the cost of phytosanitary certification which is $25 alone, however this is per shipment so if you have a friend in your country who wants stuff you can bundle an order and save money.

Domestic orders will be filled and shipped in the order they are received. International orders will be filled in the order they are received but have to be inspected so there will obviously be a delay.

Start asking questions now if you have them and it will help me get all the details sorted out on the catalog. This is new territory for me so remember that I'm not a global capitalist just a small time nursery grower of specialty bulbs trying very hard to get them to people who appreciate such things.



Cheers,

Mark

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The catalog is coming.


Polypodium scouleri....this picture looks really tropical to me, but its taken out at Nestucca bay, one of my favorite beaches in Oregon.


Here is the underside of the leaf.



Now that you are good and distracted here is a picture of some biarum bulbs that will be offered in this years catalog. I have the harvest pretty much complete. I'm just awaiting am inspection from the at department and you'll see the list here shortly...

Tell your friends!

Mark

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Harvest has begun!


My bulb grader hard at work sizing bulbs. This is how she earns her allowance.

Looks to be a good harvest this year look forward to the catalog coming soon.



I'm pretty lucky to have such an great daughter....she's been around plants her entire life and is a really great nursery hand.

Cheers,

Mark

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Not all who wander are lost


So I've been off floating down wilderness river canyons and climbing Mt. Peaks for a bit. But the end of July marks a return to reality, thusly harvest of the bulbs shall begin soon.

For you international folks that have expressed interest in bulbs, I have had one visit from the department of agriculture for phytosanitary certification this year and they want to see them again post harvest. If everything works out I'll try to accomadate you, details to be sorted out later.


Part of how I spent my summer vacation .

Cheers to a bountiful harvest ahead,

Mark

Monday, June 17, 2013

Thunderflowers


The title is an inside joke my daughter told me....but this is a Dianthus I got from Rick Lupp...its 5 years old and still only about 8 cm dialated.....oh man, I crack myself up. Anyway, I never did catch the name of this lil guy. But thunderstorms are headed this way, so there ya go....thunder flowers .

Cheers,

Mark

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Farewell to spring


The mix of mostly Californian late bloomers in the greenhouse.

Which has recently become a hot house with the nice warm summer weather.

This last clutch of flowers tends to signify the end of the "growing" season for a bulb grower. Yet, this group of mostly zeric bulbs also signifies that shortly the
"harvest" season will begin .




This also begins a great season in the garden as the flower beds really start to come on.






And the vegetable garden is loving the transitional weather with cool nights and hot days.

Cheers to a great summer and big harvest!

Mark

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A s#$t leopard can't change its spots


Sorry, the title is from the epic Canadian TV show Trailer Park Boys....its really funny.

Lilium pardalinum is the leopard lily right?....so that's funny and damn, covey runs 2010 Cabernet sauvignon is crazy good, super Oak and really big for a $6 wine.

Cheers,

Mark

Busy times


I know I haven't been updating this much and that always happens around this time of year....I am a farmer and planting time means getting busy. It also means spring Chinook are in the river and I'm also a fisherman.

Anyway,Delphinium nutallianum, lilium pardalinum and some yellow allium all bloom at the same time in a raised bed....so there ya go!

Cheers,

Mark

Monday, May 6, 2013

Rock midgets


Mimulus rupicola

So its a blessing and a curse that I am driven to make a scientific experiment out of everything I possibly can in this world...if you harken back to a year ago I did a three part series on my adventure to death valley to find one of the rarest monkey flowers around.



Last year I was so excited to get seed I kind of rushed them into production. Trying lots of different soil mixes, but the results were the same. A few flowers then death without any seed set.

So this year I set about to experiment with them a bit. Enter a large piece of pumice that probably blew off the top of Mt. Mazama. Drill some holes fill it with a gritty soil mix and top dress the plants with aquarium grade crushed coral.


If you know the geological history of it, death valley was once an inland sea. I figured a little salt wouldn't hurt a plant from death valley... after all the entire valley floor is composed of salt and borax. And the calcium component of the coral seemed logical.
Anyway, the rock midget is said to grow on drippy limestone cliffs...so I let the hose trickle over the rock every once in awhile...I'm pleased with the results. This looks much more like the plant I always coveted from pictures

Hot sunny and very in Oregon like here now.

Cheers,

Mark

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Cactus weather


Pediocactus simpsonii var. Nigrispinus.

I bought this tiny little golf ball sized plant at a NARGs winter study weekend probably 7 years ago...its approaching softball sized proportions now and has bloomed for many years. There is something so satisfying in seeing a ball cactus blooming in western Oregon. Usually home to perpetual dampness, rain and fog. Its 78 now, I'm seated by my wonderful specimen of p. Rockii enjoying the heavenly scent and looking forward to a weekend in the upper 80,s......too early to call it a draught but check back in august and I will update.

Cheers,

Mark

Saturday, April 20, 2013

All apologies


I got called out for calling peonia brownii an ugly duckling.... so here I am apologizing for that.



Just for reference here is another herbaceous peony that I got from Jane...I think this may have been a Halda collection.... I think it starts with an M......anyone?

Highs in the 80's next week.

Cheers,

Mark

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Color schemes


Anemone 'petrovac' and a little super fragrant narcissus I lost the name on...anyway, just thought it was a good color combination.

Dry and 61 today.

Cheers,

Mark

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Evolution


Fritillaria verticillata

I've heard that the frittilarys with tendrils have evolved to grow up through shrubs as an adaptive protection from grazing. I'm trying to figure out which shrub this would most likely grow up through. I've read it ranges through central asia, into Siberia and china....anyone want to throw out some shrub suggestions?

Gale force winds and rain coming down in buckets. Sucks cause the orchard just started blooming and all the bees are snuggled in the hive drinking honey.

Cheers,

Mark

Friday, April 5, 2013

Messing with my breeding program


This little guys back is so loaded with fritillaria pollen he can barely fly.



Fritillaria latakiensis

So I have no monograph and a Google search didn't turn up much on chromosome counts for the genus....but I put a whole lot of f. Recurva pollen on this thing just for fun. The growth habit, flower morphology and bloom timing are crazy congruent so we shall see!!!

Pouring like a mutha again in the valley. Supposed to do it all weekend too. Temps in the 50's and not much differential.

Cheers,

Mark

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Goldilocks


Fritillaria glauca "goldilocks"

You all should have figured out by now that I put food on the table by either growing it, or on the occasion that I have to buy it, I pay for it with money I earned from planting native plants for the municipal capital city of Oregon. Its kinda refreshing when I get to play with native plants that aren't strictly Willamette valley riparian or wetlands species. So this little goldilocks comes from one of my favorite regions, southern Oregon. I spent a lot if time backpacking the kalmiopsis wilderness and siskiyou mts. The flora is really unique in that region .

The first real rain we've had in awhile came down pretty good today and now its blow in up a gale here in the hills. Fickle spring weather.

Cheers,
Mark

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

All the small things


I finally cleared out some land for my rock garden, removing the two giant cottonwoods that have been an impediment to the project....I've been stockpiling some alpines in the mean time in some raised sand beds. Its fun to watch them bloom and view it as a painters pallette for when I finally have some beds to plant in. I doubt time or money will allow the rock garden project to happen this season...but I'm one baby step closer.


Some bulbs for posterity's sake.

Warm and sunny today with rain in the forecast. Incidental... and mostly for my own records, its been pretty dry since December... 1.53" for Jan, 1.72" for February and 1.53" for March which is damn near a record...leaving us 9" short of average.

Cheers,
Mark

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Patience my friend....patience


Peonia brownii in the front and rocks peony in the background.

Patience....because I collected seed of that 8 years ago and its gonna bloom!!!!

Incidently this little ugly duckling can cross with those big beautiful ones....might have to see what comes of it.

Spring weather...almost downright summer weather.

Cheers,

Mark

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Didn't Juno acantholimon wrote that?


Thanks to smart folk out in the blogosphere we now know this is Iris graberiana "white falls".

And I inadvertently stole the Juno line...so credit where credit is due, he came up with that long before I did.

Mark

Monday, March 25, 2013

Don't Juno what flower that is?


Iris graberiana 'yellow falls'



Iris hoogiana 'white falls'

The light was really good in the greenhouse after work today. Been super mild temps in the 50's and 60's. Its fun to look back at last years blogs and see that we had a huge snowstorm this week last year and late frosts that nuked the potatoes. I guess that's one of the things I love about gardening, you have to deal with variables that you can't control.

Cheers,
Mark

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Out in the cold


Iris aucheri and narcissus romuixii 'Julia Jane' timing it just right.

I top dressed all the outside raised beds with composted cow manure and pumice this fall and the bulbs and the cat have both appreciated it.

Cheers,

Mark

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Dinosaurs


Fritillaria affinis
Vancouver Island

I think this looks like a dinosaur head..no? Its got teeth!



This odd color form is showing up in a different pot of F. Carica, but it looks somewhat similar to F. kittaniae...gonna have to do some keying.

Beautiful day,

Mark

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Green Bells


A pretty killer pot of fritillaria carica

These are way more green then the yellow pictures I see on the web.

Shorts and T-shirt day today!

Cheers ,
Mark

Monday, March 11, 2013

Dogs tooths and violets


Erythronium hendersonii




Ketas teeth

Nuff said about that topic....74 degrees in the greenhouse when I got home from work today.

Cheers,
Mark