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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