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

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

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