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"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up" Mark Twain Iris unguicularis 'Walter Butt' ...
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Illahe Nursery and Gardens My little nursery is located in the South Salem hills at an elevation of about 600'. In following the sage...
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Fritillaria eastwoodiae I've always loved plants named after Alice Eastwood. My old mentor Jack Poff would tell stories about her, I ...
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Anyone?.....Anyone?..... $15 credit toward bulb purchases off this years offering to the first person to guess correctly and enter it int...
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Fritillaria liliacea- wonderful, early Californian, I really do like the native left coast species. Fritillaria hermonis ssp. amana Frit...
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Please visit: www.illaherareplants.com to see the new catalog! We are phasing out this old blog server so you need to go visit the new ...
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Summer must be coming because the Gladiolus are starting to bloom! Gladiolus tristis The marsh Afrikaner This is going ...
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The fall bloomers are starting. I had a nice talk with the department of agriculture today and I will be proceeding with international sh...
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Fritillaria whittallii Mr. Charles Hervey Grey in the three volume Hardy Bulbs 1938 has this to say: A native of Asia minor, collected b...
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The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race. Don Marquis Narcissus hispanicus ssp. bujei Chilly ...
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Monday, December 18, 2017
Happy Holidays
Eucharis amazonica is blooming so that means Christmas is right around the corner.
It''s been a relatively quite December, right now this is the only bulb in my collection blooming and it's of course indoors as a houseplant. Normally a hoop petticoat Narcissus or two shows up around now, and while I do have Narcissus obsoletus budded up, only time will tell if it makes to be the outdoor bloomer for the month of December.
Well, the Eucharis is doing it's think and filling the house with it's floral bouquet, mixed with the sent of Christmas tree and cinnamon candles. I love this time of year, Christmas is truly the holiday where you get to be a kid again, the anticipation of Christmas morning, or the age old traditions, like oozing, melted raclette cheese on baby potatoes at Christmas eve dinner. Family and fun, and the promise of a fresh start as the new year approaches.
Wishing you all a festive and happy holiday season, the merriest of Christmas celebrations and if I don't get to it before the new year, a bright and fantastic start to 2018.
Cheers,
Mark |
Monday, December 4, 2017
The coldest week so far
“All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by the frost." J.R.R. Tolkien
Friday, November 10, 2017
Wrapping it up on Veterans Day
"When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden."
Minnie Aumonier
I took a little walk around the garden this evening before daylight faded, it's become apparent that we have come to the end of another growing season, although the frost ended the tomatoes and peppers progress, the cabbage and kale are hanging on strong. The winter garden is just beginning and some of the bulbs are just starting the growing season. But for most this is the end of it and I've seen so many gardens around town that are tidied up with lush cover crops or straw covering the raised beds like toasty winter blankets. I'm never that ahead of the game and since half the garden was planted with winter food in mind, I guess I don't mind it looking like it's still a working place.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Frost on the Pumpkins
It was pretty dark when I left the house this morning but based on the amount of frost I scrapped off the windshield, I'd say we go the first real killing frost of the season. I saw it coming and moved a flat of Ferraria and Morea seedlings and baby bulbs into the house. Gonna have to find something a bit more permanent for them. I still have plans for a frost free greenhouse, just waiting for that ship to come in.
So the picture is a little Thank you that got out at a local park. I donated some bulbs and the good folks at Wild Ginger gave some great irises for a small project garden near a kids play structure. Fun to watch it grow.
Chilly, frozen end to the growing season. But partly cloudy today and dry as of now.
Cheers,
Mark
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
No Frost on the Pumpkins.......yet.
Colchicum 'White Waterlily" |
Thursday, October 26, 2017
This is worth seeing
I swear it's not click bait and there is a story to it;
So I harvested some honey from the bee hives a few weeks ago and in the process I moved some frames around to a dead hive, that put a whole bunch of bees in an unknown location so they took a few days to reorient to the home hive, in the process a whole bunch of them ended up in the greenhouse, that evening it got pretty cold so they got stuck there. In the morning when it warmed up there was probably 800 bees in the greenhouse and a few of them found there way to the Crocus cartwrightianus 'Marcel' Click on the video to see what it looks like:
Crocus with bees:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/0lLvhf0B8oN7T9E63
It's 70 outside right now! Crazy for almost November.
Cheers,
Mark
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Crocus goulimyi and shades of Autumn
“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Crocus thomasii
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. "Thomas A. Edison
So much of growing plants and especially plants well outside of the native range or habitat, is learning what doesn't work. There is the classic mantra "I killed that plant a dozen times or more before I really figured out how to grow it". Maybe that's one of the things that keeps people motivated to be a better gardener, most success comes from learning from mistakes, correcting them and moving on.
Crocus thomasii |
Crocus thomasii fading colors in the late autumn light. |
Rhus typhina 'Tiger Eyes' |
Cheers,
Mark
Monday, October 16, 2017
Crocus kotschyanus
"Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it"
Crocus kotschyanus 'Reliant' |
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Crocus cartwrightianus 'Marcel' |
More seasonal color |
Lows in the 40's, and partly cloudy with rain in the forecast.
Mark
Monday, October 2, 2017
Sternergia sicula and the harvest season
"The secret of life is to let every segment of it produce its own yield at its own pace. Every period has something new to teach us. The harvest of youth is achievement; the harvest of middle-age is perspective; the harvest of age is wisdom; the harvest of life is serenity."
Joan D. Chittister
Friday, September 29, 2017
Colchicum psaridis
"The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach."
Monday, September 25, 2017
Garden Scenes
Friday, September 22, 2017
Colchicum tenorii
An Italian species...if you look closely, in this less than spectacular photo, you can see the charicteristic purple anther crooks.
Can't seem to find much on the internet about the habitat, which is disappointing as I've always liked biotype plantings and true to ecotype companion plantings when possible.
The rain is moving Eastward and warmer weather is in the forecast. Supposed to be back in the 80's by mid week.
Cheers,
Mark
Monday, September 18, 2017
The Rain Has ReturnedThe
Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla) |
Friday, September 15, 2017
Colchicum 'Glory of Heemstede'
Colchicum 'Glory of Heemstede' |
I should try to be more educational with this blog so here ya go:
Note the subterranean ovaries? We will explore this adaptation in an upcoming blog entry |
Cheers,
Mark
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Colchicum variegatum
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Colchicum laetum
Colchicum davisii
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” ― Dante Alighieri |
Colchicum davisii Only described as recently as 1998, comes this Turkish species from the Amanus Mountains. I really like the lighter color with the heavy tesselations and the tendency for the flowers to stay closer to ground level. The Autumn crocus are coming on hot and heavy now. I'm gonna make every effort to document them all. The ash is falling thick from the smoke filled sky as I write this, one can almost picture Dante, ascending the 6th circle, oh wait no, that's actually the willamette Valley. So many forest fires and the "valley of sickness" is a haze filled crucible that smells of burning pitch. We need rain soon. Cheers, Mark |
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Colchicum bivonae and the end of the sale season.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Colchicum alpinum
Colchicum alpinum |
So tomorrow the shipping season ends and I can get back to taking pics of the fall blooming species as the come on.
Hot, sunny and dry weekend ahead! Temps in the 90's although a sprinkle was felt today on the way into work.
Cheers,
Mark
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
The first of the fall bloomers have arrived-The Shipping season is coming to an end.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Its totally better than you can even imagine!
A Total Solar Eclipse from Prospect Hill in South Salem. |
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Harvest 2017
It's a muggy 90 with ample humdity and a generally miserable feel for an Oregon summer. But the harvest is happening anyway.
Hope to have the list out very soon so keep checking!
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
The Calm Before the Storm
A calm summer evening at Illahe Nursery and Gardens I've had quite a few inquiries about the availability list so I thought I would offer this update. I'm going to start digging bulbs this weekend, with any luck the list should be out by mid to late next week. I am pleased to announce that I will be offering some of Diana Reecks incredible clumping Erythronium's on this years list so be sure to check back often to get in on that offering. Look through the April posts to see what you can get. In other news, it's insanely hot here in the valley this week, highs topping 105 today and it's supposed to stay super hot the whole week and into the next. Ugghhhh.....I'm not a big fan. Mark |
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Where the wild things are part 3 2017
Lillium occidentale ??? More question marks because it seems to fit the bill, but it's not nearly as vibrant as the photos i've seen on the interwebs. Maybe this one was just a bit past prime and fading out, either way, it was about 6' tall, growing in standing water amid Darlingtonia californica, not far from the ocean and near the Redwood groves. I could totally get into growing and collecting the lilies, since I opened up some more room at the back of the rock garden I might just have to start looking around. Cheers, Mark |
Where the wild things are part 2 2017
No trip to California would be complete without a posting of a Monkey Flower, Mimulus aurantiacus on the path to the top of Trinidad head. |
Spent a little time wandering around the Alkaline fen at Eight Dollar Mountain, According to Jack Poff my old RSB Garden mentor these are the impossible to cultivate ones, because they love the cool, alkaline water flowing through the root run, while the temperature can easily top 100 for multiple days at a time. |
The more coastal strains grow in wet, sphagnum bogs with a more acidic composition and the strain I cultivate is far more amenable to cultivation in the standard peat/sand mix that most pitcher plans can take. This is a Del Norte Coastal population near the Smith River. More lily pics coming soon. Cheers, Mark |
Where the wild things are 2017
Lilium wigginsii??? Question marks because I'm not super up to speed on my western lilies of which there are many, this one seems to be the likely culprit growing on the margins of boggy Cobra Lily habitat among Pepperwoods and Madrone. The Kiddo and I headed out for a summer 1000 mile road trip to eventually wind up at a family reunion in Lake County California. Along the way we decided to hit up some of the old Kalmiopsis/Siskiyou area I grew to love so much during my backpacking plant hunting days. |
Anya contemplates a stand of Del Norte Darlingtonia californica. The habitat is really so unique and the plant never ceases to amaze me every time I see it. I have been propagating this species for awhile now and it will be one that will be available in limited numbers in this years catalog. |
The sheltered anchorage at Trinidad is a unique place for sea farers |
I think I have another close up of that Lily, which I think may be Lilium occidentale growing out of a patch of Cobra Lilies deep in the Coastal fog belt of California's Redwood habitat. Catalog update! I'm starting harvest in the next with all luck, Please be advised I'll be offering a smaller list this year due to some pressing summer activities, I have to harvest, catalog and ship in shorter timer period this year as well, so look for the catalog and be prepared to order quickly or miss out until next year. Sunny Summer days and temps in the high 80's to low 90's. Cheers, Mark |