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Friday, May 26, 2017

It's another Monkey flower....errrrrr, Diplacus


Mimulus (Diplacus) tricolor

I've wanted to grow this one ever since it showed up on the Oregon T&E lists. Apparently it was once a common inhabitant of the Willamette Valley Vernal pool wetlands complex. But of course the march of progress and humanities incessant conquering of nature for development of land has left much of it's habitat plowed under or paved over.

Hoping it sets seeds because I want to get it established in my ditch, which is as close to the vernal pool as I can get.

Sunny skies and warm weather.

Cheers,
Mark

posted from Bloggeroid

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Using a negative to accentuate the positive doesn't always work




Cypella herbertii

Exquisite isn't it?

I have pretty eclectic taste in plants and I often tend to steer toward the muted and understated. I think because you have to look a little closer to see the beauty.


The pitchers are coming on strong with the heat.


Darlingtonia californica, forever and always my favorite native plant.

I have missed a few golden opportunities in my life. I often get told as a result that something better is coming along. So I guess it kind of harkens back on the title of this post. I feel like I might have missed a golden one this past week. I guess I should have been more positive, but then again you can put lipstick on a pig right and it doesn't become Audrey Hepburn. No, you gotta call it what it is and you trust people to see potential. I guess it's lack of vision that has always bothered me the most. I'm a dreamer and a schemer and I get shit done. When I bought the run down old farmhouse and decrepit Cherry orchard that was turned into Illahe Nursery and Gardens I got nothing but negative energy from the people with no vision. Ten years gone and people stop along the side of the road to stare.......you gotta have vision to see that the negatives can become positive.

75 and sunny a light breeze....doesn't get much better than this.

Cheers,
Mark
posted from Bloggeroid

Monday, May 22, 2017

Bulbous Respite


This time if year I get pretty busy in the vegetable garden. The last few years I took it easy on the production scale. But this year is different. August 21st the sky will be blackened by a total eclipse of the sun. A million people that would normally not be here will descend on this tiny little swath of the Willamette Valley.

And I hope to profit off them as much as I possibly can! Better have extra food to sell this year!

Got in a fun trip to Dancing Oaks Nursery this weekend, thanks to a good friend for inviting me along.

Got some good stuff for the summer garden.

9o degrees today in Salem. I guess it's not a record but it's warm for the week before memorial day.

Cheers,
Mark

posted from Bloggeroid

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Camas forms


Camassia quamash

Years ago I seeded an upland prairie patch on the property with a diverse mix of forbs and graminoids. The idea was to maintain a patch of the property as close to precontract vegetation as possible.

The forms of camassia from this seeding are highly variable and it's fun to see different forms becoming established throughout the property.

The upland prairie patch itself has established very nicely and now offers a showy color display with very little annual maintenance.

Cold this morning. Felt like in the 40's, but they say we are gonna hit 90 next week.

Cheers,
Mark

posted from Bloggeroid

Monday, May 15, 2017

Fritillaria biflora Grayana


Seems like this name is getting harder to find when you search the internet. It's one of the latest flowering if the California complex that likes to hybridize with Purdyi.


Man the rock garden is looking good right now. Most of the species Penstemon are starting in well know.


 I think the gardener as a profession might just be dying out. You still see the vestiges of knowledge here and there standing almost as last bastions, sentinels to the incoming tide of change. Now it's all mow and blow outfits manicuring suburban lawns and azaleas hedged into spherical orbs. Sigh........I've always thought the Gardener is the best job in the world. You get to change the world​ one plant at a time.

Ramble on....it's off and on rain today and in the 50's now.

Cheers,
Mark

Saturday, May 13, 2017

I can't call em all Diplacus!


Mimulus pulchellus

I guess we are supposed to call them all Diplacus now....I'm sorry I just don't know if I can do it. I mean really you could spend a lifetime learning plant names and then a botanist comes a long and you have to start all over again.

In case you needed a scale reference. Those who know me best, know my torrid love affair with monkey flowers. This one has been on my list for a long time now. Grown it, flowered it, photographed it....now to get seed of it. Monkey flowers for me represent that first found passion. I used to pour through the the monograph, dreaming about the next seed collection trip and the new sites and habitats that meant exploring.

Back to cold and rain. I saw it snowed in Bend this weekend..... Spring say no I won't go.

Cheers,
Mark

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

The last affinis


This is the latest of the Fritillaria affinis to bloom.

It's also one of the most robust, fighting it's way from under the spreading canopy of the rhododendrons.


I've offered this dwarf Iris for some years now, without a proper id on it. I got it originally from the Rae Selling Berry Botanic garden where it grew for years in the rockery in front of the house steps. A customer sent me an id of Iris sauveolans.

Spelling needs to be updated there.

Finally spring arrived 75 degrees and sunny today!

Cheers,
Mark