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Monday, July 9, 2018

Calochortus clavatus var. clavatus


“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.” John Keats




Calochortus clavatus var. clavatus


Keats wrote that in a love letter to his fiance, Fanny Brawne, but he died 3 years after the engagment, and before they could receive the consent of Fanny's Mother, to wed, apparently she didn't approve of Keats..........I guess a poet was too much of a risk back in those days. You don't want to end up being "a liability to someones career", I guess. Such a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions really.

I was following a posting on the PBS discussion emails about late blooming Calochortus. The C. clavatus var. clavatus above is the last to bloom for me. Now comes the season of the summer Gladiolous and Acidanthera. C. clavatus var. clavatus hails from the coastal and valley foothills of Southern California. Were one to take that iconic trip up Mullholland Drive in the Santa Monica Mountains above Los Angeles you could encounter this variety growing along the roadside. This is one of the drier clime species for sure, with the average annual rainfall in it's type local hitting somewhere around 13" per year. The average lows it sees are pretty mild as well, it's been down into the 20's for me, but would likely seldom if ever see this type of a low in the wild. I haven't noticed any pollinators on this one yet, but I sure do hope it sets seed.

Catalog out sometime in Early August.

We are locked into our typical modified meditteranean summer now, highs in the 80's, comfortably cool at night, dew still on the grass in the morning.

Cheers,

mark


Thursday, July 5, 2018

Summer Fun


"The most successfull people are those who do all year long what they would othwerwise do on summer vacation"
                                                                 Mark Twain


By this account i'm woefully unsuccessful, if I could I would travel constantly, see all the new places, catch fish in far off lands and botanize the world. But until that lottery ticket hits, I remain for the most part shackled to the desk and bound to the paycheck. But every once in awhile I escape, or am granted the freedom to use those accrued vacation hours to see what can be seen.
The Rock gardens were bursting with color, although I think you could even push it a few weeks out for some pretty spectacular shows. 

Just back from a fun visit to my sisters place in Reno. Took the kiddo to Tahoe for the first time and we swam in that beautiful blue water. Toured the Tesla Giga Factory and marvelled at mans scientific and technological advances. Seeing that huge building, I kind of wonder what it must have been like for the first explorer who wandered into the Valley of the Kings. Just amazing what people are capable of building when they decide they want to go bigger then everyone else. 

Despite many awesome moments on this fun summer vacation trip, a highlight for me was a quick hike up around 7,000' in the Sierra Nevada. Below are a few pics.




What a beautiful natural rock garden setting can be found around Incline Lake. 

I love finding Monkeyflowers, not the most floriferous version of Mimulus tilingii i've ever seen but it had nice large flowers. 

Pussy paws, phlox and lupines in a veritable carpet.

We didn't get to any snow where we were at and I would have loved to have had more time for exploration above and beyond the ridges. But I will be back for more of that with more time at some point I'm sure.



Catalog update:

So it's looking like the dry spring and early summer have most of the stuff going dormant now, Still waiting for a few Calochortus to call it quits for the season, but so far it's looking like I'll be able to start harvest around the end of July which would make for an early August release of the bulb catalog. Stay tuned for more updates. 

Cheers, 
Mark