Deep Winter

"In the midst of Winter I find within me the invisible Summer" Leo Tolstoy

I was reading his Three Questions and really thinking about the fact that what matters most is often right in front of you. I'll elaborate more on this later, but I was happy to get some time to do some fun plant stuff this past week, because that was what was in front of me this week. 

Seed Flats are being sown as fast as the orders come in, Hoping we keep some low temps through Feburary as it has been an exceedingly mild winter and I always like a few weeks of reliable frost to keep the Orchard from blooming to early and to help vernalize the seeds. 

Anya and I had a lovely visit to Jane's place, her bulb house was filled with
a wonderful deep winter display of Narcissus and Cyclamen among other things

Narcissus willkomii ,this fragrant little do gooder is perfuming the greenhouse through the deep winter, that along with the spring star flower below make a great combination. 

Ipheion 'Jessie' is starting to add some color in the greenhouse. 

We made a few stops at some nurseries to check out the winter blooming plant collection. Our Chimonanthus is in full bloom now and smells amazing, but we quickly realized we need a Witch Hazel to add to the display at some point. The winter is a great time to shop for dwarf conifers to add winter interest as we.. 

The weather as mentioned was mild and while an unfortunate and heavy fog laden the Valley through the weekend. The dry weather did allow for some garden exploits and a few pictures to be snapped. Lows in the high 30's and visibility a 1/4 mile or less, feels like a cloud forest in the Valley right now.

Cheers,

Mark

The off season botanist

"Never mistake motion for action"

Ernest Hemingway

Old Ernest would have been proud of me this weekend, I had a fun little weekend getaway to Central Oregon, culminating with a Backcountry ski trip into the Ochoco Mountains and topped off with a steak dinner with nothing but Irish Whiskey to wash it down with. The masculinity was palpable. 

So I could have easily filled a post with some great shots of snow covered peaks and conifer laden vista views from 5,500' up the Summit Rd. where vehicles aren't allowed and the only sound is the wind and the squish of snow under the skis. But noodling around the tiny house a fellow horticulturalist friend and I rented tucked away on a corner of a Lama Ranch in Terrebonne, I managed to find some botanical treats interesting enough to discuss. 

Salvia dorii
At least that's what I think it is growing out of the thick intra canyon basalt lava of the Crooked River Gorge, whose steep walls are composed of layers of rock laid down around 780,000 years ago.

 I say think, because this was definitely a mint, with it's square stems, the spoon shaped wooly leaves certainly fitting the bill for dorii, but it being lat January and temperatures having dipped into the teens while we were there, with a light dusting of snow. The tell tale flowers that would make it certain are months away.

Ribes velutinum
Another shot of the unique flora growing above the Crooked River in the area of Terrabonne.

I have a bit of a weakness for Ribes species, even having toyed around with the thought of going into the blackcurrant production business for a few years now and collecting various different cultivars for medicinal and culinary benefits of the berries. I'm pretty sure this is velutinum but as mentioned again it's the middle of winter so the off season botanist is an apt title for this blog entry. The area had some amazing Junipers like nature crafted bonsai of a millenial suffering for lack of water in the summer and warmth in the winter, the roots finding paths to deep soils wherever possible in the decaying lava flows of past ages.

Amazing diversity of confiers in the Ochoco Mountains.
I'm thinking of a wildflower discovery trip in the spring to this same spot above Bandit Springs.

So the offseason botanist is in full effect, looking for signs of life in rock crevices and outcrops. Dreaming of the spring season so full of color and not as long off as it once seemed. 

Speaking of old Hemingway, the quote above is so appropriate. I heard this radio bit on how kids with developmental disabilities are being left behind in an increasingly underfunded school system. An official was quoted on the radio program as saying we put "Compliance before Performance". It so parallels the new environmental paradigm in clean water compliance which has taken on a similar mantra with new regulations that are lax on protecting our environment, unfortunately putting people who care in the similar position of achieving "Compliance before Performance". Well I say you can have both. Much like the saying Talk minus Action equals Zero, Hemingway had it figured out half a century ago.........

The weather is cleaning up for some sunshine this week. Should start seeing some bulbs shooting into bloom soon enough. 

Cheers, 

Mark

The Second flower of 2019

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up"

Mark Twain

Iris unguicularis 'Walter Butt' Blooming January 17th. 

Well this bright spot in a local garden certainly brought some winter cheer to an otherwise blustery and chilly week. The Algerian Iris certainly doesn't disappoint from a bloom time period. Bursting into flower in Mid January, it certainly seems out of place among the fits of rain and squalls. I imagine if you were a slug or snail trying to make it through the bleakness of winter it must be like a thanksgiving table has been set out before you when this one blooms. I have yet to find a bloom untouched by the mollusks teeth. Whilst we are on that subject, did you know snails can have up to 2,600 plus teeth? Random fact.

So who was Walter Butt? Well he was a retired Bacteriologist and Chemist who obviously had a keen eye for plants, and among other things, we was a founding member of the RHS Joint Rock Garden Committee which sprung to life in 1936. Walter Butt gardened in Sommerset UK and passed away in 1953 leaving us with this wonderful winter blooming selection of the Algerian Iris

Perhaps everyone interested in integrated pest management should grow this as sacrificial slug bait, because every mollusk is guaranteed to show up on your 'Walter Butt' and feast upon the flowers. So several days after it has opened and every slug and snail in the neighborhood is beelining for your winter blossoms. Go out after dark and pick them off, or put out a half drank can of beer on side to drown them, or sluggo, whatever your preferred method of dispatching the creatures that are intent on using those 2,600 teeth to turn your Algerian iris into replica of swiss cheese.

I mentioned the weather, it's been cool, wet and blustery the last few days.

Cheers to the start of the 2019 flower season, because it begins with an Algerian Iris.

Mark

Albuca spiralis

"That's the difference between governments and 

individuals. Governments don't care, individuals do."

Mark Twain

Albuca spiralis

This plant was a gift from a good friend this Christmas season. This is such a fun flower bulb, I didn't capture it's one stunning feature in the picture above. The leaves spiral like perfect corkscrews, unfortunately it's a hard plant to capture a good image of, at least under houselights and with a point and shoot camera. Google around if you want to see more of it. I'm always fascinated by botanical adaptations and it seems no one really knows exactly why the leaves curl like tendrils on this species. One great blogger postulated that it's an adaptation to intense sunlight and possibly prevents dessication in the seasonally dry native grasslands of the South African cape it calls home.

I did notice that the tight curling spirals of foliage the plant had when given to me, soon gave way to lankier less curled foliage as I have been treating it as a houseplant. Since the relative humidity in the house now is quite low, my guess is the intense curling is induced by high light levels predominantly.

Some people say the flowers smell of vanilla, but honestly I pick up an almost chemical odor like some sort of a flea treatment you would use on a cat or something to that effect.

Well there you have it, the first flower of the year 2019. Here is to a flurry of flowers hopefully to come in a prosperous year. I've got a good feeling about this one.

Temps were down in the high 20's this week with some freezing fog to end the old and begin the new year. I think 26 is the coldest temperature I've seen so far this year and it really has been a mild winter. Hardly any snowpack in the cascades to speak of points towards a droughty summer. The Chimonanthus is beginning to flower and the Hellebores are showing color as well. In the greenhouse the Fritillaria's like F. agrestis and F. obliqua ssp. tuntasia are showing strong emergence now.

Cheers,

Mark