The last flowers before the harvest

"Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate." Bertrand Russell

Well here I've been arguing for the restoration of our Liberty and the extinction of Tyranny, but perhaps this Bertrand Russell quote really does ring the bell. It's hitting way too close to home now as the secret police are marching through the streets of Portland (my former home, and birthplace of my daughter) abducting people at random. Some are just advocating for the extinction of racism in our systems of criminal justice, some are no doubt trouble makers painting on concrete, and smashing glass. But I'll go to my grave saying human lives matter over property any day and the exercise of tyranny in the name of capitalist greed may have reached the boiling point and the melting pot was already full to the brim anyway. Seems to me someone is playing a dangerous game trying really hard to get the pot to spill over. 

Bulbs, yes the bulbs. It is my fortune to have an escape, where one can turn off any electrical signal be it cellular, digital, wifi, broadband, or some other wavelength and walk into a yard full of flowers. I grew a few rows of cut flowers  this year thinking I might sell some produce from the garden and offer cut flowers along the side of the road but lately i've been giving them away and it brings far more joy to let people walk through the u-cut and gather a little bit of my heaven and refuge to take with them to the apartment or house that's not as floristically rich. 

Calochortus clavatus ssp. clavatus
The last of the California Calochortus to flower for me, hailing from the south western part of the state, hailing from Los Angeles county North to San Benito county with a center of prominence in San Louis Obsispo county. I went out to the greenhouse without the tripod, hence the depth of field issues on this late evening shot, but I find it rather artistic. 

The club haired mariposa has been covered in the blog before but I thought I would share a few photo's as it's the last of the summer species that will likely be in the catalog to finish up this year. As soon as it's done I'll get working on the bulb harvest. So teaser alert if all goes well, the summer bulb catalog should be out sometime in the next several weeks. I'll be sure to post updates. 

Playing around with various combination planters on the patio this year, I've been loving the Cypella herbertii with purple petunias but even better with a spray of Heliotrope 'Marine' flanking it as a foil. 

The glamini gladiolus I've been experimenting a lot with at my work gardens, these dwarf selections require no staking, and this year overwintered to make wonderful late June, early July shows in the formal gardens at Deepwood.

It's well into summer now as the mercury says it's on the way to 91 today. 

Praying for peace and the demise of the fascist menace in my time. 

Mark

"If ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard" American Folklore

“Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.”

― David Searls

I got out on the ocean a few weeks ago and that felt really good, caught a few salmon, lingcod and cabezon. I love all the quotes  you can read about seeing beyond the horizon. I'm reading a pretty in depth book about Magellens circumnavigation and it is something to think that ancient humans really did sometimes see the horizon as the end. The book literally spends the first 300 pages or so just getting to the point where they are sailing down the Guadalquivir.  I'm trying to see beyond so many things right now, to envision a better place for humanity and I have to be honest It's not that easy. We need more folks to put the boat in gear and place the compass needle at 270 degrees, or whatever compass point gives you a horizon and head for better times. 

Lilium davidii 'Berry Red'
I wish I could go back and talk to Jack Poff, Mrs. Berry's long time gardener and one of my early mentors about this one, I'm sure he would have a story about it, and if he didn't I bet he would make one up. A huge thanks to the wonderful growers at Wild Ginger Farms for getting this one out on the market! Now if they would only get that Scoliopus bigelovii that grew up on the hillside propagated! wink, wink. I bought a bulb of from Wild Ginger last year at the Bush Pasture Park sale and it's now occupying a prominent place next to the treasured Rocks Peony and an Edgeworthia in the slight shade of a purple leaved flowering plum, towering to 6' tall with it's deep red flowers back set on the purple, it's like the dying embers of a fire  when you see it backlit by a summer sunset. 

The rock garden is a splash of color and a few things that will be moved, I have a fondness for these native Checkermallows from my years spent restoring the Willamette Valley Wetland ecosystems around Salem. They do get a bit rangy as they go to seed and often fall over. They really do need to be out in the wet meadow part of the property but they seed around and I can't get myself to pull them out until they are 6' tall and it's too late!

I've been swamped with folks asking about the summer bulb catalog, and I will say that it's coming soon! I have a busy couple of weeks coming up though and so I'm tentatively going to say it should be out around the first or second week of August.

Cheers,

Mark