Spring is here!

 "Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer" 

                                    Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

I left for a week to California and it felt very much like winter, I returned to find spring all over the garden and greenhouses. We will take a little break from chasing the wild things to catch up on the garden journal. So much blooming now it's hard to keep up, here are a few highlights from the garden. 

I had one Crown Imperial overwinter in the rock garden and I was so stoked to see it coming up. 

Fritillaria pelinea
This charming little Grecian Beauty just seems to get better every year. This was 
from a V. Pilous seed collection in 2017.



The Juno Iris are coming on hot and heavy now:

Iris aucheri

Iris bucharica

Iris graeberiana 'White Falls'

The butterfly Morea just stuns as you walk by it. It's hard not to stare into the mesmerizing center of this South African beauty. 

Erythronium grandiflorum
I long ago lost this one trying to grow it in a pot in the cold greenhouse, but It's been thriving 
near the heat pump fan where it gets cold air blasted at it while it's in growth. 

Moraea lurida

It was a fantastic trip to California to see family, visit some nurseries, botanical gardens and some natural beauty. I'll get back to covering that trip, but I thought I would at least give a little update on the spring growth here for my records. The weather has been a fantastic mid 60's in the day with high 40's at night. I moved the orchids out to the patio to see if some chilling will get them blooming. It rained a bit last night but it's been mostly dry for the better part of  a week now. Fingers crossed for April Showers. 

Mark

Iris aucheri 'Indigo'

“Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue?” – James Montgomery

Iris aucheri 'Indigo'

 

This seems to be in the trade as a strain more so than a clonal form, but the one I have is a wonderful indigo blue color. The Juno iris aren't really hard to grow here in my Western Oregon garden. I do find a few tips helpful. Good drainage through the winter, a drier spot in the summer although I have trialed a few different I. graberiana forms out in a bed that gets some consistent summer water and the look to be thriving after some years now. If you dig to divide them do be very careful of those fleshy storage roots that you do not want to break off. 

The bluest of the blue flowers and really the first of the Juno's to be in bloom. Although quite a few frits and narcissus are in bloom now as well. 

The weather has been pretty typical for an Oregon February. It was wet and rainy for the first part of the week, but a couple of dry days toward the end let me get a bunch of stuff done in the garden at work. Still too dark to get much done after work. It's supposed to be i low's in the 30's and rainy but drying out toward the end of the weekend and into the early part of next week. 

Cheers, 

Mark