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