Mock Orange in bloom, and the Swallowtail butterflies have come back to the neighborhood.
Lupines in bloom. They are a bigger more vigorous plant than before, since they don’t have any more competition from the Mahonia, which had started to overrun the place. Time to start checking for aphids….I use a spray with oil, water and a few drops of detergent to kill the bastards (the aphids, hopefully, not the lupine!).
Sidalcea Hendersonii, deciduous penstemons (procerus yellow, rydberegii blue, tolmeii blue, confertus yellow and ovaleaf blue), Brodiaea congesta (new plant for us) and Goat’s beard are now in bloom.
Hooker’s onions are finally blooming, too, after at least two years. I got the seeds from Iceberg point on Lopez Island, San Juans, a couple of years ago, and we weren’t 100% sure they were Hookers then, but I am now. I have four mature plants total out of dozens of seedlings but it looks like I’ll have more seeds, and that these four will endure. These are sweet little plants that grow about 3inches tall with pinkish red flowers, and I think I will plant them around the yard near the borders, like the short Chocolate lily from Lopez, since they dont gow big enough to take over a space like their larger cousins the Nodding onions. We think these “short” plants from Lopez (short chocolate lily, short camas, hookers onion and short blue brodiaea) may be a result of ‘epigenetics’, due to their long term cultivation on a small island. Apparently, according to some botanists we ran into taking soil samples on the island, the south end of the island has ‘always’ been cleared since the end of the ice age, when native peoples kept it clear by burning and thus cultivating these plants that they used as food staples, especially the camas and lily. It is only the last century or so during which burning was banned that the land has been encroached by trees. We have taken seeds from Lopez of these four plants as well as Coastal (“hairy”) white lupine, also a very short plant.
Single cone flower from the Rudbeckia occidentalis plant, but it seems to be thriving, despite unremitting mole and slug attacks. Really, against all odds. I must have planted it in Mole Central, the way they’re behaving. Any seeds obtained will be planted well away from this
Large patches of Twinflower (Linea Borealis) in the back yard. The transplant from Lopez has done very well, as opposed to my first attempt.
Another Lopez transplant, Honeysuckly hispida(Pink honeysuckle), also has done exceptionally well, with several of the plants generating dozens of healthy and vigorous leads, some of which have climbed into the adjacent small shrubs and trees. The largest in both front and back yards have dozens or more flower buds, and their flowers are pretty large pink tubes, especially those plants in some sun. They are about to all open up! Pictures to follow when they do.
Sidalcea Hendersonii, deciduous penstemons (procerus yellow, rydberegii blue, tolmeii blue, confertus yellow and ovaleaf blue), Brodiaea congesta (new plant for us) and Goat’s beard are now in bloom.
Hooker’s onions are finally blooming, too, after at least two years. I got the seeds from Iceberg point on Lopez Island, San Juans, a couple of years ago, and we weren’t 100% sure they were Hookers then, but I am now. I have four mature plants total out of dozens of seedlings but it looks like I’ll have more seeds, and that these four will endure. These are sweet little plants that grow about 3inches tall with pinkish red flowers, and I think I will plant them around the yard near the borders, like the short Chocolate lily from Lopez, since they dont gow big enough to take over a space like their larger cousins the Nodding onions. We think these “short” plants from Lopez (short chocolate lily, short camas, hookers onion and short blue brodiaea) may be a result of ‘epigenetics’, due to their long term cultivation on a small island. Apparently, according to some botanists we ran into taking soil samples on the island, the south end of the island has ‘always’ been cleared since the end of the ice age, when native peoples kept it clear by burning and thus cultivating these plants that they used as food staples, especially the camas and lily. It is only the last century or so during which burning was banned that the land has been encroached by trees. We have taken seeds from Lopez of these four plants as well as Coastal (“hairy”) white lupine, also a very short plant.
Single cone flower from the Rudbeckia occidentalis plant, but it seems to be thriving, despite unremitting mole and slug attacks. Really, against all odds. I must have planted it in Mole Central, the way they’re behaving. Any seeds obtained will be planted well away from this
Large patches of Twinflower (Linea Borealis) in the back yard. The transplant from Lopez has done very well, as opposed to my first attempt.
Another Lopez transplant, Honeysuckly hispida(Pink honeysuckle), also has done exceptionally well, with several of the plants generating dozens of healthy and vigorous leads, some of which have climbed into the adjacent small shrubs and trees. The largest in both front and back yards have dozens or more flower buds, and their flowers are pretty large pink tubes, especially those plants in some sun. They are about to all open up! Pictures to follow when they do.
Sidalcea Hendersonii, deciduous penstemons (procerus yellow, rydberegii blue, tolmeii blue, confertus yellow and ovaleaf blue), Brodiaea congesta (new plant for us) and Goat’s beard are now in bloom.
Hooker’s onions are finally blooming, too, after at least two years. I got the seeds from Iceberg point on Lopez Island, San Juans, a couple of years ago, and we weren’t 100% sure they were Hookers then, but I am now. I have four mature plants total out of dozens of seedlings but it looks like I’ll have more seeds, and that these four will endure. These are sweet little plants that grow about 3inches tall with pinkish red flowers, and I think I will plant them around the yard near the borders, like the short Chocolate lily from Lopez, since they dont gow big enough to take over a space like their larger cousins the Nodding onions. We think these “short” plants from Lopez (short chocolate lily, short camas, hookers onion and short blue brodiaea) may be a result of ‘epigenetics’, due to their long term cultivation on a small island. Apparently, according to some botanists we ran into taking soil samples on the island, the south end of the island has ‘always’ been cleared since the end of the ice age, when native peoples kept it clear by burning and thus cultivating these plants that they used as food staples, especially the camas and lily. It is only the last century or so during which burning was banned that the land has been encroached by trees. We have taken seeds from Lopez of these four plants as well as Coastal (“hairy”) white lupine, also a very short plant.
Single cone flower from the Rudbeckia occidentalis plant, but it seems to be thriving, despite unremitting mole and slug attacks. Really, against all odds. I must have planted it in Mole Central, the way they’re behaving. Any seeds obtained will be planted well away from this
Large patches of Twinflower (Linea Borealis) in the back yard. The transplant from Lopez has done very well, as opposed to my first attempt.
Another Lopez transplant, Honeysuckly hispida(Pink honeysuckle), also has done exceptionally well, with several of the plants generating dozens of healthy and vigorous leads, some of which have climbed into the adjacent small shrubs and trees. The largest in both front and back yards have dozens or more flower buds, and their flowers are pretty large pink tubes, especially those plants in some sun. They are about to all open up! Pictures to follow when they do.
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