Seed story, beginning of spring (march 26)

Seeds coming up now: Oregon geraniums, Desert Parsley and some Allium, and maybe Gaillardia in pots. Definitely some seedlings out in the yard, maybe gaillardia, Indian Paintbrush, and maybe Woodland Penstemon. Desert Parsley seeds germinate well but seem to be getting eaten out in the yard.

Bought 3 tall Red Ovalleaf huckleberry bushes (4 ft tall and narrow) and transplanted two smaller ones into the south west lower back yard, in an area cleared by removing a maple tree. It gets dappled and indirect sun, and the soil is better and moister than where the two i transplanted were. We have two thriving in a similar environment. Other understory plants put there, some  earlier and  some recently: several Wild Ginger txs, several bluebell rotundifolia txs, clusters of brodiaea, Fairy bells, Trillium Chloropetalum and Ovatum, Pink Fawn Lily, Kitten tails, Miterwort, Hookers Onion, Prunella, and Loganberry. 

Transplanted about half the cluster of Trillium Ovatum in the lower back yard, which I had sown many years ago, maybe six. I transplanted ten bulbs with their three-leave tops into another area, to give the remaining ones a little more room. There are about ten or more left. There are more than germinated the first year or two, and they are of varying maturity. I think some of the seeds are latent or take longer to appear above ground. The cholorpetalum doesn’t seem to do that, I left the 8 or so plants alone.

The lower back yard (west) is getting to be a GROTTO with FERNS (thriving licorice, leather leaf, sword and maiden hair) as well as TRILLIUM, HUCKLEBERRIES and the other ground covers like Wild Ginger. Turns out we don’t have very many pictures of this area, probably because it had never been particularly photogenic, it is a shady slower growing area and we’ve cleared the area relatively recently.  But now it is starting to fill in, and a rangy maple taken out (full disclosure, my fault, I kept it low for view), so here are the “before” pics: I may wait for a couple of months for the follow up “during” or “after” shots, as much of it is herbaceous, deciduous and/ or growing still!       

BEFORE PIX: circa 2013 or so    .

Looking south towards new grotto area (upper right in photo)
 Above: The foreground is Vancouvaria and Goats beard coming up…the ‘grotto’ area is in the background. The pic below is taken from the grotto area itself, looking back east.

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