ellineer

Native Plant Society tour

Only a few strangers came by. But we had a bunch of folks we know stop by at the end for wine, beer, cheese and bread, supplemented by a gruyere penne ‘Mac and cheese’ dish and excellent smoked salmon Dave made the day before (so the place wouldn’t smell like smoke on the tour). The garden was really looking good, thanks to plenty of April and early May rain, and a bunch of days with sun and temp in the 80’s. Afternoon dinner on the deck with the sun that came out despite the prediction of rain.

One of the tour folks was a writer who is freelance and wants to submit an article for Sunset about native gardens, or is going to write it, we’re not sure. He took a bunch of photos, after asking permission. A photographer who wanted to take the photos for the article came out the nest week, the writer knows him. But then Sunset sent out another photographer (after asking) to take the photos a couple of days later. We could be in Sunset, that would be cool. I keep thinking about ways I should clean up the yard, but it is a fairly natural setting. We will see!

New pix for spring!

Desert parsley, trillium, shooting stars, fairy bells, camas, fawn lillies and bear grass

Planted out seedlings of Scarlet Gilia, Hyssop and Desert Parsley.will leave the Mariposa lillies and other bulbs in the planter pots until this fall.

Some early bloomers

Starting with one of our actual Bear Grass blooms, which is starting to open up for real. Some others below, including new Yellow Desert Parsley, Fairy Bells, trillium starting to turn purple, shooting stars, fawn lillies, orange Harsh Paintbrush and small camas:

Bear grass is blooming !

Almost, but it’s been years since the oldest plant was planted and this is the first time we’ll get a flower. There are actually two plants which will bloom, out of three. The flower stems are tall and the flowers are a billowing, roughly diamond shaped off white flower, the leaves like a tuft of sedge. The pic is not my flowers, though, I got it online. Mine will probably be in a week or so. Not sure how long it takes, the buds are still just a grassy knot.

The small camas is in bloom, as are the shooting stars, a peek of harsh paintbrush, the currant trees, and just a hint of the onslaught of penstemon blooms we’ll get!

New seedlings that are doing well: 2 mariposa lilies, scarlet Gilia, gaillardia, yellow desert parsley, a few hyssops. A few standbys: fawn lillies, hopefully the pink kind, small (dark purple) camas, light blue camas, Ookow, and Hooker’s onion.

Lots of trillium seedlings from my banner crop two years ago, in just about every spot I planted them, both front and back yard. I collected the pods, cleaned the seeds after about two weeks in the fridge, and planted them at about four weeks. Also a batch of about ten three year plants, too

April 2014

Only three duck landings so far, but plenty of frog activity, so maybe we’ll get some tadpoles this year!

Fawn lillies, trillium, shooting star and flowering currants are the vanguard of blooms this year. I dont count the oxalis, I guess, but they’re in bloom, too..

Lupine survival, frog revival

Largeleaf Lupine coming up where I transplanted it last year…in a sunnier, drier part of the back yard. There are fewer slugs, there, too, which bodes well for the lupine. Now we’ll have to see about aphids.

The pacific tree frogs are back, they just started croaking the last day. They apparently love the incessant rain we’ve been having since this morning.

SPRING!! well, almost

First year for White Camas! They have distinctive smaller, more delicate and more greenish yellow leaves than regular camas. Can’t wait to see the flowers. Seeds sown in 2009, they really should bloom this year.

Continue reading “SPRING!! well, almost”

Winter is here…sometimes

No real snow except a dusting one morning. I shouldn’t complain, I HATE snow when I have to drive to work, which seems like always when it snows.The weather this weekend is 50’s and with lots of sun, especially Saturday. Beats the hell out of the weather in the Midwest and east coast these last two weeks (or ever, frankly), mostly freezing temps and lots of snow.

Continue reading “Winter is here…sometimes”

Solstice!

DOZENS of birds in the front yard yesterday, tons of robins, varied thrushes, junkos, finches and of course the chickadees. ? Maybe looking for any sunflower seeds left behind. Apparently the chickadees hide seeds in “thousands of hiding spots”, which explains the many, many little sites in the ground that looked like birds poking around. There were 3-4 birds in the pond at a time. Watched the varied thrushes do their winter thing and eat the berries from the American Cranberry trees and huckleberries.

We got our first snow today, of course it is a work day and I am on call. Can’t wait till I’m part-timer and don’t have to drive through the mess as much.

December 2013

Varied thrushes hanging around the yard, they seem to dig the huckleberries. They are supposed to be hard to spot because they are shy, but they were all business foraging. This is not my photo, I did not have the foresight to bring my camera (or the camera to get this shot!). Chickadees also very active, working on a large holiday mosaic trivet honoring those critters. Next holiday, because it won’t be done by this one, I’m pretty sure:

But I have finished other bird mosaics. See below.

Brodiaea starting to pop up, spring won’t be long! Actually, the shortest day hasn’t passed yet but the sprouts always give me hope. I covered the self-sown containers with Bue-eyed Mary and Spring Blush with glass and plastic bag “cloches” to avoid frost damage. Some Hyssop and Gaillardia seeds have germinated, therefore they were covered with plastic bags, too.