All posts by tonyjoe

Seeds In The Mail

I joined the Pacific Bulb Society, which I’ve found to be an excellent organization with extraordinarily knowledgable growers and scientists and a robust web gallery and wiki page. Find their home page HERE.

One of the perks of being a member is that other members donate seeds and bulbs from their plants and then the organization offers them up for a nominal fee. I sent a long wish list when the last offer was published. It is probably just as well that only three packets of seeds were sent. I’m very excited about these species, though:

Tulbaghia violacea–I had seen these around all over and they seem fragile, somehow; but I saw a well-grown pot of them on Bainbridge Island last year and then saw another nice one when we visited Arliss and Mike in Arizona. If I can get these seeds to grow I’ll put some around the garden and in patio pots, and possibly send some to plant sales or down to Arliss and Mike.

Tropaeolum brachyceras–I want to try this vine to grow up the Pod sculpture Leon has in the driveway bed. If I have extras, I’ll put a few around the garden and then send some off to plant sales.

Cyclamen graecum –if I can get these to grow, I’ll grow one or two in pots in the greenhouse and the rest out in the garden. It is pretty amazing how big the tubers can get!

I will try two different methods with these seeds. I’m soaking half of each type in water now and I’ll plant them tomorrow in the window on heat with LED lights. The rest of the seeds will go into a little moist soil in plastic bags in the refrigerator and I’ll start them in the spring.

Along with a re-emergence of my seed addiction, there has been a bulb relapse incident. After getting all the bulbs from John Scheepers planted I felt like there weren’t enough bulbs for the pots I have ready, so I looked online and found another vendor and ordered more tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, iris, and more. I’m a little worried they won’t be top-notch bulbs this late in the season, but we’ll see when they show up.

Camano Island and Autumn Colors

I went up to Camano Island last weekend to Karla Matzke’s gallery and sculpture garden. I wandered around the garden and got the following photos of some nice plants Karla has in the borders around the garden.

  • Last leaves on Karla’s Aralia elata, and the attractive seed stems in a light pink-mauve.
  • Another view of some seed stems.
  • And a close-up here. I did pull some seeds off the stems. I don’t know if they are viable at all, but I’ll give them a try.A
  • A brilliant barberry shrub in one of Karla’s borders.
  • More brilliant shrubs around the sculpture park.
  • This smoke bush at Karla’s had seeds, so I picked a few out of the “smoke” and will try to grow them.
  • Fall color on the smoke bush.
  • This Yucca stood out on a short, sunny day.
  • Heleborus argutifolius, I think–Karla has several of these perennials that look almost shrub-like as we head into winter.
  • Another huge hellebore.
  • Some glorious yellow maple leaves sparkling in the afternoon light.
  • Intersting sculptures among the sword ferns.
  • More yellow foliage.
  • A red-leaved Japanese maple in Karla’s border.

Bulbs Planted

Brother Tim came over today and we planted all the spring bulbs that arrived this week from John Scheepers. I highly recommend this bulb retailer–I’ve never been disappointed with their bulbs. All of the below photos were borrowed from their website. Hopefully, I’ll have my own photos come spring to share here.

I planted the below bulbs into the easternmost edge of the memory garden. It was over 200 bulbs–and only planted a small area with no leftovers for pots/forcing. I’m going to have to order some clearance bulbs for my pots.

Here are some photos of the process.

  • We planted species tulips along the edges and hybrids down the middle.
  • Snowdrops were planted between tulip groups and Corydalis “Beth Evans” was worked in, as well.

November Updates

My brother and sister were kind enough to help out in the garden last weekend. We pruned some roses, trimmed back the dame’s rockets, raked, shredded and mulched with some leaves, and mowed the lawn!

I had spent time loading all the pots into the greenhouse the day before which worked out perfectly since we had two nights below freezing last week. The greenhouse is stuffed really full. I’ve committed to organizing it better next year so there is more room for clivias under the shelving, which will leave a lot more room for a path in the cold months and a functioning workstation for potting and checking things out.

Today, I cleaned the orchard garden up a bit, pruning back some roses and berry canes. I noticed that the old camellia shrub along the fenceline has tripled in size in the last few years and is stretching out into the main garden and towards the street, as well. My Felco pruners clipped back a bunch of it but there is a LOT more to prune to get it back to a comfortable size. I’ll tackle some more of it tomorrow.

My other project today was to clean up the potting bench area. I emptied a bunch of pots with soil left after the resident plants had moved on to their next lives. Then I took the time to organize all the empty pots, stacking them by size. For the clay pots, I put some soil in them in preparation for the bulb delivery slated for Monday or Tuesday next week. There are a few more things I can do to straighten up the area, but it already looks better than it has for years! More work tomorrow will include sawing down the bitter cherry suckers that have sprung up all over the yard.

Lastly, I wandered around the yard to see what dared to be blooming in early November. The witch hazel that I have near the street in front of the orchard bed is in full bloom. This is the shrub that grew up from below the graft of the cultivar I had originally purchased. IT so graceful and actually very beautiful when it is in bloom, so I’m glad I’ve never cut it back.

  • Witch Hazel
  • More Witch Hazel
  • Geranium nodosum
  • Mixed-up rhody
  • Abutilon
  • Verbena bonariensis
  • Coreopsis
  • Chaenorhinum
  • Geranium
  • Geranium
  • Geranium
  • Erigeron
  • Geranium
  • Geranium
  • Oregnaum
  • Kniphofia
  • Fuchsia

There were a few items blooming that I didn’t get decent photos of: two kinds of salvia are blooming in the memory garden, along with a few of the catmints. The asters just a very few flowers left on them, but they have some great seed heads that I hope the birds take advantage of.

Arizona Visit

Leon and I spent a few days in Arizona last week, mostly in the Prescott area. We also visited the Grand Canyon–my first time seeing it! Here are some photos from the trip.

  • Elk resting near the Grand Canyon
  • Interesting decaying log–likely Juniper.
  • I
  • More interesting wood.
  • Leon and I near the Grand Canyon.
  • GC lookout.
  • Watson lake near Prescott.
  • Back to Grand Canyon
  • I found some big beetles at a convenience store.
  • Lots and lots of big beetles!
  • Wildflowers were still in bloom.

Some October Updates

Here are some random photos from the past week or so:

  • I think these are Nerine bowdenii growing on King Street near the I-5 overpass. Very strange place for these rare-ish bulbs to be blooming.
  • I have a few gesneriads growing in my window at work. including the Deinostigma tamiana in the rear, the miniature African violet, and the Sinningia seedling with a large bud in the foreground.
  • I’m anxious to see what this flower looks like when it unfolds–it is from a seedling I started early in the year.
  • The bud looked white when for a few days, then colored up to a deep reddish pink.
  • Autumn leaves are extremely colorful this year–here are some of my favorites from my walk home from the bus.
  • Close-up of maple leaves.
  • This Japanese maple in a neighbor’s yard has unusually colored autumn foliage.
  • This is one of the big maple street trees starting to show color.
  • This Scheflerra tree was donated to my workplace by a for-profit corporation. It came in much bigger than this and bushier, but with a hideous case of scale. I pruned every leave off and scrubbed the branches. It is just now leafing out and starting to look pretty good. I haven’t seen any scale yet, but I know it will be back!

Plant Inventory 2019

I started taking photos of the plants out on the shelves near the greenhouse today. Here is a gallery with some notes.

  • Aubrieta seedling destined for the Memory garden
  • Agapanthus praecox seedling, also destined for the memory garden to test its hardiness
  • Pine seedling, I think at least 7 years old.
  • Western red cedar seedling that popped up in one of my pots. I plan to pass native trees like this to Staci Adman.
  • Little Douglas fir that popped up in a pot–will also go to STaci.
  • Another WRC to pass to Staci.
  • Another Douglas fir for Staci.
  • Hop Hornbeam seedling (Ostrya viginiana)
  • Seedling birch volunteer.
  • Another WRC for Staci.
  • Anothe WRC for Staci
  • And another…
  • Aroboretum seedling–some conifer, probably a cypress or cedar.
  • Mystery arboretum seedling, one of many….
  • Another
  • Another
  • Same mystery
  • and another…
  • Species rose seedling.
  • And a second…
  • And a third….
  • And a fourth….
  • And a fifth
  • This is a pot of arboretum seedlings–they are grasslike and a nice coppery tone.
  • This looks like a crab apple seedling.
  • More mystery plants, one and two. These seedlings have amazing shiny, textured leaves.
  • A third
  • Sixth rose seedling
  • And a fourth of this mystery plant
  • And a fifth…