Snow: Finally!

So Portland has snow about once every 5 years (we had 10in during winter 2003-2004 and basically nothing in between). Last year I think we had a grand total of about 2inches, 0.5in at a time. This December, however we had 14inches, which makes it the snowiest December since like 1962 or something. The low throughout the storm was a death defying 17F. Nothing can survive at that temperature! Or to quote one southern Californian, "There aren't that few degrees."

Our house. We had to help 4 vehicles, including the mail truck, that got stuck directly in front of our house! This is why we stayed home. The house got so organized!


The backyard.


Birdfeeder.


Cedar.


Crushed pine.


Crunched pine :-(


*sigh* You don't use snowshoes to walk on compacted snow!


Colllld hummingbirds.


Snow Arch

2008-11-16 Bovees Nursery

Late Fall and early Spring are the peak times for tropical Rhodies at Bovees Nursery. I highly recommend ordering something from them if you've got a *Bright* South facing window or greenhouse. I had them in a dim South window and also in an East window and they suffered for a long time. Then I got them in the SW facing sunroom and they grow so fast I can't keep up with them sometimes! If you live in coastal California from the Bay area down, you can grow them outside for great winter color.

Order something big, vigorous and fragrant if you've got the space! Hybrids are easier, usually, than species, of course. Right now, they have a ton of realllly good looking 1-3ft tall R. leucogigas hybrids that will make very nice medium sized fragrant shrubs in a year or two.

Here's a sampling of their stock.

R. laetum V45


R. konori V103 (my favorite. Did I mention I'm a sucker for white flowers?)


R. tuba V314


R. x Saxon Glow V539


V517


R. salicifolium V615


No ID tag


V505

2008-09-12 Timberline

As always, the view was of another mountain.


And, as always, there were the requisite Lupine.


Obligatory butterflies (I'm a sucker for the blues).


Exquisite whites (I'm a sucker for pure white flowers)


Still a sucker.


A very strange contemplative couple.

Some Cyp photos

Here are some assorted photos of cultivated Cyps. Thanks to the grower for sharing the photos.

C acaule


C reginae


C reginae albolabium


C montanum fma welchii (the red around the lip rim distinguishes this form)


C hotei atsumorianum


C froschii


C formosanum


C franchetti


C fasciolatum


C flavum


C flavum semialba


C flavum alba


C flavum luteum


& a weird C froschii that got a bit messed up

2008-09-01 Southern Oregon Take II

Fall in S OR is very dry until about October when the rain starts again. Although rain hasn't fallen since May, the streams are still going fed by groundwater from an unusual water table. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful! 70F and sunny. Not like last year when it was 102F! Bleh!!!

The Darlingtonia turn nice colors as the summer progresses.







Cobra with eyes: I swear I had nothing to do with this! Some bugs thought they were funny though.


I don't know what to make of this... these plants look like seedlings but they're growing on a very old piece of apparently dead hanging rhizome... like trees growing up through old stumps.


The whole point of the trip!


And, back at home, our full time maid is taking some well deserved time off.

Two Awesome Photos from Elsewhere

Ruediger Kohlmueller in Germany sent me this photo of this fantastic Cyp kentuckiense alba he visited in the wilds of Arkansas. It is the only example of an alba form I have ever heard of from this species. Truly a rarity. He said that this was the only plant at the site blooming green. I hope that some day soon we can get seed from this plant and propagate it in cultivation.



Photo is copyright Ruediger Kohlmueller and is not to be used without his written permission.

And second, Bill Steele from Spangle Creek Labs in MN (http://www.spanglecreeklabs.com/) sent me a photo of a seedling of Cyp californicum planted out in 2005. 3 years to blooming is impressive, to say the least, for this species. Many experienced growers say 8 years to bloom from seed!

He has them in a mixture of Turface MVP and Perlite at a ratio of 1:2. Fertilize with Dyna-Gro 7-9-5 at a rate of 1/2 teaspoon per gallon with nearly every watering, and 50% shadecloth. Way to go Bill. You are the master ;-)

2008-08-09 New Backyard

We just moved into a new house. Just like with my last house, we are stripping the yard entirely and redoing it one plant and stone at a time. This yard we have huge goals to meet, so I'm not going to show the pictures of the tear down until we have some uplifting images of the build up.

Our last house took us 3 years to do the yard. This one will be about the same. I'm hoping that by Fall 2011, I'll be able to call it my own. Here's some of our little backyard in the Fall right before we sold the old house. When we moved in the whole yard was just dead weedy grass and a tree. We put in every shrub, small tree and perrenial. Thanks to a lot of hard work, Craigslist, Portland Nursery, help from friends and family, it looked great.

Our Previous backyard after 3 years of hard work:



Anyhow, You can see some of the partially torn up yard in the background of the pictures. It's a mess. Just ignore it.

Here's my Aloe that I've had since 2000. It weighs about 100lbs. It's hardy to about 28F, so in the harshest nights of the year, it has to be in the (soon-to-be) greenhouse. Hummingbirds love it. I got it from a single growth cutting from a friend in L.A. when her parents ripped out a whole bed of it.



My very first Federally Endangered species that I grew from seed to bloom: Echinaceae tenneseensis. Very easy to grow. Got (free) seed in the mail in accordance with CITES in Spring 2007 from a man in TN who was growing it on his property. I have 27 baby plants, and only one bloomed this year. In the next couple of years I'll have lots of seed to give away!



Here are my hundreds of Darlintonia seedlings. I grew these from seed started in Fall 2005. They are in partially alive LFSM and get watered as often as possible. I am going to try an experimental bog bed in my yard where the water is circulated down a slope (of mostly Turface MVP and Pumice), like in the wild. Hopefully that dream will become a reality in 2010 or spring 2011. Until then, they do fine as long as they get water twice a day and not too much sun. In the wild, the sunnier plants are shorter and the plants in 50-70% shade are taller and greener.



On the vein of Sarraceniaceae, here is S flava cuprea, the newest addition to my bog plant collection (soon to be permanent bog garden, spring 2009). Notice the new growths :-)



And last, my oldest hardy orchid. Got this Goodyera oblongifolia in Fall 2003 just as I was getting into this type of thing. It has proven to be one of the easiest to care for. It has 17 spikes this year.


Last year, it only had 3 spikes.

I'll post photos of yard progress as soon as there is some!