We had our first killing frost today. The Fuschia and Dahlia are toast... until May.
Here is a fuzzy sunrise through the bedroom window on Thanksgiving Day.
The Rhododendron X Aleksander Isayevich looks like it's going to be blooming just about all winter long. Here are the first ones to open. Smells great, especially on a sunny day.
I ordered a couple more Pygmy Drosera this fall. They come as gemmae, which are very tiny. Getting them sown took quite an expenditure of effort. They're just germinating now. Shown is Drosera omissa and a standard size Bic pen for size comparison. By July they'll be full sized bug eating monsters the size of quarters!
Back to grading...
A blog of my botanical misdeeds and potentially interesting floral photos. All Photos Copyright Ross Kouzes
About Me
- Marcus Tyaeronius Portwhistle
- This is a blog dedicated to interesting flora and the yard projects I undertake to make their cultivation possible.
2009/12/04
2009/11/17
2009/11/11
Some of my Favorite Photo Links
Below is a list of the plant photo sites I just keep going back to over and over again!
Namaqualand Photos.
Someday we'll get down there!
Photos of carnivorous plants in the wild.
There's more than just Sarracenia, but those are the most stunning.
Aesthetic ID site on ZA wildflowers.
Very extensive!
Vireya Rhododendrons.
Basically an ID site, but the flowers are very nice.
Adenium.
This website takes forever to load! So just load it and come back later. This guy seriously knows how to grow the genus.
Scottish Rock Garden Club Photos.
I've probably looked at every post on there. This is the archived list. The forum is no longer active!
Some of my favorite bonsai.
There are a Lot of repeats from different seasons and years, but there are many individuals shown. My favorite maple of all time is this one.
More Bonsai Photos.
I think there used to be many more photos here, but the site disappeared and then reappeared. Absolutely stunning bonsai that have taken many decades to perfect.
Amazing Gardens and Bonsai.
This guy has one of the most fantastically perfect display gardens I've ever seen. Those trees are OLD and have been looked after every day of their lives! Not a needle out of place on any of them.
I will post more when I think of them...
Namaqualand Photos.
Someday we'll get down there!
Photos of carnivorous plants in the wild.
There's more than just Sarracenia, but those are the most stunning.
Aesthetic ID site on ZA wildflowers.
Very extensive!
Vireya Rhododendrons.
Basically an ID site, but the flowers are very nice.
Adenium.
This website takes forever to load! So just load it and come back later. This guy seriously knows how to grow the genus.
Scottish Rock Garden Club Photos.
I've probably looked at every post on there. This is the archived list. The forum is no longer active!
Some of my favorite bonsai.
There are a Lot of repeats from different seasons and years, but there are many individuals shown. My favorite maple of all time is this one.
More Bonsai Photos.
I think there used to be many more photos here, but the site disappeared and then reappeared. Absolutely stunning bonsai that have taken many decades to perfect.
Amazing Gardens and Bonsai.
This guy has one of the most fantastically perfect display gardens I've ever seen. Those trees are OLD and have been looked after every day of their lives! Not a needle out of place on any of them.
I will post more when I think of them...
2009/11/09
Trip and Fall
We went to Seattle this past weekend. I spent a total of 17 minutes out of the house. The other 45hr43min, I graded 720 pages of math homework. I'm totally fried. I'll have the "No More Grading" with a side of "Ever", please.
I sat here with the growl-y dawg (whose only wish in life, like all dogs, was to have her owners return!) all day in this very lovely and comfy chair and graded in the lamp light. (Calculator posing for proof)
The view out the window to see the sun for 3minutes.
I have no idea... the neighbor's house... who are these people?
As for Autumn, it's the time for houseplants to burst forth! Here's Rhododendron jasminiflorum. On a warm day, this single flowerhead, which will soon be joined by a friend, perfumes the entire sunroom with a jasmine like scent. Rhodie from Bovee's Nursery in SW Portland. Right about now is peak bloom season so go over and pick one out.
Last, my Eucharis grandiflora. I've had this thing since 2001. Got it from Indoor Sun Shop in Seattle, now moved to Fremont I think... It's a member of the Amaryllidaceae family, all of whose members dislike root disturbance. In order to repot successfully, one must ensure minimal root breakage! Otherwise, the bulbs can enter a multi-year long recovery from such mistreatment. The bowl it's currently in is 18in in diameter.
It has (I think) 9 spikes... Each inflorescence consists of umbel supported by a thick peduncle and each floret is suspended atop a thin pedicel.
I sat here with the growl-y dawg (whose only wish in life, like all dogs, was to have her owners return!) all day in this very lovely and comfy chair and graded in the lamp light. (Calculator posing for proof)
The view out the window to see the sun for 3minutes.
I have no idea... the neighbor's house... who are these people?
As for Autumn, it's the time for houseplants to burst forth! Here's Rhododendron jasminiflorum. On a warm day, this single flowerhead, which will soon be joined by a friend, perfumes the entire sunroom with a jasmine like scent. Rhodie from Bovee's Nursery in SW Portland. Right about now is peak bloom season so go over and pick one out.
Last, my Eucharis grandiflora. I've had this thing since 2001. Got it from Indoor Sun Shop in Seattle, now moved to Fremont I think... It's a member of the Amaryllidaceae family, all of whose members dislike root disturbance. In order to repot successfully, one must ensure minimal root breakage! Otherwise, the bulbs can enter a multi-year long recovery from such mistreatment. The bowl it's currently in is 18in in diameter.
It has (I think) 9 spikes... Each inflorescence consists of umbel supported by a thick peduncle and each floret is suspended atop a thin pedicel.
2009/11/01
More Fence!
I know it's thrilling, but the thing is that a new fence after more than a year of lost privacy is THRILLING! Before this fence went up, we had a meaningless 4ft tall metal wire fence. The previous owners said they never changed it because they and the neighbor could never agree on a design. We just started digging holes and said, "So, we're going to build a new fence. No, it can't be 4ft tall. No, it can't be 5ft tall. It will be 6ft 2in. No it can't be another wire fence! No it can't be chain link! Not even the "nice" chain link! No we can't have wide gaps "for the wind". It will be impenetrable so we feel like we own our own yard!"
Still have to rip end boards, cut the bottoms at an angle, and put up the horizontal 1X4's for consistency, but it's progress!
Still have to rip end boards, cut the bottoms at an angle, and put up the horizontal 1X4's for consistency, but it's progress!
2009/10/31
2009-10-31 Fence! &c.
The fence is coming along! Cannot wait until I don't have to clean up after the neighborhood dogs anymore... The blue tree alone in the yard is an Acacia baileyana "purpurea".
In this photo, if you squint, you can see elements of our production garden. Two Honeyberry (Lonicera)in the foreground; many strawberry, lingonberry and arctic rasberry, two small Paw Paw trees (Asimina), Two Cornelian Cherry (Cornus), two Currants, one Persimmon and just back up in the first picture around the corner is our Goji.
Now that it's officially Fall, many of my South African seeds are germinating now... even though many were sown in April this year... On the list of those that sat for 6mo without a leaf are Veltheimia bracteata, Babiana ringens, Romulea amoena, komsbergensis, and mondelpha and Geissorhiza tulbaghensis... Also two Serruria florida and a single Leucospermum olefolium have germinated in the last week. I had no germination before then.
Here's a picture of part of the bulb seedling area in the greenhouse with weeee tiny leaves poking up everywhere.
Eucharis is starting to bloom. Photos to come when in full bloom, maybe one more week. A few of my Vireya Rhododendrons are also starting to open.
Oxalis versicolor that blooms all winter. Each flower closes at night with its candycane swirls... and reopens in the morning.
In this photo, if you squint, you can see elements of our production garden. Two Honeyberry (Lonicera)in the foreground; many strawberry, lingonberry and arctic rasberry, two small Paw Paw trees (Asimina), Two Cornelian Cherry (Cornus), two Currants, one Persimmon and just back up in the first picture around the corner is our Goji.
Now that it's officially Fall, many of my South African seeds are germinating now... even though many were sown in April this year... On the list of those that sat for 6mo without a leaf are Veltheimia bracteata, Babiana ringens, Romulea amoena, komsbergensis, and mondelpha and Geissorhiza tulbaghensis... Also two Serruria florida and a single Leucospermum olefolium have germinated in the last week. I had no germination before then.
Here's a picture of part of the bulb seedling area in the greenhouse with weeee tiny leaves poking up everywhere.
Eucharis is starting to bloom. Photos to come when in full bloom, maybe one more week. A few of my Vireya Rhododendrons are also starting to open.
Oxalis versicolor that blooms all winter. Each flower closes at night with its candycane swirls... and reopens in the morning.
2009/10/23
2009-10-23 Greenhouse update
The plastic is up, the fan is screwed in, the thermostats are ready to click on and the door closes tight! My Greenhouse is officially 'finished', temporarily. Next step is to get windows, but that's a job for next year or the next. I know the plastic doesn't look terribly nice, especially with the lath, but it was cheap and temporary. Buying 12 4ftX4ft windows is expensive!
From the back (with fan).
Front (with door).
On the side.
Down the middle.
Those Dicentra formosa oregana seedlings from a different posting.
One of my Pygmy Drosera, D callistos, much bigger than he was this spring, but still only the size of a quarter... You can see the little baby gemmae in the center of the crown. All the pygmy Sundews reproduce with these little gemmae, which are modified leaves that grow roots, that splash out and plant themselves during a hard rain. They should produce adult plants within a year. These things are much more reliable than seeds.
Protea seedings started in April 2009.
Aulax and then Leucadendron and Leucospermum seedlings from April 2009. You can see the 3 big Ld argentum seedlings in the middle (they start out green and silver up as they age.)
The smallest in this batch of 6mo old seedlings are Ld rubrum at 1in and Ld modestum at 2in. The tallest are Ld argenteum and salicifolium both at around 6-8in.
I have no idea what's wrong with this species: Ld daphnoides. It and Ld rubrum are the only two species that have died after the cotyledon stage! They have been weak and sickly since germination, though...
Here's a Pr magnifica from the exact same batch and germination date. For some reason, maybe 3 plants of 3 different species stalled in growth at this stage. One died. I haven't a clue what caused it. It was adjacent to all the rest.
Here are some of the plants I started in October 2009, so they're 2yrs old. They do a LOT of growth in two years!
The big ones in the back are Pr repens and the little ones up front are Ls conocarpodendron.
Pr compacta and lacticolor are tall, and the short ones are Pr cynaroides.
Here are some plants that I sowed this September. They're still in the middle of germination, which was delayed for the colder weather in October.
Pr pityphylla
A Pr acaulos with seemingly 4 cotyledons... I'll have to verify that it's a single plant somehow, but I think that I only did 2 seeds per pot.
From this batch, I've got plants of Pr acaulos, caffra, canaliculata, cordata, nana, pityphylla, subvestita (86% germination), Ld album, galpinii germinating.
I haven't had any germination from Pr aristata, decurrens, dracomontana. I read on FineBushPeople's discussion forum that dracomontana requires sub 0C temperatures to germinate, so since then I've been putting them in the freezer for half an hour to an hour at a time to get the pots cold, but not deathly cold. Hopefully they'll germinate! I really wanted to try this species outside!
Last, my Crowning Glory... Mimetes cucullatus. If you don't know this species, here's my picture from UCSC Botanic Garden in 2008. This is a species with reported 2-5% germination from Kirstenbosch. I ordered 20 seeds, which would mean that I would expect at most 1 seedling to germinate. This one came up mid-September. I noticed today that I have another seedling germinating!!! Two plants is more than I could have ever expected! I am certainly not expecting any more luck... Supposedly, it's easy to grow once germinated... so far so good.
Super Last, a picture from the sunroom. Oxalis flava has been blooming for a while!
My Eucharis grandiflora has something like 8 spikes coming up. I'll post a photo when in full bloom in a few weeks.
From the back (with fan).
Front (with door).
On the side.
Down the middle.
Those Dicentra formosa oregana seedlings from a different posting.
One of my Pygmy Drosera, D callistos, much bigger than he was this spring, but still only the size of a quarter... You can see the little baby gemmae in the center of the crown. All the pygmy Sundews reproduce with these little gemmae, which are modified leaves that grow roots, that splash out and plant themselves during a hard rain. They should produce adult plants within a year. These things are much more reliable than seeds.
Protea seedings started in April 2009.
Aulax and then Leucadendron and Leucospermum seedlings from April 2009. You can see the 3 big Ld argentum seedlings in the middle (they start out green and silver up as they age.)
The smallest in this batch of 6mo old seedlings are Ld rubrum at 1in and Ld modestum at 2in. The tallest are Ld argenteum and salicifolium both at around 6-8in.
I have no idea what's wrong with this species: Ld daphnoides. It and Ld rubrum are the only two species that have died after the cotyledon stage! They have been weak and sickly since germination, though...
Here's a Pr magnifica from the exact same batch and germination date. For some reason, maybe 3 plants of 3 different species stalled in growth at this stage. One died. I haven't a clue what caused it. It was adjacent to all the rest.
Here are some of the plants I started in October 2009, so they're 2yrs old. They do a LOT of growth in two years!
The big ones in the back are Pr repens and the little ones up front are Ls conocarpodendron.
Pr compacta and lacticolor are tall, and the short ones are Pr cynaroides.
Here are some plants that I sowed this September. They're still in the middle of germination, which was delayed for the colder weather in October.
Pr pityphylla
A Pr acaulos with seemingly 4 cotyledons... I'll have to verify that it's a single plant somehow, but I think that I only did 2 seeds per pot.
From this batch, I've got plants of Pr acaulos, caffra, canaliculata, cordata, nana, pityphylla, subvestita (86% germination), Ld album, galpinii germinating.
I haven't had any germination from Pr aristata, decurrens, dracomontana. I read on FineBushPeople's discussion forum that dracomontana requires sub 0C temperatures to germinate, so since then I've been putting them in the freezer for half an hour to an hour at a time to get the pots cold, but not deathly cold. Hopefully they'll germinate! I really wanted to try this species outside!
Last, my Crowning Glory... Mimetes cucullatus. If you don't know this species, here's my picture from UCSC Botanic Garden in 2008. This is a species with reported 2-5% germination from Kirstenbosch. I ordered 20 seeds, which would mean that I would expect at most 1 seedling to germinate. This one came up mid-September. I noticed today that I have another seedling germinating!!! Two plants is more than I could have ever expected! I am certainly not expecting any more luck... Supposedly, it's easy to grow once germinated... so far so good.
Super Last, a picture from the sunroom. Oxalis flava has been blooming for a while!
My Eucharis grandiflora has something like 8 spikes coming up. I'll post a photo when in full bloom in a few weeks.
2009/10/17
Some Fall Color
2009/09/07
Southern Oregon... again
The 3 day weekend was upon us and pressed us to travel far and wide.
It was raining in Portland all weekend and it was lightly sprinkling in S OR. We made camp and set out into the mist:
Fortunately, cloud breaks were occasional.
We climbed up and down the serpentine slopes looking for whatever we could find. At 3000ft looking for Lilium bolanderi... They're right behind me. Why are they only 8 inches tall!? So hard to see!
Up at 4500ft looking for rocks. We found some.
Having found rocks, triumphant.
Anyone really good at IDing Platanthera?
Cool rockery.
Nice view!
Beer and Epipactis: a winning combination. I always worry about plants in this region. Most of the people we see out in the wild are on ATV's careening down the gravel at top speed. They care about as much about the plants they're about to crush as a bowling ball floats.
We saw a new (for us) plant: Calochortus umpquaensis. Obviously dehisced already, but we'll be back in spring!
If anyone knows where I can find Calochortus howellii, please let me know. I know they bloom around July 1 in the Illinois Valley, but it's a big valley and it's 300mi from home!
Last, I have a history of a wild Cyp californicum seedling:
2006: tiny seedling.
2007: bigger seedling.
2008: ? oops.
2009: Bloomed! Flower has fallen off, though. You can see the flower stem at the top between the leaves.
Only a 3 years from tiny 1 inch tall seedling to blooming? Nature is a better grower than most of us!
It was raining in Portland all weekend and it was lightly sprinkling in S OR. We made camp and set out into the mist:
Fortunately, cloud breaks were occasional.
We climbed up and down the serpentine slopes looking for whatever we could find. At 3000ft looking for Lilium bolanderi... They're right behind me. Why are they only 8 inches tall!? So hard to see!
Up at 4500ft looking for rocks. We found some.
Having found rocks, triumphant.
Anyone really good at IDing Platanthera?
Cool rockery.
Nice view!
Beer and Epipactis: a winning combination. I always worry about plants in this region. Most of the people we see out in the wild are on ATV's careening down the gravel at top speed. They care about as much about the plants they're about to crush as a bowling ball floats.
We saw a new (for us) plant: Calochortus umpquaensis. Obviously dehisced already, but we'll be back in spring!
If anyone knows where I can find Calochortus howellii, please let me know. I know they bloom around July 1 in the Illinois Valley, but it's a big valley and it's 300mi from home!
Last, I have a history of a wild Cyp californicum seedling:
2006: tiny seedling.
2007: bigger seedling.
2008: ? oops.
2009: Bloomed! Flower has fallen off, though. You can see the flower stem at the top between the leaves.
Only a 3 years from tiny 1 inch tall seedling to blooming? Nature is a better grower than most of us!
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