2011-04 Around the yard

In between the raindrops, some flowers grew.

Two seed grown plants of Dicentra formosa oregana, Oregon's very own variety of this western native bleeding heart. These came from seeds that were from the same place in the wild, so I have no clue as to the dimorphism.



My very first South African bulb from seed to flower: Geissorhiza radians. Started in 2009 from Silverhill. I should have lots more next year!



A cute little Primula-esque rock garden plant that I got from a friend.


A tropical blueberry, Agapetes smithii. Sweetish tasty berries late summer.


Cyrtanthus breviflorus. South African from the Drakensbergs.


Polygala chamaebuxus. Hope this one does ok. They're sometimes tough to keep alive for the first year, but afterward are pretty easy, supposedly.


My Rhododendron spinuliferum is growing like a weed (a very well behaved weed, tho).


Some tulips that came free with an order of interesting plants. Nice to have some easy color.


A Mexican tropical shrub for the patio (once the patio exists). Cuphea cyanea.


My Ferraria divaricata arenosa finally bloomed! What a bizarre flower! It's sort of redish brownish with a crinkly little yellowy margin.


My Lewisia tweedyi each have about 30 flower buds. This is one of the first to open. Plant is from Rare Plant Research out SE of Portland. Lewisia tweedyi is native to the Wenatchee NF in WA.


Mimulus douglasii. Wow! Really cute and amazingly colored. This was the only plant that grew from the couple of seeds I could scrounge up from the ground in Southern Oregon last fall. I hope it's self fertile. It's also musky scented to attract flies, I think.


Lisa's Rhododendron serpyllifolium is doing well.


Inside the house, the Eucharis grandiflorus is blooming with something like 10 spikes. To force blooming, just let it dry out for about a month.


A Pachypodium cf eburneum from Plants out of Africa, though this is a seedling.


My Pygmy Drosera are blooming. Each flower lasts only for one day, but there are usually many in succession. Drosera dichrosepala.


Drosera callistos.


This is the first time the Drosera barbigera have bloomed.


More on the way!

2011-04-16 Eastern Washington

An early visit to the far east side of the mountains was surprisingly floriferous. Despite the cold wet spring, the native flowers are right on cue ignoring the obvious discomfort of the various tropical invasive species (Homo sapiens) and are expressing their own tolerance and even enjoyment of the natural conditions. This desert receives less than 10in of rain each year, maybe a little more this year, all during the winter and early spring. They have to bloom and set seed fast before the oppressive summer heat hits.

Antennaria dimorpha. I've seen A sufructescens in SW OR, but didn't know there was a species way out here. Pretty cute. Unfortunately, hard to grow from seed, I imagine, if it's anything like its cousin.


The Balsamroot were open.


Up in the boulders on the mountain, I found a little colony of this Lithophragma.


Near the next boulder, I found this little Mertensia longifolia, Sagebrush Bluebell (desert-dwelling relative of the much more famous Virginia Bluebell).


Lithospermum ruderale. One of the very few Stone-nut species native to the west.


But, of course, the real reason you go to the desert is for the Phlox. I think it's all Phlox longifolia, but I could be mistaken. It was remarkably spectacular with all the pink and white. The Western Meadow Lark was singing amongst the phlox, (with a much better song than the Eastern Lark)


A particularly nice patch going right up to the mountain. The only reason it's so visible is because the Sagebrush was burned (this patch by a lightning strike). It takes many years for the Sagebrush to come back.