2011-05-25 Around the yard again

This year, the combination of the rain and our attempts to get the yard done are prohibiting me from hiking. I hope you will enjoy the yard instead.

The Bletilla formosana is blooming. Easy to grow hardy terrestrial orchid from Taiwan. I've grown it indoors and in the greenhouse and it definitely prefers the GH. I have yet to try it outside during the winter, but supposedly it should be ok to 15F or 20F...


Dryas octopetala, a nice ground cover alpine from NW NA, up all the way to the Arctic tundra. This one is from seed from Portland Nursery. Took 2yrs to bloom.


I started some Embothrium coccineum, Chilean Firecracker Flower, seeds from Chileflora last fall. They germinated very well. BTW, this is a Proteaceae from Chile with spectacular red flowers. I have them growing in my standard Protea mix of Perlite, pumice, bark, and gravel with a little Turface thrown in for good measure. Also in the same flat on the left are Tropaeolum polyphyllum, an alpine Nasturtium also from Chile and two Mutisia oligodon seedlings. Three or four more years til flowers on the Embothrium. A friend has had his Embothrium outside in the ground for many years now, so I'm hoping these are just as hardy.


To complement my South American flat, I have the Australian flat filled with Telopea speciosissima, truncata and oreades. All started Fall 2009 in the same mix as the Embothrium, kept in the GH over the winter. Supposedly the Telopea species are hardy or close to it here, so I'm looking forward to some stunning flowers in four years.


My Leucadendron argenteum from South Africa are turning silver and looking good. Hopefully they'll branch a bit this year. Started in Fall 2009, I think.


I have two big Leucospermum conocarpodendron that were started in Fall 2008. These are not hardy here and will always be in pots. They have outgrown these 3gal pots and started to wilt too quickly on warm days. I'll get them into big 5gal pots this weekend.


My Lewisia leeana is still blooming well. Very cute plant from serpentine cliffs in SW OR and N CA.


My Calochortus venustus rugellus (Red form) is almost open. The other Calochortus are still a couple weeks away from opening. This spring has been hard to keep them dry! They are mostly from California in spots where as soon as warm weather hits it stops raining. So these bulbs rot if their pots are even remotely damp after May 1 or so.


Dichelostemma ida-maia falls into the same dry summer bulb category. These bulbs all sat on the greenhouse ledge all winter.


Another photo of my Asteranthera ovata. The flower is the size of the whole plant.


One of Lisa's Bonsai Acer palmatum started from seed in 2000. Starting to look pretty good!


My Sarracenia flava cuprea is blooming well this year. Hoping to get it planted later this year!


Got this Tsuga heterophylla in 2003 for $10 with the plans of Bonsai'ing it someday. In 2006, it got burned in the house fire, hence the big gash in the bark. Since the gash follows a very natural look, I decided to go with it. Now that it has recovered, I performed the first styling. I'm still not 100% sure about the top, but it'll recover like this for a year or two before I change anything else. Can you see the potential?


Last, my Phragmipedium popowii that I got in 2007 is blooming. It currently has 3 flowers open but will have 2 more shortly. This is it's biggest bloom year yet. The pictures don't do it justice. The petals are 2ft3in long. I do better with Phrag's than Paph's in my grow area. The Phrags can take a lot more water and don't mind the neverending winter cloudscape.