Green Daylily

Check out Frances's green daylily. While I normally despise daylilies (sorry Frances, if you're reading this, it's just me...I prefer Lilium), there is something about green (and black actually) flowers that make them candidates for a dream garden.

Quick Garden Update

The lily and Clintonia seedlings seemed to be doing just fine, but I have noticed that some of the leaf tips have been nibbled. Oh, and the Lilium washingtonianum spp. purpuratum have germinated. Mimulus lewisii, Mimulus cardinalis, Mimulus guttatus, Mimulus dentatus, and the shrubby Mimulus aurantiacus are all beginning active growth mode. The mature Lilium pardilinum bulbs have sent up their star-like leaf rosettes. I've transplanted Lupinus polyphyllus seedlings into the coastal prairie. The Aquilegia formosa have new bushy growth and some of last years Clarkias, despite being annuals, seem ready for another season.

Fork in the road: there is the possiblity of me moving to Philadelphia for three years to study landscape architecture. I've never been to the East coast and have never lived in a big city. But it's a possibility.

Sunlight

Signs of Spring

(Wild Prunus blossoms and Lysichiton americanus.)

The Winter of Unemployment is over. I am leaving my island of Big Lagoon and moving to Eureka, where I've accepted a job helping the Director/Curator of an art museum. I'm pretty excited. I have to see how much time I can spare, but since I'll be in Eureka, I hope to volunteer at the Humboldt Botanical Gardens. I also hope to find an affordable apartment with at least a sunny balcony for experimenting with seed propagation. Grad schools are still in the mix and I should be hearing from them starting at the end of this month. Time to wake up.

Clash

A few days ago I went to a local nursery with my mother: Bad idea!

When something manages to catch my eye, I decide either it’s too expensive, I need to know more about it, there must be a native that has a similar effect, or that I simply need to think about it. She, on the other hand, likes anything with color, especially what matches her "house colors." And unlike me, she hardly blinks at the thought of spending. Our missions were supposed to be separate: I'm planting the fountain, she's planting the window boxes.

After an hour and half of debating ceramic pots and primroses, I find a plant that takes me off guard. It’s bold and all silver and green. Astelia chathamica“Silver spear.” Mm hmm, the name conjures up endangered Hawaiian silverswords and dark forest myths.

I make sure it can live where it’s going to be planted: in a dry fountain with full sun. Here on the coast, it can do just that. Eventually it may out grow it’s space, but this is a plant I would be happy to divide into two, one for my garden some day…

My mom wasn’t going to let me leave without getting flowers to put in the fountain. I’d already planned on putting Epilobium canum (which I already have) in there for some fall color (and to keep it contained). I was willing to try a crimson lotus cultivar 'Amazon Sunset' because they were unusual to me and my mom liked them. I also broke down and bought some Triteleia “Queen Fabiola” bulbs, even though they’re cultivars (of native T. laxa). See, I can compromise.

So that's what's going in the fountain: Astelia in the middle; triteleia, lotus, epilobium on the edges--with variegated lemon thyme as a green filler. But they're not going to be evenly distributed along the rim. It's going to have a clunky jungle look. Eventually I'd like some big silver dudleys here and there.

Risky color combo for sure. I think red, silver, and purple look good together, but they have to be the right shades, you know? Will the Triteleia be dark enough? Will the lotus be too orange? And then there's the outside paint color and the plants in the bed behind it. I'm getting nauseous thinking of the possibilities.

Since the container will be draining into the bottom pool, I also need to make sure to keep the soil on the lean side, so we don't get lethal algal blooms below. Last year there were many many tadpoles.

In the pool we’re going to put (in pots) pygmy white (?) water lilies in the front (need to order), cattails in the back (already have), and hopefully, someday, some native Sagittaria or Alisma on the sides.

With enough green in the mix any colors can look good together, right?

well said

"At daybreak, if the weather is fine, I go into the garden. This time of day is very special to me. I look at the sky. It's very clear and I see the stars and have this special feeling--of my insignificance in the cosmos. The realization of what we Buddhists call impermanence. It's very relaxing. Sometimes I don't think at all and just enjoy the dawn and listen to the birds."

The Dalai Lama from A Policy of Kindness p. 48.

TED Talks

Have you heard of TEDtalks? There are some amazing people and ideas here, and it's all free. The website says:

"TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted."

The speakers are amazingly intelligent and diverse. Gardeners might be interested in Michael Pollan, biologist/technologist Janine Benyus, and photographer Frans Lanting. But be sure to try a few random people. Videos can be found here on their website and at least some of them are on YouTube.

This video of nature photographer Frans Lanting incorporates many things that fascinate me: trilobites, silverswords, euphorbias, the stilt-legged fox from the Pampas, the work of musician Phillip Glass, and the unity of life.

I also enjoyed:

Theo Jansen: Kinetic sculpure "Beach Creatures."

David Gallo: Ocean animals. Amazing.

Snow in Bayside

Last Sunday it snowed in Bayside! In the seven or so years we've been in the area, it has never snowed. The bulbs coming up will be alright, right?

Native Garden Notes from Chuck B.

Chuck B. from Whoreticulture tells of his experiences with NorCal native plant species as a comment to a post at Garden Rant. Here's the link.

Tagged

Lisa, my sister in law, tagged me. You know, I'm supposed to make six things about myself public and then pass it on to others.

1. I like combining india ink and pastel to make strange pictures that are sometimes downright ugly, but will someday be consistently wonderful. Above, is a detail of such a picture.

2. I have a very poor sense of smell (anosmic) and I'm not old (early 20s) and I haven't been a drug user. My smell comes and goes. I can't stand the smell of smarties (the candy), they make me nauseous.

3. I found part of a triceratops skull one summer and am fascinated by fossils and natural history. I like trilobites.

4. I'm a little O.C. when it comes to food that's bad for me. I hardly ever eat butter, refined sugar, or salt, and it's been a long long time since I've had fast food or soda. I can taste food, very well I think, so don't try to blame it on my lack of smell. I just know it's bad for me, and I've slowly trained myself to dislike unhealthy foods, at least on some level. Several years ago I trained myself to like celery. He can be taught!

5. My siblings and I were raised on Disney movies and we can sing along to all of the classics. Movie quotes are an important component of our conversations when we're all together.

6. My proudest acheivement was, on my own, getting in the habit of cooking beans (with half an onion and a bay leaf) on a woodstove when I lived in Arizona. I long to have my own woodstove and I am quickly turning into an old man.