Obsessions

Just a self-indulgent look at two plants.

Euphorbia bupleurifolia, the pineapple or pine cone euphorbia. My favorite plant.
I love its bizarre form and how the leaves and flowers seem to shoot out the top. It's from the southern cape region of South Africa, and is apparently endangered. I bought mine at an Arcata Farmer's Market (in CA) five (?) years ago for $10, and haven't seen it for sale anywhere else or I would buy a few more. I'd like to at least acquire one female plant, since mine is male, and supposedly it's relatively easy to raise from seed. Has anyone out there seen these for sale?

I'm mentioning the plant now because there has been a new development: a little side branch is appearing.

I will miss its old simple form, but am curious to see what it will look like. (To see an incredibly cool specimen of this species click here.)

The second plant I have obsessed over before. Trifolium wormskioldii, the Springbank clover. This is how the story goes. I saw some flowerless clover growing near the shore of Big Lagoon on a canoe trip. I took a piece because the leaves had a "native" look--they didn't look like red or white clover. I put the piece in a pot waited a year and had a pot full of the stuff. Transplanted some into the garden. Last year it bloomed and it's identity was confirmed.


Turns out it was an important vegetable for the native peoples of the northwest. I propagated it more and more (piece of cake--just pull off piece with nodes and insert in soil). It's spread beautifully. Last year there were maybe 5 flowers, this year there are dozens.

(Sorry the picture's so dark.) The propagation continues as we have a lot of wet clay that needs cover, and I have to say, it's my favorite plant in the garden right now. I hope to introduce this plant to our local chapter of the California Native Plant Society. It'd be good for sales. Tips I will humbly offer: put it in a sunny, moist place and cut it to the ground in winter if you want to maintain a tidier patch. C'est tout.

Forest Finds

Sorry this blog has been so sluggish lately. My internet access, time and energy has been limited and my camera batteries have been dead for some time (and my charger's at the cabin). Lame, I know. These pictures I took with my sister's camera (except the fern above, which was taken by Katie, herself) in the Arcata Community Forest.

The forests are green and fresh right now. While trilliums are fading, ferns (like Blechnum splicant photographed by my sister, above) are still unfurling, clintonias are nearing bloom, and many of the more obscure wildflowers have fully arrived.

This is twisted stalk, Streptopus amplexifolius var. americanus. Rare around here.

Mitella caulescens (I have this as a houseplant and it's forming flowers!)

Rubus spectabilis whose pink petals have fallen. It's now forming a berry.

Mitella ovalis is already producing it's strange seed in splash cups (appropriately adapted to rain dispersal).
Most of the Petasites frigidis has gone to seed. They're like compound dandelions, but the centers are a dark gold color. Very beautiful in the sunlight.

House Plants

Yesterday, this orchid bloomed. Some kind of Phalaenopsis.

This Schlumbergia, which has been in the family for years, began blooming a week or so ago. These photos are from when it was blooming full force. Yesterday I noticed that Lisa at Miller Time has the same cultivar.

I'm proud of this little arrangement with the variegated spider plant. One of my sisters made the black bowl.

My Selenocereus chrysocardium has never bloomed, but it's still one of my top 3 favorite houseplants. It's a tropical cactus, as is the Schlumbergia.

This is a trio of wild plants, all in the Saxifragaceae. I took only snippets of these rhizomatous species and eventually they'll go in a shady place in the garden so don't try to make me feel bad. The two larger ones are species of Mitella, or Mitre's Wort from the Arcata Community Forest. They have snowflake-like flowers.

Ok, so this one will not make it to the garden because it's from Arizona. It's the alpine Heuchera rubescens, I believe. And I do feel a bit guilty about this one.

There are many native shade plants where I live and several of them have great potential as houseplants. I know, why have them in your house when you could have all those exciting exotics?

A couple of months ago I sowed seed from Clintonia andrewsiana, an orchid-esque plant native to the redwoods. My hope is that, once germinated, I can grow them as a group of houseplants. This will save them from the slugs, but will also help me really get to know these plants. Eventually I can use these plants to start a colony in our backyard forest. But there's another good reason for me to grow natives indoors: I really like them. They are unusual and truly beautiful.