Amateur Anthecologist Blog - links

[amateuranthecologist]

Hi everyone! this is where I'll post links to my latest blog post! It's a blog about native plants in SW Oregon, [rock] gardening, growing plants from seed, pollinators, pollinator plants, ecology, and pollination ecology. It's a wide variety of topics, plants are usually at the center of the discussion, but sometimes I diverge and focus solely on pollinating insects. I was originally inspired by Ian Young's Bulb Log. Have a look, there's something for everybody!

Stout Grove is an old growth redwood grove located in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in California near the Oregon border. I hiked (more like a strolled) the trail recently and did some botanizing. Even though there were few flowers, it was plant-geek nirvana!

Check it out:

http://amateuranthecologist.blogspot.com/2015/09/stout-grove-adventure-in-botanical.html

[Tony Willis]

We have been there three times over several years,once in early spring to see the trilliums in flower and twice more in July when the Clintonia andrewsiana was looking superb.

It is a magical place.

[amateuranthecologist]

The Amateur Anthecologist  - Autumn and the Full Moon

Hi,

Just posted a group of seemingly unrelated plant photos and stories from the past few weeks to my blog. The photos didn't really fit into other posts, but I still wanted to share them.

Autumn is my second favorite season, if not for the relief from the heat of Summer (in the 100F range here in SW Oregon), then for the unique flora of the garden and growing wild. Leaves change color, bees prep for hibernation. Wind. And the clear nights recently gave me a good photo opp! But the red moon was too dark to get a good pic.

See the post here:

http://amateuranthecologist.blogspot.com/2015/10/autumn-and-full-moon.html

Thanks!

[amateuranthecologist]

Last August, I wrote about an obscure yet hard to miss SW Oregon native Trichostema lanceolatum, vinegar weed. The name refers to the strong smell, which to me smells more like gasoline (aka "petrol"). On warm days the odor wafts through the air, detected long before the source is sighted. The plants are small, annual, reaching a height of around 8", but they carpet the ground in areas they are well adapted to (poor soil, I imagine). See the original post, updated with some new bits of information:

http://amateuranthecologist.blogspot.com/2015/08/trichostema-lanceolatum.html

[amateuranthecologist]

Echinacea is one of my favorite herbaceous perennials, and here I show the last flower of the year (and how to collect seed of Echinacea). Also see some of the other things blooming now in my garden, including my Nicotiana (not for smoking). Many bulbs are also appearing, new leaf growth and seeds germinating. I'm growing around 30 pots of seed this year, mostly bulbs, and a few are germinating now. Then I discuss the confusion I faced with Scilla latifolia (not to be confused with Scilla autumnalis ssp. latifolia)!

Newest post is about the few things that continue to bloom in my recently neglected garden. Follow the link:

http://amateuranthecologist.blogspot.com/2015/10/flowers-seeds-and-bulbs-in-autumn.html

[amateuranthecologist]

http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2015/10/flowerlessness.html

In this post I've began to cope with the prospect of the (mostly) flowerless Winter, and began to expand my knowledge of plants to include gymnosperms and ferns, as well as various bryophytes including lichen.

[amateuranthecologist]

Just a few weeks ago, I turned 30 (November 5th), so we took a family trip to San Francisco to visit my parents and some other family members. Naturally, I took a lot of photos of plants that grow in the niche habitats of the mild Bay Area (including many South African subtropicals). Here is the link:

http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2015/11/road-trip.html

[amateuranthecologist]

As a member of the Pacific Bulb Society, I participate in the many seed exchanges throughout the year. I received an order recently, and shared photos of the seeds to the Amateur Anthecologist blog:

http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2015/11/seeds.html

[amateuranthecologist]

The imminent end of the active pollinator season. It is starting to look like Scotland here in Rogue River (cold and wet).

http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2015/11/inert.html

[Maggi Young]

From Travis :
Hi ya'll,

In my mixed-coniferous SW OR zone 7 garden, Spring is behind the nearby cities of Rogue River, Grants Pass, and Medford, by a couple weeks. Honeybees have been active since late January, and there have recently been a few bulbs to bloom.

A single daffodil, an unnamed bulb from a "naturalizing mix" (most of which died, btw) is in bloom, and has attracted a few honeybees. This is odd, honeybees have not shown the slightest interest in daffodils here that I know of. The bee spent five minutes trying to get at the nectar from outside the corona, quite entertaining, before finally finding it's way in, only to forget how to get in again and giving up.

I made a video, see it here:



Cheers,

Travis Owen
Rogue River, OR

[Maggi Young]

 Latest from Travis -  Bulb Seedlings.....      http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2016/02/bulb-seedlings.html

[Maggi Young]

Super good news from Travis and Anna Owen : their new baby has arrived safely!

"We have a new baby! Her name is Ayla Runa Owen, born at 7:30 this morning, and I know you're going to ask so she is 7lbs 9oz, 20" long. (Fun facts, her sister Zia was 7lbs 10.5oz and 20.5" long, and I was 7lbs 11oz.) Photos later! "

 The  happiest  of news !  Sending  all best wishes from  us here!

edit by Maggi - all doing well - this is  Zia contemplating her new sister Ayla

[Maggi Young]

Travis' latest bog is  on Narcissus pollination :
http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2016/03/natural-pollination-of-genus-narcissus.html

[Maggi Young]

Travis manages to blog - in spite of the new baby - he's pretty surprised about that I think!
http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2016/03/functional-chaos.html   includes  a key to some  little blue bulbs -

"Last year I wrote a simple dichotomous key highlighting the differences between Scilla sensu stricto (orthodox definition) and its close relatives Chionodoxa (absorbed into Scilla sensu lato as of late), and Puschkinia. No matter what they are called, the species can be difficult to tell apart by the average gardener. This simple guide may be useful in this regard. This was not so much created for taxonomic purposes, but rather for the gardener who wishes to be able to determine what they are growing. This key isn't perfect, and doesn't consider many of the genera once considered to be part of Scilla but since moved into different genera such as Barnardia, Fessia, Hyacinthoides, Merwilla, Nectaroscilla, Oncostema, Othocallis, Prospero, Schizocarphus, Schnarfia, or Tractema to name a few. Perhaps in the future I will expand this key to include more genera, but for now I am satisfied with what I have included since they seem to be the most commonly grown of the entire group. "


https://www.rhs.org.uk/.../plant-bulletins/hyacinthaceae

[amateuranthecologist]

Two new posts, one on some local Erythronium (hendersonii and oregonum) and the other on Arctostaphylos viscida (sticky whiteleaf manzanita). Both articles focus on their ecology (with emphasis on pollination ecology) as well as mycorrhizal relationships.

Erythronium hendersonii & E. oregonum:
http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2016/03/erythronium.html

Arctostaphylos viscida:
http://www.amateuranthecologist.com/2016/03/arctostaphylos-viscida.html

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on these, they were particularly focused articles and took a bit more effort than my typical posts. Thanks!