My Bit of Heaven - by Kristl Walek

[Kristl Walek]

Joakim,
It always *appears* so effortless, doesn't it, when pictures of wonderful plants are posted? No one really knows the history, the grief in some cases, or the effort made to keep the plants we grow (especially the challenging ones). I recall posting some pictures of large drifts of Trillium in the Trillium link--species that are not native to me here--and recalling the effort (back then) to procure the seed, grow it out, and then wait the decade or more for them to mature and actually spread into the large drifts I have today. Not that I would trade this effort for anything---it's what makes me tick!!!!

Cypripedium acaule is *very* challening here---significantly more than the much rarer Cyp. arietinum, or Arethusa bulbosa, etc...and not only because acid conditions are the exception, not the norm here. Historically, it has always been possible to keep it in the garden for 2-3 years.

Since then they have worked for longer periods in two areas:

(1) a special little nook I prepared for them between pieces of decaying pine wood filled with a mixture of what I created to approximate "acid sand". Will post picture when I get home.

(2) in an area of the garden under white pines, where I also grow the Cyp. arientinum, Polygala paucifolia, Chimaphila umbellata, etc. with no soil changes.

I keep my fingers crossed each year that they will re-appear.

I have never had any seedlings and I have never had the clumps increase (unlike C. parviflorum).

[Paddy Tobin]

Kristi,

Another wonderful selection of your natives. The herbaceous ceanothus is a new plant to me and looks wonderful. Can you say more about it - even a few more photographs? The shrubby ceanothus are widely grown here and I detest them.

And for one of my all time detested plants - gaultheria. Those berries disgust me. I often wonder why because I grow plants which have berries also and have no particular objection to them.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

After about a one hour hike, and a few other sink-holes, I finally spotted some violet-pink in the distance....and sure enough..

Rhododendron canadense.

Followed by Rhododendron groenlandicum (Ledum), still largely unopened.

Of the Vaccinium species in the bog, only V. corymbosum was blooming.

I just LOVE this thread... the photos are mouthwatering and the selection of plants amazing... but, for me, the ericaeceaous plants are my all time favourites...... just delighted to see the  Rhododendron canadense in the wild.... it is SUCH a beautiful , dainty, thing!
Kristl, you deserve many "darlings" for this, thank you!!

[Kristl Walek]

Joakim,
Here is the picture I promised in between the pieces of wood..

[Kristl Walek]

Paddy,
I am so sorry to tell you you will have to detest Ceanothus herbaceous as well--because it too is shrubby, despite its species name.

It is compact (usually about 30-45cm in the garden), very tough and tolerant of poor, hot conditions. Early flowering. Glossy foliage; flowers on current year's shoots. If you hate it you can always keep a plant for tea (leaves taste similar to green tea). Will take more pictures as flowers fully open (just beginning). If you know C. americanus & hate that---then you will hate this too (almost identical).

[Kristl Walek]

Thank you, Maggi....I've become obsessive about this thread....as it is performing a huge psychological purge in my life, having to face leaving my bit of heaven. If it is coming to good aside from my needing to do it, I am thrilled.

It's a miracle to be able to show any ericaeacous plants at all---as they are only found here in a very few, isolated environments (the bogs and the fens). Now Nova Scotia will be very different in this regard.

Also I think I am soon coming up to what will be one of your favorite subjects---the Pyrolas, etc.

[ian mcenery]

Kristl thank you so much for sharing this with us your garden is truly amazing I do hope that you can find a way to stay

Ian

[Casalima]

Kristl,

I haven't commented so far on this thread, but your bit of heaven is just my idea of a bit of heaven.
I hardly know what to say - so many very, very wonderful plants!! Thank you so much for showing them to us.

My bit of heaven is also waiting for life, ex, money etc situations to be resolved, so your pictures have a special meaning for me ...

um abraço 

[Joakim B]

Kristl
Thanks for the information
Have You ever tried to pollinate them Your self? To make seedpods and then try to scatter the seeds or even have them developped in a lab into plants. I have heard that orchids have quite low pollination rate but when they get seeds it is a lot of them.

How do You get new plants when the old ones die? Do You transplant them from elsewhere (with the landowners permission) or have You got divisions or seed rased ones? Acuale can be locally abundant on some places so if one have a friend having/owning one of these places then one might be tapping in to that source.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Kristl Walek]

Joakim:
Getting full seed pods of most of the native orchids has NEVER been a problem---without my help in pollination....for a while I carried the seeds in my catalogue---but it became too onerous for the $$ and effort involved, because every grower had different techniques and wanted seed at different stages (some wanted green, under-ripe, other fully ripe, etc). I have many friends who have been "flasking" my orchid seed for some years---and have reported amazingly good rates. I do still supply a few public gardens who are trying to establish hardy orchid collections.

There are plenty of plants around, and plenty of connections who own the not uncommon 100 acre woodlots.

And.... I need to stress this---orchids are not plants that I "play at"---I take them *very* seriously---the difficult ones I try exceptionally hard to make happy---and if I don't succeed fairly quickly, I do not keep killing them. I do not have collection or possession lust for them, perhaps because I love them too much and know that I can admire them in the wild any day I choose.

In the case of Cyp. acaulis, I only have 3 plants in the entire garden---and these are the ones I have finally pleased. One can have large colonies of C. parviflorum in a good site without that much effort---

[Joakim B]

Kristl thanks for the information.
I was mostly thinking of Cyp. arietinum when getting seed pods. The more artificially propagated plants there are the smaller is the risk of people taking it from the wild to satisfy there passion. Not all are as well behaved as You. I do not think that it is much in the trade is it?Hopefully it will be more of them after Bill Steele had a protocol of how to propagate them in a magazine.
The advantage of just scattering seeds for the others would be that the ones that "make it" would like the place well. May not be worth the effort.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Kristl Walek]

Three of the native limestone-cliff-dwelling little fern species...these I have established in the shady nooks of my rock garden, where they seem quite happy.

The very choice Pellaea atropurpurea (Purple Cliffbrake) is rare in my area. It is barely 10cm tall, with striking purple stipes

Asplenium trichomanes grows on mossy limestone cliffs in the wild---a beautiful little fern, 8cm tall.

Cystopteris fragilis is a bit taller (15cm) but also inhabits moist limestone rock walls.

[Kristl Walek]

The annual meeting of NARGS is being hosted by my local chapter (Ottawa Valley Rock Garden Society) this summer---next week in fact (June 12-15).

Some of you reading my thread may be interested in a larger view of "my neighbourhood" as I live squarely in the rural Ottawa Valley. From the OVRGS site:

http://www.ovrghs.ca/NARGS08/field%20visits.htm

The timing for the meeting was particularly chosen because it coincides with the bloom of Cypripedium reginae at the Purdon Conservation Area.

"Over time the population has declined (now around 8-10,000), but it is still the largest single colony of Showy Lady's Slipper Orchids in Canada and possibly in North America."

http://www.ovrghs.ca/NARGS08/purdon.htm

I'll be at Purdon the day of the field trip and hope to post photographs of the site.

[Kristl Walek]

Yesterday was a long, painfully arduous but wonderful day in a very different environment from the norm - wet woods on a wet day in a wet year (translated into very uncomfortable and VERY buggy)....but the woods are ACID woods, meaning different plants to be found here.

The first 2 hours walking in from the road are solid pine needle floor, followed by a particularly wet, low area (wasn't sure for a while I could get through this); eventually culminating in the open, on a beach on the Ottawa river.

I will begin with part one, to be followed by more....

Various Lycopodiums and some with last year's seed receptacles.

The vigorous Anemone canadensis beginning it's bloom.

Cornus canadensis forming solid groundcover in many areas.

The beautiful, fine-textured and aurea-colored Carex rosea.

Corallorhiza species.

And being the wet area that it is, the largest specimens of Trillium erectum I have seen here.

More to come....

[Kristl Walek]

The choice, very difficult to germinate and grow Chimaphila umbellata not quite in flower.

Pyrola asarifolia at the same stage---one of three species found in this spot.

Deschampsia flexuosa beaten down by the rain still looks wonderful.

Gymnocarpium dryopteris at its early stage of growth.

The fascinating foliage of one of the Prenanthes species.

Maianthemum canadense was one of the predominant groundcovers, covering acres and acres...

Still more to come...