April 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

In this photograph Camassia leichtlinii ssp. sukdorfii is growing next to Acer palmatum ‘Red Filigree Lace’.

Such a pretty combination!

[Leena]

Robert, I like the scenes from you garden, so full of flowers.
Camassia with iris picture is beautiful! As it happens, just yesterday I got three Camassia leichtlinii bulbs from a friend, I hope they grow well also here.

Mariette, your dark Corydalis cava is beautiful!

[MarcR]

Robert, I like the scenes from you garden, so full of flowers.
Camassia with iris picture is beautiful! As it happens, just yesterday I got three Camassia leichtlinii bulbs from a friend, I hope they grow well also here.

Mariette, your dark Corydalis cava is beautiful!

Leena,

They are very hardy.  Just make sure they have excellent drainage and dry summers.
You may need to pot them and protect them from summer rain.

[Robert]

Hi Leena,

I am glad that you enjoy scenes from our garden. The feeling is mutual: We enjoy scenes from your garden as well at all seasons. We always enjoy “visiting” other gardens such as Ian and Maggi Young’s garden through the Bulb Log or the many people who share their gardens through this Forum.

I am not sure what Marc is referencing concerning his comments regarding Camissia leichtlinii ssp. sukdorfii, perhaps cultivated plants.  The great aspect of this Forum is learning about the many varied conditions plants actually adapt to and thrive in.  We can learn so much from each other: our individual experiences and a variety of conditions for these plants is a rich collective wisdom. The following comments address my observations of this species in the wild and in cultivation in our Sacramento garden.

In my field notes I have recorded many occasions where I have observed this species sending up flowering scapes through shallow standing water. During seasons such as the current season, these meadows will remain hydric for the entire season. Our Sacramento garden is much drier, however where our plants are cultivated the soil remains moist for the entire year. This is definitely a mesic environment in our garden. In over 40 years of field studies in the Sierra Nevada Mountains I have never recorded this species in a xeric environment. My guess is that this species is very adaptable to a large range of gardening environments; however I would be extremely reluctant to plant them in a xeric setting.

Most likely Camassia leichtlinii ssp. sukdorfii will be cold hardy in your garden. They are native to the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, northward to British Columbia. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, wintertime low temperatures routinely fall to 0 F (-17.8 C) in their native habitat. Snow cover is generally reliable, but is not necessarily guaranteed. I have recorded soil temperature flux at various sites in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Generally--but not always--freezing temperatures do not penetrate deeply into the soil during the wintertime. Deeply penetrating freezing soil temperatures are more likely to occur during the autumn when the air temperature turns well below freezing and there is no snow cover. Generally there is an upward heat flux once a deep snow cover is established; thus freezing temperatures remain only in the first 10 cm of the soil surface. This might be a consideration in your garden; however we will not know unless you give them a try. I look forward to learning more about your experience with this species in your garden.

Now some close up scenes from our garden:



Iris tenuissima ssp. tenuissima bracteata has performed very well in our garden. Sorry for the careless mistake.   



Iris macrosiphon is a local low elevation native species that also thrives in our garden.



All of the native California native Iris species in our garden have been grown from seed acquired during my botanical field studies over the decades. I have forms of Iris macrosiphon in a range of colors. Several years ago they were moved to better locations in the garden. Hopefully they will bloom next year and I can share photographs of these unique forms of this species.



We grow few Pacific Coast Iris hybrids in our garden. They are lovely plants; however we have limited space and concentrate our growing efforts to our local native Iris species.



I let the Aquilegia species hybridize with each other in our garden. I keep the plants I like and weed out the rest before they set seed. I like this pink seedling, but I also like long spurs. Maybe I will cross it with a plant with longer spurs, or just let it cross randomly and see what appears in the garden.

[Jasmin]:  It is fascinating to watch what evolves in the garden.  Before we married, the Aquilegia I planted had been a pale pink double flower.  When we married, Robert brought a deep indigo blue, and the native red-orange flowers.  With his selections and mine, the blues and native reds have been preserved, but the pinks keep evolving.  In certain settings, I prefer stronger, richer colors; in others, I enjoy the luminescent qualities of the pastels and white tones, or how the various shades can enhance each other alongside various textures.
     At the moment it is 8 C, with a chilly steady breeze, but the sun is out.  Another cool down is predicted, along with a slight chance of rain.  At this juncture a little rain would spare us watering!  It is amazing how drying the wind has been; although it cannot be called truly warm (at least by our standards).  Robert was reading some scientific blog validating his prediction that an intense heat is predicted this summer.  While such a forecast is not surprising given climate change, it is a prediction I pray is moderated!  I do well up to about 37 C; after that, I am like our seasonal dry bulbs—ready to be dormant until cooler weather arrives!

[MarcR]

Robert,

I believe that the reference to Camissia leichtlinii ssp. sukdorfii came from maggi and not from me.  I grow Camissia leichtlini but I was unaware of the ssp sukdorfii until Maggi mentioned it.

[ashley]

Very beautiful irises Robert

Cypripedium Eurasia gx (macranthos x tibeticum)
Wire protects the overwintering buds from bank voles.




Helleborus x hybridus striped double, ex Barnhaven seed


Primula x polyantha ex Barnhaven seed


Wikstroemia (Daphne) gemmata

[Mariette]

Ashley, Your orchids look breath-taking, making me sorry that I can´t grow them in my garden! I do agree, the same may be said for Robert´s irises! It´s a pity that one always desires to grow those plants which will grow better in other people´s garden.

I especially enjoy the Corydalis cava and Fritillaria meleagris since they are species that have never grown well in our garden. [Jasmin]:  Thank you for the opportunity to have the vicarious pleasure of these lovely plants!

A vegetable garden…?  This sounds interesting to me, but I have to admit that I have always enjoyed growing vegetables since I was a teenager.

[Jasmin]:  I enjoy good food, so that is a major incentive.  However, one year long before Robert and I knew each other and married, I had planted a nice vegetable bed.  I was particularly excited by my kale plants that year.  One day, I looked out at my vegetables to see nothing in the distance!  I looked again, shocked, and there was a rabbit finishing the last of my garden.  It was a neighbor’s escaped pet too, so it was not something I could do anything about beyond capturing it and returning it.  They were happy to have their rabbit, but I never felt they completely understood.

Corydalis cava and Fritillaria meleagris are easy here if left undisturbed by rodents. The fritillary asks for moisture, but I wonder why  the corydalis and crocusses shouldn´t grow for You.
When I was a child of about 8 years old, I started collecting bottles after high water on the banks of the river Rhine to buy seeds from the deposit cash, for instance seeds of carrots,  to grow in my grandmothers orchard. Lacking any advice, it proved a complete failure, but ever since I owned a garden I tried to grow fruit, vegetables and potatoes because I appreciate the qualities of self-grown stuff and its freshness. Once, when meeting a celebrity like Brian Mathew, I was amazed by his statement that he did the same on his allotment.

Leena,

They are very hardy.  Just make sure they have excellent drainage and dry summers.
You may need to pot them and protect them from summer rain.

Maybe that´s why I lost many of my camassias - though I´m never sure whether it´s due to the lack of drainage or our busy rodents.

[ashley]

Ashley, Your orchids look breath-taking, making me sorry that I can´t grow them in my garden! I do agree, the same may be said for Robert´s irises! It´s a pity that one always desires to grow those plants which will grow better in other people´s garden.

Thank you Mariette, although I'm only learning how to manage them here.

So true what you say about our desire to grow plants that thrive in other people's gardens.  Claire's and your wonderful trilliums on another thread are magnificent, but I struggle with them and never achieve clumps :'(   Fortunately Pseudotrillium seems easier to satisfy.

[MarcR]

Ashley, Your orchids look breath-taking, making me sorry that I can´t grow them in my garden! I do agree, the same may be said for Robert´s irises! It´s a pity that one always desires to grow those plants which will grow better in other people´s garden......

Mariette,

Why do you think you can't grow Cypripedium?  You get enough winter chill. Do you have many days above 95 F (35 C)?  Grow them in 3 parts shredded  pine needles and 1 part potting soil. If you get excessive Summer heat, grow them in pots and put them in an air conditioned room during hot Summer days. Grow them damp but not wet.  If you need to cut them  {i.e. to remove finished bloom stalks} use a flame sterilized cutter. They are very prone to viruses.

Some California and Oregon natives will accept summer heat.

[Robert]

Leena and Mariette,

Camassia bulbs were an important food source for Native American people in the far western portion of North America. Rodents will be more than happy to eat the bulbs.        They are quite tasty, especially when eaten in the autumn after frosty weather has started. If rodents are a problem I would recommend caging the bulbs in wire mesh. We divide our bulbs every 5 years or so. Many Camassia species grow in seasonally flooded meadows. Something like growing paddy rice, except it is not necessary to flood the plants. Just keep them moist. This is how they grow in the wild and what works well in our Sacramento garden. If you can keep the rodents away, they most likely will be very easy-to-grow. May it all go well.

Ashey

Thank you for sharing the photographs from your garden. The orchid appears to be thriving and looks great. Impossible to grow in our climate. I am not going to air condition our plants, but we will enjoy viewing those that are grown where they can thrive. Helleborus and Primula x polyantha will grow here, however I have my hands full with many other plants.

It all looks great!    Thanks again for sharing.

[ruweiss]

Ashley, thank you for the pictures of your beautiful plants. Your climate must be very mild, weare are still waiting
at least for 2-3 weeks for the first flowers of Cypr. macranthos.

[Mariette]

Mariette,

Why do you think you can't grow Cypripedium?  You get enough winter chill. Do you have many days above 95 F (35 C)?  Grow them in 3 parts shredded  pine needles and 1 part potting soil. If you get excessive Summer heat, grow them in pots and put them in an air conditioned room during hot Summer days. Grow them damp but not wet.  If you need to cut them  {i.e. to remove finished bloom stalks} use a flame sterilized cutter. They are very prone to viruses.

Some California and Oregon natives will accept summer heat.

Thank You for Your detailed information, Marc! Indeed, we experienced temperatures of 40 °C these last years, which may explain a friends failure to grow cypripediums lately, I´ll let him know. Perhaps I might grow these orchids in pots, but due to my age, I tend to reduce potted plants. Also, my garden lacks the amenities of Ashley´s, where these plants look perfectly at home. Something, I regard very worthwhile striving for.

[ruweiss]

Dendrobium kingianum grows bigger and bigger, we cultivate it in the open garden
during the warmer season and place it in our staircase in winter. It doesn't mind
these conditions and we enjoy the flowers and the strong scent.
More and more flowers now apppear in the garden and the Alpine House, and give
us much pleasure.

[Robert]

This is an especially nice form of Iris bracteata blooming in our Sacramento garden.



Many of our California native Clover species, Trifolium, are very beautiful. Establishing the high elevation species in our Sacramento garden has proven to be difficult. This is my second attempt with the perennial species Trifolium longipes ssp. atrorubens. I am getting good germination with this seed accession from an elevation of 6,657 feet (2,029 meters) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.



I find the high elevation Carpet Clover, Trifolium monanthum ssp. monanthum especially attractive. I am getting some germination from this seed accession I made last autumn in the Ebbetts Pass region of California at an elevation of 8,825 feet (2,690 meters). I will be extremely pleased if I can establish Carpet Clover in our Sacramento garden.



I am extremely pleased that I am getting the tiny carpeting Hypericum anagalloides established in our Sacramento garden. I made this seed accession from a location I call Paradise Meadow, at an elevation of 6,783 feet (2,067 meters). Our plants will hopefully set seed, enabling me to grow second generation plants.

[Leena]

Camassia bulbs were an important food source for Native American people in the far western portion of North America. Rodents will be more than happy to eat the bulbs.        They are quite tasty, especially when eaten in the autumn after frosty weather has started. If rodents are a problem I would recommend caging the bulbs in wire mesh. We divide our bulbs every 5 years or so. Many Camassia species grow in seasonally flooded meadows. Something like growing paddy rice, except it is not necessary to flood the plants. Just keep them moist. This is how they grow in the wild and what works well in our Sacramento garden. If you can keep the rodents away, they most likely will be very easy-to-grow. May it all go well.

Thank you for your advice, and I hope rodents don't eat my bulbs. We do have voles from time to time, and I didn't cage the bulbs.
My friend from whom I got the bulbs, grows them in moist well fertilized bed where he grows also magnolias (his place has better microclimate than mine so he can grow plants which would die in my garden), so I planted them also here in a spot which doesn't get too dry.

Ashley: you have a very pretty Helleborus! Primula seeds I got from you last year have germinated but Helleborus not yet, but there is time.

Right now Corydalis malkensis is in full flower. It is one of my favourite Corydalis. In the background a green flowering Helleborus multifidus.