April 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere

[MarcR]

.....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.........

Leena,

The parts of Oregon and California where Camasia is native get no rain June to October.
They do get frequent fog.  A very fine spray from a spray bottle sprayed into the air above them 1 or 2 times a week should meet their Summer water needs.

[Leena]

Thank you Marc.
Here spring is usually the driest, lately summers have been dry too, but from August on we get rain, so autumns are rainy. And unfortunately winters.

[MarcR]

Thank you Marc.
Here spring is usually the driest, lately summers have been dry too, but from August on we get rain, so autumns are rainy. And unfortunately winters.

Leena,

If you can keep them dry through August and September, they like to be wet early October to early June.

[Robert]

Hi Leena,

You might be interested in reading the article by Ed Alverson on the Genus Camassia in Rock Garden 129 starting on page 8, Camassias – A North American Treasure. I personally do not know Ed, however from the few correspondence I have had with him in the distant past, he certainly has the academic credentials and professional experience to write a comprehensive article on this topic.

[Mariette]

Leena,

The parts of Oregon and California where Camasia is native get no rain June to October.
They do get frequent fog.  A very fine spray from a spray bottle sprayed into the air above them 1 or 2 times a week should meet their Summer water needs.

That´s interesting, I never thought of the possibility that I might have lost camassias due to wet summers!

Robert, Your irises are very beautiful!

The only native flower in our area I consider worth breeding is Hyacinthoides non-scripta. This is an ordinary one which chose to grow next to Epimedium ´Frohnleiten´.



A white one, in this case with self-sown ajuga in the background.



Breeders are striving for double ones, I do like the bracteate forms better. These are some of my seedlings, flowering for the first time.



Trillium and Lathyrus vernus ´Blaulichter´, a blue-flowered strain achieved by Ingo Kaczmarek.



Forget-me-nots with Convallaria majalis ´Golden Jubilee´and a golden-leafed Polygonatum falcatum.

[MarcR]

Mariette,

Very nice!  I especially like the Lathyrus vernus ´Blaulichter´

[Mariette]

Thank You, Marc! Two years ago I sent seed of various species and selections of lathyrus to NARGS, but last year lathyrus was among the genera no more allowed to import into USA. I wonder if You could still receive via SRGC´s seed-ex.

[Leena]

Hi Leena,

You might be interested in reading the article by Ed Alverson on the Genus Camassia in Rock Garden 129 starting on page 8, Camassias – A North American Treasure. I personally do not know Ed, however from the few correspondence I have had with him in the distant past, he certainly has the academic credentials and professional experience to write a comprehensive article on this topic.

Thank you Robert! It was good reading.

I admire how many native plants you have which are worth growing in the garden. I don't find many such here , apart from Hepatica nobilis. Or if there is something, it is protected or it's seeds are impossible to find anywhere commercially. 

Mariette, very nice Hyacinthoides non-scripta. That is one plant I have now two year old seedlings in pot, so I hope it will grow also here. We'll see.

Corydalis are now in their best flower here.
Last picture is from a shadier spot with crocuses and Eranthis flowering and Hepatica japonica in the background.

[MarcR]

Leena,

Beautiful blooms!  I like the way colors flow together and around each other in your garden.

[Mariette]

Indeed, I always admire Leena´s art to keep them in seperate colour-blocks. In my garden the seedlings produce a hopeless mixture.

[MarcR]

Mariette,

Such mixtures emulate nature; and can be very pleasing.

My Garden is much like yours,in that way, by intent. My, well deserved, compliment to Leena did not suggest that all gardens should be that way. I enjoy my unplanned mixture of colors and textures far more than I would a well planned approach.  That does not keep me from complimenting someone who has done an excellent job of executing a well planned approach.
Ian Young's garden seems to be a blend of the two approaches.  The shape and placement of beds and accents is very well thought out; but within those beds he allows nature to follow it's own plan.  In my garden, the placement of walkways is a random attempt to gain access for weeding and planting, with no thought about the shapes they create. There might have been some subliminal planning; because, to me, my hodgepodge still manages to look good. 

[MarcR]

Thank You, Marc! Two years ago I sent seed of various species and selections of lathyrus to NARGS, but last year lathyrus was among the genera no more allowed to import into USA. I wonder if You could still receive via SRGC´s seed-ex.

Mariette,

If Lathyrius is restricted it would be destroyed regardless of the source. Thank you for your gracious offer. Restrictions like that usually only last a year or two; so perhaps I could get it from an exchange when the restriction is lifted.

[Leena]

Thank you Marc and Mariette.
My beds are really not as planned as it looks  . I just take pictures from a good angle and from spots that please my eye.
The big clumps of colour are a result of how I used to plant bulbs: 3-5 to the same spot, and when they multiply they form big clumps.
Then seedlings around them are different but nice colours. I have been trying to learn to plant more like what would be in nature (singles),
but also the bigger clumps need to be divided more often than I do it.
I do try to weed out colours which I don't like so much, and also if there is a special colour, then I try to move it someplace to grow and multiply by itself.

Here is another view of Corydalis from a different bed.
Pale pink ('Pink Smile') and one of the reds ('King Arthur') are planted bought Corydalis, and the rest are their seedlings.
I should take the purple-blue ones out, before they seed too much. It is difficult when something is growing well, but I do it anyway.

[Robert]

Mariette,

Thank you for sharing the photographs from your garden. I am intrigued by your hyacinthoides non-scipta hybrids. Once again the scenes from your garden are very beautiful and inspiring. Your climate is so very different from ours, yet there is much I can learn from your gardening experiences and apply them to our Sacramento garden and our California native plants.

I admire how many native plants you have which are worth growing in the garden. I don't find many such here , apart from Hepatica nobilis. Or if there is something, it is protected or it's seeds are impossible to find anywhere commercially. 

Hi Leena,

Thank you for the compliment concerning our California native plants. For a number of reasons we are growing more and more California Native Plant species in our Sacramento, California garden. One of the more obvious reasons is that they “look” right in our garden and perform well given our climatic conditions. Another reason to choose predominately California native plant species for our garden is the availability of a highly diverse gene pool to draw upon for our breeding and selection work. This is a very rewarding endeavor. The full potential of California native plants is not being utilized both here in California as well as in other parts of the world where they can be grown.



This is a very typical scene from our Sacramento, California garden. Here California native species are being used in a naturalistic way, as they would be seen in their native habitat. It is a “quiet” garden scene full of the scents of our local native chaparral plant communities. Salvia sonomensis is richly scented; however the other California native species in this part of the garden also have their subtle scents that combine to create a very pleasant experience that says “home”.



Phacelia campanularia is a fantastic California native plant species. My original seed came from a cheap package of California Native Wildflower seeds. This species is a “must grow” annual that we sow each autumn for our Sacramento garden.



I do experiment with various plant combinations. Here Phacelia campanularia has been placed next to an orange Gladiolus species. My attempts at contrived plant combinations generally do not work. When nature takes over, and I control the weeds the garden looks great.



Most of the time I just attempt to mimic scenes I have seen in nature. California native plants seem to look good with other California native plants but there are plenty of exceptions. Here Phacelia campanularia is growing with common garden stock, Matthiola incana. Stock is a very common plant, but I like the scent of the flowers so I will continue to grow them.



I confess that I am a complete science nerd. What a scandal!

Here I am pictured after my brother (the real thing, a PhD in Atmospheric Science) and I finished installing a soil moisture sensor at our Placerville property. With data from this sensor, the data from our soil temperature sensors and other meteorological sensors we will be able to construct a surface energy budget for this site. This and other data from other sites in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is being used to create models measuring the response of plants and plant communities to environmental variables. Of course, I integrate all of this into my gardening activities and environmental projects in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Now after experiencing well below average temperatures during February, March, and part of April the weather has turned hot. Record, to near record high temperatures are forecast for the next few days before the weather cools again. Yesterday’s high temperature at our Placerville property was 92 F (33.3 C). La Niña conditions have ended in the equatorial Pacific and an El Niño watch has been issued. Will we have to endure extreme high temperatures this summer? Average global temperatures generally rise during El Niño events and fall during La Niña events. Choosing California native plant species for our garden seem to be a wise choice.

[Jasmin]:  On one of our last 11 C days, it was extremely beautiful in the garden, especially because there were high clouds muting the light, so it was bright but not washing out the colors.  I did my usual visually random aim and click, and it seems a vast swath of pictures actually turned out.  After the 11 C days, it became an instant 22 C.  Now it is 33 C.  It is all too sudden.  When time permits, on another thread I will saturate the Forum with all the glorious color we have had.  It has been truly a phenomenal spring.

[Maggi Young]

Phacelia campanularia is a truly gorgeous blue!
 Jasmin: I very much look forwrd to seeing your photos.