June 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Robert]

Gabriela,

Castilleja coccinea looks very well adjusted to your garden. Very cool  !
Do you grow any other species?

I continue to experiment will different Castilleja species in our garden. Lupinus species seem to be compatible with our perennial native Castilleja species. Castilleja affinis ssp. affinis shares space with Lupinus albifrons. I sowed the seeds of Castilleja affinis with a small seedling of Lupinus albifrons many years ago. The two species have grown together and bloomed consistently every year for well over 5 years now.

I was able to grow Castilleja nana to blooming size. It is a dwarf alpine species. I believe it did not like the extreme summertime heat of our Sacramento garden, but I did get it to bloom before it gave up. Castilleja foliolosa is a very beautiful gray-foliaged species from our low elevation chaparral plant communities. The flowers are most often shades of orange-red, however there are yellowish forms too. I attempted to grow this species once and failed, however if Castilleja affinis grows well in our garden, then Castilleja foliolosa most likely will grow well too. I will be attempting this species again.

I like our native annual species such as Castilleja exserta and C. attenuatta. I attempted Castilleja attenuatta once without success. I will continue to experiment with the annual species and report on my progress.

Right now I am excited about the blooming Delphinium patens ssp. patens in our garden. I made this seed accession back in 2017 from Kanaka Valley, California. In general I have had a great deal of difficulty maintaining our local native Delphinium species in our Sacramento garden. This seed accession of Delphinium patens has bloomed every year since 2018 and produces viable seed. I am hoping that I now have a viable system to keep these species healthy and growing well for many years in our garden. We have many very beautiful local Delphinium species that I would like to grow in our garden. Stay tuned, I will keep reporting on my progress with the various color forms of Delphinium patens, as well as the other fine species from our local area.


Delphinium patens ssp. patens

[Andre Schuiteman]

Moltkia petraea is long lived and easy in a dry, sunny spot and may even sow itself around a little. Harvesting the seeds for the Seed Distribution is time consuming, as every flower produces only one seed, and it takes some force to remove them from the dried-up inflorescences.


I bought this as Phlox nana but I have some doubts about the correctness of the name. Images of this species on the web show plants with much narrower leaves. Perhaps this is a hybrid. It has survived the last British winter without protection and it spreads by underground suckers. I may need to watch it.

[Andre Schuiteman]

The scaly new foliage of Rhododendron fastigiatum is a beautiful bluish green (or greenish blue) and is even prettier in close up.

My little helper looking on.

[Robert]

Our display of Clarkia gracilis ssp. traceyi is looking great this year. In their natural habitat it is not unusual to see some Clarkia species blooming with large continuous sheets of flowers. John Muir remarked on the masses of wildflowers in the San Joaquin Valley during the spring. We are attempting to imitate this past essence of California in our garden.



We enjoy the spring flower display while it lasts. Soon the garden will be thrown into the furnace of summer and everything will dry up and turn golden-brown. In1562 Diego Gutierrez associated the area of Southern Baja California with the phase “Calida Fornax”. This translates as “hot, fiery, furnace”. This sums up our region of California during the summer. We enjoy our spring garden and all the flowers while it lasts.

[Jasmin]:  Today, Saturday, 3 June at 11 am, it is 24 C, and promises to be a more typical 30 plus C day.  Most of May was “cold”—for us at least!  Days would be around 14 to maybe 20 C.

Now that my jury service is complete, I hope to pick up where I left off on the tour of our spring garden, despite the fact the major display is past, and I have already pruned the azaleas after their stupendous show.  As I can, these photos will be posted under Robert and Jasmin’s Garden.

[Mariette]

This is a lovely annual not known over here, Robert! It would be great if You could spare some seeds of those not available in Europe for the exchange!
Gilia capitata looks very nice, too, fortunately offered here, as well as Phacelia campanularia, which I sowed. Unfortunately too dense, as the brittle seedlings proved difficult to transplant. Two are doing well in a regularly watered pot, yet those planted on the fringe of borders succumbed to the drought of the last two weeks. Yet this annual is well worth every effort, the surprisingly large flowers are of a very brilliant blue sparkling like a sapphire. Easier to transplant is Gilia tricolor, well enough known in Germany to have received a common name.

[Robert]

Hi Mariette,

I just got back from our Placerville property yesterday in the evening. On a subsistence level of production, I am bringing part of the farm back to life and it is the busy planting season.

I plant almost all of my California native annuals using soil blocks. This is the same system I use to make vegetable transplants at the farm. It works for me.  It avoids or even eliminates transplanting shock. It also has production flexibility. I can just as easily start 4 or 5 transplants as 500 transplants. With some of the California native annuals I like to start many plants, with others 20 can be fine.

I realize this system might not work for you. After all, I am already set up to make transplants using this method. I already have a variety of soil block makers, plenty of home made compost to make a soil block mix, and plenty of experience using this method.

If you or any others on the Forum are interested in this method I can take some photographs and explain in more detail how I use this method to grow transplants of California native annuals.

Concerning the availability of seeds of California native annuals in Europe, I sincerely do not have any idea what is available and what is not available in Europe. I have been told very conflicting information concerning the availability of California native annuals. To one extreme I have been told that “we” have everything and “we” are not interested in your second rate junky seeds, to “we” do not have anything, send us everything you have for free. It is very bewildering to me. I guess I am simple minded. Last year I was talking with another gardener over the garden fence. He wanted to try growing Winter Squash, Cucurbita maxima, and did not know where to start. The next day I gave him a sampling of Winter Squash seeds that work well for me. I also gave him some other seeds that I thought he might like to try. This sort of giving seems natural to me and he was not demanding something I was in no position to give away.

Sharing seeds on the Forum has been extremely awkward for me. It is regrettable but the truth for me is that there has been a great deal of demanding, like I am obligated to share seeds for free and get nothing in return, often not even a thank you. On the positive side, there have been very sweet gardeners who I gladly share seeds with without wanting anything in return. It is so difficult for me to negotiate this social minefield. I have never understood this stuff and my solution has always been toward self-isolation, minding my own business, and avoiding contact with a world that does not interest me.

I guess this does not help you much, but maybe you can better understand my limitations. Sharing seeds with other gardeners seems so natural and pleasant. Clarkia gracilis ssp. traceyi sets plenty of seeds. I hope that it is easy for me to send seeds to the seed exchange. I think that you enjoy growing them immensely!

Updated

A much better solution to the seed availability situation:

Jasmin brought up an important point concerning the plants we grow in our garden. I am often using very forceful methods, such as inbreeding, to create F1 hybrids or varieties of plants that are very specifically adapted to our garden, climate, and gardening desires. Unlike a commercial seed company, we do not have the means to conduct extensive field trials of our plants over a large geographic range to access their adaptability beyond our gardening situation. For all I know, our varieties have no usefulness beyond our garden. A land race of seed is much more appropriate for a seed exchange. Businesses such as Alplains (Alan Bradshaw), Seedhunt (Ginny Hunt), and websites such as Calflora are all in business or are sources for seeds that carry everything we grow plus much more. In addition, they are also in business and are set up to negotiate the ins and outs of international shipments, money exchanges, and everything else that successful business transactions require.

[ruweiss]

It is a pleasure to walk in the garden, the Campanula,(I think it is C. porschaskyana) sowed itself everywhere
in the garden during the years, insects also love it.

[ruweiss]

The Eriogonum flowered for me this year for the first time after 8 years from a cutting.

[MarcR]

Rudi,

The Rhododendron looks a lot like R. fragrantissimum. If it has a sweet fragrance that would confirm it.

[MarcR]

Hi Mariette,

...... I realize this system might not work for you. After all, I am already set up to make transplants using this method. I already have a variety of soil block makers, plenty of home made compost to make a soil block mix, and plenty of experience using this method.

If you or any others on the Forum are interested in this method I can take some photographs and explain in more detail how I use this method to grow transplants of California native annuals.......

Robert,

I would be very grateful for that explanation.  I have been losing many seedlings to transplant shock even after applying Vitamin B1.  Fortunately, at least some of each of my transplants have survived; but, I would still like to cut my losses.

[Robert]

Hi Marc

I will get on this as soon as I can, maybe 2 0r 3 days.

[Robert]

Hi Marc,

I have a completed article on my soil block system. You can read all about this in one or both of the journals when it is published.

[MarcR]

Robert,

Thank you,

Marc

[ruweiss]

Flowering now:

[Andre Schuiteman]

The delightful Parnassia palustris is one of those plants that are common in the wild but not often seen in cultivation because they are not as easy to grow as you might expect. You see it everywhere in the Dolomites, for example. Seed germinates well but when you plant the seedlings out in the rock garden they just dwindle and disappear. My only surviving plant, from seed I collected in the Brenta Dolomites five years ago, lives in a pot and is always kept out of direct sunlight, even though it grows fully exposed in nature. Perhaps the fact that it often grows between grass indicates that the leaves prefer some shading.

The Spanish Thymus longiflorus, on the other hand, likes as much sunlight as a tourist on the Costa del Sol.