My Mid-winter Indoor Garden

It is mid-winter and except for four or five inches of new snow nothing has happened in my garden. My last peek before the new snow showed a dozen buds on my Christmas Rose, the white Hellebore that usually starts blooming in late November. But indoors the orchid garden is blooming, or still blooming or is going to be really blooming soon. Here are a few things that are in bloom now.

First, is Restrepia muscifera, Mother Nature’s very own garden gnomes. This one repeatedly blooms on the underside of the base of the leaf.

Oncidiums, sometimes referred to as the Dancing Lady Orchids, are a large group of New World tropical and sub-tropical orchids. Several species are found in southern Florida as an extension of their home ranges in the Bahamas and Caribbean, and Central and northern South America. Oncidium Carnival Costume has become one of my favorites, blooming on schedule during mid-to late winter, and often reblooming until July from the initial flower spikes. It also grows almost anywhere – windowsills, under lights as well as greenhouses. The bright yellow flowers spotted with red truly are little dancing ladies brightening up the indoor landscape nad nicely contrasting with the snow white landscape.

Epilaeliocattleya Don Hermann ‘Gold Rush’ came from the Spokane Orchid Show three years ago. It likes a bit more light than I can give it so it summers outside and then goes under my new hi-output fluorescents. That seems to have done the trick this year, as it has with Laeliocattleya Rojo ‘Barbara’ HCC/AOS which should be in bloom in another 2-3 weeks.

Brassavola Little Stars, a hybrid between Brassavola nodosa and B. subulifolia, has bloomed for me the last three years. Mom, or maybe it is Pop, grows next to its offspring and both spent last summer outside but s/he has yet to set buds. That would be the “nodosa” parent.

This green and white Maudiae-type Paphiopedilum followed me home one day from the Bitterroot Flower Shop. It has several siblings hiding out among the others which should bloom later in the spring and during the summer.

A year ago I posted pictures of Cymbidium Valentine. It hasn’t even spiked yet this year but Cym. Evening Star ‘Pinkie’ has made up for it, and another unnamed Cymbidium is beginning to open its flowers.

More Things I Missed this Summer Part II

I could do a whole chapter on daisies which have multiplied into numerous types and varieties, and several different colors. Here is Gold Rush, the double yellow variety. Hollywood Lights is also very yellow but has a single flower. The fluffy double varieties have a tendency to fall over when they get wet so need to be staked. Like the white varieties deer don’t eat the yellow varieties either.

Ligularia. There are several species of Ligularia in cultivation but two basic types if one looks at the flowers; either a round daisy-type flower or a tall spike. The one pictured here is Ligularia przewalskii (pronounced shev-alski-i). Notice the deeply denticulated and striking foliage below the flowers. All ligularias prefer constantly moist soil and some shade.

Corydalis lutea. The yellow species seems to do best here although there are several blues supposedly hardy enough for Missoula. I’ve tried two but neither has made it through the winter. One didn’t make it through the summer.

Bleeding Hearts have been a staple of American and European shade gardens for over a century. For me, their most admirable quality is that once they are done blooming they go dormant, the foliage dies back and something else can grow in and fill their space with another bloom. Not really a summer bloomer, like the Jack-in-the-Pulpit I didn't really have another place to put it.

And here is the spring blooming Hosta I wrote about in July. Just for Connie.

Some of the things I missed this summer...

Summer is usually the busiest time of my year - after spring, or perhaps after fall cleanups and winter preparations. Since it is a busy time and try as I might to keep up with the blog inevitably because it is a busy time I missed a number of things -- things that didn’t quite fit in elsewhere, or that I didn’t have time to write about and try to fit them in.

First is the Bronze Friendly Thistle, or Carlina acaulis. I found the plant at Valley Farms in Helena a couple of years ago. I wasn’t sure what kind of conditions it needs, only that “it performs well in hot sunny sites even in poor soil,” but it seems to be happy and productive where it is. I’m sure that living on top of a gravel pit qualifies for the poor soil part. The flowers are unusual and have attracted attention by visiting gardeners.

Arisaema triphyllum, or Three-leafed Jack-in-the-pulpit: to be accurate I didn’t actually forget the Jack-in-the-pulpit since it is in one of the early chapters, but it is a summer bloomer, doesn’t quite fit in elsewhere and I like them so here it is again.

Cold hardy gingers are an odd plant that have a found a spot in my garden. Unrelated to our ginger used for cooking it nevertheless smells strongly alike and can be used for some of the same things – teas, candy, medicinal remedies and so on. I have two species. I ordered Asarum europeam from one of my favorite nurseries, waited patiently for several months but the plants failed to arrive because of availability. I happened to be visiting another nursery and found “native” cold-hardy ginger so of course I bought a pot and planted it. About a week later I got a message from the first nursery that the plant was there! Feeling guilty I obligated myself to buy at least one plant. It turned out that the first was a North American native, either Asarum caudatum or A. canadense, I’m not sure which. Unlike its European cousin the heart-shaped leaves are deciduous and “ours” has a softer, velvety leaf whereas the European ginger has a shiny leaf, easily distinguishing the two in the picture. (I thought I had successfully separated them but I missed a bit.) Our native ginger is more drought tolerant and deer resistant than the European species and seems to establish more quickly and spread more rapidly, but the European variety is green and pretty all winter unless covered by snow.

This little Malva, or perhaps it is a Verbascum, has volunteered as an ephemeral plant – meaning that it shows up now and then and not necessarily where it was planted originally -- at a garden in the middle Rattlesnake. The flowers are pretty individually and as I encourage them to proliferate into a small colony they will be showier. As a bonus, the deer don’t eat them. There is a yellow dianthus that periodically and unpredictably appears in this garden as well.

Campanula persicafolia, or Peach-leafed Campanula, more commonly known simply as Bellflowers rarely do what they are supposed to in our area since too rapid growth in the spring tends to produce weak stems resulting in plants that fall over if there is a hint of extra water weight from sprinklers, rain or dew or simply because they feel like it. This one however was perfectly splendid at Beth’s last summer. They do tend to seed everywhere so are in constant need of control. Deer seem willing but unfortunately they also eat the flowers depriving you of a nice flower for cutting.

Monkshood, or Aconitum, is one of the more poisonous plants in the garden, and may have produced the poison used by the Borgia family. This fatal flaw however also makes it highly unpalatable to deer. Originally only dark blue varieties existed but a Stainless Steel, pink and variegated Monkshoods have appeared in recent years.

Euonymous turkistanica was another find

browsing through Earth and Wood two years ago. Related to the more common and better known Burning Bush (Euonymous alata) it has a much more interesting flower that resembles an earring or Asian lantern of some kind. Results so far indicate that it is hardy in Missoula, not very picky about where it grows, although it does need full sun, and is strongly deer resistant.

My mailbox since New Year’s Day has been filled with many new “seed” catalogues. My mother and grandmother waited all year for the seed catalogues to arrive, shortening the winter with their promise of spring planting time to come. But the seed catalogues of my grandmother’s day now also carry a raft of plants – from asparagus plants to nut and fruit trees. And the local nurseries of that time, which sent out those precious catalogues, are now often multinational corporations like Burpees and Guerneys. But they still make winter seem shorter and not unfalsely promise that spring is on its way.

While I strongly believe that “local is best” in all things plants it is still hard not to be struck and enticed by a particular picture, or a new plant or a new variety of an old plant, and a “need to really have it” in my garden. My garden is full but the new “black” Hellebore from Heronswood Nursery in Pennsylvania http://www.heronswood.com/ is an absolute must have, as are the Astilboides tabularis and North Hills strain of Candelabra Primroses from White Flower Farm in Connecticut http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/ Well, maybe not in my garden but certainly in one of my client’s. Shady Oaks has one of the nicest selections of hostas around but fortunately they are only a wholesale nursery. Unfortunately I have to wait until their new selections show up locally or in another catalogue.

My favorite catalogue won’t arrive for a few weeks yet but when it does I always drool far more than is seemly. Fortunately most of the plants they sell are for areas farther south, zone 6 or warmer, so it is easy to resist most of their offerings. Plant Delights Nursery http://www.plantdelights.com/ operates in conjunction with Juniper Level Botanic Gardens in Raleigh, NC. Perhaps I should consider moving to North Carolina.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com/ and Totally Tomatoes http://www.totallytomato.com/ are equally tempting, but fortunately I have outgrown the need to grow tomatoes. More accurately I have almost outgrown the need to grow tomatoes. Last year I had three plants that were unusually overabundant and with gifts from other gardeners I have a freezer half full of tomato sauce.

Websites are not the same as catalogues and never quite seem as precious, but here are several that are favorites and which sometimes accompany a “real” catalogues.
Edmunds roses are some of the best I’ve ever bought, and they have several new varieties every year. http://www.edmundsroses.com/ Schreiner’s Iris Lovers Catalogue is one of the older and best for the northwest. http://www.schreinersgardens.com/ John Scheepers has two catalogues – one for garden seeds, the other for bulbs and a few perennials: http://www.kitchengardenseeds.com/ and http://www.johnscheepers.com/ respectively.

Seeds of Change works to preserve biodiversity, by maintaining old strains of modern vegetables and flowers, and promote organic and sustainable agriculture. They produce organic seeds and a part of their mission is to teach gardening. http://www.seedsofchange.com/
Select Seeds, heirloom treasures for modern gardens the catalogue is subtitled, has a similar assortment of seeds but tends more to flowers than edibles. http://www.selectseeds.com/

High Country Garden is in New Mexico and specializes in drought tolerant plants for xeric landscapes. http://www.gighcountrygardens.com/ I was more impressed before I discovered that their part of New Mexico receives almost twice as much moisture as the Missoula valley does, which may explain why some of their plants have not done well for me. But they are nevertheless worth checking out. The bright red-orange Zuaschneria and purple ice plant are samples of what they sell.

Keep in mind that many of these seed companies are in other parts of the country, not Montana, and that their plant and seed offerings reflect their local growing conditions far more than they may ours. Day length, water, water quality, soil, soil type and conditions all affect how plants and seeds grow and how well they produce, whether it is flowers or food for our tables. Buying locally from local growers and nurseries increases the chance of a bountiful crop.

Garden City Seeds formerly from Corvallis, Montana was absorbed by Irish Eyes Seeds in Ellensburg, Washington which has also absorbed a number of other smaller seed companies. Their products -- seeds, seed potatoes and onion starts mostly – are usually available locally at Marchie’s Nursery, Caras Nursery, ACE Hardware and elsewhere.
http://www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com/

See you again soon, or at planting time in the garden.

Hellebores

Hellebores: this is a group of about 20 or 25 species of garden plants from central Europe and western Asia.

This seems a good day to write a few words about Hellebores since my Christmas Rose was on the verge of blooming right before we got the sub-zero Canadian blast two weeks ago. Now that the snow cover has gone somewhat it appears that the buds may survive, providing they are not frozen again this week. Helleborus niger, an alpine native of Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany, usually blooms in the very early spring – January or February -- in its native habitat but mine is usually in bloom by Thanksgiving although this year it may not make it at all. Or it may be on its “native” schedule of later in the winter. Regardless, the pure white flower that blooms in mid-winter snow has attracted gardeners for a long time.

I have four other Hellebores: another white that closely resembles the niger parent but that blooms in late spring; a white one spotted with “red” (although the pictures on the web look purple to me) that has yet to bloom even after four years but I'm hoping that this year it will put forth buds and flowers; and a Helleborus foetida, or Stinky Hellebore, whose unusual clumping and spiraling foliage rather than the somewhat inconsequential small light green flowers is the main attraction.

The fourth is the Lenten Rose, or Helleborus

orientalis, with large green flowers that blooms

near Easter time. The leaves are rough and serrate-edged which discourages deer. This species, native to Greece and Turkey, has given rise to many of the named varieties now available in nurseries.

Hellebores have begun attracting considerable gardening attention the last several years and many new attractively marked and double varieties in a range of colors have entered the market. They are showy, blooming at unusual times of the year, are easily propagated from seed, grow well in shady parts of the garden, readily adapt to a variety of soil types and are moderately drought tolerant although they appreciate an occasional big drink. A big plus for Missoula is that deer tend to ignore the coarse foliage and occasional unpleasantly scented plants.

For more information on Hellebores check out the website for Sunshine Farms near Renton, Washington: http://www.sunfarm.com/ Or, a site devoted completely to Hellebores http://www.hellebores.org/

What better thing to do on a blustery cold January-like day in October? But add something to my blog. I've been working on a short blog on weeds since mid-August and today seems like as good a time as any to finish it. In August we could actually see the weeds; today most of them are under a new layer of snow.

When is a weed not a weed? When it is growing in your garden because it has pretty flowers, perhaps? A friend’s mother, new to the area and blissfully unaware of the destructive nature of the beast, happily transplanted some Knapweed plants to her new flowerbed. Quickly apprised of the real status of the plant she removed it from her garden, but it is nevertheless easy to see how the mistake was made. The flowers are beautiful and a large plant in full bloom is spectacular but beauty does come with a price.

Some of Montana’s noxious weeds have been introduced into this country, and state, as ornamentals or possibly for medicinal purposes, such as Tansy and supposedly Mullein. Teas made from the leaves were used to treat a varity of chest, bronchial, intestinal and other afflictions. IN the case of tansy the results were sometimes fatal and it is generally not recommended for use today. Wild Mullein has always been one of my favorite plants and is a winter food source for many birds. It is related to the showier garden mulleins. I like it for its statuesque, sculptural quality, and imagine it to be rather like a smaller skinny saguaro cactus cold hardy enough for Montana. As a child I remember being told it was very invasive and a noxious weed. Today it is not even on the Montana Noxious Weed list. Looking at the wider perspective, and considering Knapweed and Leafy Spurge, it is really a rather benign visitor.

Even if Common Tansy is in Category 1 on Montana’s Noxious Weed list I’m sure the Tansy bed along the north edge of the Kim Williams Trail near the university practice field, and south bank of the Clark Fork River, help stabilize the bank so I would like to think it is of some practical use. I like the medicinal smell of the plants, but that is also one of the reasons many people dislike it. It can be very invasive in certain locations and is difficult to remove if it establishes a foothold. But it does make a good, durable cut flower and dries reasonably well.

Sulfur Cinquefoil, related to our native cinquefoils and the flowering shrub Potentilla, is also a category 1 weed in Montana. While individual flowers are pretty the plant as a whole is not apt to entice one to plant it in the garden. Fortunately it is easy to pull and responds quickly to weed killers.

Yellow Toadflax, Dalmation Toadflax (not pictured but with flowers very similar to the yellow species), and Bindweed are also in the category one designation. Again the flowers are pretty and in the case of Toadflax, may have arrived in this country as ornamentals. However, the deep roots and spreading rhizomes allow all three plants to form huge colonies that can quickly take over a part of the garden that has been ignored, or take over large areas of pasture or wildlife habitat. Bindweed takes its name from the difficulties it causes farmers when they plow a field and the miles of ambling vines bind up the plows.

Some of our native plants however, like this small fall blooming aster, are often weeded out of our gardens but given the right location are an attractive part of the landscape. Marge lives on top of a windswept hill west of Missoula which is kept mowed low to prevent the proliferation of noxious weeds, but the location seems to be perfect for the aster which put on an exceptional show this year.

For more information on Montana’s noxious weeds, how they are categorized and for control methods ask the county extension office for a copy of their small spiral-bound brochure Montana’s Noxious Weeds. Or online, check at www.weedawareness.org/weed_list.html , or at www.agr.mt.gov/weedpest/noxiousweeds.asp

Daylilies. There are hundreds of varieties of daylilies available in catalogues, from private hobby growers and breeders, neighbors whose gardens have been filled as well as local nurseries, and ach one seems to be more beautiful than the last. One of the best mid- to late summer flowers for gardens they are often overlooked as a desirable garden plant because of their past reputations. The older varieties are often messy or invasive, dying back early and growing rapidly into neighboring plants, and the bloom season is thought to be too short to make them worth while, and flower colors were limited, usually some shade of orange or yellow.

That is true of many of the older varieties, but many of the newer varieties show improvement in all these areas including pleasing fragrances. Some new varieties are very slow to multiply, taking several years to establish a clump large enough to provide a good display. An advantage of daylilies in the garden is that they are both fairly drought tolerant and moderately deer resistant, depending on how hungry the deer are. Just ask Marvie whose backyard daylily display was devastated by the neighborhood deer herd last summer and again this year, just as they were starting to bloom. A good deep watering every other week, even in hot weather, is usually enough to keep daylilies going, and they don’t seem to demand much in the way of nutrition or soil, adapting to sand and clay with equal ease.

Modern hybrid daylilies range from very very dark purple to nearly white. White being a relative term for plant breeders. I’d go with pale yellow to old ivory. The trick to nearly white daylilies is to plant the “white” one near truly yellow flowers and the contrast will make the “white” look whiter. There are even double flowers, like this bright yellow from Grace's bed.

The best display of daylilies in Missoula is at the Reserve St. Post Office behind Costco. And right now they are in full bloom so drive by if you have a few extra minutes. But even when the display is not spectacular individual plants and flowers can be beautiful, even spectacular.