Wildflowers

The last month or three have seen my attention captured by as many wildflowers as their domestic cousins. They intrude into my field of vision with bright colors and unexpected apperances that both delight and amaze me. In many areas I couldn't hope to plant them as beautifully as they are this year with the abundant rain we have had in the valley. The wild cousins of many of our domestic flowers came from somewhere, some time ago. Lilacs grow wild across parts of Asia and our modern apples and flowering crabapples have roots deep in the antiquity of Central Asia. Generations and centuries of plant breeding have produced the assorted blooms we see today.

Gaillardia, G. aristata, in its many varieties started out in the prairies of the Midwest and northern Rocky Mountains. Lending itself towards domesticity today there are a number of varieties from nearly pure yellow to burgundy.

Other wildflowers don’t lend themselves so readily to molding by the hand of man and are quite insistent they want to remain wild and untamed, spreading across the landscape of western Montana of their own accord without the interference of human gardeners. The Arrow-leaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) are in full bloom now, gorgeous beyond what any gardener could imagine doing with them. Even with my many attempts at seeding they rarely produce new plants. They require specific condition to get them going, although that hardly seems possible given how many of them there are, or seem to be. Try transplanting even a small seedling into a garden and see how difficult it is. The long tap root doesn’t like to be disturbed even if it started out life in a pot. This large plant appeared by chance at the edge of the path at the bottom of David and Nancy’s hill where it simply sits and shows off. When the bright yellow flowers disappear the silvery leaves and robust shape take over the display.

Indian Paint Brush (Castilleja spp.) seems to follow this pattern too, content to spread across the hills and dry forests but determinedly avoiding domestication. More difficult to transplant or cultivate than Balsamroot and demanding more stringent soil requirements, this one ended up inside Linda’s fence but well hidden from the rest of the garden. I found it only by chance.

Not quite as common as the brilliant yellow Balsamroot is the abundant (this year) Death Camas, or Zigadenus venenosus. Hiding like a delicate treasure in grasses its own height the creamy white blooms show up to taunt, or tempt, from a distance. Reportedly it causes animal deaths, and a number of human deaths have been reported as well.

Blue flax (Linum lewisii) is often introduced to semi-wild dry garden areas although it does show up on its own occasionally. It has become a favorite in many dry gardens because it takes care of itself, re-seeds reasonably well but is not invasive and has a beautiful floral display. My camera loves the nearly flat flowers with just enough interesting variation in color to catch its “eye.” The darker blue of Larkspur (Delphinium bicolor) is evident in the same grassland areas as these others, but its darker blue and smaller size make it somewhat less visible.
Blue Sugar Bowls (Clematis hirsutissima) are less frequently spotted. The plants resemble the native Pusitilla or Pasque Flower but the small nodding and quite fuzzy flowers resemble its larger cousins, the trailing Clematis.
In a natural area in the western part of the Missoula valley hiding among the grass in small short clumps I found the native phlox, Phlox hoodii. This may be a variety unique to the Missoula valley. Near it I found the yellow flowers of Biscuit Root (Lomatium triternatum), a source of food for many Native Americans groups in the Northwest. I'm not sure I'd put it in a garden, the flowers are not particularly showy, but is has an interesting history with people. Prairie Smoke, (Geum triflorum) inhabits the same area, and seems to acclimate itself well to gardens everywhere and isn’t too fussy about anything – germinating, spreading, water, soil quality, transplanting and so on. While the flowers are attractive they aren’t especially showy. The real display, which gives the plant is name, is after the flowers are gone and the seed heads appear, looking like small wisps of smoke against the grass.

Chokecherries, Hawthorne and Serviceberry are also blooming now, their clusters of white blooms resembling late clumps of snow at the tips of their branches, or a shower of fireworks against the green background of the forest.
As the season progresses and we pass through summer and into autumn I will continue to keep an eye out for the natives that opportunistically intrude into the lives of the gardens under my care. If you don’t have access to all of these gardens, as I fortunately do, take a walk along the river on the Kim Williams Trail or up the trail on Waterworks Hill and look for the flowers there. If you can’t make it that far many of the flowers can be seen in bloom in the Waterwise Garden behind the Missoulian on South Fourth St. East, or on the restored grassland area going down to the river and Kim Williams Trail.

Spring

What a difference a day makes! Sunday there were barely any crosus blooming, Tuesday it seemed as if they were all up and in full bloom. Each day brings a few more, and Wednesday brought the first tiny iris. They will make their appearance here tomorrow.

The bee on the Hellebore blossom was not the first one I've seen this spring -- neither the bee nor the blossom -- only the first I've been able to capture on a digital imagine.

Spring is here!

Hooray, hooray! Spring is here! Another year has come and gone, daylight saving time installs itself this weekend, and thank you to those of you who have wished me Happy Birthday, another reminder that spring is here. Spring is here! Not officially, that won’t happen for ten days yet, but I found several of the very early species crocus and several Winter Aconite in bloom in my beds, peaking through the leaves I am convinced need to stay there another week or two. There are a few other signs too. Most of the later blooming crocus have leaves poking through the winter mulch, the rock tulips have been braving the cold for several weeks, the large tulips are starting to show, and three of the Hellebores either have a flower or two or a good many buds and will be blooming in the next week or two if the weather stays moderately warm. Maybe I can start cleaning off the beds this week or next.

Inside, the orchids have been blooming providing me with the winter color I so love in my garden. Here are a couple of gratuitous winter color photos from my inside garden. Pahiopedilum delanatii was discovered in Viet Nam late in the 19th century. Half a dozen live plants made it to Europe where three survived and were cultivated in the greenhouses of Vasheron & Lecoufle outside Paris. All Paph. delanatii in cultivation today are descended from those three plants.

Brassolaelia Richard Mueller is a cross between Brassavola nodosa, a white flower, and Laelia milleri, a bright red flower. How does that cross produce a yellow flower with red spots? Bl. Richard Mueller has been crossed with many other orchids; this one with the yellow Laelia aurea with the hope of giving a brighter yellow flower. I think it is actually paler than the Bl. Richard Mueller I used to have.

WInter Gardens

I think I have covered most of the plants I missed last summer and worked them in here. Before we get any farther along towards spring I should probably do something on winter gardens and landscapes. Especially since it has been trying without much success to act like winter the last several weeks. The light snows have not lasted very long and the total accumulation is just barely over fifty percent of normal for the region. Perhaps it will all be corrected in April with a few but overly abundant late spring snows that used to characterize Missoula springs. Very few gardens are designed with winter in mind, but in this part of the country when winter is almost as long as the time when we can actively garden it isn’t a bad idea to plan for that other long part of the year. The new white background, snow or frost, creates a dramatic and highly contrastive background, revealing depth where little was exposed across a curtain of summer greens.

Another nice thing about gardens in winter is that we can just sit back and look at the landscape. There isn’t any mowing or pruning or weeding to worry about, none of the unpleasant tasks that take some of the fun out of gardening. It will all be taken care of during the spring cleanup as we prepare for anther season of abundant color.

And of course, what would a winter wonderland be without snow? These aspen are along the highway northeast of Ovando on Highway 200.

Next week maybe we can begin to think about spring. One of my friends informs me that the crocus in the front of her house are beginning to show so soon the blossoms will appear as well.

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.