To make a prairie....

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“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,

One clover, and a bee,

And revery.

The revery alone will do,

If bees are few.” 

-Emily Dickinson

Brugmansia

 A few weeks back this brugmansia dropped its buds and some leaves.  I was having a difficult time keeping up with watering.  I repotted into a container about twice the volume.  Now it stays moist longer, and is blooming like crazy again.

Kitchen Garden

Watermelon

Pepper Barrel

 I think this is the Idaho-developed Cougar Mountain watermelon.  Watching closely for signs of ripeness.

Minnesota Midget Canteloupe

Fruit harvest

Container-grown Peppers

The pepper barrel grew great this year.  It always does well.  I'm happy with these.  The reds are "Italian Roaster".  The little red is "Thai" pepper.  There are others.

Also watching closely for the "Minnesota Midget" canteloupe.

Loved the fruit harvest.  That was from the Vancouver back yard.  Lattarula figs, Hawaiian Pineapple tomatoes, Italian Roaster peppers, various Asian pears, and a few peaches - forget the variety.  Genetic dwarf peach.  Was surprised to get any.  The tree has quite a few more, not ripe yet. 

Those "Hawaiian Pineapple" tomatoes are really good.

"Hawaiian Pineapple" Tomato

Madrone roots

Here is the madrone, taken out of the container.  I felt disappointed - the roots were so minimal.  The tree had been dug close to the trunk, and shallow  The remainder was added compost / soil.  It did look like there was mycorrhizae growing through the medium.  I mixed the medium with soil and placed that around the planted tree.

It will be pretty surprising if this tree grows.  I'll try to water it enough, but not too much.  I added a stake given how little root mass there is to anchor it.

I will also order some more Plant Success mycorrhizal inoculant to add to the soil and water in when it arrives.

Madrone, planted

Planting a Sourwood Tree

Out of the nursery pot, showing root ball

 Here is the sourwood tree I bought.

When I bought it at the nursery, I thought these trees had been sitting in the containers for the season.  Taking out of the pot, I see that's not true.  They were dug up from the nursery row, balled and burlapped, and transported to the nursery.  There, compost soil was placed in the container, the tree added, then more compost.  So they looked like the root mass was much bigger than it was.

That makes me think it will be harder to establish.  The tree is quite large for its root ball.

Planting.  Daffodil bulbs surrounding the tree.

Soaking in.

 Planting the tree - I surrounded it with mixed varieties of daffodil bulbs.  During the summer this tree should be mulched, with no competing plants.  However, daffodils grow their roots in the fall and winter, and the tops during rainy season.  I don't think they will be much competition for the tree roots.

Daffodils are reportedly deer and rabbit resistant, so I'm hoping they will have a bit of a protective benefit for the tree.

Planted and mulched.

Planted, watered in, and mulched.

I hope it grows.

We are heading into the rainy season.  That should help this nice tree establish roots and settle in.