The time to be happy is now. Robert Greene Ingersoll.

Happiness is the only good.
The place to be happy is here.
The time to be happy is now.
The way to be happy is to make others so.
- Robert Greene Ingersoll

Seedlings. 7.7.14

Morning Glory Seedlings  7.7.14

Holllyhock "Happy Lights" seedlings   7.7.14

Hollyhock mixed double seedlings.   7.7.14

These are the seedlings I started in June. 

I started morning glory seeds because Ning wanted some fast vines, and I ran across the seed packets in Lowes.  I don't know if they will actually bloom this year, but no harm trying.

The hollyhocks are planted now for next summer's flowers.  There is a lot of conflicting info on the internet.  The first - mixed double varieties - I also bought the seeds on impulse at Lowes.  Then, researching the internet, most Alcea rosea - like those mixed doubles - have problems with leaf rust fungus di sease.  I'm sure that will be an issue here.  So I bought some seeds of a more rust resistant species, Alcea ficifolia "Happy lights".  I think the single flowers will be nicer looking, too. 

The A. ficifolia were started  about 2 weeks after the A. rosea,but I think they will have plenty of time to catch up.  The seeds can be planted summer to early fall.

I also planted columbine seeds.  Not up yet.   I have some carnation seeds, which I want to plant soon, if I get the energy.  This is a good time of year to start some of next year's perennials from seeds.

1st Tomatoes. Brugmansia. Gladiolas. 7.6.14

The First Sungolds.  7.6.14

Brugmansia.  First Flowers after Dormant Overwintering.  7.6.14

 Today there were three firsts.

We had the first tomatoes of the season.  That's very good.  Usually I don't get any until later.  they were just cherry tomatoes, but worth the effort.

The Brugmansia had its first flowers.  It is very fragrant.  It overwinters easily, no effort.  Same as geraniums.  Just let it dry out in the fall, move it into the garage for the winter, bring it back out in Spring and start watering again.

The first of the heritage gladiolas bloomed.  I didn't know what to do with them, so planted all into one container. 

Heritage Gladiolas.   7.6.14

New flowers in bloom. 7.5.14

Daylily I moved to the Battleground place, 2 months ago.  7.5.14

Crocosmia in bloom.  7.5.14

Four O'clock "Marvel of Peru".  7.5.14

 Some flowers in bloom around the Battleground 2 acres.  These are the first flowers here for the daylilies, Buddliea "Honeycomb", and the Four O'clocks.  The latter have barely begun.  The container plants are ahead of the in-ground plants.

Buddleia X weyeriana  "Honeycomb" 

Hummingbird on crocosmia "Lucifer".  7.5.14.  Photo by Ning Wang.

Potato and Garlic Harvest. 7.4.14

Potato Harvest.  7.4.14

Garlic bed, ready to harvest.  7.4.14

 A couple of the potato plants browned, so I dug them out.  This harvest is from 2 plants.  Not bad.  These are in the potato "wells".  Very easy to remove the sides and harvest.

The garlic is brown as well.  I dug out half of the garlic- this half was Inchelium Red.  The husks may have suffered a bit from recent rains but look very good overall.  Plump, firm cloves.

The raised bed method works well for both.

First Inchelium Red garlic.  7.4.14

borage. chinese chives. Bee forage. Borage. 7.4.14Chine.4.14

Bumblebee on borage.  7.5.14

Bees are actively foraging borage and Chinese chives.  The yard is bee paradise now.  The borage is massive.  I did fertilize with organic nitrogen earlier this year.

Next plan for Chinese chives is to have most in one raised bed, permanent.  A few will be planted around in the flower beds as ornamentals.

Honeybee on borage.  7.5.14

Chinese Chives.  7.4.14

Bees forage the clover lawn. Hummingbirds in the Crocosmia. 7.4.14

I've been planting clover seeds in the lawn, for the past 2 years.  This is a chemical-free, fertilizer-free lawn.    Now, as the hot days of sumer are here, the grass stops growing.  The clover is in full bloom.  When white clover is intermixed with grasses, the clover supports nitrogen-fixing bacteria, pulling nitrogen out of the air and into the soil in forms plants can use.  The grass grows better, and so does the clover.  White clover is also one of the best bee forages.  They are actively foraging the clover lawn now.  Walking through the lawn, I can hear them hum.  It looks prettier in person than in the photo.  The clover lawn benefits the grass, the soil, the bees, and the environment.

Clover lawn.  7.2.14

Humingbird on Crocosmia.  Photo by Ning Wang.  7.4.14  

I

Hummingbird on Crocosmia.  Photo by Ning Wang.  7.4.14

Hummingbird.  Photo by Ning Wang.  7.4.14

Honeybee on Clover.  Photo by Ning Wang.  7.4.14

Honeybee on Clover.  Photo by Ning Wang.  7.4.14

Deck Flowers. 7.2.14

Overwintered Dianthus.  7.2.14

Many of the deck plants resulted from overwintering deck plants from the past 2 or 3 years.  I simply let them dry out an keep them in the atached garage.  The dianthus overwintered on the covered porch, outside but out of the rain and next to the house.

Four O'clock "Marbles".  7.2.14

Overwintered geraniums.  7.2.14

 The four o'clocks will likely be  treated the same way.  It's 8pm and they are in bloom.  Today was in the 80s.

The geraniums overwinter very well.  The red is about 3 or 4 years old.  The smallest pink one was planted this summer.  The others are 2 or 3 years old.  Once they start blooming, they are impressive.

Four O'clock "Marvel of Peru".  7.2.14

Bee Forage. 6.29.14

Honeybee on Chinese Chives.  6.29.14

Honeybee on onion flower.  6.29.14

 Honeybees are foraging the yard actively.

They especially like Chinese chives, onion flowers, and Phacelia.   This is my first try at phacelia.  Very pretty and easy.

The bees are actively foraging Ning's wildflowers as well.

Honeybee on Phacela.  6.29.14

Wildflowers.  6.29.14

Ning's wildflower meadow.  6.29.14

Honeybees on Chinese Chives.   6.29.14

Phacela.  6.29.14

Buddleia Progress Report. 6.29.14

Buddleia "Blueberry Cobbler".  6.29.14

Buddleia "Miss Molly".  6.29.14

Buddleia "Miss Ruby".  6.29.14

The sterile buddleias are starting to bloom.

As described in earlier posts, sterile buddleias are complex  hybrids between Buddleia davidii and other species.  They have the advantage of being sterle, so do not produce seeds.  For that reason, the sterile hybrids are legal in  this SPring Oregon and Washington.  I did see some Buddleia davidii at Lowes, and walked past it a few times, beautiful dark purple.  But as an environmentally oriented gardener, I couldn't bring myself to buy it.  The B. davidii are highly invasive.  The sterile hybrids do not set seed, so are not invasive.  Despite being sterile, some varieties are highly vigorous, while others are much more restrained.

In their 2nd year, the varieties "Peach Cobbler" and "Blueberry Cobbler" are 7 feet tall, and equally wide.  Also in their 2nd year, "Miss Ruby" is about 4 feet tall, and "Miss Molly" is about 3 feet tall.  The most compact is "Blue Chip", which is about 18 inches tall.

Bloom order:  "Miss Molly" was first, mid June.  "Miss Ruby" was 2nd, late June.  "Blueberry Cobbler" followed close behind, late June.  "Peach Cobbler" is about to bloom, probably 1st week of July.  "Blue Chip" does not have buds yet.  Not a fair comparison, because I let that bed go wild while I was recuperating from surgery, and only this spring pulled out the competing weeds.  It has made a resurgence of growth, but had a late start.

These buddleias are the fastest of all my shrubs to grow and establish.  They are one of the few that deer and rabbits don't touch.  They don't seem to be affected by any insects.  Bumblebees forage the flowers.  I'm not sure about honeybees - so far, there is minimal if any honeybee activity.   The more compact varieties look ideal for smaller gardens, and the more vigorous varieties look ideal for privacy hedge.

Bud Grafting / Budding. Progress Report. 6.29.14

Shiro bud graft on Satsuma @ 2 weeks.   6.29.14

If anything indicates that a bud took, it's new growth.
The 2 week old grafts all look good.  In another week I'll consider removing the polyethylene wrapping.  It does not look like removal of wrapping on the first set of buds caused harm, and some are growing.

Shiro on the big unknown Asian plum, bud now growing a new shoot.

Prunus cerasifolia / burgundy plum on the same unknown Asian plum, also growing a new shoot.

This tree was too tall for me to safely bud higher branches, and this was just an experiment.  The plan at this point will be let these grow and remove the nearest larger branches, to part of the top growth is replaced by the grafted varieties.  That will give plums sooner than starting new trees, and equally important provide pollinating varieties within the same tree for better production in both the original branches and the grafts.

I love the Shiro plums, and the cerasifolia plums are exotic and flavorful, not available in any store.  So this is a great development.

Burgundy cerasifolia plum on Asian plum @ 4 weeks.  6.29.14

The branches may or may not bloom next Spring.  There is still most of the summer this year to grow.  But the following Spring they should be large enough and mature enough for bearing flowers and fruit.

I thought budding would be difficult.  These were my first attempts, and all of them took.  It was very easy.

Shiro bud grafted onto unknown Asian Plum @ 4 weeks.  6.29.14

Four O'Clocks. 6.26.14

4 O'Clocks "Marbles" 6.26.14

Four O'Clocks "Marbles"  6.26.14

 The first of the 4 O'Clocks have started blooming.  This is the 4th day of flowers.  The flowers last one day, then are shed.  Each flower has unique variagation, no two the same.  This is the variety "Marbles"   at 7:45pm

The first day there was only 1 flower.  The second day, 2 flowers.  Now there are dozens of buds in various stages of formation.

There are other colors.  One other plant is yellow on white, but no flowers today.

I have one of the variety "Marvel of Peru" that had one flower on the deck yesterday, yellow with bright red stamens.  No flowers today.

I think when they take off they have dozens of flowers.  Making a nice start now.

These are container grown, on the deck.  They have sunshine for most of the day.

Four O'Clocks "Marbles".  6.26.14

Four O'Clock "Marvel of Peru" Yellow.  6.27.14

Four O'Clock "Marbles" Yellow/White 4.27.14

Fig Tree Progress Report. 6.22.14

Fig Embryos on Brunswick Fig.  6.22.14

Fig Embryos on Sal's Fig.  6.22.14

A few weeks back, I snapped off the growth tips of the "Vancouver Brunswisk" fig tree, that I moved to Battleground in Dec 2012.  Last year it barely grew - expected after the loss of roots and branches necessary for transplanting.  I did the same with the Sal's a couple of weeks ago.  The Sal's is much taller than when planted, but still a bit puny. 

With the loss of apical dominance - suppressive hormones that are produced by the growth tip, and lost when the tip is snapped, off - growth of figs is stimulated. 
If the current growth is any indication, there could be lots of Brunswick figs this year, and more Sal's than I expected.

The next challenge is mold and spoiling due to late fall rains.  I've learned my lesson.  I will cover the figs, maybe with zip lock bags, this fall.  Or a plastic cover, held on by clothes pins.

I'm optimistic.  It would be great to get a nice fig crop in Battleground.

Phaselia. 6.22.14

Phaselia.  6.22.14

Phaselia.  6.22.14

I planted Phaselia ("Bee Friend") for bee forage.  I didn't know what to expect.

They are blooming now.  About 2 feet tall.  Beautiful, fern-like leaves.  A bit floppy, they fall over.

So far I've seen bumblebees on them, but no honeybees.

Borage is blooming now too.  Bees usually go crazy for borage, but not yet.  So maybe there's just too much other bee forage around.  They love Ning's meadow.