Irises. 5.3.14

Iris Beds #2 and #3.  5.3.14

 Now we are past some 80 degree weather.  I am hoping the bearded iris beds have taken their damage and the present iris clusters will recover.  The leaf fans appear firm and new leaves are growing.  I lost a few completely, as far as I can tell:  Gingersnap, Frost and Flame, and Deity.

This seems to be the blue / white  / purple stage.  Given the bacterial rot damage to leaf fans, I'm glad I grew bulbs in the iris beds.  The alliums and camassias look nice, with colors that complement the current iris flowers.

Iris florentina.  5/3/14

Iris "Red Zinger".  5.3.14

 Cherry Garden is tiny and the flowers are not rain durable.  I have 4 clusters.  I think I will narrow them down to 1 cluster.  They were not damaged by bacterial rot.

The Iris florentina is quite elegant and has a beautiful fragrance.

The Iris pallida dalmatica was not at all affected by bacterial rot.  It is quite tall, and also beautiful fragrance.

The Iris pallida variegata was also not at all affected by bacterial rot.  Not blooming yet.  Much smaller than the nonvariegated version.

Red Zinger is striking, but small.  This would be a good selection for elevated setting or elevated container.  Fragrance is amazing.  I am not good at describing fragrances, but it is truly elegant.  Just hard to get to, because the plant is miniature.  Red Zinger was from a dried out rhizome I thought was dead, from sale rack, planted winter 2012/2013.  Last year it did not bloom but spread nicely.  Disease resistance seems fairly good.

Iris germanica looks more true to a wildflower heritage.  The fragrance is pleasant.  Disease resistance seems fairly good.

More to bloom soon.

Iris germanica.  5.3.14

Iris dalmatica.  5.3.14

Okra. 5.3.14

Burgundy and Baby Bubba Okra.  5.3.14

These are the transplants of Burgundy and Baby Bubba Okra, in container on deck.  The BB Okra pod was thumb-size so I picked it and froze, to be joined later by others until I have enough to make some soup.

They got some sunburn in the high 80s temp last week but look OK.  Transplanting was not an issue at all.  They are growing great, blooming, and making pods.

The new starts are in the fluorescent light stand, making their 1st or 2nd sets of true leaves.  Some are at cotyledon stage.

Burgundy grows the fastest of the varieties I am trying this year.

Grapevines. 4.29.14

Himrod Grape

Lynden Blue Grape

The grape vines are in their second spring, just over a year post planting at the Battleground place.  They all survived the hard freeze.  They are all in deer/rabbit cages.

One of these days I'll need to extend the deer protection so they can be grown along the support lines.  This year I expect at least a couple of the varieties to do that.  The others will grow up to the top of their respective poles.

I gave them some home-made nitrogen boost last week.  According to the grape book, they won't bear fruit if there is too much nitrogen.  I expect that will be depleted in a year or two, so not an issue.

The fastest growing vine was Buffalo grape, not pictured.  It appears to have a couple of embryonic flower clusters.

Peach Leaf Curl. 4.29.14

Charlotte Peach

 This is Peach Leaf Curl Disease season in my area.  I have enough resistant peach varieties to make a comparison.

As of now, they all have peach leaf curl.  Charlotte seems to have the least, and looks like it will have a small bowl of peaches this year.  Oregon Curl Free has a bit more, and also looks like it will have some peaches.

Indian Free peach has a moderate amount of curl.  It didn't bloom, except for one flower that fell off.  I think

Charlotte Peach

Oregon Curl Free Peach

 As for the Genetic Dwarf peaches...  anyone who sells them in the Pacific NW is doing their customers a big disservice.  Photos are the varieties Garden Sun, Honeybabe, and Ponderosa.  They may make a comeback.  The peaches will need a lot of thinning.  It's too difficult to cover them to keep out rain, and spraying in the fall is difficult to time.  Rainy season starts before the leaves fall.  So they are going to get leaf curl each year, they look terrible and it has a big effect on peach production.  The only solution I can think of is treat them the way hobbyists treat fig trees.  Grow small, in containers, keeping them pruned small, root prune, and put them in garage or shed for the winter.  Bring them outside when they start to grow.  I might try that, maybe starting my own variety with seedlings.  I have 2 seedlings in the garden beds, so that is a start.  For what it's worth, one was in a covered bed, and has no curl.  The other was exposed, and does have curl.

The seedlings might take a long time to bear.  I don't know.  But, being on genetic dwarf rootstock, they might also stay smaller than if grafted on regular peach rootstock.

Not pictured, the Tri-lite Peach-Plum hybrid has as bad leaf curl as any of the others.  The susceptibility of the peaches dominates the resistance of the plums.  So it's not worth buying that one either.

Indian Free Peach

Garden Sun Dwarf Peach

 I suspect that none of the Zaiger hybrids will be curl resistant.  They are bred in California where the disease is not an issue.

Ponderosa Dwarf Peach

Honey Babe Dwarf Peach

Summary:

Less susceptible to peach leaf curl, but not immune:

Charlotte
Oregon Curl Free
Indian Free

Q-1-8 is in its first year.  There is no curl, but as a bare root tree it was probably stored in a barn, and not exposed to winter rains which are responsible for spreading the fungal spores.

Highly susceptible to peach leaf curl:
Tri-lite Peach-plum
Honey Babe Genetic Dwarf
Garden Sun Genetic Dwarf
Ponderosa Genetic Dwarf.

Potential alternative:
Raise in container, keep small by pruning and root pruning, and move container into shed for winter, similar to fig hobbyists in cold climates.  Or similar to my brugmansias and geraniums that I overwinter.

Thoughts.
Next year, buy one for the container treatment.
This year, try to pot up the two seedling trees so I can get them started, but it may be a long path and who knows if I will live that long.

One additional thought.  Deer seem to stay away from most of the peach trees.  They do take some bites out of Indian Free.

Container Plants. Flowers and Kitchen Garden. 4.29.14

Dianthus in container

Overwintered geraniums.

 Today was warm, into the 80s.  Nights are still in the 40s.  Prediction for tomorrow is 90.  Wow.

Of the container plants, I cleaned up the dianthus that overwintered outside in a sheltered location.  I sheared it to a compact shape.  There was an agapanthus that did not survive the big freeze.

Of the geraniums that I overwintered in the garage, all appear to have survived.  They have been sitting on the deck a couple weeks.  I cleaned them up, just using scissors to remove dead parts.  I did not attempt to make them into compact looking garden department plants.  I'm going for the "these are old geraniums like grandma had" look.

I planted some of the Mirabilis seedlings into another container.  They are a little floppy.  Sunday I planted several at Battleground, and there was a hailstorm that tore holes in some leaves.  Still, they look ok today - 2 days later.

Overwintered geraniums.  After cleanup.

Mirabilis starts in container.

 I've been shuttling peppers and Mirabilis inside/outside.  Now they are outside to stay.  Now I am moving them into more full sun.

Tomato and okra seedlings are still under lights.  Except the 2 Sungold plants I bought.  They are in containers and in the sun.

The two largest, oldest okra plants are now in a larger container, along with a seedling.  There are early pods on the two oldest plants.  Okra here is a total experiment, there is almost nothing saying they can be grown this way and a fair amount of info saying they cannot be grown this way.  All I want is a few pods now and then for soups or fry.  If I'm getting the starts of pods now, then maybe this summer there will be a lot more.  The two larger plants are Burgundy and Baby Bubba Hybrid.  The smaller one is "Dwarf Green Long Pod".  It may be a stretch to have 3 plants in one container.

Starts of tomatoes, Mirabilis, peppers.  First day in full sun.

At Battleground, I uncovered the peppers that were in the poly tunnel.  I replaced the polyethylene sheeting with deer mesh.  They look good, nice and green and ready to grow.

More plant starts in the sun.

Okra plants moved into larger container.

Figs so far this year. 2.29.14

Smith Fig in Container.  Year #2.

The fig situation so far this year.

Smith fig in container was growing so I took it outside.  It spent the winter in the garage.  It's been outside a few weeks.  Looking good.  I think I'll keep it in container.  Long term plan:  Make a moveable container with removable sides, so I can maintain and move the trees when I am less able.

Smith fig in ground.  Looks dead.  That hard freeze did it in.

Champagne and LSU Tiger in ground are growing from the lower part of the trunk.  Champagne and LSU Tiger that were stored in shed are growing nicely, although not as fast as Smith.

Carini in ground looks dead.  I'll leave it in place a while to see if it sprouts from ground.  Same for Atreano.  The new Carini starts and Dominic look good, although the hail storm saturday tore holes in the leaves.  Plan this time is keep one of each in container, plus one of each to plant in ground next Spring so they have a full season to adapt to the local conditions as a more mature plant.  Vancouver Brunswick is growing nicely.  No freeze damage, and it was one of the most exposed.  Battleground is a bit colder than Vancouver, so I would expect more freezez damage to the Battleground fig trees.

At home in Vancouver, Petite negri had almost no frost damage.  Hardy Chicago had a number of dead branches.  Both are growing and have brebas.  Lattarula and King had no frost damage, but they are close to the house, on the south side, so may not have had full brunt of the killer freeze.

So there's a good chance for figs from all of the mature fig trees, and some chance for a few from the younger trees.

Mirabilis jalapa (Four O'Clocks). Progress Report. 4.25.14

Mirabilis among other plants.  4.25.14

 I planted 4 of the Mirabilis plants into front flowerbeds.  I don't know if it's too early.  I have about a dozen plants so if these don't make it, it's OK.

This is continued work on deer-resistant, rabbit-resistant flower bed.  The Hyacinthoides, violets, and daffodils, were not eaten. They bloomed nicely.  There is a nice progression, with the Hyacinthoides blooming now.

My hope is that by having a lot of plants that deer and rabbits don't like, the more susceptible plants, like daylilies, will be left alone.  That might be totally wrong.

I read that Mirabilis are deer and rabbit resistant , so maybe they will be a good summer blooming choice.

Mirabilis among other plants.  4.25.14

The Spring bulb foliage will die off as the Mirabilis grows and fills in, so it won't look empty.  That's the plan.

Peppers. 4.25.14

Peppers in raised bed with poly cover.  4.25.14

I removed the Chinese chives from the pepper bed, and replanted them with another bunch of Chinese chives.  That opened up room for 10 more of my pepper starts.  Most of the ones I planted earler are starting to make good growth.  I gave them a dose of diluted home made nitrogen boost.  Tonight looks like rain and chilly so I re-covered with the poly tunnel.  I think I will remove it for next week.  Expected daytime temps in 60s to 80.

I've been carrying pepper plants outside in the am, back inside in the pm.  Also running out of room under the fluorescent lights.  It helps to have these outside now.

Puttering. 4.25.14

Honeybees settling in.

Vancouver Brunswick Fig.  Spring growth.

 Honeybees are lying around the hives.  It look like they are starting to settle in.  Not much going on with foraging.

Vancouver Brunswick fig is making nice growth with little brebas.  This tree spent 2013 recovering from having been moved Dec 2012.  Then new growth was frost killed early 2013.  Then hard freeze late 2013.  But looking good now.  Of the older trees I moved to Battleground, Brunswick and Sal's fig are looking the best.  Petite negri may be dead.  Of the new starts from last year, all were top-killed.  Tiger and Champagne are making new growth from the base.  These may not be as freeze-tolerant as the others, or it might be they were young and I grew them too lush.  So no fertilizing this year.  I will give them more time, but so far Atreano, Smith and Carini look dead.  I have replacements for all of them.

Camassia looking nice.  Why don't more people grow it?  I bought this as one potted plant last spring.  When the  foliage died down, I divided it and replanted.  Now each has 4 new growths.

Potatoes growing lush in the tree-ring wishing wells.   Soon will need to add more soil.

Strawberries in bloom.  Protected from deer and rabbits.  I hope.  Last year they were all eaten off when blooming.

Snowpeas growing fast too.  If not caged, they would also be eaten off.

Camassia.

Potatoes in tree ring wishing well.

Strawberries in bloom.

Champagne fig.  Sprouts from base.

Snowpeas

Grafting Followup. 4.25.14

Apple Graft at 2 months.

 Following up on grafts from late Ferbruary.

Deer browsed one of the Asian pear trees, including a nicely growing graft.  *#&$^%$ Deer.

The apple graft is Jonagold.  The rootstock is a sucker that sprouted from roots of an apple  tree that I cut down.  That tree never bore and was susceptible to fireblight, and too vigorous.  I thought it was dead, but now a few years later there are sprouts from the rootstock.  So I grafted a couple.  I removed the wrap today.  It's not clear when to remove.  Too late and the wrap girdles the tree.  Too early and it might not be healed.

This was growing nicely so I thought it might be healed.  Lucky guess, it is.  Nicely healed whip and tongue graft.  Happy.

This is much better than a cleft graft, which leaves exposed open wounds.

Lilac Graft at 2 months.

Not all of the lilacs took.  This one did.  They are in a hard to reach spot.  This is the best photo I could make.  At least this one is growing.  A couple others are in the "maybe" category.