Thursday, August 15, 2013

Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon with bee

Rose of Sharon December 2012
 This is the Rose of Sharon - Hibiscus siriacus - that I moved from the Vancouver house to the Battleground place Dec 2012.  It was very late leafing out.  I thought I killed it.  Now it is covered with buds.

Growth this year was about 6 inches to 1 foot.  I imagine next year it will grow faster, having established new roots and adapted to the new location.  It is sunnier and more dry here, so it growth may be more compact.

The prior location was adjacent to the North side if the house.  Now it's in full sun.
Rose of Sharon seedling


I'm impressed with the resilience of some of the shrubs and trees that I moved last year.  It was difficult to get a good root mass from this shrub.  I've pruned it back each year to make it more bushy.  So the trunk was thick.  Even so, I cut about half of the growth.

The white flower, red center, is a seedling grown from the original shrub.  It is about 4 years old.  I planted it at the Battleground place as well.  Not many flowers this year.  Deer ate most of the buds.

The flower is larger than last year.  Might take a while to establish.  I think i like this one more than the original.

The only care these are getting now is some occasional watering.  I may add a deer cage for the winter.

Planting a WIld Pulm Tree, grown from seed.


This wild plum tree was started from seed last summer.  It's now about 4 feet tall.  I'm impressed by the rapid growth.  I waited until I had a chance to build a deer cage, before planting it. 

This may need a pollinator.  I have 3 smaller specimens, started at the same time.  The plan is to plant at least one nearby.

I read that the leaves are a deer favorite.  So it is caged.

I don't know if these will serve as pollinators for my domesticated plums.  It's worth a try.

At this size, maybe it will bear in another season or two or three.  I would like that.


I like growing from seeds, for the genetic diversity and wondering what I will get.  I know they may or may not be good.  Since these are selections of wild plums, not hybrids, they may be more predictable compared to domesticated varieties.

 This photo is from last year, July 2012.  These are the plums.  The tree is down the street from me.  They are the size of a sweet cherry, but are sweeter, juicier, and have a plum flavor.
 After cleaning the seeds, I let them dry for a day.  Then cracked the hulls using a vice-grip.
 There isn't a lot of info about growing wild plums.  I based the hull-cracking method on some web info about other stone fruits.   I placed the naked seeds in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel, and refrigerated.  After about a month, they started to sprout and I planted them in potting soil.

Others were planted directly outside in potting soil.  Those grew more slowly, but they did grow.  They grew late summer 2012.  Not all of the seeds grew.  Maybe half.
This is the seedling late last summer.   I left them outside to overwinter.  No problem.

This Spring the trees grew rapidly.  I potted up as needed, in general purpose organic potting soil.  They've been at the Battleground place for about one month.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Honeybees. Update.

New honeycomb under construction.

Inside the top bar hive.
Today I did some hive maintenance.  Separated each bar.  There was some formation of comb across bars.  The main issue is to get them back to one comb on each bar.

I bought a large knife at a yard sale.  That worked nicely for cutting comb from inappropriate bars.

This time I remembered to smoke the bees.  I think that did help a lot to keep them calm. 

There wasn't as much honey as I expected.  Much of the comb looks empty.  Much of the rest contains pollen.

Irises. Peppers.

Bearded Iris raised beds.
Not much to see with the irises.  Sweet alyssum, marigolds are taking more space than I expected.  Swiss chard is vigorous.  At this size it's a bit bitter.

The bed behind the front bed is gradually being filled with established clumps of bearded irises from the house in Vancouver.   Those are modern varieties.  It will look nice in the Spring.  There is still a row of chili peppers.  Those will stay until frost. 

Pepper "Hungarian hot wax"
I didn't expect the peppers to grow.  Was not able to keep them weeded.  Some are doing quite well.  This is "Hungarian Hot Wax".

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Kitchen Garden

Chinese cucumber
 Selected shots of the kitchen garden.

Chinese cucumber is blooming.  Shouldn't be long before we get some cucumbers.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.  This will be the last of them..  I will savor them.  They are so good.

Cherry tomatoes are bearing a few handfulls now.

Cantaloupe is in bloom.  Whether we get some remains to be seen.
Mulberry Illinois Everbearing

Cherry Tomatoes Sungold and SuperSweet 100
Cantaloupe "Minnesota" miniature

Okra Clemson Spineless
 There are a couple of okra flowers.  If we get just one okra, it will be fun.  The plants that did best were the ones I grew in containers then planted into the raised bed.  The direct seeded plants remain puny.

Not pictured, the swiss chard is big and productive.

The pole beans are just beginning to bloom.


Buddleia review

Buddleia "Miss Ruby"
Buddleia "Peach Cobbler"

Buddleia "Peach cobbler"
 I might have a love/hate thing going with Buddleia.  This winter/spring I bought and planted several. It took some effort to find the "legal", "horticulturally politically correct" varieties.  By that I mean, legal to buy and grow, noninvasive, non-see bearing intergeneric hybrids.  These are patented so can't be grown from cuttings.

My goal was to have a fast growing shrub with nectar bearing flowers for insects and hummingbirds.  Especially honeybees.

Online photos of buddleia flowers are usually cropped or pruned to show the pretty, but not the ugly.  There is a lot of pretty but also a lot of ugly.

As the flowers fade, they turn brown.  They brown from the start to the end, over what seems to be a few weeks.  That leaves a choice:  Deadhead, which removes a lot of 'fresh' flower too, or leave the flower on the plant until it's totally brown, which is not attractive.

These photos show the "pretty", except for the bottom photo that shows the "ugly" too.

I will deadhead them.  There should be lots of new flowers following deadheading.

In my garden, the "Cobbler" type buddleias ("Peach Cobbler" and "Blueberry Cobbler") seem to grow much faster and look more weedy, compared to the "Miss" type buddleias (Miss Molly and Miss Ruby).  The flowers on the "Miss" buddleias are more compact and richer in color.
Buddleia "Blueberry Cobbler"
Bumblebees often visit the buddleias.  I haven't seen honeybees on them at all.
Buddleia "Peach Cobbler"
Hummingbirds also visit them.

Insect photos

Borage with honeybees.

Borage with honeybee.
 The good thing about fatigue is I can sit for a long time with the camera and catch some fleeting insects.  So here we are. 

I don't know the wasps that took over the oregano flowers.  They are a small wasp.  I think they are wasps.
Buddleia X  "Peach cobbler" with bumblebee.

Oregano flowers with wasps?

Another Buddleia  X "Peach Cobbler" with bumblebee.

Sunday, August 04, 2013

Clark County Fair

Antique equipment

Beekeepers Association

Antique saw and antique visitor

Blacksmiths

The goats were my favorite

Judging the goats.



More goats

I want some goats.


In the honey barn.

There were lots of llamas

More llamas.

We're a long way from Peru.

There's Ning.


Ning petting a goat.


Petting another goat.

Petting a chicken.  A strange looking chicken.

Petting a sheep.


He's thinking...  "How do I get out of here and into Daniel's garden?"



Veggies.

More Veggies.

Saturday, August 03, 2013

Bee Forage. 8/3/2013

Bee Garden

Agasstache
 I've been sick this week.  No gardening this weekend.

OK, except.  Fred Meyer had perennials at 3 for price of 2, so I bought 3 6inch pots.  Sedum - in bud.  Agastache, in bloom.  Another Caryopteris.  Not in bud or bloom  The plant I bought earlier has been blooming steadily and is regularly covered by bees.  There is time for this one to bloom and provide forage.

Catnip is blooming.  Some bee foraging.
Oregano continues.  Lots and lots of foraging bees.
Caryopteris continues.  Lots of foraging bees.
Buddleia continues.  occasional bumblebees.
Borage just started this week.  Frequent honeybees.
Thistle started this week.  Frequent honeybees.

Bees are ignoring the Perosvkia, and Melissa, now blooming actively.
Bumblebee on Caryopteris

Bee on Catnip

Borage