I’ve been busy planting recently. It’s been a good mix of rain and sun and though it cooled off a bit today, we haven’t had the protracted cold of the last few springs. Knock on wood. It’s tough when plants first go in the ground in May in Seattle, for May is a crapshoot here. Sometimes (rarely) we start summer a month early. And sometimes (often), May and June conspire to break the spirit of all but the bravest gardeners. Those are the fabled lettuce and spinach, mustard and collard and kale years. Peas, they just keep producing, but the tomatoes and the eggplants and the peppers, alas. Such is weather.
In the spirit of spring and warmth and hope, here are some flower photos taken today, in the rain.
Iris douglasiana (Douglas iris) woods north of Cascara Circle
Native Americans used Douglas iris leaves for fiber.
Calycanthus floridus (eastern sweetshrub) woods north of Cascara Circle
Medicinal and aromatic, it’s a fine specimen when flowering.
Hydrophyllum virginianum (waterleaf) section D
Young leaves are edible and astringent roots have been used to treat diarrhea and other intestinal disorders.
Camassia leichtlinii (large camas) section C
There are blue, purple, cream and white forms of Camassia leichtlinii. Bulbs are edible.
Rosa pisocarpa (peafruit rose, cluster rose) Cascara Circle.
The seeds to grow this rose I collected in the mountains near Leavenworth, Washington, on a backpacking trip to Lake Augusta.
Menyanthes trifoliata (bogbean) Cascara Circle
Root is edible, after treatment, in times of famine, best avoided otherwise. The whole plant has been used medicinally for a wide range of ailments.
Lonicera ciliosa (orange honeysuckle) Cascara Circle
Hummingbird, where art thou?
Saxifraga pensylvanica (eastern swamp saxifrage) section E
Young leaves are edible and the roots have been used for medicine.
Rubus ursinus (Pacific blackberry) border areas
The fruit of our Pacific blackberry vines are small but delicious. They’re not quite invasive but they are growing around the garden in many places. Okay, they’re a little bit invasive.
Chrysanthemum coccineum (common pyrethrum) section A
I remember a housemate using a combination of pyrethrum and boric acid to take back control of our house from the cockroaches when I lived in Austin. It worked … sort of. We won the battle but lost the war.
rain on May flowers
this winter’s bleakness banished
or maybe transformed
See you in the garden.