It has been a mild and rainy summer so far. The plants are loving it and so are most gardeners. The sotol plant (Dasylirion wheeleri) reached thirteen feet on the 3rd of July when some of the flowers closest to the bottom of the spike were starting to open. It is now the 10th of July and almost the entire spike is flowering and listing a bit to the west and curling downward.
Sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri) flowers beginning to bloom on July 3rd. The flower spike is thirteen feet tall in this picture.
Almost all of the flowers have opened and the honey bees (Apis mellifera) have found a new favorite place as of July 10th.
Sotol flowers and a few bees, more of whom arrived as the mist cleared up and the sun came out.
If Big Bird were a plant…
Sacahuista (Nolina microcarpa) in a nearby bed is still flowering…
…in fact, its flowers are attracting bees right this very minute.
White sage (Salvia apiana) flowers in the xeriscape bed. They are resting against the decrepit wooden structure that formerly held the sign for the Medicinal Herb Garden.
Tropical soda apple (Solanum viarum) flowering in section C. I will remove and bag and toss in the garbage all fruit before composting this plant in autumn. It can be invasive.
Sticky nightshade (Solanum sisymbriifolium) flowering in the same bed. The edible fruit are surrounded by husks, like ground cherries and tomatillos (Physalis spp.). However, even the husks are thorny on this well-defended plant.
Purple devil (Solanum atropurpreum) flowering in section C. Not sure I want to save seeds from this plant.
Western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) sipping nectar from showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) in section B. Take a whiff of those flowers if you get the chance. I saw showy milkweed growing by the side of the road on the east side of the Cascades, between Methow and Twisp this past weekend. It doesn’t love the west side of the Cascades but it can grow in a well-drained, sandy site, unlike the heavy clay/silt in which it now grows. I will probably have to move it this fall.
Swallowtail on fuller’s teasel (Dipsacus sativus) in section C.
Ripening fruit of the Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa). There are two of them in the garden border areas. They are extremely cold-resistant shrubs, hardy to zone 2, and yet suffer damage to their branch tips each winter. I’m not sure why.
For some unknown reason, the fruit of this Canadian serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) are not hosts to an orange rust or rusts (Gymnosporangium spp.) this year. Okay, a few got the rust but most were fine. I ate some and I can report that they are quite good.
This is supposedly Hindu datura (Datura metel) in section D. It looks a lot like toloache (Datura inoxia)…
… over in section C.
Miquel’s wintergreen (Gaultheria miqueliana) in section A is native from eastern Asia to Alaska and has white fruit that taste similar to the red fruit of American wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) of eastern North America.
Last year in section F, the rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) ate the hong jing tian (Rhodiola kirilowii), but this year they have left it alone…so far.
Oats (Avena sativa) in section F. The birds are afraid of section F because it is an easy place to be caught by a Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperii). At some point the seeds might prove too tempting for a bold bird. Time will tell.
The yellow-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium californicum) is doing so much better in section C where it gets water and sunlight. The red branches in the background are from nearby crevice alumroot (Heuchera micrantha).
Lots of flowers on the flannel bush (Fremontodendron californicum) this year.
It looks like one of the common breadseed poppies (Papaver somniferum) crossed with another cultivar (probably’Danish Flag’) of the same species. That is balloon flower/jie geng (Platycodon grandiflorus) in the background.
Cordate-leaf origanum (Origanum cordifolium) is an endemic subshrub from Cyprus. Look for it in section C.
Eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) in section D is still immature. One of these years it will produce a spathe and spadix.
I think this is a brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) on the
chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa).
on chokeberry leaf
a marmorated stink bug
taking in the view
See you in the garden.
Lovely pictures! I’ll have to come by and see that sotol in the flesh.
Beautiful photos and the captions are wonderfully educational. I always learn something new from your posts. Thank you for this wonderful blog!