Merry Christmas Greetings and thank you for the great year! The Shaw Island Gatehouse. |
Shaw Island Gatehouse
In celebration of gardens and wild botanicals of Shaw Island, please view photos, cultural, and historical notes for seeds from a cross-section of island gardens and wild places. The posts listed here aid in cultivating the herbs and flower seeds bound in handmade packets at the shed along Reefnet Bay Road, in the spring, summer, and fall. There are also a few articles in the history timeline that help us remember some of the pioneer gardeners and the crops they grew.
25 December 2024
15 December 2024
WINTER TREES
A Magnolia "Black Tulip" photographed 15 December 2024, at the Gatehouse garden close to the upper Moongate, waiting for gentle March mornings.
Poem by William Carlos Williams, American physician and writer.
03 November 2024
A CERTAIN RELIEF
Warm Shaw Island Colors November 2024 |
"More often than not, there is a certain relief when summer is over. It so seldom lives up to our exaggerated expectations. But autumn is a season of which nobody ever expects or remembers much and it can thus spring on us frequent and pleasant surprises."
The late, great English writer/gardener Christopher Lloyd,The Well-Tempered Garden.
26 June 2024
SUMMER
06 May 2024
FOXGLOVES
CAROL'S FOXGLOVES (Digitalis purpurea, mixed.) Gatehouse Garden, Reefnet Cove Road, Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA. 1 June 2018. See packets available at the stand. |
"Some of the common names of the foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, date back to early days when fairies and evil spirits were familiar presences, while others have a Christian character. They are folk's gloves, witches' gloves, fairy gloves, fairy caps, fairy thimbles, dead men's bells, bloody fingers, and gloves of our lady. Because the plants are biennial, in their first year they produce only the basal rosette of leaves.
During the second summer stems four feet high [+] appear, bearing a spire two feet long of nodding two-lipped flowers that grow on one side of the stem. The entire plant is softly hairy. When grown in semi-shade or sparse woods, conditions similar to its wild haunts, foxglove will self-sow freely.
Helen M. Fox, The Years in my Herb Garden©1953 by the Macmillan Co.
12 April 2024
"Every Gardener Knows –
under the cloak of winter, lies a miracle – a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream."
Barbara Winkler, American author.
"Checkered Lily" or "Guinea-hen flower" (potted Fritillaria meleagris) Photographed with the 5:00 p.m. sun of 8 April 2024 Gatehouse Garden Shaw Island, WA. |
In the Pacific Northwest, we have the native Chocolate Lily (Fritallaria lanceolata) growing in the San Juan Archipelago to view in their chosen wild habitat.
Bulbs of the "Chocolate Lily" were eaten by the Coast Salish after steaming in pits or, more recently, boiled in metal pots. The bulblets are said to be tender and delicate, resembling rice, except for having a slightly bitter taste. Pojar and MacKinnon (1994) note these flowers, also known as "mission bells" are quite rare in many places and should be left undisturbed.
27 September 2023
HARVEST TIME IS HERE
13 September 2023
BRINGING UP THE COW'S TAIL
Wild Douglas Aster (Symphyotrichum subspicatum) Photographed 12 September 2023. Gatehouse garden Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA. Click image to enlarge. |
The last native wildflower seeds to be harvested for the Gatehouse this year––the highly noted Douglas Aster. Highly regarded by gardeners who like to feed a large cross-section of visiting pollinators while knowing this perennial is low maintenance, deer-resistant, and adaptable to conditions of full sun or part shade.
The plant featured in the above photograph was grown by direct seeding, broadcast from Shaw Island wild-collected seed. Easy street. Cast out in autumn or spring in this hardiness zone of 8b.
Fresh seeds for fall planting are now installed at the Gatehouse Seed shed, Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island, WA. |
More particulars about the cultivation of this plant can be seen with earlier posts on this site