"OH, THE SUMMER NIGHT
HAS A SMILE OF LIGHT
& SHE SITS ON A SAPPHITE THRONE."
Barry Cornwall
WELSH POPPY (Papaver cambricum) Seed collecting and flowers blooming Gatehouse seed shed, Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island, WA. June 2024 |
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.
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.
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. |
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
Heirloom Rose "KATHLEEN" Growing on Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA. July 2023 Click image to enlarge. |
Heirloom Rose "HANSEAT" Growing on Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA. July 2023. |
Deadheading is the one profoundly rewarding war. It tidies away the signs of death and encourages yet another show of flowers. It was wonderfully understood by Vita Sackville-West in her garden at Sissinghurst Castle.
"Deadheading roses on a summer evening," she wrote, "is an occupation that carries us back into a calmer age and a different century. Queen Victoria might still be on the throne. There is no sound except the hoot of an owl and the rhythmic snip-snip of our secateurs." Vita Sackville-West
Source:"Summer is a promissory note signed in June,
it's long days spent and gone
before you know it, and due
to be repaid next January.
American writer Hal Borland