SUMMER WHITE OVER THE GARDEN GATE

Clematis montana
wilsonii "Peveril"
Growing on Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.,
USDA Zone: 8b.
 for this photograph taken 
7 June 2023. 

She casts slight fragrance and
stretches the blooming season
of the species Clematis montana.
Soon a bounty of fresh 
ripe seeds will be on the vine.

Worth a try after reading 
Clematis, The Montanas;
A book for Gardeners.
John Howells, M.D. 2005  
Garden Art Press.
A division of 
Antique Collectors' Club.

"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

Clematis montana
Wilsonii "Pevril"
Mature seeds harvested 
7 July 2025.
Shaw Island grown.

BOWLES' GOLDEN GRASS

 

Remember this post from pre-Covid days? The seeds are back at the Gatehouse since the grass is stunning in the garden after a long, gray winter & early spring. The golden leaves are trying hard to shine out and cover up a rotting Alder stump. One of my favorite domestic grasses.

It is featured in a spring 2023 issue of the luscious British magazine Gardens Illustrated.

Bowles' Golden Grass
(Milium effusum 'Aureum')

A colorful grass worth knowing.
Click image to enlarge and view
the thin spray of dainty seeds
bringing magic to the garden.

Photo was taken in the evening
rain of 20 May 2019.
Save the seeds to sprinkle around
in the shadier places in your woodland
garden or snip the stems into a bag,
if you wish to control the numbers.
 for some strange reason.
Deer resistant and pathetically easy.
Back on the rack at the
Shaw Island Gatehouse,
Reefnet Bay Road, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Botanical name: Milium effusum ‘Aureum’
Native Region: Garden origin. Prefers open woodland.
Zone Range: 6-9
Type: Perennial grass.
Bloom Description: As the season progresses tiny golden, bead-like flowers on thin stems gracefully create a delicate sparkle of gold.
Maintenance: Easy.
Tolerates: Deer.

Notes:
Most grasses and grass-like plants require full sun, but this semi-evergreen grass is the exception to the rule. The bonus is that the delicate chartreuse leaves will brighten a shady corner in any garden. Sow seeds in fall or spring, by just broadcasting out where you would like to see them germinate in situ. Best grown in partial but will take full shade. Self-seeds freely, but is very easy to control.
If it gets messy looking in the heat of high summer, just use scissors to snip back the delicate foliage.
This grass comes true from seed propagation.

RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM.)

The common name "Bowles Golden Grass" is to honor E. A. Bowles, a British horticulturist, plantsman, and garden writer who introduced this variety into cultivation. It was considered one of his best finds when he introduced this yellow form of wood millet.

"E. A. Bowles, (1865-1954) 
Edward Augustus (Gus or Gussie) Bowles, known professionally as E. A. Bowles, was a British horticulturist, plantsman, and garden writer. He developed an important garden at Myddelton House, his lifelong home in Enfield, Middlesex and his name has been preserved in many varieties of plants.
 E. A. Bowles was born at his family's home, Myddelton House. He was of Huguenot descent through his maternal great-grandmother and his father, Henry Carrington Bowles was Chairman of the New River Company, which until 1904 controlled the artificial waterway that flowed past Myddelton, bringing water to London from the River Lea. 

      Through his elder brother Henry, Bowles was the great uncle of Andrew Parker Bowles (born 1939), whose first wife, Camilla Shand, became Duchess of Cornwall on her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales in 2005.

 
      Bowles gave his name to upwards of forty varieties of plants, and there are others that originated with him. For example, he named a Hellebore 'Gerrard Parker' after a local art master, Crocus tommasinianus 'Bobbo' after the boy who first spotted it, and Rosmarinus officinalis 'Miss Jessopp's Upright' after a gardening neighbor.

 Erysimum 'Bowles' Mauve' was among "200 plants for 200 years" chosen by the RHS to mark its bicentenary in 2004 and, to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the Chelsea Flower Show in 2013 was shortlisted (from among introductions between 1973-83) as one of ten "plants of the centenary".
 Other significant introductions included Viola 'Bowles' Black', cotton lavender 'Edward Bowles' (Santolina pinnata subsp. neopolitana). Vita Sackville-West cites the yellow and brown Crocus chrysanthus 'E.A. Bowles' as among the first bulbs to flower in her garden at Sissinghurst, while another spring plant, the slow-growing Muscari 'Bowles's Peacock', is commended by Richard Hobbs, holder of the British National Plant Collection of Muscari. 


      E. A. Bowles brought into cultivation several other yellow-leaved grasses and sedges. He also introduced a golden form of the wood sedge, Luzula sylvatica 'Aurea' and found Carex elata 'Aurea' on Wicken Fen, one of his favourite hunting grounds. 
      It has been described by another doyen of plantsmen, Christopher Lloyd, as "a plant to treasure, its colour changing in unexpected ways". 


      In 1908 Bowles was elected to the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), whose grounds at Wisley, Surrey, now contain a memorial garden to him. Bowles received the society's highest award, the Victoria Medal of Honour, in 1916 and was a Vice-President from 1926 until his death almost thirty years later. RHS colleagues knew him as 'Bowley'.
"

"FIREWORKS FROM THE FOURTH" :::::::::: RED POPPIES

 

"Fireworks from the Fourth"
Papaver somniferum
a.k.a. "Breadseed poppy."
Click the image to enlarge.
Seeds were lightly broadcast in the 
garden in the cold winter of 2021-'22.
Then, here they came, 
blooming at the Gatehouse garden,
in time for the Fourth of July parade,
July of 2022.
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island, WA. 
Thank you, Nancy, for this heirloom  
iron artifact from your family farm.
It has settled into a life of
light duty in this garden.

Papaver somniferum
("Fireworks from the Fourth")
Capsules of ripening seeds,
Gatehouse garden,
Shaw Island, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Click this image to enlarge.
Ripened seeds are now 
available at the Gatehouse shed.

"Breadseed poppies"
(Papaver somniferum)
Red, Red, Red
with shimmering, silky petals. 
A fresh crop of organic seeds,
 available while they last 
at Gatehouse Seeds,
USDA Zone 8-b.
Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Shaw Island nickname: "Fireworks from the Fourth"

Botanical name: Papaver somniferum

Plant type: Hardy annual.

Flowers: late spring to early summer.

Foliage: broad lettuce-like leaves.

Height: 24"-36"

Position: Full sun for best flowering.

Attracts: Pollinator bees and butterflies but NOT deer.

Sowing: Direct broadcasting, thinly, in late winter, where they are to grow.

Roots are very sensitive; the seedlings do not transplant well.

Soil: fertile/well-draining. Enrich with manure, compost, or organic fertilizer rich in Nitrogen in the beginning. At 8 weeks, fertilize with high Phosphorus for flowering.

Notes: Will readily self-seed. If, for some strange reason, that is not desired, deadhead the pods before they ripen.

There are many cultivars, all of which grow well from seed. If they are near others of the same genus, the original colours will be crossed by the pollinators and your colors will be muddled.

This firecracker red is the only somniferum growing at the Gatehouse garden, so it should ring true.

Uses: Pods are beautiful in flower arrangements. Flowers suited for cottage and informal gardens.

Origin: According to Seedaholic (U.K.), the poppy was cultivated in Europe since the Neolithic era, thousands of years ago. Probably one of the earliest plants cultivated in that region.

JULY = = = = = THE MONTH OF THE ROSE

"In the garden

mystery glows

the secret is hidden

in the rose."

Farid Ud-din Attar

 

ROSA GLAUCA
known for the beautiful
blue-green foliage and no black spot.
Photographed on Shaw Island 
end of June 2022.
Seeds are available at the 
Gatehouse Seed Shed,
Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, WA.
This species rose germinates easily 
from seed and will often
self-seed to supply "littles" 
 to share with friends.
This plant is on the 
Elizabeth Miller Library's
(U of W, Seattle, WA.) 
Great Plant Picks.
Click this link for the 
outstanding qualities.
Great Plant Picks

HAPPY EASTER :::: One Hundred Years Later

 

Avalanche Lillies
(Erythronium oregonum)
Growing wild, then and now, on Shaw Island.
Eleanor Bruns and her Easter bouquet 
1922 along Blind Bay, Shaw Island, WA.
The next year she was married at home
to her grade-school sweetheart.
Click the image to enlarge.

SEEDS COMING IN for Autumn 2021

 

Malcolm Cameron (1902-1975)
"Winter Storage"

Cameron's Shaw Island reefnet boats  
escort the last crop of seeds harvested; 
Rosa glauca heps,
Yansen farm fat Cardoon pods,
pods of perennial Sweet Peas,
as they also hunker down for winter storage.
A healthy supply for the Gatehouse seed rack,
Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Fourteen October 2021.
Thanks, Diana.

"Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable––the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown across the street by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese."
       American writer Hal Borland.

A "V" of migrating geese were seen flying east over the Yansen farm yesterday headed for their safe "winter storage" in the Skagit River valley. 

CHILEAN LOBELIA TUPA , long-tall-sally

Chilean Lobelia tupa
Growing on Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Unenhanced photograph.
September 2021

Chilean Lobelia tupa  

A survivor for several winters
on Shaw Island, WA.
 (USDA Zone 9.)
Photo was taken August 2021.
Click image to enlarge.

Seed packets are available at 
Gatehouse Seeds, Reefnet Bay Road,
 Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Botanical name: Lobelia tupa

Chilean name: Tabaco del diablo

Common names: "Chilean Lobelia,"  "Devil's tobacco"

Family: Campanulaceae

Origin: Chile

Plant type: Herbaceous perennial

Hardiness: to USDA Zone 07-10

Mature size in 10 years: 8 feet high and 4 feet wide.

Exposure: Sun

Bloom time: July-October.

Moisture needs: Average. Drought tolerant but appreciates occasional watering.

Attracts: Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds

Resistant to: Aphids, rabbits, slugs, and snails.

Culture: Very easy. Grows to 2 meters very quickly, at least in Chile. Short dry periods of not more than 1 month. Prefers good drainage but is undemanding, and will grow in almost any type of soil, including heavy clay soils.

Features: Very large, felted gray-green leaves and strange-looking, beautiful red flowers which bloom for a long time.

The best method of propagation for this striking specimen is from seed.

Spring sowing: Lobelia seeds need light to germinate. Leave them on the surface or cover them with a thin layer of vermiculite. Cover with film and mist every day. Emergence in ca. three weeks. Once 3-4" high and well-rooted, carefully lift and pot on into 4-5" pots with free-draining compost. Grow on for a month or so and then harden off for a week before planting outside. Delay if there is any chance of a late frost. 

Avoid winter wet locations. Cut flower seed stalks to the ground once the foliage begins to fade in autumn. 

Winterizing: The cut stalks are useful for a winter blanket in the Pacific Northwest, along with a few fir branches with needles on top for a covering with ventilation. This method of winter protection for the Lobelia has succeeded since 2017 for the specimen growing at the Gatehouse garden in USDA Zone 9, not tropical.

There are 300 species of Lobelia, mostly tropical and sub-tropical–they belong to the bluebell family, Campanulaceae. Some are highly prized as garden ornamentals and nectar for hummingbirds. 
Chilean Lobelia tupa is one of the favored plants growing at the Gatehouse garden along Reefnet Bay Road, a darling–tall, colorful, and comes back to greet us in the Spring. 

Uses: excellent ornamental value.

💀💀💀💀According to Michail Belov of Chileflora.com, this plant is poisonous. "It was used by the Mapuche natives as a ritual plant, the leaves of which were smoked. It has two medicinal effects, narcotic and analgesic (especially for toothache), but the whole plant is poisonous, so we must be careful with it."

Chilean Lobelia tupa

A.K.A. "Devil's Tobacco"
packets available at Gatehouse Seeds,
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

YANSEN FARM LUPINES

 

End-of-season
Two-toned Lupine blooming on the
Yansen Farm,
USDA Hardiness Zone 8-b
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
photo courtesy of Diana.
July 2021.

Common name: Big Leaf Lupine

Botanical name: Lupinus polyphyllus x Russell hybrids.

Life cycle: Hardy perennial

Hardiness zone range: USDA 03-10

Native growing region: Western North America

Preferred climate: Temperate

Soil type: well-drained, moist to wet.

Sun: Full sun to partial shade.

Height: 3-4-ft

Blooms: Early to mid-summer in shades of bi-color pink and blue-purple.

Tolerates: Drought and usually deer resistant.

Degree of difficulty: Easy to grow and one of the easiest perennials to propagate from seed.

Description: According to Diana these are vigorous, self-seeding plants.

Attracts: Pollinators, hummingbirds.

Germination: 7-14 days.

Planting: Tough seed coat so nick lightly with sandpaper or soak in water overnight. Plant outdoors only 1/4" deep where they receive full sun. Lupines have long tap roots so plant in their permanent location. Thin to 18-24 inches.

Notes: This plant is an important food for larvae of some butterflies; wildlife eat some of the mature seeds following the bloom cycle.

Lupine seeds have been unpacked 

from their mature pods and

 installed in new packets.

They are colorful, nitrogen-fixing, 

pollinator-friendly

plants growing on Shw Island.

Available at Gatehouse Seeds,

Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island, WA.

 

SEED SOWING

Gatehouse Globe Thistle 
(Echinops bannaticus)
Island seeds being packed 
for winter-spring planting.
Gatehouse shed on 
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island.

My idea of heaven is to spend the cold winter evenings going through the Chiltern's seed catalogue. Even if I don't order much, the knowledge gained from such a publication is time well spent. I try to order the seeds of at least five unfamiliar plants. Seed is relatively inexpensive and the surprise of success is fun.
          Most of our seeds are started on a heat table in an unheated greenhouse. Hardy perennials are started at the end of January but I wait until the end of March to sow my annual seeds. It does not help to start annuals too soon, most of them cannot be planted out until mid-May anyway.
          I make up a general seed starting mix by screening 2-parts potting soil and 1-part peat moss through a 3/4inch screen. I fill 4-inch plastic pots with the mixture. Since different seeds vary in their germination time it is better to have them in separate pots rather than several in one large tray. After filling the pots compress the soil a bit and then water until the soil is soaked through. This creates a smooth and even surface on which to sprinkle the seeds.
          The general rule of thumb for seed sowing is to cover the seed with a layer of soil the thickness of the seed. Big seeds like cardoon get a good 3/8-inch of soil cover. Fine seeds get about 1/8-inch. I water the seeds gently after sowing and put them in the greenhouse on the heat table. A good temperature for germinating most seeds is 70 degrees. Small propagating mats are available at Charley's Greenhouse.
          When the seedlings have developed their first set of true leaves they are transplanted into their own 4-inch pots. If they are to go into the garden within a couple of weeks they can go into six-pack pots.
          I always have a surplus of plants that I have grown from seed. How could something so huge come from such a little pack of seeds? Do I really need all those plants? It is the lure of all those plants in January that is so irresistible. I guess this is the point at which people end up starting their own nurseries. Well, Molbaks can rest easy, I am not planning on quitting my day job.

Jennifer Titus
Seed Sowing
Courtesy of The Social Gardner
The Journal of the Whatcom Horticultural Society
Vol. 10.No.1 Spring 1998. Verbatim.

And lots more protected in lidded jars 

in the seed shed,

while we enjoy the humid season.

Stop by the Gatehouse,

Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island.

GATEHOUSE GLOBE THISTLE

 

Globe Thistle

(Echinops bannaticus)

Ripening her seeds

in the Gatehouse garden 

on Shaw Island,

Reefnet Bay Road, 

San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Summer 2020 

Scientific Name: Echinops bannaticus 'Taplow Blue'

Life cycle: Herbaceous perennial 

Native Range: Central and S.E. Europe; Central Asia

Zone: 3-8

Height: 3'-5'

Bloom time: July to September

Degree of Difficulty: Easy

Water: Needs little to no supplemental water.

Soil: Good drainage is important.

Flower: Upright, showy; good for cutting; good dried, if harvested before the seeds scatter.

Fertilizer: No fertilizer for the Globe Thistle. Plants may flop in conditions too rich.

Attracts: Butterflies, bees, and gardeners. These flowers are an important source of nectar but also provide food as a host plant for painted lady butterflies (see below.)

Tolerates: drought, dry, rocky soil, and deer!!

Growing from seeds: Sow outdoors, where germination will occur naturally in the spring. If starting inside, stratify seeds in the refrigerator for the best germination. Use large cell packs to accommodate the long tap roots that begin to form after germination. The seeds need light to germinate so cover with only a very thin layer of compost.

Notes: This is an eye-catching yet undemanding perennial for the back of a mixed border. Monet grew this at Giverny.

"Painted Lady"
underside

"Painted Lady"
upperside

Gatehouse Globe Thistle
(Echinops bannaticus 'Taplow Blue' )

seed packets coming together for 
Gatehouse Seeds, Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

CAPTAIN LESLIE'S INULA

Captain Leslie's Inula 
(Inula helenium)

7 feet of vertical growth
on Shaw Island,
summer of 2020.
Unenhanced photo.
Courtesy of rhizomes shared by
friend Leslie, Port Townsend, WA.

ELECAMPANE
(Inula helenium)

Seed harvest from the perennial herb 
in the above photograph.
Location: the Gatehouse pollinator garden,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Courtesy of Captain Leslie.

New on the racks for 2020-2021

Common names: Elecampane, Elfdock, Horse-Heal.
Botanical name: Inula helenium 

Life cycle: Perennial medicinal herb.

Hardiness Zone: 3-8 
Native: to Europe and Asia 
Flowers: Bright, golden heads in July. 
Maintenance: Easy.
Tolerates: DEER!
Soil: Prefers moist, rich soil. Can tolerate part shade.
Seeding: direct sow in fall or spring. Needs light for germination.

Rhizomes: Wait for the third year before harvesting when they are large and potent. The plant will spread, but not aggressively.

Notes: In France and Switzerland the roots are used for flavoring absinthe.

Kaiser Permanente reports the roots are traditionally used to treat coughs associated with asthma. (Yes, accessed September 2020.)
The flowers attract pollinators; what a good plant to grow for people and pollinators. The history of this plant goes back to the days of the Bronze Age in Britain.

Seed packets of Inula helenium
now on the rack at Gatehouse Seeds,
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island,
center of the San Juan Archipelago, WA.
September 2020. 

🌿 Little Sparks from Bowles' Golden Grass

These seeds are back at the Gatehouse since the grass is stunning in the garden after a long, gray winter & early spring. The golden leaves are trying hard to shine out and cover up a rotting Alder stump. One of my favorite domestic grasses.

It is featured in a spring 2023 issue of the luscious British magazine Gardens Illustrated.

Bowles' Golden Grass
(Milium effusum 'Aureum')
A colorful grass worth knowing.
Click image to enlarge and view
the thin spray of dainty seeds
bringing magic to the garden.

Photo was taken in the evening
rain of 20 May 2019.
Save the seeds to sprinkle around
in the shadier places in your woodland
garden or snip the stems into a bag,
if you wish to control the numbers.
 for some strange reason.
Deer resistant and pathetically easy.
Back on the rack at the
Shaw Island Gatehouse,
Reefnet Bay Road, 
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Botanical name: Milium effusum ‘Aureum’
Native Region: Garden origin. Prefers open woodland.
Zone Range: 6-9
Type: Perennial grass.
Bloom Description: As the season progresses tiny golden, bead-like flowers on thin stems gracefully create a delicate sparkle of gold.
Maintenance: Easy.
Tolerates: Deer.

Notes:
Most grasses and grass-like plants require full sun, but this semi-evergreen grass is the exception to the rule. The bonus is that the delicate chartreuse leaves will brighten a shady corner in any garden. Sow seeds in fall or spring, by just broadcasting out where you would like to see them germinate in situ. Best grown in partial but will take full shade. Self-seeds freely, but is very easy to control.
If it gets messy looking in the heat of high summer, just use scissors to snip back the delicate foliage.
This grass comes true from seed propagation.

RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM.)

The common name "Bowles Golden Grass" is to honor E. A. Bowles, a British horticulturist, plantsman, and garden writer who introduced this variety into cultivation. It was considered one of his best finds when he introduced this yellow form of wood millet.

"E. A. Bowles, (1865-1954) 
Edward Augustus (Gus or Gussie) Bowles, known professionally as E. A. Bowles, was a British horticulturist, plantsman, and garden writer. He developed an important garden at Myddelton House, his lifelong home in Enfield, Middlesex and his name has been preserved in many varieties of plants.
 E. A. Bowles was born at his family's home, Myddelton House. He was of Huguenot descent through his maternal great-grandmother and his father, Henry Carrington Bowles was Chairman of the New River Company, which until 1904 controlled the artificial waterway that flowed past Myddelton, bringing water to London from the River Lea. 

      Through his elder brother Henry, Bowles was the great uncle of Andrew Parker Bowles (born 1939), whose first wife, Camilla Shand, became Duchess of Cornwall on her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales in 2005.

 
      Bowles gave his name to upwards of forty varieties of plants, and there are others that originated with him. For example, he named a Hellebore 'Gerrard Parker' after a local art master, Crocus tommasinianus 'Bobbo' after the boy who first spotted it, and Rosmarinus officinalis 'Miss Jessopp's Upright' after a gardening neighbor.

 Erysimum 'Bowles' Mauve' was among "200 plants for 200 years" chosen by the RHS to mark its bicentenary in 2004 and, to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the Chelsea Flower Show in 2013 was shortlisted (from among introductions between 1973-83) as one of ten "plants of the centenary".
 Other significant introductions included Viola 'Bowles' Black', cotton lavender 'Edward Bowles' (Santolina pinnata subsp. neopolitana). Vita Sackville-West cites the yellow and brown Crocus chrysanthus 'E.A. Bowles' as among the first bulbs to flower in her garden at Sissinghurst, while another spring plant, the slow-growing Muscari 'Bowles's Peacock', is commended by Richard Hobbs, holder of the British National Plant Collection of Muscari. 


      E. A. Bowles brought into cultivation several other yellow-leaved grasses and sedges. He also introduced a golden form of the wood sedge, Luzula sylvatica 'Aurea' and found Carex elata 'Aurea' on Wicken Fen, one of his favourite hunting grounds. 
      It has been described by another doyen of plantsmen, Christopher Lloyd, as "a plant to treasure, its colour changing in unexpected ways". 


      In 1908 Bowles was elected to the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), whose grounds at Wisley, Surrey, now contain a memorial garden to him. Bowles received the society's highest award, the Victoria Medal of Honour, in 1916 and was a Vice-President from 1926 until his death almost thirty years later. RHS colleagues knew him as 'Bowley'.
"

OCTOBER on Shaw Island

Japanese Maple "Polly"
(Acer palmatum)

A grown-up maple tree
from a Polly Robertson seedling,
a part-time resident who mailed
 a box ofher seedlings to contribute
to the first fundraising plant sale
on Shaw Island.
A talented gardener with a great heart.
Over $1,000 was raised to landscape
 the Community Building
in the mid-1980s.
Photo anno twenty-five October 2018
Shaw Island, San Juan County, WA.

"In October, a maple tree before your window lights up your room like a great lamp.

Even on cloudy days, its presence helps to dispel the gloom."

           John Burroughs.

THEY COULD BE WITH US 'TIL FROST

"Nasturtiums, who colored you,

you wonderful, glowing thing?

You must have been fashioned 

out of summer sunsets."

Lucy Maud Montgomery

Offspring of Mary Lou's Nasturtiums
enjoying a visit with Angel's Asters
this day 26 September 2018.
Photo courtesy of Shaw Island grower, Angel.

Tropaeolum majus
There are many varieties. The trailing one Mary Lou shared
from her hothouse liked to climb & stretch to let us know she
was keen to grow and self-seed. But never invasively.
Mary Lou's parent flowers from four years ago can be seen HERE
New seeds are for sale in handmade packets
at the Gatehouse, Squaw Bay Road, Shaw Island.

from themicrogardener.com

      

FLOWERING TOBACCO –– Head of the Class

FLOWERING TOBACCO
(Nicotiana sylvestris)

Nicotiana sylvestris 'Only the Lonely.’
Blooming in mid-July
at the Gatehouse garden,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.
At this writing, at least 4' tall, fragrant,
and winning the trial for DEER RESISTANCE
in this fall season when faithful Foxgloves
 have finished with their bloom cycle.
Don't tell me white flowers are boring.
Second generation now blooming
at this garden on Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Save the packet in the fridge for early
spring broadcasting.
Photo from the Gatehouse garden July 2019.

Botanical name: Nicotiana sylvestris 'Only the Lonely'

Life Cycle: Tender perennial.

Native Growing Region: Northwestern Argentina

Zone: Winter hardy USDA 7 to 10

Bloom Time: Depending on the weather, sometimes from June until frost.

Flower: Showy clusters of pendant white flowers that look like a burst of fireworks. Most fragrant in the evening.

Spread: 1-2'

Foliage: Dramatic. Huge chartreuse to green leaves. Larger in the shade.

Maintenance: Low. Easy, "throw and grow."

Description: Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM.) The stems and root systems are strong enough that the plants can lean at severe angles without requiring a stake, some say, but this 5 footer has a slender stake to 
support her lifestyle.

Tolerates: Shaw Island deer! Rutgers Agricultural Station has rated this plant as RARELY touched by deer. There are hundreds of island deer who actually do leave this plant unmolested.

Degree of difficulty: EASY.

Garden uses: Good for fresh flower arrangements. Use in masses at the back of the annual or mixed border as a stunning backdrop for smaller plants, as a tall accent plant, or in a large mixed container. It is right at home in a cottage garden and is natural for a moon garden.

Notes: This species self-seeds readily but the seedlings are easy to identify and pull if unwanted. Volunteer plants are not a problem in cold climates. Thrives in all types of soils with moderate moisture but prefers rich soils.

The genus name honors Jean Nicot (1530-1600), the French ambassador to
Lisbon who introduced tobacco to France. The specific epithet means forest-loving.

Uses: Cultivated as an ornamental plant. All parts of Nicotiana sylvestris can cause discomfort or irritation if consumed, according to Wikipedia.

Sowing: It is easily grown from seed, either sown indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost or sown directly in the garden after the last frost. Surface sow the seeds and barely cover, as they need light to germinate. Germination should take place between 1.5-3 weeks.

Quote:

"I could not live comfortably without flowering tobacco. The best flowering tobacco by far is Nicotiana sylvestris, the woodland tobacco from Argentina. A fine plant either for the mixed border or for pot culture on decks or patios, it rises in a pyramid as much as five feet above its enormous pale green lower leaves. Its pure white, long tubular blossoms are pyrotechnic, exploding in a circle in tiered whorls at the top of sturdy branching stems. Its delicious scent grows stronger at night when the somewhat drooping flowers lift upward to greet the moths that are their pollinators."

Allen Lacy, The Inviting Garden. New York, Henry Hold and Co. 1998.

FLOWERING TOBACCO

Nicotiana sylvestris
The minuscule seeds are harvested, sifted,
& packed in glassine paper for sale at 
Gatehouse Seeds, Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, Washington.

❖ AN ISLAND ROSE GIVING UP HER SEEDS ❖

Species Rose
Rosa glauca
Shaw Island garden
June 2012.

Botanical and common name: Rosa glauca

Type: Deciduous shrub.

Active Range: South & Central Europe to Caucasus.

Zone: 6-9

Height: 6-8ft.

Bloom time: May to June.

Bloom Description: Soft pink.

Water: medium.

Maintenance: Easy.

Attracts: birds, butterflies.

Fruit: Showy

Disease resistance: excellent against black spot and mildew.

Culture: 
This rose self-seeds, but not as a pest. Best grown in organically rich, medium moisture, well-draining loam. Best foliage color may be in part shade. At least this is one rose that will tolerate part shade. Water deeply and regularly (avoid overhead.)

Noteworthy characteristics—Rosa glauca is a species rose that is grown in gardens today for its attractive glaucous purple foliage and tiny, soft pink flowers. Many gardeners consider the foliage to be the best ornamental feature. Flowers are followed by abundant orange-red hips that ripen in the fall & usually persist well into winter. Reddish-violet canes have very few thorns.

Garden uses–– Excellent as a specimen or in small groups. Place at the rear of a perennial border. Naturalize in open woodland or shade gardens, shrub borders, hedges.

Introduced in 1789.

The Elizabeth C. Miller Library at the University of Washington includes Rosa glauca on their Great Plant Picks list and recommends Rosa glauca for every garden. 

Rosa glauca 
with her vibrant autumn hips.
Shaw Island Gatehouse 24 September 2018

Seed packets of Rosa glauca
 now for sale at the Gatehouse shed,
Squaw Bay Road, Shaw Island.
These self-seed under a parent plant
so that means this species is
very easy to casually sow and grow.

🌿 June in the Woods 🌿

Foxgloves
(Digitalis purpurea)
Making seeds for next year,
Shaw Island Gatehouse
Reefnet Bay Road,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.
Anno One June two thousand and eighteen

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world 
where it was always June."

L.M. Montgomery.

Digitalis purpurea 
with Rhododendron 'Blue Frost'
Shaw Island Gatehouse Garden
Foxglove seeds are the easiest to germinate,
a true 'throw and grow" enjoying a touch of shade
and some damp soil. Watch out for slugs.
Anno one June 2018

🌿 MAY ONE 🌿 2018

Clematis montana 'rubens'
over the deer-gate entry into Angel's garden.
Anno 10 May 2018
Shaw Island, WA.

In 1987, the well-known Seattle-based gardening columnist, Ann Lovejoy, came to Shaw Island for those keen to hear about her new book The Year in Bloom; Sasquatch Books, spring 1987. A book of instruction for gardeners of all abilities to celebrate one of the most ideal growing climates on earth (zone 8b for most of this wonderful rock.)
      One reviewer stated, "This is the book that inspired me to create a real garden. This is the best book that Lovejoy has written [out of c. 18] to actually communicate the fun of gardening and to help with plant selections if you live in the northwest."
      One gardener in the Shaw Island community just told me it was the words of Ann that inspired her to plant Clematis montana––the essay from the month of March pages 41-44, with thanks to Ann, is included below:
"The Clematis (KLEM-a-tis is preferred) family album is a fat one with over 200 species and many hybrids represented in dazzling array, dominated by the florid summer-blooming beauties with enormous blossoms and a relatively short but spectacular season. They are all lovely, if perhaps a bit obvious, but I have a preference for some of the less insistent members of the clan. One of the really rewarding ones is Clematis montana, a strong and splendid deciduous vine that deserves a place of prominence. Nursery people tell me that it is not a good seller because gardeners want the larger-flowered kinds. I feel sure that once seen, this early bloomer would be in demand. It is perfectly true that the flowers are not showboats, but C. montana and several other seldom-seen species Clematis have charms and strengths which make them as good or better choices for most gardens than the big, flashy hybrids that hog the limelight.
      My vine is now in full bloom, a great glory of pale blossoms. It has built up to this performance over the past month and will continue well into May with a light spangling of flowers all summer [?] Just now one can hardly see the leaves for the closely packed flowers. These look a bit like dogwood with their four rounded petals. This is a flower to savor and appreciate at close hand, a few floating in a flat bowl or tucked with a sprig of leaves into a bud vase for inspiration.  

Clematis montana
May Day on the boatshop,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.

    
      The leaves are a definite point in its favor, a good strong green with a matte finish rippled and veined giving an interesting light-catching texture, faintly hairy, which gives a silvery glimmer to the edges and undersides as they move in the wind.
      A beauty of this vine is that of the seedheads left by the passing flowers. As petals fall, long strands of silky floss emerge, furry beards which function like dandelion fuzz, parachutes to transport the tiny seeds. These persist a long time and can make a striking winter feature on vines grown in a sheltered corner out of the wind. 
      If potted up, these Chineses natives are very strong growers and will throw their arms in happy flowering trails over an arbor, a fence or a trellis. Since they bloom on old wood, any pruning or shaping should be done just after the spring show is past. They will stand being cut back quite heavily but like to have a full summer to recover. All Clematis like to have a cool root-run but want to grow into the sun.
      Give new Clematis a deeply dug bed, adding compost, lots of peat moss, and some sand or gravel to the soil to make a rich but fast-draining medium for the roots. Where the soil is acid, as it generally is throughout the maritime Northwest, add a good handful of lime, incorporating it well so it can be taken up by the roots. Plant deeply so the roots are several inches below the surface, but not so deeply that you bury the crown. Water well, and keep it adequately supplied with water for its first season, and you will probably not have to think much about this plant again, except to admire its billowing blossoms next spring.
      Above all, this species Clematis is healthy, sturdy, and easy to please. They seem resistant to the dreaded Clematis wilt that loves to cut the lusher beauties down overnight. A Clematis for practically every season, for sheer ease, abundance, and beauty, nothing can top the spring beauty of the Clematis montana."
Lovejoy, Ann. The Year in Bloom, Gardening for all Seasons in the PNW. Seattle. Sasquatch. 1987. Author signed copy from the Gatehouse collection.

According to Christopher Lloyd who wrote a monograph on the genus, titled Clematis, "the montana group is easily recognized. It stands apart from the rest in appearances, and its members are all so vigorous that they may be set the popular task of climbing into and draping quite large trees.
      Clematis montana is white. You don't have to call it montana alba or anything of that sort: it is white by definition. the gardening public is often unaware of this and think that, if they order a C. montana, it will be pink..."