ISLAND SUMMER ROSE

 Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate'
Angela's summer on Shaw Island.
Photo caught by C. Christensen.

🌿 ELSIE'S CALIFORNIA POPPIES 🌿

California poppies surviving in the rock along
Blind Bay Road, Shaw Island.
Planted by island gardener Elsie Fowler long ago.
Photo June 2015.

Elsie's California poppies,
not exactly wild and not native,
but self-sowing gently each year to brighten the roadside.

Botanical Name: Eschscholtzia californica

Native: USA and Mexico. The official state flower of California where it covers the hills of Napa Valley.

Zone Range: 4-10

Life cycle: Annual and perennial.

Preferred climate: warm and sunny.

Bloom: An almost continuous summer display of bright orange flowers on mat-forming foliage 12" high. Flower petals close at night and on cloudy days.

Culture: requires poor, well-drained soil in full sun. Drought tolerant, self-seeding. Resents being transplanted.

Degree of difficulty: EASY.

Seed viability: one source claims 3 years.

Notes: Widely planted as an ornamental. Survives mild winters.

Gwen Yansen told me that her friend, Elsie Fowler (1900-2003), scattered the poppy seeds many years ago; they still survive in the hot, dry, rock bank across from the Community Building on Blind Bay Road. 
      Elsie, who came to the island in 1938, moved away to Anacortes in 1996. She was an early member of the Garden Club, later called Women's Club, that kicked off the fundraising for the Shaw Islanders, Inc building project.
      The seed packets carry Elsie's name to honor her love of Shaw Island and garden flowers, she bloomed where she was planted.
      These seeds are not harvested from her plants in order that the small colony of poppies will self-perpetuate.
      If you broadcast California poppy seeds along the road, as Elsie did, choose the sunny side.


Nomenclature:


"Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz (1793 - 1831) was a Livonian physician, botanist, zoologist, and entomologist. He was one of the first and most important scientists in the exploration of the Pacific, Alaska, and California.
Born in Dorpat (now Tartu) in the Russian Empire. He studied medicine at the local University of Dorpat, and spending the main part of his career there: extraordinary professor of anatomy (1819), director of the zoological cabinet (1822), and professor of anatomy (1828).
From 1815 to 1818 Eschscholtz was a physician and naturalist on the Russian circumnavigational expeditionary ship Rurik. He collected specimens in Brazil, Chile, California, the Pacific Islands, and on either side of the Bering Strait, Kamchatka, and the Aleutian Islands.
One of the other naturalists was the botanist Adelbert von Chamisso, who took over Eschscholtz's specimens on the completion of the voyage. The two were close friends and, after his early death, Chamisso named the California poppy Eschscholzia californica in his honour. The results of the trip were published in the Berlin journal Entomographien in 1822."
Source of nomenclature data: Seedaholic.

These island-grown seeds are for sale
at the Gatehouse seed shed,
Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago,
WA.

🌿 JUNE ONE 🌿

Peonies are royal garden visitors for early summer.

This luscious Peony shared by former islander, Eve E. Nygren Shaw, came without a cultivar tag, so I call this the "Eve Shaw Peony." Eve was a great gardener who married retired Captain Clayton Shaw and settled very happily on Broken Point, in 1971. Clayton was the last member of the pioneer Shaw family on the island. Clayton and Eve moved away to Alabama in the mid 1980s after donating several family antiques to the local museum. The island wasn't named for this Shaw family but the myth persisted for awhile, helped a little by Eve.
      No seed packets of this plant are planned for the Gatehouse but the plant has had a long life on Shaw Island and may show up for a fund-raising auction some year.

🌿 PETER'S RED RUSSIAN KALE 🌿

Red Russian Kale
Brassica napus

Description: Beautiful, blue-green heirloom kale that is hardy, tender, mild, and sweet compared to other cultivars. Good for salads and light cooking, after the stems are removed, a quick, easy process. A variety approved by botanist friend Elsa who, at a young age, enjoyed taste-testing her way through Peter's garden patch of greens. 

Stamppot is a traditional Dutch recipe, a substantial combination of well-mashed potatoes, lots of kale, and hearty smoked sausage. When kale is served in Dutch homes, a small bowl or pitcher of vinegar is passed to dribble on the top. 

Culture:
After enhancing the plot with aged compost, plant seeds 1/4" to 1/2" deep in well-drained, light soil. After 2 weeks, thin to 8"-12" apart. Cool weather crop that can tolerate temperatures as low as 20 degrees F; actually, the flavor is enhanced by fall frost. 
In hot area regions, this can be planted in late summer for harvest in fall/winter. Side dress with aged compost every month or so, as kale is a strong grower.

Botanical Name: Brassica napus.

Native: Siberia. Brought to Canada by Russian traders around 1885. Grown on Shaw for several years.

Type: Biennial.
It takes 2 years if you'd like to save your own seed. 

These seeds are for sale
at the Gatehouse, Reefnet Bay Road,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

🌿 GARDENING WITH BOOKS 🌿

A dear Hardy Plant Society member and celebrated gardener, speaking at a conference in Portland, OR, said: "We have to garden with books and periodicals as well as in the dirt." Remembering Faith MacKaness.

Spring flowers 
7 May 2015
Mideke hand thrown porcelain pot,
Art by Orcas Islander,
C.C. Gill.

🌿 A fragrant thank you 🌿

Species Rhododendron decorum blooming this day.
Non-native, but she grows over-my-head, 
emitting a fragrant thanks to
Anne and Sheila for the visit and kind note.
Anno three May 2015
Shaw Island, WA.

SONG SPARROW NEST

Shaw Island Song Sparrow Nest
2015 photo thanks to Joanne.

🌿 NATIVE COLORS FOR EARTH DAY 🌿 2015

48.5923°N - 123.0320°W

Celebrated in more than 192 countries each year, Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world. Honoring the 45th anniversary, these wildflower photos were taken today, on one of the world's smallest inhabited islands––Yellow Island, 11 acres just north of Shaw Island, in the San Juan Archipelago, Washington State. 

There are at least 50 species growing on Yellow Island.
Today we could view Indian Paintbrush, two species of
Camas, Chocolate Lilies, Buttercup, Fawn Lily, 
while others shine off the designated foot path.

Most of these flowers are also native to Shaw Island, 
our home base. Does "Indian Paintbrush" grow on Shaw??

There are packets of wild Camas seeds for sale
at the Gatehouse on Reefnet Bay Road.
(They were not collected on Yellow Island.)

Shaw Island's Earth Day paintbox of color.
Back at home and shining out
on the bank of Blind Bay,
Native "Flowering Red Currant"
(Ribes sanguineum.)
Judge Stanley C. Soderland (1917-2001),
 former resident of the island,
 propagated cuttings and planted this species at   
 the garden of the Shaw Island
Community Building in the late 1980s.
Thanks Stan.