MONEY PLANT

Money Plant
(Lunaria annua)

Seeds are in for processing
from a Shaw Island garden.

The Puritans called it "Honesty" and took it to Massachusetts and planted it in their first gardens. Why? It was not grown for food nor was it an herb for healing ills or seasoning food. It added nothing whatever to the welfare of the colony. There seems to be but one excuse for such worldly indulgence -- that honesty sustained homesick hearts through the first bitter winters. Bouquets of its silvery pods decorated mantels and corner cupboards –– nostalgic symbols of former gaiety. Vanity? Perhaps. But generations have smiled and noted ironically that the only seed the Pilgrims brought to New England was honesty. The sentiment with which it was regarded is conveyed by the folk names that still cling to it. Some sound mercenary: silver penny, moneywort, money-in-the-pocket, pennyflower, and moneyseed. Others are more descriptive: white satin, satin seed, satinpod. But honesty acquired an older name -- prick-song flower, which suggests songfests in early English homes -- from the needle-sharp point on each seed pod., which was once used to prick out notes of songs on thin paper, a common practice before music was printed.

Claire Shaver Haughton, Green Immigrants

Honesty capsules after they have released 
 mature seeds for Gatehouse packets, 
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.

Usually deer-resistant and easy for 
woodland gardeners to cultivate for 
the pollinators we need on board. 

Lunaria annua
Seed packets available 
Gatehouse Seeds
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.

AUTUMN SEEDS of Shaw

Wild, perennial Sweet Pea
(Lathyrus latifolius)

Grown and harvested from one of 
the few remaining hideaways for this 
wild perennial occurring  on 
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago. 
Harvested summer of 2020.

"Although a thoughtful bee still travels

And midge-ball ravels and unravels,

Yet strewn along the pathway lie

Like small open sarcophagi

The hazel nuts broken in two

And cobwebs catch the seed-pearl dew.

Now summer’s flowers are winter’s weeds,

I think of all the sleeping seeds;

Winds were their robins and by night

Frosts glue their leafy cover tight;

Snow may shake down its dizzy feathers,

They will sleep safely through all weathers."

Andrew Young.

Autumn Seeds.

From Cottage Flowers. Marie Angel. London; 

Pelham Books Ltd. 1980.

“An Amorous Medicine?”

Ivy-leaf Cyclamen

Cyclamen hederifolium 'album'

[syn. Cyclamen neapolitanum]

a tuberous perennial that grows 

through the winter and then goes dormant 

in the summer when the seeds ripen & split open.

Now, just finishing her autumn bloom period with

aged bulbs originating at the former garden of 

Shaw Islander, Elsie Crawford Wood. 

"A cottage friend of mine who grows some superb Cyclamen on her kitchen windowsill tells me that her grandmother advised her to water them with weak tea. This may sound like an old wife’s tale, but the tales of some old wives sometimes turn out to be right.
      There are two kinds of Cyclamen: the Persian [Cyclamen persicum], which is the one your friends give you and which is not hardy, and the small, outdoor one, a tiny edition of the big Persian, as hardy as a snowdrop. These little Cyclamen are among the longest-lived of garden plants. A Cyclamen corm will keep itself going for more years than its owner is likely to live. They have other advantages:

1. They will grow under trees, for they tolerate, and indeed enjoy, shade.
2. They do not object to limey soil.
3. They will seed themselves and
4. They will take you around the calendar by a judicious planting of different sorts. C. neapolitanum, for instance, will precede its ivy-like leaves by its little pink flower in late autumn, white flowers if you get the variety album.  C. coum, pink, white, or lilac, will flower from December to March;Ibericum from February to the end of March; C. balearicum will then carry on, followed by C. repandum, which takes you into the summer; and finally, C. europaeum for the late summer and early autumn. 

Some botanists believe this to be a native [to England]; it was certainly recorded here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when, if beaten into little flat cakes, it was considered ‘a good amorous medicine to make one in love."

No seeds for sale yet, but the bubs are multiplying!

Vita Sackville-West. In Your Garden.
Quote from Cottage Flowers by Marie Angel. Pelham Books, London. 1980

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.

OCTOBER ON THE ISLAND

 

"October is the treasurer of the year; 

And all the months pay bounty to her store."

Paul Lawrence Dunbar

Katsura Dropping In

 

 "No man is worth anything unless he has

 something growing while he is sleeping." 

Stanley McBrayer via his daughter Julie, at the Gatehouse summer 2020. Thank you.

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. 

🌿 ISLAND PEARLS:–– WILD VIOLETS 🌿

Tiny pearl-like seeds of
VIOLA ADUNCA

"Western Long-spurred Violet"
Native to 
of the San Juan Archipelago.
Photographed this day of
Nineteen July 2020, with
clay art by Jodie & Terri Cable©

"Western Longspurred Violets"
VIOLA ADUNCA

A native perennial herb
nurtured in a private garden
at Olga, Orcas Island,
San Juan Archipelago.
The potted violets gave up
the tiny seeds in the top photo.

Botanical name: Viola adunca

Common name: Western Longspurred violet, western dog violet, etc., etc.

Habitat: Dry to moist meadows and open forests of North America. 

Conservation status: not of concern.

USDA Hardiness Zone: 04-8

Height: 3-8 inches.

Bloom time: Spring, early summer.

Flowers: lavender-blue to violet nodding flowers with 5 purple petals.

Ease of care: moderately easy.

Sun: full sun, part shade.

Culture: Fertile, moist but well-drained soil.

Notes: It self-seeds freely. Suits a rock garden. 

Edible leaves and flowers for humans, but an important source of food for some endangered butterflies. 

" At the Cattle Point meadows, this violet is almost abundant for which we should be amazed, considering its competitors– the thistle and a horde of aggressive grasses. In fact, this species is the most common of the San Juan violets, occurring on many meadows."
Scott Atkinson and Fred Sharpe. Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands. Seattle, The Mountaineers. 1985.

"The leaves and flowers of all violet species can be eaten raw in salads, used as potherbs, or made into tea. Candied violet flowers are used for cake decorations. Flowers and leaves have long been used in various herbal remedies as poultices and a laxative for children and to relieve coughs and lung congestion."
Pojar and Mackinnon. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Redmond, WA. 1994.  

Native "western violets" seeds,
 available at 
Gatehouse Seeds
 Reefnet Bay Road,
Shaw Island,
San Juan Archipelago, WA.