🌿 Mirabelles off the Tree and in the Jar 🌿

Sweet Mirabelle plums, this gardener's favorite,
A specialty in Lorraine, France.
These are harvested from a Shaw Island orchard.
A thank you  to the quartet from Sisters, Oregon, 
Soap Lake & Edmonds, WA., for leaving the sweet notes.
Happy growing.
Anno Twenty-One September Two Thousand and Fifteen.

🌿 SITKA SPRUCE SEEDS FALLING 🌿

NATIVE SITKA SPRUCE 
SEED CONES
Courtesy of the Saturday storm.
On handwoven English willow tray.
Shaw Island Autumn 2015.
Click to enlarge.

Seed Harvest 2015

Mary Lou's MONEY PLANT
grown on Shaw Island;
willow basket, handwoven in England.
Anno 26 August 2015
Shaw Island, WA.
Seeds for sale at Gatehouse Seeds, 
Squaw Bay Road, Shaw Island.

There are still a few gardeners with an "attitude", who won't let this "commoner" into their flower borders; how nice to see some sophisticated gardeners who are enjoying the beauty of the old-fashioned Lunaria. Particularly the seed pods of August. Here's a photograph caught from a sneak preview of an open garden––sponsored by the Hardy Plant Society and the Garden Conservancy for the Open Gardens Tour in the Beaverton, OR., area happening this weekend August 2015.

Photo courtesy of Scott Weber
Rhone Street Garden Blog
August 2015.

Seed packs available at 
Gatehouse Seeds,
Shaw Island, San Juan Archipelago, WA.

🌿 BLUE SAILORS 🌿 Local Roadside Wildflower Seeds

"Blue Sailors"
(Cichorium intybus) 
A resident of Shaw Island roadsides.

Common Name: Blue Sailors

Life Style: Hardy, perennial herb.

Native Growing Region: Europe and the Near East. Common on roadsides in the San Juan Islands.

Flower: fine sky blue, July to October. "This may be the only plant of our area that can be instantly recognized by color alone." (Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest from Alaska to Northern California by Lewis J. Clark.)

Tolerates: Drought. Deer.

Description: Can reach 3' to 5' if growing in an area not mowed by roadside work crews.

Soil: Light, preferably alkaline. Sunny and open.

Uses: Can be grown for culinary purposes and for a nutritious pasture and fodder for animals. Dried petals are used for potpourri. Buds can be pickled. This European immigrant has been cultivated for many years, both for its leaves and roots. The roots are sliced, roasted, and ground as an additive to coffee. Europeans familiar from an early age with chicory-flavored coffee consider as improvements the added color, bitterness, and body. 

Chicory is often grown in floral clocks for the regular opening of its flowers and their closing five hours later. These opening times relate to latitude, but the leaves always align with the north. Gardeners interested in metaphysics credit this plant with life-giving forces.

This plant is mentioned by Scott Atkinson and drawn by Fred Sharpe in their wonderful Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands. 

Notes: great data listed here

"Wild chicory"
A.K.A. "Blue Sailors"
Seed packets are available at the
Shaw Island Gatehouse,
Squaw Bay Road, 
Shaw Island, WA.

🌿 Chilean Glory Flower 🌿 (Eccremocarpus scaber "Tresco Gold")

Chilean Glory Flower
Eccremocarpus scaber "Tresco Gold"
(on right.)
Loving the heat in a "wall pot" on Shaw Island, WA.
August 2015.

Common Names: Chilean Glory Flower; Chupa-Chupa; Lorita & Voqui.

Life Cycle: Perennial vine.

Native: Chile and Peru.

Flowers: July to October. Will flower the first year if sown early.

Vines: If supported, vines can reach 12'. They are NOT an aggressive thug.

Award: The prestigious RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

Sowing: Indoors in late winter to early spring or sow directly outdoors from May onward.

Soil: loves neutral to slightly acidic, rich soil in full sun.

Propagation: usually by seed.

Degree of difficulty: EASY.

Notes: An excellent greenhouse specimen; will grow happily in a container where they will last a long time. Wonderful weaving through roses, clematis, on fences, etc. Often grown as an annual.

🌿 Herb Lovage (Levisticum officinale) 🌿

Plated Umbels of Lovage seeds
(Levisticum officinale)
Shaw Island, 
Photo this day 15 August '15.
Grown by Angel Bryant.

Common Name: Lovage; "Love Parsley"; "Mountain Celery", in Italy.

Life Cycle: Hardy, Herbaceous Perennial.

Native: Most say the Mediterranean, but others dispute that.

Height: 8'-10' at maturity in 3 years.

Bloom: Tall umbels of white/yellow flowers, in the 2nd year.

Tolerates: Deer.

Site: Full sun or partial shade.

Sowing: September to October or February to June.

Cultivation: 
Cultivation since the time of Pliny (23-79AD), has long grown in Europe. 

      

Lovage art
by Louise M. Smith©
One of 16 watercolors in
The Herb Farm Cookbook.

Reference for this post:
The HerbFarm Cook Book
Traunfeld, Jerry.
Scribner, N.Y. 2000.

      This will tower over your herb garden with its architectural beauty. One plant is enough but try to replant with a new plant every few years. Give it good soil, some water, and deadhead the flower stalks if you don't wish new seedlings around the base of the plant. Traunfeld writes that this plant will tolerate more shade than most herbs; in hot climates, it dislikes baking in the sun.
     
Uses:
Good for use in S. European cuisine, where leaves are used as an herb, roots as a vegetable, and seeds as a spice. For the essence of celery without the trial of growing that vegetable, this is for you. Lovage has a distinct flavor and is greatly appreciated by food aficionados.
       It is considered a prize on the list of good companion plants that improve the health of all garden vegetables. Tender growth has the best flavor, so in summer, around June, consider pruning back to encourage new leaves. Will die down in winter but will re-emerge in spring. 

      Lovage has been used in alcoholic cordials for centuries––mixed with tansy and yarrow then mixed with brandy. The original cordials were used on long voyages. The first cordial containing lovage was recorded in 14 C; it is used in some liqueurs with Borage, as one of the Pimms mixes in production today.

      Medieval travelers tucked the leaves into their shoes because of the antiseptic and deodorizing properties. 
      Lovage flowers are adored by honey bees and Swallowtail butterflies. That is enough reason to grow this herb.

🌿 Artichoke Bouquet 🌿

For Charlie and Amy,

Enjoy the Kale in your community garden.

And for Lauren and Rueben,

I appreciate your support of this garden

and warm notes in the Gatehouse shed.

🌿 AQUILEGIA vulgaris 🌿

AQUILEGIA vulgaris
Spring, Shaw Island, WA.

Common name: Columbine

Type: Herbaceous Perennial

Growing region:  Zones 3 to 8
Days to sprout: 14-28.

Height: 1.5 to 3-ft.

Bloom time: April to May

Bloom Description: Blue or violet-blue.

Sun: full sun to part shade.

Water: medium

Maintenance: medium

Flower: showy

Attracts: Hummingbirds

Tolerates: Rabbits

Culture:

Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil. Surface sow.

Remove flowering stems after bloom to encourage additional flowers. When foliage depreciates, plants may be cut to the ground. Aquilegia may be easily grown from seed, will naturalize in the garden over time; self-sowing easily. Seed collected from garden plants, may not come true because different varieties of columbine may cross-pollinate in the garden producing seed that is at variance with either or both parents. This seed is harvested from a plot of blues. They can also be easily grown in large pots.

Notes:

Genus name comes from the Latin word for eagle (aquila) in reference to the talon-like spurs on most flowers.

Columbine comes from the Latin word columba meaning dove-like. The number and varieties of Columbines are staggering.

These seeds should be 90% blue tones as I still rogue out a few pink and magenta in the same garden.

Uses:

Borders, rock gardens, cottage gardens, woodland gardens or naturalized areas. A good choice for a hummingbird garden. Continue to water plants after bloom to enjoy the ground cover effect of the foliage.
Long lasting for flower bouquets.

Research notes: Missouri Botanical Garden.

Aquilegia vulgaris
Common name is Columbine.
A dependable, easy perennial,
great for bouquets.
Seeds for sale at the Gatehouse,
Reefnet Bay Road, Shaw Island.