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1 – “To Do” List For Native Plants August 2001.
A – Plan for your fall native planting now. Fall is an ideal
time to plant out shrubs and trees while the soil is still warm. Get in
the ground before November, if possible.
B – Set up your composting area now – get all the
fall
leaves you can.
C – You can dig and move
trillium rhizomes and camas bulbs
at this time. They are all dormant. Wait a month before moving Tiger
Lilies.
D – As we get into September, you can divide some native
perennials including Wild Ginger,
False Lilly-of-the-Valley and wild
asters.
E – Watch for insect damage on native
rhodies and
madrone.
If the insect eats a nice square “notch” it is probably the fly form
of the Japanese Root Weevil. Spray with Orthene right away, just as it
gets dark in the evening, when these pests come out. If they lay their
eggs in the soil, the larvae may girdle root and kill the plant later.
Beneficial nematodes are good for these underground pests. You should
only apply when soil temp is 50 degrees F or more.
2 - Free Native Plant
Seeds
Seeds to collect now -
Douglas
Hawthorn
(Crataegus douglasii)
Ocean
Spray
(Holodiscus discolor)
Chokecherry
(Prunus virginiana)
Nootka
Rose
(Rosa nutkana)
Mountain
Huckleberry
(Vaccinium membranaceum)
Big
Leaf Maple
(Acer macrophyllum)
3 – Lost Treasure Found! Willamette Valley
Ponderosa Pine
Most of
the Ponderosa Pine trees in western Oregon, California and Washington come
from seed native to eastern Oregon – cold winters, hot, dry summers.
They grow OK on the west side of the Cascades, but do not like lower,
wetter areas. Now, go back nearly 150 years to when early pioneers first
started through this long, beautiful valley. There were Ponderosa Pines
that were native to the Willamette Valley. They nearly went extinct. In
1996 some modern pioneers formed the Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine
Conservation Association. Through hard, brilliant work, they established
an effective restoration program. Seeds and seedlings are getting into
local nurseries. I grow this beautiful pine – the needles glisten like
jewels in the early morning irrigation water! They love this wetter
climate – they grow in standing water and tolerate grazing livestock.
The deep taproot provides a sturdy foundation from the strongest storms.
4 – From The Inaccessible
To Your Garden! – Modoc Cypress ( Cupressus bakeri)
Here is a magnificent cypress, Cupressus bakeri, nearly lost in an
isolated area in the Siskiyou Mountains in southern Oregon. Cypress
usually does not get this far north. This tree grows fast to about 50 ft.,
with aromatic twigs, brown bark, gray-green, beautiful foliage. This tree
is a survivor – a forest fire survivor. The dense, hard cones hold the
seed and remain on the trees for many years. Only when a forest fire burns
the tree and melts the pitch holding the seeds do the cones drop. The
mother tree may be destroyed by the fire, but months later, the
surrounding ground is covered with hundreds of new seedlings! What a
design for survival! I grow these handsome trees and you may find them in
nurseries. The name “Modoc” refers to a tribe of Native
Americans in that area – I believe there were some fierce battles
between the settlers and the Modoc Indians.
5
– Recipe
Department - Little Wild Blackberry Pie (Northwest Native Plant)
I am going to slip in a recipe or two in each newsletter –
you can
enjoy native plants and eat many of them also!
Here is my favorite recipe of all time, from my childhood as a country
kid in rural Whatcom County, State of Washington, near the Canadian
border, in the middle of the “Great Depression.” “Little Wild
Blackberries” are Rubus ursinus, a low rambler with small berries. They
appear in logged over land, climbing over stumps and brush piles, mostly
in the sun. It usually takes all afternoon to fill a 1 gallon empty lard
pail to the brim (and lots of scratched hands and arms!)
Pick at least 3 pints of
berries – enough for one deep pie. You figure out the two crust
recipe. Using pure lard and flour. Crusts should be thin.
3 pints
fresh Little Wild Blackberries
1 cup
sugar
¼ cup
flour
1
tablespoon lemon juice
dash of
cinnamon
3
tablespoons butter
1
tablespoon granulated sugar
Wash berries (watch for tiny spiders) and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and add to berries - toss lightly. Form
the lower crust in a deep pie plate, add berry mix, add small slabs of
butter on top of mix, place top crust (thin) and cut steam holes. Before
baking, sprinkle sugar over the top crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 50
minutes or until golden brown. Serve while warm. Top with generous
scoops of thick yellow cream. If possible, get fresh milk, not
homogenized, with full butterfat content the day before and let stand in
a bowl in a cool place, overnight – then skim off. Everyone should
experience this treat, at least once in his or her life.
6
– Western Red Cedar - The ‘Tree of Life” in the Northwest!
Western Red Cedar (Thuja
plicata) was the “Tree of Life” to Native Americans in the Pacific
northwest. It still is a Tree of Life in a broader sense to all those now
living in the northwest. This tree is strong, noble, rugged – an
inspiration to all, past, present, future. Native Indians used this
awesome cedar for clothing, tools, canoes, housing. Large strips were
removed, dried, beaten until the bark separated into layers, then used for
mats, ropes, baskets, etc. If you have the room, use this tree generously
in your native plant gardens and woodlands. Western Red Cedar likes wet
feet. It will grow in swamps but on drier ground also. In northwest
Washington, right next to Canada on the coast, there is Birch Bay State
Park. Within that park, there is a large swampy area, home to a
magnificent stand of Western Reds. You are in the presence of giants –
strength, inspiration – the legend that if one leans against a giant
cedar, one becomes stronger, is true! Even the aroma of red cedar is
edifying. In the 1930”s I spent summer time with my Grandfather Duncan,
who had a cabin deep in the Olympic forests near Quileute, Washington. It was on
the banks of a small stream called the Dickey River. My Grandfather made
the cabin himself out of Western Red Cedar. The pleasant, strong aroma of
red cedar seemed to bond me to something primitive, ancient - a safe
shelter, a refuge in that simple cabin surrounded by giant trees , deep in
the forest. Be grateful for this wondrous tree! Use it in your gardens if
you have room. It will live for hundreds of years. Those who follow you
will reap what you have sown.
7 – Personal Notes – A
Special Moment
This is a beautiful afternoon in early August – a special moment. The
yellow sunshine splashes carelessly outside my window, producing ever
changing patterns amongst the cedars, willows, oaks and firs that crowd my
window and onto the twisting paths that meander and vanish thru my
gardens. The past stretches backward into the womb of time – mysterious,
unknowable, filled with many ghosts. The future stretches forward, into
all the tomorrows – unknowable, mysterious, forever. But for this
special moment, eternity blinked and I locked it away in the
“round-tower of my heart” (Longfellow.)
Dear Readers, enjoy today, enjoy your gardens, enjoy your families,
seek quiet periods to still for a moment the relentless rush of time -
follow your principles, your beliefs - be true to yourself and it follows
as day follows night, that you will be true to others.
E-mail comments are welcome.
(Note from Jennifer: As did Wally, I also welcome your
email comments!)
Good Luck!
Wally
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