May is a wonderfully busy time for a native plant nursery. Plant orders are going out, customers are coming in, lots of transplanting is underway… and it is too easy to get wrapped up in the pressing needs to not see and appreciate the beauty that is developing all around. Blue flax (Linum lewisii) It’s […]
Collecting conifer cones… and thinking of wildfire
September is the month I collect cones from both Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). I won’t sow the seeds for a few months yet but I need to get the cones before the seeds are dispersed. Doug fir cones I can usually harvest from low hanging branches while still closed. The pine […]
Plant Quality and Containers
Our objective at Derby Canyon Natives is to grow native plants that meet our customers’ needs in both quantity and quality. Most of the plants we grow are planted in restoration projects, often in challenging environments east of the Cascades with little or no irrigation. A quality plant should survive, if not thrive, in these situations. […]
What are these magic beans?
What native plant from Chelan County yields such large and distinctive seeds? Why, it’s our only native peony! Brown’s peony (Paeonia brownii) is one of only two peony species native to North America and the only one in Washington; all others are found in Eurasia. It was one of the most prized specimens found by the […]
From this little seed a mighty tree will grow
One of my favorite tasks in propagating native plants is being able to go into the hills and along the rivers to collect seeds, often by simply walking out my door. And, being a relatively small nursery, I not only focus on species that grow in North Central Washington but also emphasize that the plants I grow […]