These six-foot plus willows needed watering almost every day The unprecedented heat of this summer has been a challenge for plants and people alike. With the days growing shorter, I look forward to the fall; many plants look better with the reduced stress, irrigation needs are less critical and close to two-thirds of our sales […]
The Joy of Spring in the Nursery
Spring is rejuvenating and reassuring, for both me and the nursery. March and April set the stage for the year; the overwintered plants begin growth, the seedlings emerge and the cuttings take root. Above you can see new snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) seedlings, and just below are snowberry cuttings about to leaf out. We grow most […]
Planting for Climate Change
Young lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) five years post-fire Our climate is changing at an unprecedented rate, with far-reaching impacts in our region. Winters will be warmer and wetter, with less snow pack created, and summers will be hotter and drier, with lower streamflows. The incidence of extreme weather events will increase, leading to […]
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 […]
Seed collecting time
I enjoy the cyclical nature of nursery work: sowing seeds, germination time, thinning, transplanting, watering… even weeding! All of these plants begin with seeds or, for some species, cuttings. I mostly grow species native to Central Washington so I need to venture out to the nearby fields, hills, streamsides and mountains to find what I’m after. […]