With the days shortening and the cooler nights having arrived, plants in the nursery take on their fall colors. You can see in the photo above red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) in the lower left and, on the right, water birch (Betula occidentalis) in yellow and the lighter red of Douglas hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) behind […]
A (Too) Hot Summer in the Nursery; Welcome the Fall!
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 […]
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. […]
Showy milkweed – common and extraordinary
Most residents of Eastern Washington are familiar with this plant, whether they know it or not. Often growing in rather bare areas or along roads, the tall plants with the large, leathery leaves stand out in the landscape, even more so when the big seed pods open and release their seed to the winds. It […]
Columbia lewisia – cheerful and helpful!
Central Washington has some gorgeous species from the Portulacaceae, among them the Western spring beauties (Claytonia lanceolata) that begin the season, the striking flowers of bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) that appear to pop out of rocks, the awesome Tweedy’s lewisia (Lewisia tweedyi), and the rare and unforgettable alpine spring beauty (Claytonia megarhiza), one I was introduced […]