The last post was in March, a transition month between winter and spring. Now we’re in a transition month between summer and fall. Sun’s up later, down earlier and nights are cooling off. Clouds appear on the horizon. If you’re still watering your tomatoes, do yourself a favor and stop now.
After all those days in the 90s (we set a new record of 13 days at or above 90ºF), the change in the weather felt good. Even sunny days are cooling off as the sun drops lower in the southern horizon. But it’s barely still summer and it is our duty to squeeze the very last drop of languorous joy from it, soaking up those soft golden rays before they disappear into the cold, grey mists.
The blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) on the garden borders were dripping with fruit this summer, more than I’ve ever seen. Good news. Guess who ate most of them? But the medlar tree (Mespilus germanica) has fewer fruit than I’ve ever seen. Not such bad news because not many people around here seem to know they are a delicious fruit. Most years most of them fall to the ground. When soft and ripe they taste like apple butter. They are quite good and you are missing out if you’ve not tried a medlar. The Chilean guavas (Ugni molinae) are in recovery after a rough winter. Expecting great things from them in 2023. What happened to the Nanking cherries (Prunus tomentosa)? No fruit at all this year. As always, they flowered early, right when we got our wintery spring. I heard that cherry production was a bust for the state this year. Same deal, they flower so early and we got sucker punched by late bad weather.
Such a contrast between our cool and wet spring to early summer and the hot and dry rest of summer but I think most of us are getting used to that extended hot spell as the new summer normal. We shall see how normal it proves to be over time but gardeners in Seattle might want to start thinking about which drought-tolerant plants could fill the voids in their yards or consider replacing the struggling water-hogging plants. If you can provide good drainage (that is key), you might be surprised by the diversity of dryland plants that can thrive in Seattle.
.
In late April, multiple flowers and lots of foliage on the arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) are good signs that it is thriving in the xeriscape bed, next to the desert prickly pear (Opuntia engelmannii) which has, amazingly, not yet flowered…and that’s ok. One way or another, we gardeners learn to cultivate the art of patience.
Western tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) looks like it crashed in the woods north of Cascara Circle. This picture was taken on May 24, around the time a tanager regularly visits Cascara Circle and its stream each year. I don’t know how it died.
In June, for the second year, larvae of the viburnum leaf beetle (Pyrrhalta viburni) were eating leaves on the arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum), one of their favorite foods. Both the larvae and the adult beetles eat foliage. Lucky for them that their other favorite, cranberry bush (Viburnum opulus) is just a few yards away. They are native to Europe and Asia and are a new pest around here. I’m working on a management strategy that is more effective than wishing they would go away.
Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) meets California flannel bush (Fremontodendron californicum). This is the first year I’ve spotted a squirrel eating flowers of the flannel bush. It ate quite a few so they must be tasty. Flannel bush is in the mallow family (Malvaceae) so it’s not surprising that the flowers are edible. On the other hand, squirrels can eat the bitterest of acorns and all manner of garbage.
Sacahuista (Nolina microcarpa) produced many flower spikes in section C, but before the flowers could fully open…
…someone broke them off and scattered them all over the place. That’s life in a public garden in a city.
This year there are 11 species of grains from around the world in this bed in section C. The birds waited for them to mature, at which point they had a long feast. By the time you see this post, the grain bed will look like it was hit by a tornado. Dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) and song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) eat most of the grain and the rats harvest a bit at night.
An orchid only an orchid enthusiast could love, the broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) has become mildly invasive in the Medicinal Herb Garden beds and borders in the last decade. If only the rabbits would develop a taste for it.
The oft-photographed French rose (Rosa gallica) and pollinator in section B. So many roses this year and very little rust. No complaints.
Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa) flowering in the xeriscape bed. They look pretty sad by the end of winter but usually spring right back in the heat. Our wet winters can be hard on them.
Fragrant flowers of annual snake gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina) in section C. Immature fruit are eaten like summer squash and the red pulp contained in mature fruit is also edible. Seeds are used medicinally.
Fragrant flowers got pollinated and turned into snake gourds.
Winter melons are growing quickly. I decided to try some new seeds rather than saved seeds from last season’s melons. They’re a slightly different shape, longer and narrower but maybe they will widen as they get larger.
Squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium) flowers, foliage and fruit in section C. When the inedible and extremely bitter fruit ripen they eject their seeds. I wear safety goggles when I collect seeds. I’ve found seedlings in beds twenty feet away.
Baikal skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis) doing so much better in section C with looser soil and more sun.
Perennial lettuce or mountain lettuce (Lactuca perennis) in section D, like other wild lettuce species has edible, though bitter leaves. You should be eating more bitter foods. They’re good for you. How many times do you need to hear this advice?
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) in section B. Its flowers are showy but also fragrant. Look for them in June to August around here.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in section E is thriving since some of the overhead branches that were shading them were cut back. They needed some sun. The bees, wasps, hornets, etc. visit the fragrant flowers but I’ve planted 5 native North American Asclepias species in the garden to attract monarchs (Danaus plexippus) which are unfortunately, few and far between. Someday maybe one will stop here on its journey. If you see one in the garden, please let me know and get a picture if you can.
Some of the common milkweed’s flowers got pollinated and produced seed pods for the first time.
Several Australian tea trees (Melaleuca alternifolia) in the garden’s borders were killed back to the ground by last winter’s cold. But they have grown back. This one is in the border between sections A and B. It grew 4 feet in one season.
While working in the east end of the garden I heard a loud crashing noise way up in the conifers just across Stevens Way. It was a falling cone from a Coulter pine or big-cone pine (Pinus coulteri) a native of southern California and northwestern Mexico. That cone is almost a foot long and weighs the better part of three pounds and it is mighty spiky. It would never do to have it fall on your head, but the seeds are edible and delicious. I tried one.
Xu duan’s (Dipsacus asper) many-flowered inflorescence makes an attractive target for pollinators like these yellow-faced bumble bees ( Bombus vosnesenskii) which are covered in pollen.
Chinese foxglove or sheng di huang (Rehmannia glutinosa) produced more flowers than last year. It has a long history in traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment for kidney disease.
Crab spider (Misumena vatia) on the lavender (Lavandula sp.) prepared to ambush a foraging bee.
Grannyvine or Mexican morning glory (Ipomoea tricolor) is brightening up section A this summer. Who can resist those beautiful flowers? More selfies have been taken in front of that trellis than anywhere else in the garden.
The flowers fade quickly but the bees visit most of them. It’s a tight squeeze for this bumble bee.
This honey bee had just backed out of the pomegranate flower (Punica granatum) and was about to begin its flight to another flower when I took its picture.
Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) in section D is looking much better than last year. Hopefully the flowers will lead to some fruit. I recently read that maypops are andromonoecious, meaning there are functionally male flowers and hermaphroditic flowers on each plant. They are also obligate outcrossers or self-incompatible, meaning each plant requires pollen from a different plant to successfully pollinate its flowers and produce fruit.
Unlike their commercial passionfruit relatives (Passiflora edulis), maypops are herbaceous vines, not woody vines. They die back completely each winter and disappear from view. Where they will arise again in spring is anyone’s guess. It’s possible that one plant will dominate an area, fooling the unsuspecting into believing that a clonal colony is many distinct plants. Fruit production is declining in the garden and that could be the problem. In the wild they would have more room to sow their seeds and spread out. They are most unruly but might do well in a wild border. Wouldn’t it be great if our city green spaces were full of wild grape and passionfruit vines instead of English ivy and clematis. And wouldn’t it be great if someone could explain why flowers are pollinated rather than pollenated. Where did the letter i come from? And where did the letter e go?
Houttuynia or yu xing cao (Houttuynia cordata) in section F. This is a tough plant and it is a spreader, as all plants in the Saururaceae seem to be. That said, it has the distinction of being one of the few plants in the garden that has not escaped its enclosure, a large, bottomless pot sunk into its garden bed…
…like so.
The tall flowers are Natal lilies (Crinum moorei) and the lower flowers are autumn crocuses (Colchicum autumnale). They had become almost buried under some sprawling, weedy rhododendrons you can see in the left background, severely cut back. The lower border plants are responding well to the extra light. They’re both still flowering now but fading fast.
Unopened flowers of the Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) in section E.
Late summer in the dappled light of section D.
The red is cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and the yellow is compass plant (Silphium perfoliatum).
Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) flower opening, with many more on the way in section A. The tamarillo (Solanum betaceum) in the same bed is also flowering. Those summer days in the 90s were not for naught, but they are both, unfortunately, in the ‘for display purposes only’ category. They need a longer growing season to produce fruit.
Volunteer prickly lettuce plants (Lactuca serriola) growing in the crack between the pavement and the concrete retaining wall in the LSB parking lot. It also shares a formal garden bed in section F with its cousin, wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa). Prickly lettuce contains a milky white, sedative sap called lactucarium which contains lactucin and lactucopicrin.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7180447/
That’s a little glimpse of spring through summer at the Medicinal Herb Garden, but there is so much more to see and experience. Visit soon if you’re nearby.
feral testament
to a concrete existence
prickly lettuce plant
See you in the garden.