Edibles: To Seed or Not to Seed

Robin Haglund, of Garden Mentors, Inc., has written a handy article over at Fiskars.com about when and what to start seeding right now. Some edibles are easy to start indoors, while others can be sown directly into the ground. And others you just want to buy from starts.

Edibles with Ease: When to Get Growing from Seeds or from Starts?

Inspiration from Graham Kerr

Last Wednesday, while the rest of Seattle was celebrating during the Seahawks parade, I was inside the Convention Center attending a seminar by Graham Kerr. Yes, I'm a nerd, along with a handful of other people in the room. His talk this year was Nourish & Delight! Growing, Cooking & Sharing Edibles for the Common Good:

Graham Kerr is in his fifth year in the garden, his 66th year in the kitchen and also celebrates his 80th birthday on January 22 – and he still gardens and tackles weeds with gusto. He shares with us lessons from his personal garden patch and herb garden, two community gardens where he is involved and area Food Banks and School programs. Focusing on plants such as Red Beets 'Ace', Kale 'White Russian', Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' and Tomatoes 'Sun Gold', he will provide growing, cooking and harvesting tips. Graham wants to inspire audiences to be the new PIONEERS – Pass It On Now with Eagerness, Enthusiasm and Resilience! How's that for an acronym?

That really sums it up. His entire philosophy epitomizes why I'm studying horticulture in the first place. It's about the big picture: growing food, finding the joy of cooking nutritious meals, and building community around the whole process. I love this man. His enthusiasm is so inspirational!

So, taking advantage of the small turnout (what's wrong with you sports freaks?), I went into fan girl mode after the seminar and bought one of his books. He signed it, and I shook his hand and gushed about...well, hopefully something intelligent. :)

Eggs!

Last week, the day before Graham Kerr's seminar at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, I decided to finally try my hand at Kerr's famous Velvet Sauce, which I learned at his seminar the previous year. I couldn't believe I waited so long to cook this sauce (it's super simple), so I made sure to try it before I saw the Galloping Gourmet again. I've also been attempting to cook for someone with a restrictive diet, but who can eat eggs, so it was the perfect motivation. I experimented with a parsnip sauce and a sweet potato sauce, and I used coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. I still need to play with the herb mixture, but I was happy with the results. Simple recipe, served over scrambled eggs:




While I was on an eggs kick, I ended the evening with some deviled eggs, because why not? Extra dilly with a little bit of heat, just the way I like 'em.

Why do spring flowering plants sometimes bloom in the fall?

Last month I was asked by a friend why certain plants are sending out blooms in autumn, when they normally flower in the spring. Is it -- dun dun dun -- global warming?

Not necessarily. While climate change is a serious problem that does influence the development of plants, and I think we'll see more of this as temperatures continue to rise, this phenomenon can happen regardless. It's actually pretty simple. To a plant, what are the external factors that trigger flowering at a particular time? Weather, temperature, and amount of sunlight are the big influences. A plant that blossoms in March-April, for instance, is triggered by a certain amount of sunlight (not as short as a winter day, and not as long as a summer day), a certain temperature range (again, not as cold as winter, and not as hot as summer), and rainfall. In the summer months, most notably, there's a significant drop in rainfall and rise in temperature. In the fall, the rains start up again, and the plants experience those in-between temperatures and daylengths that are similar to the springtime (think of a bell curve with a peak in the summer). Sometimes there's enough similarity between the spring and autumn environmental conditions that it triggers a surprising, albeit weaker, flush of blooms.

Wishlist

I've been asked a few times about holiday gift ideas, and while there's normally nothing I really need, this year I do have a horticulture-related wishlist. There are some books and equipment I'll need to purchase in the near future as I get started on my new path, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jami's Amazon Horticulture Wishlist

Wreath Making

One of the many cheerful highlights of fall quarter is our annual wreath-making party. We gathered base and flair material from the campus and arboretum (and even from my own neighborhood after that big windstorm knocked down some Doug-fir branches) and compiled them into wreaths for the two days before Thanksgiving. I ended up making eight, and I still have some left, if you’re interested in a very local, handmade wreath. And for you plant nerds, there’s lots of great plant ID material in these creations!

November Blues? More like November Blooms!

Mid to late autumn is a difficult time of year. The deciduous trees trees and shrubs are well on their way to nakedness, and many perennials are dying back for the winter. The days are shorter, and the drizzly rain often brings about the usual Pacific Northwest gloom. And November in particular is not known for its flowers.

But despair not! There are a few rare plants that flower during this time of year, and I think that makes them all the more special for their uniqueness. Let's take a look.

Camellia sasanqua, OSU

Camellia sasanqua, OSU

The first one to come to my mind is the Camellia sasanqua, which bloomed in our arboretum almost like clockwork at the very beginning of November. The flowers are typically in the white to pink range, and some cultivars are mildly fragrant. They contrast nicely with the leathery, dark green foliage, making it a great year-round evergreen shrub.

Arbutus unedo, OSU

Arbutus unedo, OSU

The strawberry tree is simply gorgeous. What is there not to love about this plant? Its cute little clusters of white, urn-shaped flowers (classic Ericaceae family) bloom October-November, it's evergreen, it's got attractive shaggy bark, and the bonus is that the fruit takes a year to ripen, meaning you're seeing large, edible, orange-red fruits at the same time as the flowers! If you want autumn interest in the garden, you've got to have a strawberry tree. We've got a few on campus, and they're such a delight!

Fatsia japonica, OSU

Fatsia japonica already makes a bold statement in the garden, with its large, leathery palmate leaves and long petioles. But it gets even better in the fall with its large terminal clusters of white flowers. Even the prominent flower stalk is white!

Osmanthus heterophyllus, OSU

The Holly-leaf Osmanthus is a dense evergreen shrub with cool leaf shape diversity. Its white little flowers come out around October-November in the plant's leaf axils. And they're fragrant!

Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn', OSU

Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn', OSU

The Dawn Viburnum blooms in late fall and winter, after leaf drop. Talk about highlighting the flowers! Just when its bare branches make you think it's another run-of-the-mill deciduous shrub, you get hit with a lovely display of pinky-white color. As Michael Dirr, author of that 1,325-page Manual of Woody Landscape Plants tome I've come to love, would say: "A garden without a Viburnum is akin to life without music and art." Indeed!

Cyclamen coum, Great Plant Picks

Cyclamen hederifolium, Great Plant Picks

Hardy Cyclamens are cool season perennials that pop up and say hello just when you've almost forgotten about them. This is one of Don's favorite plants, so I'll let him share the love: http://lwtchort.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/for-the-love-of-cyclamen/

These are a few plants to get you thinking. Of course there are plenty of plants that are bursting with fruit right now, and they do wonders to bring color to the landscape, but these plants are notably unique in their flower time. What autumn blooms do you enjoy seeing in the Pacific Northwest?