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Messages - janemcgary

#16
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
December 28, 2023, 01:25:51 PM
Saffron keeps better in the freezer. I also keep paprika and poppy seeds there. Now that I have a whole lot of Crocus sativus, apparently thriving in the veg garden, I will not worry so much about the purchased supply, however.
#17
The solstices were interesting during the years I lived in interior Alaska. We traveled a little north to see the midnight sun on the summer solstice (usually from a great plant site). As the winter solstice approached, each day's weather report on the radio included a downer like this: "Today will have 2 hours and 15 minutes of sunlight, seven minutes less than yesterday." The traditional stories I worked with at the Language Center were usually told in the short days of winter, and Koyukon narrators ended with the formula, "I told this story all winter, and now I hear water dripping outside the door." No wonder I cherish my winter flowers now!
#18
General Discussion / Re: Plants in the News
December 09, 2023, 04:10:05 PM
Interesting that they use an English name "giant rhubarb." In Chile people harvest the stems and not only cook them (after peeling off the spiny outer layer) but also make a kind of liquor from them. Learned that when we happened on a group of locals getting the stems in a stream drainage. They were going to make booze.
#19
General Discussion / Re: Trying a few root crops
December 03, 2023, 06:22:11 PM
For a long time, Japanese experts claimed that wasabi could not be grown anywhere else. Recently, however, it has begun to be grown in Oregon. I don't know if it's in actual streamflow, which would be possible near the Pacific coast where the grower is, or whether it's in a hoop house with circulating pumps, but yes, it's aquatic. It has not, to my knowledge, been used here as in Japan, see photo of ice cream shop.
#20
Current Photographs / Re: Burning man hat
November 29, 2023, 04:24:39 PM
Someone who's still going to Burning Man can probably sow seeds at 82 and expect to see them flower. Rock on.
#21
To answer Uli's questions about the plunge beds in my bulb house: Yes, the beds are surrounded by concrete blocks. I chose the kind with a textured face for looks, and they are two large blocks high, set on a concrete base. The planting area has heavy-duty woven groundcloth on the bottom to keep moles out. The roof is double-walled polycarbonate panels, and the sides are what we call "hardware cloth" in the USA. I had to have all the metal parts painted brown because the county told me that any added structure over 500 square feet (this is 800) had to be made of "the same materials as the dwelling," i.e. brown brick, which would not have actually worked. We compromised on the paint, but I had to argue a lot and get letters of support from botanist friends. I also had to install an 1100-gallon rainwater tank and a bioswale (aka weed sink) to handle the runoff. Yes, it was expensive, but after many years fighting with cold frames in freezing weather and howling winds, I went for the over-engineered option. The temperature inside the bulb house is no more than one or two degrees warmer than ambient, but keeping the foliage dry in winter increases resistance to freezing. and yes, the side that is all pots has a path down the middle so I can reach all the pots. The other side is only about one-quarter pots at the front, and the rest directly planted larger geophytes. This summer I added more organic matter to the directly planted area.
#22
Here are the beds in my bulb house (roofed, sides only screened), with plunged pots. The plunge material is coarse sand and used seed-sowing soil from ungerminated pots.
#23
I just looked at my old bulb database and noticed that, over the years, I had created space in the bulb house by throwing out a whole lot of Allium species. One less Allium, two more Fritillaria.
#24
General Discussion / Re: Iberian-North African Crocus
November 20, 2023, 09:59:53 PM
I will write to you privately to discuss the crocuses.
#25
Current Photographs / Re: November 2023 photos
November 19, 2023, 03:24:02 PM
Thanks to Carlos for these beautiful photos, showing exactly how a Crocus species should be documented.
#26
General Discussion / Re: Iberian-North African Crocus
November 19, 2023, 03:22:07 PM
Carlos,  I have a couple of these Archibald collections, but when I moved 10 years ago I did not keep them separately labeled, so I can't provide authenticated material. Sorry!
#27
General Discussion / Re: Haemanthus Deformis
November 19, 2023, 03:19:08 PM
Pumice is not an equivalent to perlite. I don't know what the UK-available pumice is like, though. I live in Oregon, where pumice is quarried and available in various forms. I use a great deal of gray-white, medium-diameter, ground pumice in my potting and seed-sowing soil mixes, and I always buy it unwashed with the fines present, because this adds nutrients. Roots will grow into a piece of pumice, but not into a piece of perlite. Pumice is somewhat heavy (though not as solid as, say, basalt), especially when wet; it absorbs and slowly releases moisture, unlike perlite. It does not migrate to the top of a pot as perlite would. Its pH is near-neutral. We also have a harder, dark red kind of pumice that is used as mulch, and some growers say its fines are a wonderful soil amendment.
#28
As traditional, the USDA ignores the fact that the US west contains the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, not to mention the Siskiyou region with its varied topography. We'll stick with Sunset zones out here.
#29
General Discussion / Re: Identifying Colchicum
November 14, 2023, 03:27:16 PM
I've grown many species of Colchicum from seed, and their germination is very hard to predict. Few or none germinate the year when sown. They may germinate 1, 2, or 3 years later, and curiously, several species from different years of sowing can germinate within a week or two. I assume some temperature variation is responsible. I keep my seed pots in a shed where the temperatures are close to ambient. So keep the seed pots  for 3 years. After that I dump the whole pot, seeds and all, in among the plunged pots in my bulb house, and various things have germinated there, species to be identified.
#30
General Off-Topic / A taxonomic poem
November 02, 2023, 11:47:30 AM
Anne Carson's "Linnaeus Town" https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/anne-carson-linnaeus-town/ weaves the convention of a taxonomic key into a poem. Trace the path of thought to emotional response in this fascinating one-page work.