Spring Rolls on in Fern Valley...Yellow Lady's Slipper

Cypripedium parviflorum, the Yellow Lady's Slipper is the easiest of the "showy" native orchids to grow in the garden. When we moved into our house a long time ago, I noticed a few plants growing near the play equipment at our neighborhood park. I am proud to say that they are still there. I didn't dig any and as far as I can tell no one else has either. Many of our native orchids have had and continue to have their populations ravaged by collecting. Don't collect and don''t buy collected plants.

You don''t have to! Every year there are more suppliers on line that sell nursery propagated plants. Don't be fooled by the phrase,"Nursery grown". It can mean, and usually does mean, that the plants were ripped out of wild populations, potted up, spent a little time in the nursery, and then on to market! Disingenuity at its finest.Out of Carversville, Pennsylvania, The Wild Orchid Company, owned and operated by William Mathis, publishes a small list of both native and non-native orchids that are not wild collected; they are largely sold out now, but, buy his book, The Gardener's Guide to Growing HardyPerennial Orchids, build some of those specialty beds, and you'll be ready to plant next year.

Timber Press has also published a useful book on growing hardy terrestrial orchids, Growing Hardy Orchids, by John Tullock. I haven't written anything about Timber Press yet. Wow. There are two things that I love particularly; plants and books. I am thankful every day that Timber Press exists.If I was omnipotent and could invent a lineup of books, and control the subject matter, the quality of writing, the illustration, and the layout, I couldn't do any better than they do. Sitting here at my keyboard I can look up and see, oh about 200 of their titles. And there are more I need.

Plenty of Rain in Washington...Not so much in Florida

We had almost 3" of rain in Washington last week. That's great. It hasn't rained in Wildwood since we left. It is a sort of helpless feeling knowing you have a garden 900 miles away with newly planted plants and no water. The internet makes it easy towatch the weather anywhere. I monitor Wildwood, Florida and I haven't seen any rain since we left. And there is no rain in the 15 day forecase.

I did realize at some point that we had to use xeric plants. We killed a few Tibouchinas and the Hibiscus suffer mightily during the dry winters. Florida scrub plants work well and we lhave a lot of them, This time we planted specimens from dry lands all around the world. Plants from Australia, South Africa. SW US. There is no rain in the winter, I am not there to water, and the soil is sand and holds no moisture. These plants need to be self sufficient. I am not worried. The Bismarckia will be fine, as will the Xanthorhoea and the Dasylirion. I'll only lose plants that oughtn't to have been there anyway.

Gardeners are beginning to look for plants that are more heat and drought tolerant as Global Warming surges forward. I have always had an interest in "Mediterranean plants", from those areas in Chile, Australia, S. Africa, S. Califonia, and S. and E. of the Mediterranean Sea. Traditionally xeric plants have come from these area. The climate is characterized, broadly, by cool wet winters and dry summers. In Washington we have sometimes cold winters and that eliminates a subset of these plants. Summers while often dry can occasionally be quite wet further limiting the usefulness of some Mediterraneans. Finally our high humidity is the kiss-of-death to more. Still some are adaptable.

The plants that really look promising for us though are the non-wetland plants of the SE Coastal Plain. They expect high humidity to go with summer's heat. As Global Warming nudges average temperatures up, most of these plants, excepting the sub-tropicals of peninsular Florida, move into our range. We should all thank Woodlanders, an excellent Nursery in Aiken, South Carolina for tirelessly discovering, propagating, and retailing many of these plants. They are an incredible resource.