Moving the Heirloom Garden to Montana

Hello everyone! I have been moving our garden of heirloom plants to Ronan, Montana, where I will be joining the staff at Westland Seed, Inc. as greenhouse/nursery manager. The pictures above show our progress.

We will have our grand opening May 20th and 21st! All our plants are grown using OMRI certified soils, fertilizers and management techniques. We feature heirloom plants from the pioneers in America, old varieties from Europe, Asia, the Pacific Isles; things from all over the world. of special interest are more than 30 varieties of Native American vegetables and flowers.

Our soil mix is made from a certified organic composted buffalo manure, with other certified organic ingredients added. (see our previous posts on soil mixes for ideas.) The potting mix we amend for our bedding plants and vegetables is produced by Buffaloam Company; made from the manure of grass-fed bison, composted for three years. It is an odorless, friable medium we like. This primary ingredient is especially appreciated here on the Flathead Indian reservation as it reflects our ancient Native American heritage.

In future posts, I will describe some of our featured heirloom vegetables and flowers. Almost all of our greenhouse and nursery plants are heirloom, open-pollinated varieties. We also offer native and medicinal plants We do NOT offer any GMO plants or seed in our greenhouse nursery.

I will be posting this blog on the Westland Seed website, on the Greenhouse Page, along with future instructional and informational videos, plus an event calendar. The Westland Seed website is http://www.westlandseed.com

ATTRACTING BUTTERFLIES TO YOUR GARDEN

My picture today is of a painting I did of a window box of petunias with sweet alyssum (though the alyssum really appears as an abstract smudge of white). Sweet alyssum, Lobularia maritime, is one of the favorite flowers of butterflies.

Everyone enjoys seeing butterflies—they bring beauty and charm to the garden. In the Middle Ages the butterfly was used in paintings to symbolize the soul, a reference to the metamorphosis from caterpillar to pupa to butterfly, analogous to the journey of the soul from heaven to earth and back to heaven. Many of our heirloom flowers attract butterflies.

If we can make our garden attractive to butterflies, they will come seeking food and breeding sites, and stay for awhile. Adult butterflies feed only on liquids, nectars of flowers, tree sap from wounded trees and water. They appreciate the water in mud puddles, which will give them mineral nutrients.

Some flowers attract butterflies more than others. Simple flowers from which they can easily extract nectar are preferred. In the spring butterflies are hungry and seek out early flowers such as buttercups, aubretia, perennial alyssum and creeping phlox. They also like primroses, candytuft, arabis and English bluebells. Purple flowers are their very favorites, especially sweet rocket, scabiosa and lilacs. Herbs are very good nectar plants also, including most notably catmint, thyme, lavender and hyssop. In mid to late summer butterflies will visit phlox, goldenrod, gaillardias and any single daisy-like flower.

There is a famous plant that butterflies love called Buddleia, known by the common name ‘butterfly bush’. It is tender in USDA zone 4 to 5 in Montana, but will most likely survive the winter in a warm, south facing wall. In this climate it will die back to the ground and re-sprout in the spring. The flowers come in a long inflorescence of tiny fragrant blooms in August and keep coming on until frost. The fragrance reminds me of soda pop. Butterflies will return to the flowers again and again.

The fall blooming Sedum spectabile is attractive to butterflies as well as to bees. Both will compete to get to the nectar-filled flowers in September. The plant likes well-drained soil and a hot spot. One more favorite is mignonette, a fragrant annual flower easily grown with very fragrant insignificant flowers. Mignonette was brought from Egypt by Napoleon’s returning military core in the early 1800s. It is a valuable heirloom, wonderfully scenting a cottage garden.

Actually, the more wild, weedy and meadow-like your garden is, the better to attract butterflies; they will stay and raise their young. An organic garden is safer for them. It is best to never spray any pesticides (including OMRI approved ones) in your butterfly garden. Bacillus thuringensis (BTK), or pyrethrins, or soap sprays will all harm them and/or their young.

Butterflies lay eggs on several plants. The Painted Lady butterfly will lay eggs on any kind of thistle. Swallow Tails lay eggs on carrots or parsley, but if you see a caterpillar or two you can move it to a plant of Queen Anne’s Lace where it will get all the food it needs and pupate. The beautiful Monarch butterflies lay eggs on milkweed. Other favored plants for butterfly nurseries include: alfalfa, fennel, nettles, clover, vetch, dock, poplar and elm. Several species need a particular plant for their larvae to eat, and most of these hosts are native plants.

A flower filled, weedy butterfly garden is perfect for anyone wanting a low maintenance garden. It is wonderful for children and for older people because there is no mowing or weeding. All of your garden, or just a section of it can be devoted to a colorful, natural butterfly haven. Other creatures will come as well, and damage from deer will not be as noticeable as in a garden full of introduced, water-hungry plants with big flowers and moist stems and leaves. Native shrubs and trees might be included as well.

If your climate is dry and fire is a concern, your butterfly garden might be situated away from your home and outbuildings. Enjoy the beauty and fragrance from nature’s own heirloom garden of butterfly attracting plants.

A Few More Photos

Hello Everyone! I am late this week with a post as I have moved my garden to Montana where I will grow organic bedding plants, perennials, roses, shrubs and fruit trees for Westland Seed, Inc.

More next week!

Photographs of Historic Florist Pansies

This week I thought I would show pictures of the Historic Florist pansies I grew from seed. The top photo is of my pansy bed; the others show the diversity of blooms and colors of antique pansies. The flowers are fragrant and almost all of the blooms have a “face”. More information is available in my first blog on this WordPress site, which describes the origin of pansies in England during the 1830s.

This week I am moving to Montana from Oregon, so this blog is one day late and quite brief. I will manage a new organic nursery and greenhouse—a new division of Westland Seed, Inc., Ronan, Montana.

Happy growing!

April Gardening Calendar

April is another busy month for gardeners; usually a month characterized by ups and downs in temperature. Keep watch for frosts; protect cold frames with mats if frosts are imminent, and admit air daily as weather permits. Finish pruning fruit trees if not done, plant grapes; fertilize and prune blackberries. Check your fruit trees and roses for pests as soon as they bud and leaf out and set out apple pest traps two weeks before bud break. Weed and amend all your beds now while it is cool and moist.

Finish planting fruit trees, shrubs, roses, and perennials. This month is a good time to direct sow (where they are to flower)seeds of several flowers: sweet alyssum, cornflowers, carnations, pinks, poppies, stocks, rose campion, Lychnis, columbines, valerian, honesty, foxglove, snapdragons, mignonette, larkspur, kiss-me-by-the-garden-gate and four-o’clocks. Perennials still may be divided if weather has not become too warm. Violets can be divided after blooming and cuttings taken of pansies. Make cuttings of chrysanthemums, gauras, Helianthus, lupines, Lychnis, Liatris, knautias, saponarias, scutellarias and veronicas. Dahlias and tigridias may be started inside in cold climates and planted out later after frosts are over, or planted outside if the soil temperature is above 60 degrees F.

Several vegetables can be direct sown if weather permits and it is not too cold: beets, arugula, carrots, caraway, celery, chervil, chives, cilantro, dill, fennel, collards, mache, fava beans, cress, kale, Jerusalem artichokes, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, rhubarb, turnip greens, onions, pasley, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, salsify, scallions, spinach and Swiss chard. Sunflowers and tomatillos can be sown two weeks before the last expected frost.

Corn may be sown after April 15th in cool maritime northwest climates, or a week or two later in the inland and mountain areas. Usually corn is sown about 10 days to two weeks before the last frost. Native Americans of the Hidatsa tribe living in the Dakotas planted sunflowers first, then corn, and after frosts followed with beans and finally, squash. Sunflowers were grown by themselves in a field, but corn, beans and squash were grown together; with corn in hills of 6-8 and beans and squash vining through.

Vegetables started last month indoors may be planted out this month: the brassicas, parsley, Asian greens, rhubarb and tomatoes; once frosts are over.

Prune established roses before bud break and seal the cuts with water-based glue or wood glue. This prevents drilling wasps from injuring the canes. Fertilize organically with Epsom salts, manure or compost, bone meal or rock phosphate, alfalfa meal and seaweed or wood ashes.

A few things maybe grafted now: grapes, hollies, pears, maples, pines and clematis. Layers can be made of Cotoneaster, Cotinus, Hydrangea, Lavandula, Lonicera and Parthenocissus.

Enjoy spring!

Controlling Cut Worms

In my organic garden of heirloom plants here in Oregon, we have several pests: deer, raccoons, dogs, squirrels, rats, slugs, cabbage looper larvae and cutworms. Cutworms have been the most consistently damaging of the group. Typically, they sever the stems of young transplants, a preferred food of theirs. They also eat most of the plants I grow; all vegetables, but especially plants of the Brassica, Dianthus, Primula and Viola families. Here, they are a year-round pest, perhaps because of the mild weather of the region. Cutworms belong to the family Noctuidae. Note that the Latin root word here “noctu” refers to night—the time when these insects feed. They come out about two hours after dark to feast, then disappear under the soil for the day. Some cutworm eggs overwinter and hatch in spring, but others can hatch at any time after, as long as it is not too cold. Evidently there is one generation per year. The adult moths emerge in late summer and lay eggs which can hatch at varying times of the year. Several species exist: the Army cutworm, Black cutworm, Variegated cutworm, and a new species here in Oregon, which is active year round, the Winter cutworm. The first picture above shows a cutworm that appeared on heirloom petunia seedlings while they were on a bench in my greenhouse. The plants had been transplanted two weeks before, so I was surprised that the cutworm was able to climb so far! the photo was taken in May, so this was probably the variegated cutworm, which we have spring, summer and fall. The second picture shows another cutworm on the edge of a patio planter, three feet above the ground. The other three photos reveal damage on in-ground plants made by Winter cutworms in December, January and February. Cutworms typically leave black droppings on your plants; the photo of the cauliflower shows this.

An organic gardener’s best first defense against cutworms is prevention. A week before plants are to be set out, prepare your bed by cultivating heavily to dislodge and destroy any worms in the soil, then cultivate again. When you plant your transplants, place collars around the plants to make it difficult for the worms to get to your plants. Collars may be made of paper (milk cartons work well), plastic, metal or cardboard. Here it rains so frequently that I choose to use plastic milk jugs or cans with the bottoms cut out of them. After planting, spread one or more of the following sharp-edged deterrent mulches over the soil, around the plants: diatomaceous earth, eggshells, wood ashes or sharp grit. The rough surfaces of any of these will discourage cutworms from crawling to your plants. Another preventive method is to wait until two hours after dark, take a flashlight, search out the larvae and use the squish-bug technique for control. Continue to cultivate around your plants to dislodge hiding larvae. One other way to fight the battle is to attract or purchase beneficial insects to control cutworms. Ground beetles, parasitic nematodes and tachinid flies attack cutworms. Pollen-laden flowers, (don’t forget about native wildflowers) will help draw beneficial insects to your garden.

A next recourse for severe infestations is to use biological pest controls. The bacteria Bacillus thuringensis kurstaki (known as BTK) made into a liquid spray is effective in controlling cutworms as long as you do not have continuous rain, as we often do here in western Oregon. The damaged cauliflower, cabbage and primrose in the photos above show the effects of cutworms in winter, during a three month-long period of rain. Dry BTK can be mixed with moistened bran to act as a bait and will last a few days until washed away. Of course one can use the handpick squishbug method, but it might be difficult to keep up! BTK cannot be used over and over without enabling cutworms to develop resistance. Take care not to spray anything other than the very plants you need to protect when the larvae of butterflies are present. Organically approved pesticides containing pyrethrin may also be used for heavy infestations.

Cloches and Cold Frames

We have to face the fact that here in much of the Northwest we have a short frost-free growing season. Those living at higher elevations have an even shorter growing period. Most gardeners in the area look for ways to extend the vegetable growing season: everyone wants to have ripe eggplants, tomatoes, squash, melons, etc. before the season ends and frosts return. A great help for gardeners is to purchase or construct covers, or cloches, to protect our plants early and late. In the nineteenth century, glass bell-shaped cloches were used, as well as cold frames glazed with glass.

Today, one popular and inexpensive alternative cover is a polyethelyne tunnel, a series of metal hoops over which plastic is stretched. The spring vegetable season can be started up to four weeks earlier with tunnels. The same is true of fall, when it is possible to have crops ready up to six weeks later, because the soil will be warmer in fall and hold its heat longer if cloched. Tunnels are quite useful for heat-loving crops in our frequently cool summers; cantaloupe, watermelons, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and cucumbers are some examples. Floating row covers will also protect plants at night from colder temperatures. The heaviest will protect plants from frost up to seven or eight degrees of frost.

Plastic jugs, with the caps taken off and bottoms cut out, work well for small plants planted out before late frosts occur. Covers can be placed before nightfall and removed during the day. Gluttonous and ubiquitous cutworms will be discouraged from chewing by the subterranean sharp edges of the jugs; this is important because these creatures feed at night. Large metal cans and paper milk jugs are other inexpensive cloches.

Cold frames are excellent cloches or protectors of young plants. The soil inside them stays much warmer at night than the outside air. If mats or fabric floating row covers are used to cover plants they will protect crops to lower temperatures than uncovered plastic tunnels or jugs. I constructed my own cold frames, though they can be purchased from many sources at a considerable price! An important factor with cold frames is to open them in the morning as soon as temperatures permit and close them before it gets too cold, in late afternoon or early evening.

Paper, glass, water-filled plastic covers or wax coated cloches are other quick solutions to save plants if a late frost is expected. In Montana, in a mountain valley at an altitude of 3,000 feet I have used cloches to save bleeding hearts, primroses, lilies and early spring flowers from sudden freezes that would have set them back considerably.

Have a great spring!

Growing Asparagus

Asparagus (Asparagus officionalis) is a popular vegetable today and was quite popular in the nineteenth century. The photograph above is of an antique variety, ‘Giant Asparagus’ an engraving from The Illustrated London News, dated 1851. An asparagus knife is shown alongside the plant. This year, I grew another old variety of asparagus from seed, ‘Connover’s Collosal’, dating to the second half of the nineteenth century. It is difficult to find plants of heirloom varieties of asparagus, so one has to start them from seed. However, the process is slow, as the plants take three to four years to reach the size for harvesting. (If too many shoots are cut from very young plants, productivity may be reduced, or the plants may die. But if the plants are allowed to become established, an asparagus bed will last twenty years or more, even up to fifty years!)

Late March into early April is an excellent time to start asparagus from seed. Use a sterile medium, cover the seed about 1/4 inch deep and place the pots in a warm location (77 degrees is optimum). The seeds should come up in about ten days. You may direct seed into a bed if soil temperatures are above 50 degrees, it will just take a little longer for the seeds to germinate. Asparagus plants begin to grow slowly and will not be ready to transplant out for about three or four months. Meanwhile you can prepare a bed for them. An ideal spot is in full sun with a bed large enough to accommodate the number of plants you need. It is usually recommended to plant five to six plants per person. Since the plants are perennial (USDA climate zones 4-9) they benefit from a well-prepared bed. Peter Henderson, in his book Gardening for Profit published in 1867, recommended planting transplants nine inches apart in rows three feet wide for commercial growers, or two feet wide for home gardeners.

Once you have established how many plants you need, you can make the planting bed. Henderson recommended trenching the bed two to three feet deep with about three inches of rotted manure mixed into the soil. A deep sandy loam is best for them as they are native to alluvial soils. Bernard Mc Mahon, in Mc Mahon’s American Gardener, published in 1857, recommended double digging two spades deep and placing several inches of rotted manure in the trench, then spreading another layer of rotted manure over the surface. He directed gardeners to mix this second layer of manure with the soil to a depth of eight to ten inches. My young plants, now a year old, have spears a little larger in diameter than a toothpick. The young plants may be grown in a temporary (sunny) rich bed for another year, then moved to their permanent location. Place the crowns of the plants two inches below the soil surface. Keep the beds weeded to ensure quick, even growth. Mc Mahon recommends three years from planting (which would be four years from sowing seed) before cutting can begin. Dress the bed every spring with rotted manure, bone meal and wood ashes.

If your family really enjoys asparagus, plant more than five plants per person; I plant twelve per person. If you plant two-year transplants, spread the roots out like the spokes of a wheel and cover with about one inch of prepared soil. Water well. As the plants grow, cover them with more soil until you have them two inches under. Do not use fresh manure as it will burn them and (heaven forbid) do not use chemical fertilizers, especially on newly planted asparagus. Wait two years to begin cutting. A summer mulch of three inches of straw is excellent, will protect the plants in winter and the spears will come up earlier in the spring if the ground is not frozen too deeply.

When you cut asparagus spears get them into the refrigerator right away or cook them immediately because they lose flavor as quickly as sweet corn does. Considering how expensive asparagus is, I find the start up work well worth while. Enjoy!

March Gardening Calendar

This photo is of a double blue primrose seedling, blooming now in Corvallis, Oregon.

March is a very busy month for gardeners. Root crops stored from the previous year and planned to produce seed can be planted out late in the month after the soil thaws (cabbages, celery, lettuce, leeks, onions, parsnips). Planting time will arrive soon, or has already arrived for those of you in mild climates. Weed and clean borders and vegetable beds, plant perennials, sow seeds of hardy annuals, plant rhubarb, asparagus, sea kale and artichokes. Plant and/or prune cane fruits and fruit trees (cherries, apples, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, currants, gooseberries, etc.). Check cold frames on a regular basis, venting as needed and closing the glazing panels at night. Watch temperatures in the greenhouse also, as March is a month of ups and downs in temperature. Manure and other organic soil amendments (epsom salts, seaweed meal, alfalfa meal, greensand, bone meal, compost and wood ashes) can be spread over vegetable, fruit, flower and rose beds. Grape vines can be manured now, leaving space around the stem; treat roses in the same manner.

Many vegetables can be sown indoors now for transplanting out later: cole crops (brassicas), onions, lettuce, peppers, eggplant and leeks. Some vegetables can be direct sown outside if weather permits and if your soil is not too wet to work: arugula, carrots, corn salad, fava beans, cress, mustard and turnip greens, onions, peas, radishes and spinach. Celery and lettuce can be direct sown into frames. Several vegetables and fruits can be transplanted now: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, asparagus, horseradish, head lettuce, onion sets and plants and perennial herbs. Make sure your mushroom beds do not get too wet; replace straw if wet.

Potted auricula primroses should be protected from rain and frosts; they will begin to bud soon. Sow any remaining auricula and primrose seeds. Herbaceous perennials can be divided and planted now. Many hardy annual flowers may be sown during March: larkspur, sweet peas, lychnis, nigella, lavatera, poppies, kiss-me-by-the-garden-gate and sweet alyssum. Inside the greenhouse sow: petunias, impatiens, pansies, alyssum, chrysanthemums, iceplants, portulacas, salvias, snapdragons, sweet Williams, ten-week stocks, mignonette, hesperis, Shasta daisies, hibiscus, lupine and Salvia x superba.

Roses and other shrubs may be layered now, and cuttings may be made of geraniums, myrtles and hydrangeas. If you want to plant a hedge from seed, now is the time to sow seeds of hawthorns, stone fruits, roses and other hardy shrubs you might like to use. The young plants can be transplanted out to their permanent positions later.

Happy Spring!

Some of the First Flowering Bulbs of Spring

The three flowers above are the first to bloom in my garden this year. The first photo shows blooms (from left to right) of: Galanthus nivalis flore pleno, the double snowdrop; Iris reticulata; and Muscari botryoides, the grape hyacinth. The snowdrop and the iris were planted last fall (2015) and the grape hyacinths were here in the garden from times past.

The double snowdrop is a beautiful flower, having rows of green and white petals that resemble the old-fashioned layered petticoats worn in the nineteenth century and before. The single form was known in ancient times and is described by Theophrastus. It is illustrated in Gerard’s The Herball of 1596 and was considered a type “bulbous violet” at that time. The double form, illustrated above, occurred in the eighteenth century. It blooms slightly later than the single form, but is quite unusual and uncommon today. G. nivalis is native to Europe and likes cool, rather moist conditions and cold winters (USDA zones 3-8). I have mine planted in part shade under a Pieris tree. Snowdrops have a faint, earthy fragrance and will begin to bloom as soon as the snow melts.

Iris reticulata, which does not seem to have a common or folk name, is native to Turkey, Iran and the Caucuses Mountains. Bulbs reached Europe and North America in the mid-nineteenth century; nowadays several forms and colors are available. The flowers have an unusual violet-like fragrance. The plant is beautiful and undemanding, preferring full sun, rather alkaline, gritty soil and dry conditions in summer. I. reticulata thrives in USDA zones 4-9 and multiplies well.

Muscari botryoides is the original “grape hyacinth” known since at least 1596 and is illustrated in Gerard’s Herball. It resembles the commonly grown Muscari armeniacum, but blooms earlier. It is hardier as well, growing in USDA zones 2-8. M. botryoides has sterile upper flowers which are lighter in color than those below. The flowers have a fragrance of honey. M. botryoides has almost disappeared from modern bulb catalogs, but if you search, you may fnd it growing in old established gardens, or around abandoned home sites. I am lucky that it was planted in the garden of my house, built in the 1920s. The flowers are just opening here in mid-February.

	Black Knot Be Gone on FALL APPLE AND PEAR TREE …
	Alli on ‘Phoenix’ Nasturti…
	James Sagmiller Orga… on THE EGYPTIAN BLUE WATERLI…
	angel on THE EGYPTIAN BLUE WATERLI…
	James Sagmiller Coll… on Antique Florist Anemones

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