Laughing Ravens

iris versicolor (not sure which SIGNA seedling) iris brevicaulis, donated by a friend in Michigan 'Byakuya No Kuni' ( Hiroshi Shimizu by Carol Warner, R. 2005)  'Labrador Hollow' - ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2017) 'Mama Janice' ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2019) 'Percy Viosca' ( Patrick O'Connor , R. 2014) 'Annette Brown' ( Harry Wolford , R. 2013). 'Brown Recluse' ( Walter Moores , R. 2011) first year bloom, species iris ensata, from seed from SIGNA.org 'Acadian Sky' - ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2017)    The weather has transitioned from over a month of nearly daily rain (42 days in two months) to suddenly being humid and oppressively hot. Dangerous heat warnings started this weekend. Stepping out the door this morning, I was met with the same wall of hot/wet that I associate with getting off the plane in Miami.  Part of that transition is the change in iris season: from Siberian iris season (with iris versicolor sprinkled in fo...

red peony  Everyone has an idea what red looks like. Most men see far fewer shades of red than the average woman. But at the end of the day, most people (who aren't color blind) can distinguish red from orange and red from purple. Somewhere in the middle is true red.   red poppy Red poppies are glorious when they open up in early summer. I used to go to great lengths to plant seeds early, expecting that my transplants would bloom successfully. I learned pretty quickly that annual poppies like being sown into the snow in late winter. It seems frivolous to plant them so callously onto melting snow... but if the last few years have taught me much, it's to watch what the plant does on its own. Poppy seedpods shatter but there are always a few stuck in the pod. That pod doesn't really soak up enough water until it has frozen and thawed a few times. Then those seeds germinate beautifully. In my experience, the most successful poppies have happened about two feet (or the height of...

Sino-siberian iris, 'Dotted Line' (Lorena Reid, R. 1991).    Image from Cascadia Iris Gardens I went outside this morning and it wasn't quite 20 ° F. There's no snow on the ground. The weather has been vacillating wildly between above freezing temperatures (usually with dreary skies and rain) and serious cold. So far this winter, it has been fairly mild. While there have been major snowstorms that have occurred near us, we've landed in a weird bubble once again. Once the cold sets in (like today), it doesn't take much for me to wish for the warmer, sloppier weather to return.  I know that the plants I love make use of this cold and snow cover for their dormancy. I try to reassure myself that the newly planted irises wont be damaged by the cold. The blanket of mulch I put down in October should help moderate the wild swings in air temperature. But I wont know until springtime. What makes it difficult? Where did that title come from? Why ask the question in the mi...

Winter sowing in trays, stacked in layers This year, I wanted to try a couple new ideas with our winter sowing. For those who haven't tried winter sowing, at its simplest, it is just planting your seeds during the winter to give them a jump on spring. Perennial seeds do well, some hardy annual seeds do okay, and tender stuff doesn't survive.  One of the issues we have this winter is carryover from the spring/summer/fall. There are lots of pots of seeds that didn't germinate in the spring. A lot of the things I am reading about some of the more difficult seeds to start, indicate that it can take 2-3 years for seeds to germinate. And that also includes scarification/stratification of some form. Winter sowing usually makes that a simple solution, with the repeated freezing and thawing cycles.  We picked up these flat blue trays on Facebook Marketplace. I have seen similar things in use for bread delivery. They are lightweight, rigid and affordable. Best of all, they are perfor...