IF I COULD CREATE A GARDEN HERE…

16 Tuesday Nov 2010

I WOULD SURELY HAVE A FAIR SIZE learning curve. But what a challenge and fun it could be! A whole new way of gardening. We spent ten days on Hawaii, from Kona on the sunny, dry, leeward/west side, to Waimea along along the south slope of Kohala to the north and then to the lush, rainy, windward east side at Volcano, 29 miles from Hilo. Some vary distinct climate zones and vegetation.

On our way south along the east side we stopped for a couple of hours at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden a collection of more than 2,000 plant species. It was stunning, amazing, beautiful, tranquil, and lush with huge green leaves, tall, spreading trees and palms and curiously beautiful flowers. Nearly every plant had an identification tag; a big plus! A short pictorial tour is below.

A philodendron leaf

Heliconia champneiana ‘Splash’, one of dozens of heliconia varieties.

Fern fronds overhead

Heliconia longissma

Unknown, but beautiful.

Pink ginger with ti (cordyline) plant.

A very tall unfurling frond of a Mulefoot fern.

And last, an introduced pest, the mongoose. Introduced to kill rats, but instead eats native birds.

Our last four days here are at Waikiki where Tom is attending a conference. Pretty setting along the ocean, but it reminds me of Las Vegas with a beach! No gambling just a lot of schmancy shopping, with all of the big name fashion retailers, etc. and thousands of people walking the sidewalks window-shopping and the real thing, all day and into the evening.

RETURN FROM THE LAND OF GIANTS

02 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, National Parks, Travel, Vegetable garden

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WE SPENT LAST WEEK AMONG GIANTS IN KINGS CANYON AND SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARKS (that’s the General Grant sequoia above in Kings Canyon NP) and returned home to a few giants in the vegetable garden like a four pound head of broccoli (below).

The variety is Marathon (seed from Johnny’s); I have grown it for many years. A few years back, I grew a head that weighed nearly five pounds!

WE MARKED THE PASSING OF SUMMER and the beginning of fall in Kings Canyon NP with a hike up to Cedar Grove Overlook. Unfortunately the view at 6,000 feet was very smokey to the south, west and east. To the north we were able to see the Monarch Divide. Warm days and cool nights.

This time of the year has a certain cool thread running through even a warm day and the lower inclination of the sun intensifies the color of pink flowers. The afternoon we came home the sky was lightly clouded and the pink of the Nerine lilies and Autum Joy sedum seemed to sing.

The anticipation of returning home is like a package waiting to be unwrapped. I always wonder what awaits in the garden after an absence of a week or longer. Our return on Tuesday did not disappoint— there was plenty to harvest in the vegetable garden. All of the cool weather here has been ideal for the brassicas but also just enough warmth for the tomatoes to continue ripening. The peppers are dismal this year and the pears too.

Here is what I picked on Wednesday.

The squash vines had pretty much withered, so the Buttercup and Delicata squashes came out of the garden and some of the zucchini that I did not pick before our trip managed to stay on the small side. I have grown the Costata Romanesco variety the last few years. The plants are large and the dark green ribbed fruits are firm, sweet, and crisp. I have two plants this year and try to keep them picked at under ten inches long.

Still needed to pick are a couple of heads of Graffiti cauliflower, below. I may pickle them for the novelty of color (they will be kind of purple after cooking). Regardless, the color is joyful.

The day before we left I turned twelve pounds of Akane apples into sauce (six pints), had another go at pickled green tomatoes (they were quite soft last year, but tasted great) enough to fill five pint jars and pickled three pints of dilled green beans.

Yesterday I put up eleven half-pints of Tomatillo Salsa from tomatillos purchased in California and three pints of bread and butter style zucchini pickles. This weekend I will deal with the Spartan apples. Hmmmmm, preserves or chutney?
Part of the fun of canning for me is designing the labels. I take a photo of the fruit or vegetable that will be going into the jar so I can incorporate it into the design. I print 2 inch and 2.5 inch labels on an Epson Photo2400. Here are some of the labels designed so far this year. (A bit of showing off.) My brand is Backyard Farm and I make a notation of where the contents are grown (by me or someone/somewhere else). (None of these items are for sale of course, just personal use and to give as gifts. I will, however entertain label design commissions.)

GLACIER NP–PART TWO

16 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Montana, National Parks, Travel, Uncategorized

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GOING TO THE SUN ROAD is a must do and see part of Glacier NP. It may be traveled from west to east or from east to west. From the west entrance the road moves east along Lake McDonald and its source McDonald Creek, above (and below) before climbing up nearly 3,000 vertical feet to the summit at Logan Pass.

The arresting color of this pooling spot on McDonald Creek was a peaceful place to stop and enjoy a little lunch before moving on along the GTSR. We have noticed that many visitors tend to race through the national park(s), stopping only for the ‘Kodak’ moments before jumping back into their cars and then onto the next one, rarely taking time to really see and hear what makes these parks so special and it’s a shame. There are so many places to pull out and take a short walk or a long hike and see what cannot be seen from the side of the road.

The views here are spectacular wherever you turn and none more so than the first glimpse of that road as it hugs the face of those peaks soaring above. Note the tiny vehicles for comparison at the bottom of the photo!

By the time we started up the GTSR the rain and clouds that we left behind at Bowman Lake had caught up to us. As the clouds moved up and east they draped over the mountain tops and peaks to dramatic effect. A bit gloomy for photographing with my limited camera, but not too bad. The photo above looks back down into the valley that we had just come from. This road, completed in 1932 seems to require continued maintenance and reconstruction and it is a narrow (maximum vehicle width is 8 feet), winding. Luckily for us we got an early start and the weather for a Sunday was not optimal so there was little traffic in the eastbound direction.

A little to the left of center in the distance is a waterfall dropping from a hanging valley. One of many along this road.

Still climbing to Logan Pass.

The east crest of the summit at Logan Pass, elevation 6,646 feet. You can see the road along the face of the mountains in the distance–just a slim little ribbon that we traveled.

At the east end of the road is St. Mary Lake, where we pulled out to look back into the mountains we had just crossed. It was a dark and stormy day…

But, just turning around to my right was East Flattop Mountain and the promise of breaking clouds, blue sky and sunshine to the east and south. And, to paraphrase Cormac McCarthy, we went on.

One more part to the saga and then it’s back to the garden and perhaps one last national park trip as summer comes to a close.

EXPLORING NW MONTANA & GLACIER NP – PART ONE

16 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Montana, National Parks, Travel, Wildflowers

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OUR FIRST NIGHT IN MONTANA was spent along the Kootenai River at the USFS Yak Campground. There is a campground on each side of the Yaak where it meets the Kootenai. We left Seattle at 10:00 a.m. on 8/16 and arrived at our campground at 6:15 p.m. (MDT). Just before arriving at this CG we were looking for another one that showed on our map but all we could find at this location was a group of turkeys!

Since this blog is ostensibly about botanical things, I spotted this perfect seedhead (tragopogon lamottei?),–not yet identified with certainty– a globe of fairies waiting to lift off.

A Sunny little patch of gallardia pinnifolia (I think) along the riverbank.

Day two,east toward Libby, MT and a stop at Kootenai Falls, a majestic drop of waterfalls along the Kootenai River. Unlike any other waterfalls we’ve seen in our travels. To get a sense of the power and breadth I’m including the following series of photographs.We had the place to ourselves this time for about an hour. The rush of water through here is incredible!

The ‘top end’ of the falls

The ‘bottom end’ as the river flows northeast on its way to Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. It is a fabulous stop that we could never tire of seeing.

On day three we made the west entrance to Glacier NP and by 1:00 p.m. we were at Bowman Lake CG, thirty miles north of the west entrance. A beautiful six mile long mountain lake between Numa and Cerulean ridges and six mountain peaks that overlook the lake. This beautifully located campground was never full in the four nights we stayed. The lake was the perfect spot to camp for several days and try out our inflatable tandem kayak and take some short hikes.

Beautiful Bowman Lake.

The best way to collect rocks in a national park–photographs! A lot of red rock here and in Lake McDonald at the west entrance.

On a hike along the lake we spotted the following butterflies, beetles, assorted wildflowers, and plants.

A Blue Copper butterfly.

Coronis frittilary, I think.

And a Green Comma. A good site for identification of things living is DiscoverLife.

This is spirea pyrimidata with a checkered beetle and a mating pair flower longhorn beetles. Many thanks to the Bugman at Whats’sThatBug for helping me to identify the beetles! (See link at right)

There was so much to see here and great opportunities for seeing what is still wild and untrammeled. So let’s break here before continuing on to the Going-to-the-Sun-Road and parts east and south and another slew of photos to scroll through.

THE BEST 30 MILE FIREWORKS SHOW ANYWHERE

12 Monday Jul 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in July, The beach, Travel

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WE SPENT INDEPENDENCE DAY weekend with our friends in Ocean Park at the north end of the Long Beach peninsula. Saturday, sister Renée and I went to Astoria, Oregon so I could find a gift for my niece and her husband-to-be at RiverSea Gallery, a very cool collection of local (Oregon, NW) artist’s works. We wandered around Astoria, bought some local (Washington) fruit (unbelievably sweet raspberries from Woodland and apricots from Maryhill) from a roadside stand in Chinook, and checked out an antique store in Klipsan Beach. By late afternoon the sun was shining and it was warm. We all had hopes of clear Fourth of July Sunday.

Our friends have oceanfront property so it is a short walk to the beach and spectacle of Fourth of July fireworks. They have been hosting a potluck dinner the past four years that includes neighbors, family, and friends, and has now grown to about 25-30 people in all. After dinner most of us head down the beach like everyone else on the peninsula.

Late in the afternoon, folks begin staking their claim to spots on the beach for fireworks and bonfires and settle in for the evening and coming darkness. About dusk the fireworks show begins and goes on until midnight—for nearly thirty miles along the length of the beach! It has to be the most spectacular fireworks show anywhere.