Category Archives: garden plant lists

featured plants

months 01-03: winter, months 10-12: fall, perrennials

Winter Jasmine

12/27/2019 svseekins 2 Comments

The solstice has passed, so it’s officially winter. With that, the joy of winter jasmine presents itself in our garden.

Many years ago, Dad brought me a cutting of a plant he found blooming on New Year’s Day. It turns out that Jasminum nudiflorum can bloom even earlier than that! The first of the flowers started to appear in November. Most years, it’ll keep blooming right into spring, finishing up in April.

winter jasmine, winter-flowered jasmine, jasminum nudifolium, Jasminum sieboldianum, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

I’m happy with this low-maintenance winter bloomer. It doesn’t demand a precious full-sun location. In 10 years, I’ve never pruned it. Aside from just a bit of water through the driest months, it requires no attention. It’s hardy to zone 6, so our occasional coastal snowstorm hasn’t ever phased it. (Isn’t zone 8-9 grand?)

The branches have no clinging tendrils, & it doesn’t twine around supports like a vine. I weave new growth through the trellis to lift the blooming branches up to eye level.

When one branch lay on the ground, it sprouted roots, creating another plant. That turned out to be a bonus – – not a worry. Winter jasmine is not a bully at all.

Our trellis hosts

Clematis Montana for spring colour…
Honeysuckle ‘Belgica’ for summer colour…
and Dad’s jasmine for colour all winter.

I gotta like plants that play nicely together?

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months 01-03: winter, months 10-12: fall, natives, perrennials, urban deer

What’s Eating The Licorice Fern

11/25/2019 svseekins 3 Comments

When we first moved to the slopes of Mt. Tolmie, lush licorice fern decorated the mossy rock outcropping in our side yard.

Licorice fern, Polypodium glycyrrhiza,Polypodium occidentale, Polypodium vulgare subsp. occidentale, many footed fern, sweet root, , garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Urban deer wandered the neighbourhood. They spent long afternoons hanging out at the top of our rock, chewing their cud & enjoying the safety of the vantage point.

The licorice fern flourished. The deer seemed uninterested. Typically deer aren’t interested in licorice fern. Typically.

A dozen years pass & their family grows. The large buck has several generations of grandkids browsing the neighbourhood.

Just down the street, beside a busy pathway to the college, licorice ferns still flourish on a similar rock outcrop.

Perhaps the deer don’t linger there?

Looking more carefully, I find a couple fronds that have been munched. Mostly the ferns are full-sized & healthy.

On our chunk of rock – where several more deer now hang out – – the licorice ferns are small, nibbled and struggling.

Coincidence?

Perhaps they’re less ‘deer resistant’ than I think.

A couple years ago, I shifted a few small mats of licorice fern from our rock to other spots around the garden. In places where the deer rarely linger, the ferns grow to their regular size. Hmmmmmm.

Deer aren’t typically interested in licorice fern…

unless there’s a dense population of deer…
and the hyper-active fawns just want to taste everything…
and the herd’s favourite hangout is carpeted in licorice fern…
photo by SVSeekins

THEN deer can have a negative impact on licorice ferns.
Just because a plant is considered deer resistant, doesn’t mean it won’t suffer when the population of deer intensifies.

black tail deer near hiking trail in Sooke, Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

That’s my guess.
But really, who knows for sure?

Maybe it’s the raccoons?
Or squirrels?
Rabbits?
Ravens? Cats?
Maybe I’m just blaming deer because I notice them so often.

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Some other ‘resistance’ musings:

bulbs, drought tolerant, months 07-09: summer

Back From the Dead

10/03/2019 svseekins Leave a comment

We were away camping for most of August + early September. The garden had to survive through the dry heat all by itself.

Amaryllis belladonna , Madonna Lily, Jersey Lily, Amaryllis rosea, Brunsvigia rosea,, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Imagine my delight returning to a cloud of pink blooms hovering above the parched bed beside the front gate…

Granted, it’s only one stalk – – but what a cluster of flowers! AND the deer hadn’t feasted on it as they had the surrounding daylily & crocosmia blooms–Bonus 🙂

To be honest, I’m shocked to see this resurrection. For the past 10 years, I’ve resigned myself to being a Crinum killer.

The original bulb, a giant, came to me via a garden club plant sale. It was labelled Crinum × powellii (aka Swamp Lily or Cape Lily).
Now I’m thinking it might be Amaryllis belladonna (aka Madonna Lily or Jersey Lily).

I planted it, thrilled at the first year’s blossom, then searched for signs of life the following year…
None…
Nothing the next year either…
After that, I just stopped searching.

Perhaps a hard winter froze the bulb… (Crinum is zone 7: A.belladonna is zone 4.)
Perhaps too much drought shrivelled the bulb … (Crinum likes moist summers; A.belladonna prefers dry.)
Perhaps it had been crowded out by the crocosmia… (Both Crinum & A. belladonna, like nerine lilies, prefer their necks exposed to sunshine… last winter I’d removed excess crocosmia)

There are so many ways to fail in the garden. I resigned myself to losing another gem.

Now I’m thinking, it might have simply been a miscommunication in labelling. Both Crinum & A. belladonna have similar tendencies (pink clusters of bloom… bloom time… toxicity… origins in South Africa… ),
But there are some significant differences, too (A.belladonna leaves die off before it blooms).

Either way, I’m grateful for whichever bulb I have. It’s one tough cookie. It patiently waited years until the conditions were just right!!

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Here are some other pink autumn bloomers: