attracting birds, drought tolerant, evergreens, garden visits, months 04-06: spring, months 07-09: summer, months 10-12: fall, perrennials, urban deer

Red Hot Pokers – Kniphofia

07/29/2016 svseekins 2 Comments

Red Hot Pokers are goofy plants.

Folks either love ’em or hate ‘en.

Me?
I love ’em.

Here’s why:

The ‘red hot’ blooms remind me of Halloween candy corn from when I was a kid.
photo by SVSeekins

Kniphofia grow happily on our rocky outcrop in very little soil…
with very little moisture…
So they’re super drought tolerant AND low maintenance, too. Win, win!

They’ve transplanted easily into partial-shade borders. I like plants that are easy to grow.
photo by SVSeekins

Hummingbirds & bees LOVE LOVE LOVE the blooms.

The deer – – not so much. Our local deer just ignore the Kniphofia 🙂

Red Hot Pokers, aka Torch Lilies, are pretty much evergreen in Victoria – – unless it snows.
In which case they immediately turn to slime…
Then come up fresh & green again when the weather calms down. That works just fine for me.

photo by SVSeekins

The Red Hots I’m most familiar with – – those with the graduated red + orange + yellow on one poker – – bloom in our garden in May.

Last July I saw some blooming in the Government House Gardens. I immediately searched out a few summer bloomers for our place.

These varieties, likely Knifophia uvaria ‘echo mango’ and ‘echo rojo’ are dwarf and have much narrower leaves. They’re designed to re-bloom throughout the growing season.

They also stayed green through the winter, although they looked a little more dried & messy compared to the May bloomers. Happily they bounced back in the spring sunshine. Now they’re blooming !

The deer have nibbled a couple tender flower spikes, but I’m hoping that’s just curiosity, and they’ll leave the dwarf plants alone from now on. Finger’s crossed.

To my amazement Abkhazi Garden had some Red Hot Pokers blooming near their front gate in December!
Who knew?

Isn’t that a Must Have?

Anyone know where I can source some of those??

lilac, red hot pokers, irs, lupin Lupinus, with the ceanothus just about to come into bloom too, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

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attracting birds, drought tolerant, months 04-06: spring, months 07-09: summer

Surviving Drought With Rock Rose

07/28/2016 svseekins 2 Comments

In the heat of summer I’m more interested in camping than staying home to water the garden.

cistus, sunset rock rose, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Happily the spring extravaganza of bloom was mostly bulb, and being spring ephemerals, they’re content to dry up & hibernate until the rains come again. But I’m not content with a brown garden in July.

Rock Rose to the rescue.

Once established, Cistus ‘sunset’ has proven to be one tough-as-nails, evergreen shrub.
it’s fuzzy leaves make the most of any dew or moisture they find.
Our local deer find it unpalatable.
The butterflies & other pollinators gravitate to the energizing magenta flowers.
The honey fragrance of the blooms makes it a good choice to plant near a high-traffic area.

Those 5 reasons easily convinced me that Cistus is a keeper for our landscape.

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months 04-06: spring, months 07-09: summer, natives, urban deer

Roadside Veggies: Cow Parsnip, Indian Celery

06/28/2016 svseekins Leave a comment

Between Sooke & Port Renfrew are moist roadside drainage ditches brimming with Heracleum lanatum.

Cow Parsnip bloom, Indian Celery, Heracleum lanatum garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Commonly named Cow Parsnip or Indian Parsley, you’d expect a gourmet treat, but it’s not something I’d eat.

Cow Parsnip leaf, Indian Celery, Heracleum lanatum garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

The massive maple leaf distinguishes it from the more toxic Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum) & poisonous Water Hemlock (Cicuta).

Even still, this beauty contains a milky sap that is photo-toxic, kinda like euphorbia & poinsettia. Once exposed to sunshine, any skin that contacted the sap burns & blisters. Nasty.

Cow Parsnip, Indian Celery, Heracleum lanatum garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

But wait – there are some positive notes:

The giant flowers are landing pads for butterflies. It’s important to many native pollinators.
In its happy place, Cow parsnip can reach 3 metres – – that’s 10 feet tall! That’s architecturally impressive.
It’s hairy – and deer seem to avoid fuzzy plants. Perhaps they’re finicky that way.
Cow Parsnip is said to be kinda stinky. I didn’t notice, but now that I think about it, I wandered into this patch of Cow Parsnip after 5 days of camping – – so my own stink may have been masking all other smells…
Deer seem to avoid fragrant plants, so there’s a fair chance that Cow Parsnip is safe from them.

Hmmm, I might not be desperate enough for its food value, but I just might find a spot for Cow Parsnip in our landscape. Imagine this self-seeding biennial as a garden ornamental at the back of a moist bed or border.

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