Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Ian Young's Bulb Log - Feedback Forum => Topic started by: Ian Y on January 17, 2024, 10:31:40 AM
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The first Bulb Log for 2024 sees the winter garden under snow but there shoots of promise and Narcissus flowers under glass to enjoy.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240117102118BULB%20LOG%200124.pdf
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Hi Ian,
Jasmin and I enjoyed your latest Bulb Log immensely. Once again, thank you for sharing your garden with us all.
I would like to share my experiences and perspective of climatic change and the range of plants we might be able to grow in our gardens. 25 years ago the local gardening experts told me repeatedly that it was impossible to grow Erythoniums, Primula (Dodecatheon) hendersonii, and a number of other species in Sacramento. Today, I have thriving communities of Erythroniums, Primula (Dodecatheon) hendersonii, and many other species thriving in our Sacramento garden. Yes, we have lost many species, such as Rhododendrons, in our Sacramento garden as temperatures, xenobiotics, and drought have increased rapidly in magnitude over the recent years. So I guess the question is, why are the Erythroniums, Primula hendersonii, and other “ungrowable” species thriving in our garden?
The short and simplified answer is growing genetically diverse populations, as large as possible (a land race would be great), and selecting (us or nature) the most adaptable plants. Then repeating this process, generation, after generation. For example, 3 – 4 years ago, Ranunculus occidentalis was impossible to grow in our garden. Today, out three generations, and we have random seedlings coming up throughout our garden. Primula hendersonii has no tolerance of summertime moisture when dormant. Right now, there is one surviving seedling that survived in the summer-irrigated part of our garden. We have our foot in the door with this one. And progress is being made with a whole range of species. The one common thread in all these success stories is that we grow whole populations of plants from very genetically diverse seed sources. This is rapid adaptive evolution in action!
In my botanical fieldwork I have observed repeatedly that intact unmanaged ecosystems exhibit an extremely high degree of resiliency to the climatic changes taking place in our region. Like your garden, we attempt to create naturalistic habitats in our garden. We have communities of plants all mixed together and encourage plants to seed around and grow where they like and with other plants they like. Like Masanobu Fukuoka’s “do nothing” method, we do not abandon our garden to the forces of nature; however we limit our management, observe closely what the natural order might be, and attempt to harmonize our efforts with the natural balance taking place in our garden. I believe this partly accounts for our success, especially with so-called difficult species in our Sacramento garden.
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Thank you Robert and Jasmin for your very interesting comment I completely agree that given time nature can adjust.
For many years I have been speaking and writing about the ability of plants through a process of natural selection can adjust to climate changes but this can take several generations of seedlings and it is informative to read of your success.
Allowing plants to self seed and not being too controlling in the garden is often the best way.
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I share some of the early flowering bulbs/plants in the garden as well as some thoughts in this month's Bulb Log just click the link to reveal all.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240214103938BULB%20LOG%200224.pdf
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The garden bursts into life as the early flowering bulbs continue their spread getting everywhere including under glass.
Click the link to view and read all.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240313101431BULB%20LOG%200324.pdf
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Click the link to read the Monthly Bulb Log featuring some highlights from the last fours weeks with Eranthis, Corydalis, Crocus and Erythronium flowers all making their appearance.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240417103141BULB%20LOG%200424.pdf
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Want to know why I garden? Please click the link for the latest Bulb Log to find out why and see some of this months highlights.
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https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240515095947BULB%20LOG%200524.pdf
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Hello Ian,
Thank you so much for another pictographic tour of your garden. Words cannot convey my appreciation for your photographs and descriptions.
Why do I garden?
For me this question cannot be answered with words, however the answer to the question takes its form in our garden. Closed-loop sustainability can be seen everywhere in our garden and even in our activities beyond our garden. For example, the 2024 barely crop will be ready to harvest in the coming weeks. Last night I ate barley cakes made from our 2023 barley crop. This is real food grown from compost made from biomass created in our own garden. No chemicals. No poisons, including “organic” poisons. I learned much of this from Masanobu Fukuoka and the folks at Ecology Action, Willits, California. Today is a “training” day – something I learned from one of my teachers Mr. Tri Thong Dang many decades ago. There are no guarantees on this planet, but good food and good exercise do help keep the gardener younger and healthier or at least put the odds in my favor.
A current tour of our garden will find Ethiopian two-rowed barley and Ethiopian Blue-tinged wheat ripening side-by-side with myriad of vegetables, fruit trees, small fruits (like strawberries), medicinal herbs, cover crops (such as clover and vetch), and a cornucopia of ornamental plant species, many of which are blooming right now. We grow Montana Morado and Oaxacan Green maize not because they are “rare” varieties but because they fill our needs. Both are open-pollenated varieties – so we can save our own seed. Montana Morado maize is a soft flour corn and grinds easily in our hand grain grinder. We grow Kanto Wase upland rice because it tastes better and is easier to thresh than other varieties of upland rice. We breed our own vegetable varieties to create regionally adaptable varieties that will thrive in our garden. We grow and breed our own ornamental species for the same reasons. Why I garden is very complex and not an easy question to answer.
Thank you again for the monthly tours of your garden!