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Monthly Bulb Log Diary 2024
Ian Y:
The first Bulb Log for 2024 sees the winter garden under snow but there shoots of promise and Narcissus flowers under glass to enjoy.
https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240117102118BULB%20LOG%200124.pdf
Robert:
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.
Ian Y:
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.
Ian Y:
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.
https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240214103938BULB%20LOG%200224.pdf
Ian Y:
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.
https://www.srgc.net/documents/bulb%20logs/240313101431BULB%20LOG%200324.pdf
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