Amateur Bot-ann-ist

Wordless Wednesday: The gardener is here, there—everywhere!!!

2013-06-05T14:52:00.002-07:00

Rhododendron sinogrande.

What plant for the cat this year?

I'm currently finding homes for all of this poor babies. No. I am NOT a plant hoarder.

Dear St. Fiacre, please grant me garden sanity and grace before I lose my mind. This garden is out of control and I cannot just "let it go". I did that already and it didn't work.

So I'm still only showing you the same old view of the backyard.

Roses and cherries as seen during a neighborhood walk. I do love this time of year.

Plant Dreaming Deep by May Sarton

2013-06-04T09:43:00.004-07:00

When I was a young girl I spent Saturday mornings wandering the aisles of Powell's Books in downtown Portland with my father Frank. Since my parents were very protective of their only daughter—and I was a good Catholic school girl—let's just say this activity persisted for many years.

One Saturday I happened upon a book with a title that really spoke to me. It was Journal of a Solitude and its author was the poet and memoirist May Sarton. At that time I was journaling a great deal, and of course I considered myself to be a solitude, so it seemed like a match made in heaven. I purchased it, read it, and I can say with certainty that it change my life by showing me more of who I was and who I could be. To this day, I still list it as being one of the most formative books of my early creative literary life. Considering how many books I've consumed over the years, this is quite a feat.

Imagine my surprise when just months ago I was reading some theoretical piece about garden literature and May Sarton's name popped up. Almost immediately I put on my walking shoes for the 4-mile roundtrip walk to the Powell's store on Hawthorne. It was there that I purchased this now precious book Plant Dreaming Deep.

It is a garden memoir of a place in time, a person and her life, and the town where she has come to live. As a poet, she writes patches that are striking and true. Readers at first do not know how to make sense of how the text works and fits together. These are the best books for my mind at least where there is a puzzle. We work to patch together the meaning of something so intimate, the thoughts and experiences of a stranger, and best of all, yes, there is a garden and many thoughts about what plants mean to her. More than anything, she bridges the divide that bothers me most about the majority of garden writing. She makes it personal. She is not hiding the fact that her ideas are opinions and her tastes are based on feelings and memories. She is an artist and she makes herself vulnerable. Gardening and garden design is not formulaic and it is not mimicry. I believe she would say that we have little control over our gardens at all and that for the time we have them, we should feel them at every available moment. They are gifts to us. At the garden's heart, like all great things, we will always find the subjects of life, death and change. It is for this reason we've spent so many years reflecting in gardens. It's just what humans do.

For Sarton—and for many of us gardeners like her—it's our heart and our minds we find when we garden. It is our spirit we grow and truly our souls we nourish as we tend to the soil. Not all gardeners fall into this group though, but if you do, and you're like me, I really recommend the work of Sarton.

Planning and Watching the Garden in June

2013-06-01T10:26:00.001-07:00

Unknown Cistus from the neighborhood.

Finally started walking around the neighborhood again. I cannot say enough about how badly chronic back injuries need to be moved. It is amazing how intensely my back can hurt and yet a nice long walk can make it all go away.

Still waiting for the Dracunculus vulgaris to open.

Right now I'd love to show more of my garden but it's a bit messy yet. Right after this post is posted I will go back out there to weed, trim, and plant away. Finally, I hope to list some more plants on CL too.

Fuchsia procumbens 'Variegata'.

Still been busy indoors with "life responsibilities" so it is so great to go outside to see little blooms here and there.

Alpine strawberry, (Fragaria vesca.)

Often I stop to munch on things as I walk by since they truly are so tasty. For instance, I am such a lover of alpine strawberries.

The front porch flowerbed.

I think that it's time for me to begin giving real tours of my actual garden. Next time we'll be starting with this bed. I show it here a lot since it usually looks ok. I will rearrange it and post pictures after this weekend. Finally, I will be blogging again about playing with some plants.

First bloom of the year on my Begonia boliviensis.

I am really looking forward to talking more about the plants I've grown from seed too. This Begonia is a good example of that!

It's been fun playing with my photos recently too. I do love photography. In addition to reading books about gardening and plants again, I've been thinking a lot about photography.

La vita è bella!

More Plant Adventures along the Columbia River

2013-05-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Just about this time last week I was having a bit of a personal meltdown so I dashed out to the Columbia River Gorge to grab a burger and a piece of marionberry pie for dinner. The plan worked.

To say that the spontaneous retreat refreshed me is an understatement.

It recharged me and then some!

The whole escape made me feel significantly better and it gave me some much needed emotional energy.

There is still simply too much reorganization going on in my life. It is all finally coming to a close though and it is such a relief.

That evening I watched the sunset knowing I would be returning to the refuge of the Columbia River basin in just a few more days.

Here I am now, at the end of that trip. I'm writing this entry just before I return home to Portland.

The gas fireplace is lit after a long rainstorm and I can see nothing but green as I look out toward the river.

I'm sitting once again in my Dad's fishing "cabin" near the Washington Coast just north of Astoria, OR.

The blog has been here before, but I do love to post new posts from here.

(Oh, and please forgive the plastic flowers. Mom has not yet been here to plant the annual marigolds.)

Lady Fern, Athyrium filix-femina.

No matter how Italian the place appears, and despite the house's awkwardness in the landscape, nature still intrudes upon the slumber here. Luckily, my parents think ferns growing randomly here and there don't need eradication. I appreciate that attitude and I suppose I share it too.

A river runs behind the house.

Dad struggles with this painful-looking giant exclamation point in the landscape. Having given the tree to him, I'm not a big fan of this sad Italian cypress. Oh how I wish it could just be put it out of its misery! So many other native plants could joyfully take its place. Don't you agree?

Piggyback Plant, (Tolmiea mensiesii).

Yesterday—for the first time in years—I wandered around the property in search of plant life.

Deep in my heart of hearts I aimed at trying to find the uncommon (or hard-to-find) terrestrial orchid Goodyera oblongifolia. No dice.

Deer Fern, (Blechnum spicant).

Though I did not find one, I found a lot of other plants.

Even so, I've decided that in the future I'll continue to seek them out in the area. Something tells me that it'll be fun to tell people I'm orchid hunting.

For the most part I just saw a lot of the usual while being cawed at by crows who didn't recognize me. Nature can be so unpleasant sometimes.

Big Leaf Maple canopy, (Acer macrophyllum).

I enjoyed the pre-historic feel yesterday.

Sure there are neighbors around here, but I definitely didn't see any of them.

Salmonberry, (Rubus spectabilis).

Too bad the skunk cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) wasn't in bloom. There is honestly nothing quite like the smell of it in springtime.

I eventually meandered into the swampy area and it was here were my paper bag full of plants exploded at my feet while I was wading in the stream.

At least the local herd of elk didn't come through and run me over.

(They travel through our property on a regular basis and when we used to camp here before the house was built they would come through while we were sleeping. It was terrifying to hear the thud of their hooves upon the ground and the branches crashing as they thundered down the hill above, through the canyon, and onward toward the river. Splashing salmon spawning nearby was a whole other experience as well. There is nothing quite like having wildlife just outside your door.)

After many years of playing in the woods of the PNW as a girl you'd think I would have known better. Paper bags do NOT like to be dragged along through tall wet grass during long walks.

After calmly extricating my little boots from the mud I emerged into the meadow on the other side of the house.

Sword ferns (Polystichum munitum) and White Inside-out Flowers (Vancouveria hexandra).

I left my messy bag and chose to go up above the stream to the upper portion of the property. By now I'd been futzing with nature for a few hours but I couldn't get enough. I was in a very happy place.

Cow Parsnip, (Heracleum maximum).

Oxalis oregana growing through the thick carpet of moss.

I made it back down to the house in time for dinner. I was covered in debris from my expedition, but overall, I felt ready to face the world.

Oh groan.

Time to finish packing.

I wonder what happened in my garden while I was gone.

To be continued...

Wordless Wednesday: My Garden Mythology as Seen by Examining My Roots (Home, on the Sandy River, and in the Gorge)

2013-05-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Achillea 'Moonshine'.

Sicilian Honey Garlic, (Allium siculum aka Nectaroscordum).

Lamb's Ears (Stachys byzantina) and an Armeria.

Dutch Iris, Iris x hollandica.

Miniature Climbing Rose, (Rosa 'Clove Love and Kisses').

Columbine, (Aquilegia 'McKana's Giant'.)

Clematis 'Mrs. N. Thompson'.

Growing up beside streams and rivers in the PNW this is how I learned to arrange rocks. Funny I still do this in my garden. (Note the fly fishing going on in the background. Fish are to my family as plants are to me.)

Great landscaping at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery in the Columbia River Gorge. (I think those white flowers are Queen Anne's Lace, Daucus carota.)

Salal (Gaultheria shallon) with a delicate white bloom—such a great native plant.

Native rose growing along the Columbia River.

Native Sedum.

Oregon Iris, (Iris tenax) in front of the Multnomah Falls Lodge.

Green Walls—PNW style.

My favorite little native Mimulus still clings to the wall at Multnomah Falls. This year the population looks a bit larger.

Had to zoom into the falls to get a closer look at the exposed roots of this tree or shrub.

Sketching Ahead, Studying the Lines

2013-05-20T09:22:00.002-07:00

Italian ceramic piece that finally found her home in the garden.

My little cabbage child now greets me as I walk to my front door. She is cheerful and light—and maybe a tad bit creepy to some of you. To my mind she is just what I need now as I continue to garden while my life sorts itself out and calms to the pace I find comfortable.

If I have to wear a mask, this is the mask I will wear because I think we all feel a bit naive and innocent sometimes—even as adults. Reentering the world after what I've been through still often has me feeling quite fresh and new. I don't ever want to be as crusty and hard as those I've seen who've worn too proudly the calluses life has inflicted. I want my sight to remain open.

Jack-in-the-pulpit, (Arisaema triphyllum).

It is with those eyes that I annually witness returning blooms anew.

I removed the planted ring of succulents from the bird bath but not I must center it so that the water doesn't all flow to the back.

For the first time I'm looking at the garden in light of design and am making changes. I never wanted to design the place, but here I am doing a better job of it. Designing means making choices (a lot of them) and when you're very stressed, I've learned that for some of us, we simply stop being able to make many choices easily. For someone like me, that makes getting by while still feeling like yourself very difficult.

Mona sunbathes while I wait and wait for the Dracunculus vulgaris to bloom.

It is funny to wait so impatiently for a flower to unfurl that smells so much like rotting meat, but it is truly quite a show stopper. Each year I like to remind my neighbor that if he smells something rather putrid out back its just my plants blooming.

Jasminum parkeri.

This tiny Jasmine from Cistus Nursery was a really fragrant edition to my Mother's Day flower arrangement on the table this year. It has not been in my garden for long but I've already found that its compactness of form is quite nice in my small city garden.

Ledum groenlandicum.

My native plants never let me down during the springtime, although the heat we recently had blasted the blooms on a few of the plants. Luckily this Ledum really kept its head together. It had more blooms than last year and I think it really looked quite beautiful this past month.

Dark Columbine, Aquilegia atrata.

I sold seeds for this plant in my Etsy shop and then I ran out. Last year the plant didn't really do much or produce any seed, but this season, these will be back in stock. I like that when that happens.

Hybrid roses from the garden of Gina—my boyfriend's mother.

On Mother's Day it made me very happy to receive roses from a seasoned gardener. I spent a week watching their tight buds open and the house was filled with their fragrance. They were truly a real treat for me since I'm unable now to care for my roses.

It reminded me of my old rental home in the old Italian neighborhood in SE Portland where I'd planted nearly a dozen hybrid roses and I pruned and pruned them as my health worsened. I learned a lot that year in the garden and it led me to where I am now.

Pasta with Peas and Bacon.

Lastly I'm going to close with more food. If you have any delicious fresh peas, I highly recommend making this pasta. (Sorry for not adding the recipe. I will do that more in the future. In the meantime, just do a search on this and you'll find lots of recipes. The one with lemon is good too.)

So, now it's back to the drawing board. This girl needs to continue to reinvent herself and a new form of employment is in order. Wish me luck!

Growing On

2013-05-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

Japanese maple (Acer japonica) in my backyard.

I'm still feeling a lot like this seemingly vulnerable leaf on one of my Japanese maples, but as days have passed, and the leaves have all opened up, the leaf no longer sticks out. I'm taking this as a sign. As it lifted up its head to the sun it was enveloped by the support of other leaves around it.

In the garden I am comforted.

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) growing above the Pacific Ocean.

My trip the the Pacific a few weeks ago also had me viewing an understory of nearly nothing by salmonberry bushes and their blooms. I tried for far too long to get a nice shot of their hot pink blossoms but the wind was simply too much. Instead, I did capture this berry.

Morning glory vine (Ipomoea) on a tombstone in Oysterville, WA.

In my photos I also found this lovely rendition of a morning glory vine on a gravestone. I don't believe I've shared it yet. Eternal blooms fascinate me more and more as I age. What flower would I want on my headstone? Why? I am such a plant nerd it's impossible to choose just one. Besides, in the technological world we live in I'm much more likely to desire something akin to a slideshow. Oh! I am so ashamed at times to be so spoiled by the world around me. We're lucky I think.

Dudlyea brittonii seedlings.

Many of the seeds I was unable to plant last year made it into production this year. Above you'll see one of my favorites. I cannot wait to see these grow up. They are such beautiful plants.

Unknown Agave I grew from seed.
I guess these little "friends" area telling me that it's time for the plant to be moved to a larger pot.

It is time to repot older plants I've grown from seed. This is a plant that really spoke volumes to me when I looked closely at what it was saying to me. "Plant me. I need more space. If you don't, I promise to break this planter. It is weak. I am not." Ok, maybe I'm totally exaggerating.

Me last month pruning the willow arbor while waiting to be picked up to go out for the evening. I can prune in a linen dress. Wow, the things we learn when we wait impatiently...

Being able to climb up onto a ladder to prune was a huge undertaking for me. In the past I would have been too dizzy to do this but not anymore!

Hellebore plant (Helleborus orientalis) pregnant with seeds.

Collecting seeds for my Etsy shop Milton's Garden Menagerie has started all over too. Even though I am still not 100% about where I'll be going next in my life, I do know with complete certainty that I want seeds to remain—and plants too!

Cuttings from my Begonia boliviensis I grew from seed. The propagation goes on and on...

Wordless Wednesday: Blooms are arriving earlier this year.

2013-05-15T10:22:00.002-07:00

Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica).

Rosa rugosa.

A Dianthus with a little friend visiting.

Unknown Iris.

Clematis 'Josephine'.

Clematis 'Lincoln Star'.

Emerging Anew: Budding and Reblooming (The cycle never seems to end.)

2013-05-13T01:00:00.001-07:00

The blog has been largely quiet for the last few months as I've been reentering and reshaping my life. What's nice to know, at least for my own sake, is that this blog is not going to go away anytime soon. As hokey as it sounds—like me, or even you—it's just going to continue to grow and change.

Rhododendron hybrid at the Espy House in Oysterville, WA.

I want to grow and change. I want to be like my formerly feral cat who's grown to trust me more and more. For this love she's shown me, I fixed her fence again about a month ago. I'm not going to say that she does the dishes now, but she's quite happy with the respect I've shown her.

Currently I'm seeing so many things again as if for the first time and part of what's kept me away from my typically long and meandering posts has been a reticence to describe my new life because it is taking time for me to watch it as it unfurls.

Vine Maple (Acer circinatum).

I'm emerging too and with the amount of restorative exercise I've been doing I'm looking like myself again. One cannot describe how much illness changes you inside as you suffer through the pain. In my case, I struggled for years on my own.

Though I'm better now, and so much stronger physically, for the last few months I've had to continue battling Hereditary Angiodema while at the same time accepting the fact that two falls down staircases have caused some serious damage to my back and neck. It is difficult to accept that I didn't seek the help I needed at the time I needed it. Daily I'm reminded of this, and daily I'm learning to think about it differently while acknowledging I did the best that I could at that time. I needed help though in my daily life, and I needed a lot of support. Accepting that I still do, and that I need to ask for it from now on, is something I see now as an immediate need as I better define what living with dignity means to me.

With allergies and food intolerances it's been difficult for years to eat but I've taken charge of that too. Having spent a lot of time with a Scandinavian friend with similar issues helped me a lot last year. Sometimes we cooked for one another too. It really helped me to rebuild my confidence and as my health has improved I've had more endurance in that arena too. Cooking is a big part of who I am.

A shrimp and basil casserole I made with a recipe from the island of Elba. It has tomatoes and potatoes too and that's just about it.

Handmade cannoli I made for my boyfriend's birthday. Yes, I even made my own shells too.

My online seed shop has recently been remodeled and cleaned up a bit too. I've been working on many other responsibilities as well. Highlights of my days include moments when I can sneak outside to discover new blooms on my old garden friends.

Slowly, I'm weeding the garden back into shape. Last year I didn't work outside much at all. It was simply too painful. This year, I am trying really hard to take my garden back.

Iris fiorentina.

There are the new-to-me flowers too. Even if I've seen them a million times in print or online, seeing them up close and in person makes such a difference. I've been visiting friends' gardens more and more and I love it when I'm surprised by what I can only call "new material".

Sparaxis tricolor.

The classics have been comforting me this spring. After years of living with great stress and uncertainty I'm finally calm enough to really soak up and appreciate their beauty.

Tulip hybrid in the company of a peony.

The return of my green rose has brought me great comfort and gardener pride. With the high temperatures we've been having it's blooming early this year.

Their black pepper scent was much missed.

Rosa viridiflora.

With a return to the kitchen, I've become interested again in cooking with herbs and other plants. I've been wanting to raid my neighbor's calendula for years and this is finally the year for me to do it. Have you cooked with Calendula before? Just curious.

Calendula officinalis.

Lastly, I've been returning to my roots and have been enjoying the natural beauty of the region I live in once more. There is so much meaning in everything I see and do now after so many years of struggling personally, professionally, and in my private life. Sometimes I wish that this process could speed up and end but in order to grow, I see clearly now that this takes time and care. I must tend to myself first and then to my garden. In the end, we'll all be much stronger and more disease and pest resistant.

Oh, and I'm getting really excited now about being part of a presentation—along with some other garden blogging friends—on June 8th out at Joy Creek Nursery. Should be fun to really think about the topic of garden blogging over the next few weeks.

Manual for Life in the Open Air aka Outdoor Manual

2013-05-09T09:59:00.001-07:00

This Italian book from the 1970s was recently found in a box while my boyfriend was sorting through his things.

As a boy, he moved from Italy to the United States with his family. Since he left while still learning to read and write well, he asked his mom if they could order some Italian books. This way, he could continue to work on his literacy. I guess this is one of the books they ordered for him.

The illustration of Mother Nature is by far one of the best I've ever seen. Leave it to an Italian illustrator to make her look so sultry with bright red lips.

The book covers many areas of natural science and it includes so many great illustrations. My favorites are of course the line drawings of different plants, but I also enjoy that section because I learned many of the Italian common names for different plants that grow here too.

Luckily, Latin names are included. That stuff really helps otherwise I'd have had no idea what they were talking about at all! Line drawings are good, but they're often difficult to read well without brilliant colors and details.

Wordless Wednesday: In the Garden with Gina and Ivan (Valdobbiadene, Italia)

2013-05-01T07:20:00.002-07:00

Wordless Wednesday: Kissing the Sky, the Earth, and all the Flora

2013-04-24T17:34:00.001-07:00

Columnar Apple.

Lunaria annua.

Acer japonica 'Villa Taranto'.

Anemone nemorosa 'Green Fingers'.

Clematis alpina 'Stolwijk Gold'.

Dodecatheon poeticum.

Unfurling fern seen during a walk.

A canopy of Japanese maple trees.

Primula veris.

Dicentra 'Hearts Desire'.

Wordless Wednesday: While some things change, others remain the same...

2013-04-03T17:09:00.001-07:00

Iris suaveolens.

Muscari macrocarpum 'Golden Fragrance'.

Adiantum venustum.

Bergenia cordifolia.

Happy Macavity the Cat.

Vinca minor.

Sedum rupestre 'Angelina'.

Ranunculus ficaria 'Brazen Hussy', Helleborus orientalis, Doronicum orientale.

Fritillaria meleagris.

Narcissus.

Acer.

Pregnant Helleborus.

Fritillaria meleagris.

Spathiphyllum.

Mona waiting for the sun to return.

The Other Grey Gardens

2013-03-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

When I think of "grey" gardens I tend to think of cemeteries—not so much Big Edie and Little Edie.

I'm one of those people who was raised visiting such bucolic settings, and with the grey rainy days we relish so much here in the Pacific Northwest, visiting certain old cemeteries once spring has sprung can be kind of fun. I especially enjoy the drive down through the Willamette Valley to visit my pioneer ancestors' graves in the town of Jefferson, Oregon. I like to do this at least once a year, stopping at other old cemeteries and historic sites along the way.

View from the Wells family pioneer cemetery in Jefferson, OR. Wouldn't you know it the patriarch made it all the way here during the 1850s only to die from diphtheria.

This past weekend I made the trek with my boyfriend John.

What a great way to get away from the city for a bit and talk with one another while pointing out my favorite plant shopping spots.

Now he knows where to shop for me, right?

Of course I told him about other things too like the job I had in Silverton at the Gordon House and my family history too.

Erythronium found in the cemetery.

Although I'd gone out to get cuttings from cemetery roses planted in the small cemetery with about 10 burials, I was thrilled when I found a small colony of native trout lilies growing amongst the graves.

Finding these little beauties was a big highlight that day. The view was really nice too.

(Yes, I know it's also a horrible time to take rose cuttings, but I figured, "Why not?")

Later, at the city cemetery, I found a name on a gravestone that was kind of interesting. I wonder if one of her parents liked plants?

Then there are the truly grey gardens...

We found roses with primroses.

Then there were the ever-present roses.

I think this might be a Camellia.

Of course there were Lilies-of-the-Valley too.

On the stone of the pioneer patriarch of the Terhune family I really enjoyed this rose. (This is another of my ancestors and the Terhune family line goes back to New Amsterdam.)

But I did not understand the willow nearby that I'd seen on another stone at the Champoeg Pioneer Cemetery earlier in the day. Does anyone know what a willow on a gravestone signifies? I'm guessing it might be from the Bible, but I'm really curious since we saw it twice.

Lastly, there was a really interesting design on another Terhune gravestone. We'd thought the leaf looked maple-like, but after giving it some more thought, I now think it is meant to by a leaf of ivy. The stylized elements below it are quite pretty too, don't you agree?

Wordless Wednesday: Welcome to Spring 2013

2013-03-20T17:49:00.005-07:00

Camellia 'Bob Hope'.

Sedum obtusatum boreale.

Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco'.

Sedum cockerelli grown from seed.

Helleborus.

Stinking Hellebore, Helleborus foetidus.

Mukdenia rossii.

Camellia 'Black Magic'.

Japanese Spurge, Pachysandra terminalis.

Yellow Stream Violet, Viola glabella.

Spurge 'Blackbird', Euphorbia 'Blackbird'.

Helleborus.

Helleborus with Ranunculus 'Brazen Hussy'.

Aquilegia with Clematis heracleifolia.

Sulphur Heart Persian Ivy, Hedera colchica 'Sulpher Heart'.

Terra firma in springtime...

2013-03-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

A Phalaenopsis orchid given to me as a gift last Christmas (2011) has finally re-bloomed.

Like the above orchid, I'm currently in the process of re-blooming too. It seriously took my being able to accept that I had to simply shut my own eyes, let go (trusting that I would be caught by something), and finally I allowed myself to fall backwards—yes, I guess back into my own life.

So what if I went to that moment kicking and screaming? I made it.

If I told you what happened next, well this wouldn't be a garden blog any longer.

A lovely organic leek I sliced for fresh potato and leek soup on St. Patrick's Day, 2013.

Cooking has again become popular around here and I'm happily creating and trying new things. I'm learning to make the basics, while appreciating the bountiful produce that's appearing as the season changes.

Being gluten-free is easy most of the time, but then you find recipes such as the one for the cake seen below, and you just have to make a cake to share with your friends.

Though not a garden, or even a plant, I had to share my leprechaun trap cake with everyone. Although no leprechauns were hurt, we did attract some pixies. (See below.)

I wish this had been a gluten-free cake, but it wasn't. I think that it turned out well except for my poor handling of the frosting. Someday soon I will master buttercream and this cake will look more like it's covered in grass. (That's why it's here. I knew there was a reason! Grass!)

The pixies are French so they could have cared less about the rainbow and pot of gold. Note that one has a ladybug on its thigh and the other has what looks to be a snail. No, oops, I mean escargot.

Like other gardeners I am excited for spring and I am feeling very playful and happy again.

The vintage ceramic potatoes make for nice vases on St. Patrick's Day too.

I really miss ikebana classes a lot but due to the divorce I've had to cut such things from my life for now. In the meantime, I'm doing the best I can and it's not so bad at all.

Vintage hanging ceramic indoor planter with an Aligator fern (Microsorum musifolium).

The fact that I'll be moving sometime during the next few months has finally sunk in and I'm looking at my plants much differently now. Although I have not yet found a place to call home, I'm finally getting excited about it.

Epiphyllum grown from seed. I like to call this move "doing the Icarus".

Someday soon, I hope to see many of my houseplants bloom—like this Epi cactus!

Well, stay tuned since it's moving with me. I have no idea how many years it will take, but I will wait for it.

Green mums in a small vintage liquour glass inherited from my family.

These past few weeks I've quietly sat back a bit to think about my life, my garden, my plants, and who I am and who I want to be now. I started this blog when I was obviously a different person, living a different married life. It was full of chronic illness, unhappiness, and for a time, troubled foster children.

When things changed for me over a year ago, I was shown by many of my gardening friends that I belonged here.

I learned that lesson rather quickly, but I didn't know how to start over. I have no shame in admitting I needed to find my own way. I've learned some incredible things about myself during the last two months. The serendipity I've experienced has given me a kind of hope.

My niece Chelsea glam'd me up for an event.

Yes, then there are the things you need to do for yourself. My marriage did not make me feel very beautiful at all. Let me tell you now, if you feel that way yourself, get out. It is the most important lesson I've learned. The people you surround yourself with should always help to make you feel like the beautiful person you are and sometimes that's just not what happens.

My nieces helped me to really understand this recently and I'm proud of them. When you help to raise a child, and then they come over to spend hours making you look pretty—after you've not looked so great for nearly a decade—it does something to you. To say that my niece Chelsea made me look beautiful one Sunday to prove a point to me is an understatement. She's been telling me for years she missed me, and that she wanted the world to see the woman she sees, and I have to say the kid's got a great eye. I just wasn't seeing it.

She proved her point, and as an aunt, it was the first time I'd sat back to be school'd by one of my nieces and it was so worth it.

Oh weird! Downtown Portland. I remember this place...

Trust me when I say that I'm not giving up gardening. I'm very much going to continue blogging too. I just need a little more time to adjust. There are many changes afoot.

There is direction too—and maybe even a plan (possibly a very detailed plan).

I'm over the shock and pain of having fallen blindly. I survived and I've planted my feel solidly on the ground. It's new where I'm standing but I'm certain it's terra firma. In characteristic Ann fashion I'm standing a bit uncomfortably in the middle of an empty field and I've covered my eyes with one hand while with the other I reach into my pocket for seeds.

I am throwing out the seeds. I am casting them blindly in every direction, and if you look closely, you'll notice I'm coyly smiling. If you listen, across the distance, you'll hear me laughing again. It's not loud, but it's happy at least.

So take that springtime! I'm ready for you this year.

Let's get this party started.

Wordless Wednesday: Walking to the Coffee Shop

2013-03-06T09:33:00.003-08:00

Hamamelis.

Ranunculus.

Crocus.

Anemone 'Mona Lisa'.

Primula 'Belarina Pink Ice'.

Cineraria 'Jester Mix'.

Wordless Wednesday: The Garden Year Begins—Again

2013-02-20T13:23:00.000-08:00

Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin'.

Galanthus nivalis.

Helleborus orientalis.

Agave utahensis var. eborispina and Pyrethrum 'Robinson's Mix'.

Garden Blogger's Fling 2014 in Portland, OR!

2013-02-19T09:06:00.002-08:00

I'm so honored to be a part of the organizing committee for the 2014 Garden Blogger's Fling here in my hometown of Portland, OR. A lot of thought and planning went into our proposal and I'm so happy we will be doing this next summer. We're blessed with a great climate and gardening culture, and the people who participate in its many facets have to be some of the most gentle, kind and caring people I've ever met.

The last year has been a very difficult one for me personally, and although I've had to turn away from plants for a bit in order to get back on my feet after a divorce and years of illness, I still cannot say enough about how much le monde végétal means to me.

Forever more of a garden memoirist than anything else,
Ann

Congrats too to my co-conspiritors:
Jane: MulchMaid
Loree: Danger Garden
Scott: Rhone Street Gardens

Cloudberries and a Kabocha Squash

2013-02-11T21:53:00.001-08:00

Reproduction of a painting by the Swedish botanist C. A. M. Lindman taken from Bilder ur Nordens Flora (first edition published 1901–1905).

Recently a Finnish friend of mine asked me to pickup some Cloudberry Preserves for him from a local import store we have here in the Portland Metro area (Scandia Imports). Since he travels all the time for work, I didn't mind. The shop happens to be just a few blocks away from another of my favorite haunts so I was able to kill two birds with one stone. Learning more about the special orange berry much beloved in Scandinavia was kind of fun too. I like berries.

USDA PLANTS profile

Have you ever heard of this berry? Well I sure hadn't—other than from my friend. This kind of surprised me since the Pacific Northwest is known for its berries and we grow many different kinds from all over the world here.

Well, the cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) is a special little plant and there are a few good reasons why many of us know very little about them.

Apparently, first off, the plants are dioecious, which is not common in the species. This means that the female plants need male pollination in order to produce fruit. (That limits the supply and spread a bit!) This, coupled with the arctic and alpine climate conditions where the plants tend to grow, and you've got a berry on your hands that grows best in a harsh climactic zone, producing limited numbers, and the demand for products made from them is fairly high so it's safe to say that the berries don't get around much.

This is why I had to drive across town to pickup a few jars. The store is only able to order the product once every 2 years depending upon availability. Leave it to me to go on a mission for hard-to-find berry preserves.

I did just fine though. I told you a favorite haunt of mine was nearby. There is nothing like a trip to Uwajimaya. I could get lost in there for days.

This precious little Kabocha squash had to come home with me too.

A happy Ann after a fine mission accomplished.

(Check back again soon for updates from the Northwest Flower & Garden Show.)

A Gardener Spends an Hour or Two at Powell's Books

2013-02-04T11:26:00.003-08:00

Last Friday the sun was out in the City of Roses and I was running around getting ready for my nieces's 21st birthday party.

Why not stop for a bit at Powell's? Right?

I have been visiting the nationally-known and locally-loved store since I was a girl and to say that it's part of my routine and my life is an understatement. Long before the Internet existed I was using this book lovers' destination as a much needed resource—along with the local library system of course!

Walking the two blocks from where I'd parked my car I enjoyed the familiar sights.

There were the usual humorous things to see too—even if I was the only one laughing.

No folks, this is no longer a trash can once it's painted and planted!

As for the Italian cypress, it reminded me a bit of the old drunk men I used to see in this area as a girl. They too leaned up against the walls of building just like this poor thing.

Portland looked much different during the 1970s. I suppose to outsiders, we still look different, but in a much more friendly way.

For instance, we have our urban windmills atop buildings. Everyone does that right?

Since I hadn't been to the downtown location for several months I'd not yet noticed that the gardening section had been expanded a bit.

There was a great display of new books and I was happy to see they've included a cheap section again with older titles that don't cost as much as the newbies.

Yes, it's harder now to find great deals on books here but that's happening everywhere.

My favorite section was still very much intact.

Beside it is my other favorite section in the store. As someone with a background in critical theory and philosophy relating to art history and visual analysis this section has been nice to transition into over the years. At least with gardens you can actually talk about something.

Upstairs in the arts area I was excited to see vintage typewriters on display with houseplants. This is a nice Ficus elastica.

Some of the other houseplants didn't look as nice but this is a bookstore after all. I felt like turning this Sansevieria but then I decided that I might look like one of those obsessive characters in that popular tv show you've probably heard about that's filmed here.

Before I left I was looking at hiking books because I plan to go on more plant and nature adventures this year. It was strange to me that an older edition of one of the used books seemed familiar. I looked on the back and suddenly remembered that my dad had resold the remainders he'd purchased from the original publisher when they'd gone out of business. I may have actually put this sticker on the back of this book because I used to do things like that when I was younger. As the daughter of a publisher, I was lucky to grow up surrounded by books. I always could earn some extra money too.

When I was a young girl my Saturday mornings downtown at Powell's with my dad were often the highlight of my week. We'd often spend several hours there together reading quietly and watching people.

It was really nice to remember those memories just before leaving and I also found some great books for my niece.

Goat Cheese and Lemon Cheesecake with Pistachio Crust (with recipe!)

2013-02-02T00:20:00.002-08:00

This is a late follow up to a post I wrote last December to celebrate the Blogoversary of the blog Amateur Bot-ann-ist. It's still difficult for me to believe that I've been doing this now for 5 years, but I have been, and I still enjoy it very much.

I might even be enjoying it even more now actually!

Ok, now that your eyes have feasted, here's the recipe. (Sorry I didn't include the prickly pear coulis portion, but to be honest, that's because I kind of made it up as I went along! Sometimes that's just how it is in the kitchen.)

Enjoy!

Goat Cheese and Lemon Cheesecake with Pistachio Crust

The Crust:
1 cup shelled and unsalted pistachios
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for greasing pan

The Filling
16 ounces plain chèvre cheese
1 cup goat milk yogurt (plain or vanilla)
3 eggs
1/4 cup goat milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons honey or 5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Grated rind of one lemon

Makes about 12 servings.

To make the crust place pistachios, orange zest, salt, cinnamon and sugar in a food processor and pulse until nuts are ground. Put in a bowl and stir in the melted butter. Press mixture firmly into a spring-form pan, making sure to push up onto the side of the pan an inch or so. Bake for about 7 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove and let cool before adding filling.

Combine and beat eggs, chèvre and yogurt until smooth. Add remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour into the cooled crust and bake at 450 degrees F for 10 minutes, then turn down to 350 degrees F and bake for 35-45 more minutes. Let cool.

You can top with berries, or as in this case, drizzle it with a fresh fruit coulis.

(I guess I should have added that this is a gluten-free recipe and that the goat milk extravaganza is for those of us who are sensitive to cow's milk. Discovering recently that I could consume dairy products made of goat's milk has been like entering into a kind of "heaven" on Earth.)

Wordless Wednesday: Starting Some Seeds

2013-01-30T09:48:00.001-08:00

To Chelsea on Her 21st Birthday

2013-01-28T23:03:00.001-08:00

Chelsea is my eldest niece and she loves nature.

Me, well, I love this kid—and the other two girls too.

Before I had a garden to help me bury the pains caused by a rare illness, I found a lot of happiness and joy in these three beautiful creatures.

These 3 are a creative triple threat, but most of the time, they just "are".

We've seen many of the wonders of the Pacific Northwest together, and as a child, she and her younger sister Lindsey and their best friend Emily went all over the place with me—looking at plants, and other stuff.

You know, just normal nature stuff like this.

If I never have a child, it's ok since I've always had Chelsea.

And she likes to think she's my only child.

And when I see pictures like this I know we are related to one another.

We've always got Emily too.

Chelsea has taken our relationship quite seriously for many years.

Sometimes, she reminds me a lot of my dad.

I guess that's where our quirks originated.

My brother (her dad) is pretty goofy too.

She likes animation. I used to watch a lot of it with her. I guess I taught her to value certain things in life too.

I think she's a bit more colorful than I am at times, but that's not an issue. She is her own garden.

At heart she loves animals and nature.

When I graduated from college I was so proud she was there to see me succeed.

My friend Brendan, the guy with his eyes shut, well he later acted as college art instructor to the young woman who became Chelsea's high school art instructor.

I am happy she grew up around art. I sure wish I had! Although I wish Chelsea was making more art right now. She is a very talented artist.

She grew up around plants too and this image is from a Seattle trip to attend the Northwest Flower & Garden Show. (Sorry about the quality of this photo. It was rescued.)

Here first tattoo was of the much more common orange California poppy.

Taking the girls on road trips to CA was a great deal of fun for me.

And here we have Emily and Chelsea again. They were helping me to load pavers into the wagon after a friend our family had passed away. We wanted to use the pavers in my garden.

So often when I see the beauty in the small details of flowers I think of Chelsea. She sees even more beauty in the world than I. Too often my brain and words get in my way.

As girls, both Chelsea and her sister Lindsey liked to be a bit different.

Of course I encouraged this kind of thing.

When I worked at Frank Lloyd Wright's Gordon House it was wonderful to see them all during visits. They were just kids and they enjoyed the house and absorbed its design.

I am not so sure they liked his Marin County building as much, but they saw it.

Chelsea loves her little sister Lindsey and I think this is one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of her.

Emily is a bird of a different feather. That's why we love her so much.

Like any aunt I prefer to think of them like this—tiptoeing through the tulips.

Of course Chelsea had to shock us all a bit—especially her little sister.

Not having had sisters it was a blessing to watch these little women grow.

They opened up a whole new world to me and I needed it.

Chelsea will always be "so metal" when she rakes.

She will always be a garden design sceptic.

Happy Birthday Chelsea.

Happy Birthday.

Happy. Happy.
Birthday.

Someday all three of you will be gardeners and I know it. It is in your blood on both sides. So get out there and keep doing what you do until you land and dig deeper to set down your own roots. Whatever you do, it will be beautiful like you.

Wordless Wednesday: Walking in Winter

2013-01-23T08:32:00.000-08:00