Blue Fox Garden

Sweet Summer Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:17:00 +0000

It's only after the first snowfall that the frantic flurry of activity in the garden slows down, giving me some time to go through the pictures that I took through the summer. I was so amazed and delighted at the sheer numbers of butterflies visiting the now well established Sedum and other perennials. What a sight to see them flitting, puddling, basking and busily pollinating the flowers.

Speyeria cybele, the Great Spangled Fritillary - with a name like that, you'd better be gorgeous! These lovely orange and brown butterflies are partial to thistles, Knautia macedonica, Sedum, and most especially, Stachys lanata. It's worth leaving a little bit of a wildness in your nectar corridor, just for them. This picture is of a male.

This is the female of the same species - completely different looking, and was at one time considered to be a different species. They lay their eggs on the foliage of violets, and the caterpillars hatch out in the spring. One more reason to cherish my little bit of woodland.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell, showing a partiality to weeds in the lawn - dandelions are a big favorite.

The regal looking Pale Swallowtail Butterfly (missing its tail here) on one of their beloved Sedum spurium varieties. Many of these low growing Sedum attract butterflies like magnets.

And this gorgeously attired Lorquins Admiral, admiring the grumpy hypertufa face. They love the salts, and can be found puddling in manure slurry or any sandy spot by water.

Attract a few of these incredible insects looking for the nectar in your xeric garden plants. You may be just as fascinated as I am. You can see these beautiful creatures in their full glory in mid July to mid August in my garden.

Is it Fall yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:58:00 +0000

I was sad that Cavendish Perennials had discontinued selling their huge selection of Sempervivum mail order - after some whining, Jack said he would help me out and send me some more - how fortunate! With the renewed interest in these fascinating plants, and new uses for them - how does using them for wedding flowers sound? I was so thrilled. With winter approaching, this means I'll have to get on it and pot them all up in preparation.

These beauties are hardy to zone 3 in most cases, and thrive in winters where there is plenty of snow, and drier conditions. The best way to kill them is to plant them in waterlogged soil, then add more water in the from of rain, or freezing rain, then cold temperatures. Excellent drainage, lava rock or other pebble mulch and a bit of compost in the soil along with added sand or gravel and they're happy.

Late Summer - the Xeriscaping Trial 2011 is almost over

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:00:00 +0000

We should be getting some rain anytime - those first fall rains are so welcome after a long dry spell. The spring was so drawn out and cold, we longed for the sun to shine - well, be careful what you wish for. It's been dry for a month, and the gardens are showing it.

I never water my gardens, only those plants which have been newly planted and not established yet, but even then I'm cruel.

I water them a couple of times, then turn away. Surprisingly, everything does well under my benign neglect; I grow so many hardy succulents in my xeriscaping, promoting them above all other types of plants for drought stricken places, or those with water restrictions.

Jovibarba, a fairly recent addition to my collection are rapidly showing their merit - Jovibarba heuffelii in its coat of many colours, ranging from bronze to gold, garnet to ruby and acid lime green and palest aqua. They outshine the Sempervivum under some of the most challenging conditions, shrugging off wet conditions, extreme drought and nonchalantly thriving. I grew many of these from seed, and I'm awestruck by the variations in colours and forms.

Sedum of over 40 different varieties and species, from the diminutive Sedum pluricaule, to the royal and majestic Sedum 'Purple Emperor', with their lovely bee and butterfly attracting flowers.

My eternal favorites, the Sempervivum, with the myriad forms and textures; colours from across the spectrum; palest white, celadon green, ice blue, pink, jewel shades of burgundy and mahogany, black tipped, and the best part - they change almost weekly throughout the growing season.

Don't miss the Sempervivum Summer Special, with many of over 100 named species and varieties going for a song. Canadian gardeners only, though, I'm afraid - sorry!

Summer Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:08:00 +0000

Working in the garden is almost a lost cause, fighting off the mosquitoes and other biting insects, so there is a short hiatus. I'm working on building a concrete patio, with a twist. I've made molds from Styrofoam blue board, and mixing my own special blend of native sandy soil, premix concrete and Portland cement powder. Using this recipe, the colour of the resulting paving stones is a nice beige, much more compatible with my plantings than the harsh grey of concrete. The pavers are made in such a way that I can make a medallion with them, or a circle. They fit together (with some space between them) and I can plant moss, or other small groundcovers among them. This will give me a small private place to put a chair and a little table for early morning coffee. Now to just deal with the bugs... You can see the almost finished project on Blue Fox Farm - it's a tutorial on how to make soil cement patio pavers.

More Hypertufa? What is this stuff?

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:12:00 +0000

Ahh, the magic of hypertufa - it's so much fun. Some of my attempts are failures, but most look amazing once dried and cured and planted with my favorite hardy succulents. Mr. and Mrs. Grot (shown here on their honeymoon, as it is June after all) As Google in its wisdom has made it really difficult to upload pictures, I invite you to visit the picture on my website, Blue Fox Farm; this page has instructions and more information on these and hypertufa fissures. Fill them with succulents and you can't go wrong. Here, Mrs. Grot shows off her new hairstyle of Sedum spurium 'John Creech' and Mr. Grot looks cool with some Sempervivum.

Introducing Eliza Paisley Lisle

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:28:00 +0000

People laugh at the way I live – they call me a hillbilly!

Nothing’s changed – they used to laugh at my funny accent when I first moved here from England!

I like the way I live. I heat my nasty old trailer with a wood stove, with only a little backup heat from two electric baseboard heaters.

I cook hearty meals for my man and try to use organic or homegrown vegetables.

I have a root cellar built into the hillside, and I make funky twiggy stuff out of materials that grow right here on the homeplace.

I make accents out of found objects, and rusty stuff that comes from the dump. I grow brightly coloured flowers, and try and trade or collect my own seed from family and friends.

I make homemade wine and pickles from my own fruit and vegetables, and if I’m really lucky, someone gives me moose or deer meat that they’ve hunted themselves.

I consider myself fortunate, because I know a lot of people that started off like me, but ended up living in an apartment in a city, working for some hardnosed business tycoon who doesn’t give a heck for any of the people who work their butts off for the puny paychecque that he writes.

Been there, done that, thank you very much!

I’d like to see the world change into something much friendlier, kinder and easier to find ways to keep the earth from self destructing. I like being a hillbilly, if that’s what I am. I think I’ll just stay this way.

Come on by if you’re in the hollow, and we’ll have a swig of homemade wine!

Breaking News

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:37:00 +0000

There's excitement around here lately - another brand new website. The old one was getting clunky, so Drought Smart Plants was created to showcase all the gorgeous succulent plants, and now, finally Blue Fox Farm has had a total makeover.

Now, the focus is on rustic crafts, twig creations, barnboard, driftwood - in fact, all the favorite natural materials and methods that we all know and love. Visit the site, and see the constantly updated RSS feed to the right of your screen.

It's Starting to Look a Lot Like - February?

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:10:00 +0000

Well, they never said winter would be this long and dreary - however, spring seems to be trying to show it's face with the sun warming enough to melt a few icicles. The rain chain is trying to do the right thing - amazingly, even though this is made of salvaged glass light fixtures, it has survived quite well outside for the past two winters.

And this is what the vegetable garden looks like, sleeping under it's warm cozy blanket of snow. Snow melting methods will get rid of it in a hurry in March, but for now, it's Mother Natures quilt.

More Seeds Happening here

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:25:00 +0000

Although it's a cold and wintry day with snow sifting down, I can sort through the seeds that I saved last year as the Jovibarba and Sempervivum bloomed. At first I was going to simply cut the flower stalks off, as they are unsightly once they get tall and leggy, falling over and disturbing the ambiance of the display. I left them instead, and now I have lots of the dry flower heads upside down in paper bags to shed the seeds. The seeds are tiny - like dust, so sowing them can be a challenge. I follow the same method as in my previous post.

The flower heads start to dry on the plant, and can be cut before cold weather so they can dry completely through the winter.

I'll wait for a few more weeks to sow these, but they can be done before it warms up so they have time to stratify. Apparently, stratification isn't strictly necessary, but it does help with getting them to germinate in a smaller window, instead of straggling for months. This makes it much easier to deal with the repotting if you can do it all at once.

Here are some pictures of the seedlings from last year.

Hardy Succulent Propagation by Seed

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:45:00 +0000

It's a new year, and things are bound to get better - I refuse to give up my favorite hobby/pastime/addiction of growing all the lovely succulent plants I see around. I grow many tender succulents such as Echeveria and many others that live in the back bedroom under lights for the winter, and right now they are coasting until spring arrives.

I've done something important today though - with the hardy succulent plants. What on earth could that be? I hear you say - there's a foot of snow on the ground.

I received some seeds from the Alpine Garden Club of B.C. For the low price of $25.00 per year for membership you can order seeds of many different wild flowers and garden grown rare plants.

My list was a short one - succulents! I got an envelope the other day with my 20 or so packets of seeds, and as they are all hardy types I sowed them in the greenhouse and put snow on top of the flats, and left them to their own devices until spring. This method allows them to break dormancy naturally, by stratifying the seed coat with cold temperatures, even freezing them. This enables the tiny plant to break free of the seed covering once the weather warms enough and becomes stable. In late March or April, presto - I'll have tiny seedlings emerging.

For more information on Succulent Plant Propagation, why not buy my Succulent Plant Propagation E-Book?

...and winter rolls around again

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:12:00 +0000

It's been a while since my last post - in the intervening months I've been diagnosed with MS, so it's understandable that things have been let slide.

The garden is now slumbering beneath a white fluffy blanket, giving me a respite from worrying about weeding and watering. The planning of the spring seeding starts now - I'm not going to let a little thing like poor health stop me from doing what I love best.

Frost gardens of magical flowers and ferns grow on the canvas of my window.

Succulent Mosaic

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:01:00 +0000

I have been very busy with growing succulent plants of all descriptions, and I'm especially taken with the myriad forms, sizes and textures of Sempervivum and Jovibarba, which I'm growing from seed right now.

So far, I have a flat each of Sempervivum (which is the second batch that I've started this year - the first batch provided just over 60 tiny plants which I'm hoping will all be different!) and Jovibarba small rosette mix, and Jovibarba heufellii mixed species and varieties.

They've all germinated, so in a few weeks I can pot them up out of their communal flat into the 2" pots that they can stay in until next spring. This is what I plan to do with some of them:

See this blog for more inspiration!

I can't believe it's already May!

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:38:00 +0000

Sorry that this picture isn't a little clearer, but it's so cute the way the now 3 week old chicks almost push poor Hobo off her feet when they huddle underneath her for a nap.

Now the bed is ready for planting onion seedlings I've raised in the greenhouse for the last few weeks. I tried growing them from sets but was really not happy with them, so for the past couple of years I've grown them from seed. Now I just have to keep the robins away - they love the worms in the compost!
What is that with time? It seems to go faster and faster as I get older. I was warned about this...

Chicken Birth Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:02:00 +0000

Well, it's official - I'm certifiably insane. I couldn't sleep last night from the worry, so I got up at 3.14 am and grafted five chicks hatched in the incubator onto the little hen, Hobo. I knew I was in luck when she purred at them - just like a cat!

Today they're all cuddled up together, as it's been cold and snowy with a high wind which is rare for us. The sun has finally come out so maybe Hobo will bring the little darlings out for an airing later.

Ahh, spring!

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:58:00 +0000

It's almost time for Hobos eggs to hatch! She's sitting on three, and the rest are all in the incubator. I candled them all with a flashlight and I only have about 7 good ones out of twenty (phew, I was dreading them all hatching). She looks a little moth eaten because she plucked all the down out of her back to put in her nest. What an amazing thing, this motherly instinct!

By Thursday, we should have hatching (what's that saying, don't count your chickens before they're hatched?)

The Bad Hen update

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:51:00 +0000

I'm going to change the Bad Hens name to the Good Hen. She's been broody now for 12 days, and for the last two, she hasn't left the nest - still with only two golf balls in it...

I'm taking pity on her, and setting three eggs under her, and putting an additional 9 in the incubator, plus at least another 10 from a friend who has Bantams and mixed breed chickens. Just think, in three weeks, I'll have little peeps running around!

More to follow...

The Story of The Bad Hen

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:19:00 +0000

Well, spring did seem to be eager to get here a week ago, but since then, it's been backsliding. After a couple of really warm days, it's been cold, windy and generally - well, wintery.

However, given that I really didn't do a lot of clean up in the garden last fall, due to laziness, as well as the really good excuse that I don't like to destroy overwintering caterpillars and beneficial insects, that has left lots of jobs to choose from. Making compost is one of my favorite ones. Sooo...

I cleaned out the chicken house, which had about six inches of wood shavings, leaves and chicken manure mixed into it from six months of chickens scratching in it. This all went into a special bin destined for greatness, as a fertilizer extraordinaire next year (or maybe sooner).

After putting in new wood shavings, the Bad Hen, Hobo, decided that she had laid ten eggs, and it was time to become a mother. She's now into the third day of being broody. Actually (don't tell her I said this) she's sitting on two golf balls! It's too early, I told her, but she's adamant. How cute would that be, to have fluffy little chicks in April?

Oh, I should tell you that even though I only built the bin of chicken house compost on March 6, it's already hot!

Early spring? Or just a tease?

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:54:00 +0000

It's not even the end of January, and it's already as though spring is just around the corner. Here's a hint...the very first Bantam chicken egg!

Pond Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:40:00 +0000

From the very first time I saw a pond in a garden, when I was about six years old, I've wanted one. I built one of my very own in 2004, with help from a mini excavator and a couple of supervisors. It's lined with EPDM, which is the same rubber sheets you can use on a roof for waterproofing. The advantages to using this product is that as it's rubber, it stretches just a little so it conforms to the shape of the hole you've dug. The downside is that it does tend to become degraded if it's exposed to full sun, and it's easy to puncture it with any sharp object, such as rocks or metal things that may be in your pond. Other than that, I'm totally happy with the way it's performed.

My usual autumn chores include the nasty task of cleaning out the homemade filter, hosing out the pump and removing the pipe from the waterfall where it spends the summer to it's winter position wired onto a pole or a chain just above the surface of the water. All was well until we got a cold snap of down to -18 for a week, and the pipe froze solid. The whole idea, by the way, is to keep a hole in the ice to enable the methane gas to escape so the fish don't die. Some people just use a pump (like me) that runs all the time to keep a hole open, others swear by the use of a stock tank heater that floats on the surface melting the ice around it. So, after the pipe froze, I decided to fall back on a more primitive method of methane control and siphon out a couple of inches of water leaving an air space under the ice. Luckily for me, HH was brave enough to put his mouth on the end of the garden hose and get the water started - I'm glad he didn't get a mouthful of pond water!

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:59:00 +0000

Here we are, teetering on the edge of a new decade. Can you picture where you'll be in a year, in two? It's exciting, and scary to try and predict how our gardens will look then. I'm planning on having a fabulous vegetable garden in 2010, and I've already got some of my seed order picked out. I also saved lots of seeds from some of the bean varieties I grew, now I just need to fine tune my rotation of where to plant everything. Luckily, there's still lots of time - it's really winter where I am, and more snow in the forecast. Keep warm, everyone - and be safe!
Happy New Year from Blue Fox Garden.

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:40:00 +0000

This is the time of year that I seem to do a lot of cogitating - when I'm not building a website that is! I've had a great time putting together Drought Smart Plants, but now I need a break. Blue Fox Garden is dormant, waiting for spring, so there's not much to do there. I can take pictures of snow covered perennials, and watch the birds, and plan for 2010.

When I look back at the Aha! moments that triggered my addiction to plants, it's the ones that didn't seem that significant at the time. When I lived in Bradner, in the Fraser valley, I had a few of that kind of moment.

I had two small children, and living on a small farm seemed very isolated. I got involved in gardening in a big way, as previously, I had lived in apartments without much outside room. I was free to do pretty much whatever I wanted. There were old fruit trees which had been neglected for years, so I got a book and taught myself how to prune them. Some of my efforts were pretty bad, but I persevered and found out that plants are very forgiving of amateurish efforts. Within a couple of years, I gained confidence and felt I knew what I was doing.

The property was just over four acres, and mostly fenced and cross fenced, but bare and open, with a neighbor to the west which was a chicken hatchery. It got very unpleasant in the late summer and the lagoon got lower. The stench in August was abominable. I used to take my little Audi Fox car, little kid in tow (the other one was in school) and fill up the trunk with three foot high Douglas fir seedlings, and transplanted them to the fence line to try and block out the sounds and smells from the hatchery. I also collected many oak seedlings and put those along the driveway.

Then I did something that's totally against my rules - I went back to see how the trees were doing, many years later. I was astonished at how big they were, the oaks were over thirty feet tall, and the Douglas firs were a full, double row hedge all along the western edge.

I'm shocked at how fast the time goes, and if I could do it all over, I would have planted many more trees! Now, I don't have that kind of energy. I've learned how to work smarter, not harder.

October in Blue Fox Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:12:00 +0000

I've been really out of the loop lately - my fault entirely, as I've been having so much fun writing web pages for Drought Smart Plants about xeric gardens, thyme, Sedum, Sempervivum, Jovibarba and many other interesting things. (Shameless plug!)

Here's a few things in the garden that had to be dealt with:

Seven remaining chicks are grown up! I've got three that are silky types, with fur-like feathers, and one like a miniature white leghorn, two mottled grey and black, and one black one with a fuzzy topknot. Very cute.

I always clean the pump and the filter from the pond, then reinstall it a little differently. Instead of flowing over the rocks and making a waterfall, I attach the end of the pipe to a long stick spanning the pond so it makes a burbling effect. This is to keep the ice from completely covering the pond and killing the fish by methane poisoning.

It's surprising how much colour there is in the fall garden. More subdued than that of the flowers in summer, but beautiful nonetheless.

Drought Smart Plants

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:47:00 +0000

I've been very busy lately - in fact, I have totally abandoned my garden in favour of my new baby - my new website baby. It's a steep learning curve, and I'm doing it all myself, from writing the pages, to uploading them, to editing the pictures to put on it. The most fun has been taking the pictures in my garden, and that's been the only time I've actually set foot in it! I promise to get back out there soon...as soon as I get more pages done. Check it out, see what you think. Leave me comments here if you have any suggestions (I'm sure there will be a few as it's still a newborn).
Drought Smart Plants is live!

Rock walls and other projects

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:14:00 +0000

I always feel at this time of year that I'm running in place - there's so much to do before winter arrives, and less than a week away is the first day of Autumn. I feel a great sense of satisfaction and relief in finishing the Eggporeum run, so that at least the chicks can get out for some sun. They seem to have grown in the four days that they've been allowed out - is that possible?

Here's the final result for this year on the rock wall - phew! I must have rocks in my head! I've planted many varieties of Sedum in the top of it and Sempervivum right into cavities in the rock wall itself, and the wheelbarrow has 20 types of Jovibarba in it. They're similar to Sempervivum, but the 'chicks' grow out of the top in most cases, and in others, the main rosette splits into several others.

Lots of harvesting still to do; this is the first year I actually have tomatoes ripening on the vine, and I'm so sick of summer squash that the chickens can have what's left. Time to think of planting more garlic, this will be the full crop of 60 cloves of Red Russian. I'd like to get more varieties so I can sell seed, but that's for future years. Still to do - get some firewood, clean up the greenhouse and stack all the flats and pots for storage, move all my succulent plants into their winter home in the back bedroom under lights...you get the idea.

Sedum for Green Roofs

noreply@blogger.com (Blue Fox) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:33:00 +0000

Due to the incredible interest in green roofs around the world in general, and in my garden in particular, I've invested in a new garden solely devoted to some of my forty varieties of Sedum stock plants. On my website I sell cuttings and plugs of Sedum, among other things, and I felt that it was only going to get busier and the demand for Sedum grow. Here's what ended up happening - this is the 'before' picture...

I love building rock walls, as long as I don't have to haul my own rocks - luckily, we borrowed a machine which helped immensely...

Stock plants, labeled with old terracotta pot shards - I knew I'd find a use for them someday. The native soil is gravelly, with some larger rocks, so I just added some bagged steer manure to it as this is perfect for Sedum and other drought tolerant plants such as Sempervivum which are planted in the rock wall itself...

...and in a convenient coincidence, the labels match the lava rock mulch.

It's not quite finished yet, this is about one third of the full length of the driveway, but I've run out of rocks!