This is the time of year when we are away at dog trials on some weekends, having just returned from Oregon, where we did respectably well. As soon as we are back, we slip into our routine of an early morning walk around the nursery, usually at sunrise.
This morning gauzy, low-lying mists enveloped the fields, and as the sun rose they all turned to a brilliant orange hue. The effect only lasted a few minutes, then the sun rose above the low banks of mist when they changed to opalescent colors before disappearing completely.
Yesterday it was so windy it was hard to work outside, so we all went off to gather seeds about an hour south of here. There is a steep cliff by the road covered in Calochortus amabilis, and now is the time the seed is ripe. Here they are to the left, in bloom about six weeks ago. It was a beautiful drive through the redwoods and we found a trail for the dogs to run, chasing each other happily through the poison oak (bath time when we got home). It takes all my old rock climbing skills to get a few pods of this Calochortus, but I don't have to feel guilty about collecting them, since the seeds would undoubtedly fall on the road below where they would be doomed.
Walking around the nursery a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a little white crowned sparrow dart out from one of my Bomareas. Usually I trim all the old stems off the Bomareas in about April or May, making room for new growth, but I had left four or five, since seed was still ripening on them. It happened again the next day, so I investigated, and found the most perfect nest snuggled in the stems. The eggs soon hatched, but the babies disappeared a couple of days after hatching, probably victims of the raccoons.
In the greenhouse where I grow my tender subtropical bulbs, a few things are blooming. Bulbs from equatorial regions seem to bloom whenever they feel like it, also going dormant erratically, so my pots of Eucrosias have some dormant bulbs, some with leaves and some in bloom. Here is Eucrosia aurantiaca, one of the more spectacular bulbs from Ecuador.
Also in bloom is the rather strange Sprekelia formosissima from Mexico, seen here to the right. There are, I believe, two Sprekelia species, both from Mexico, S. formosissima and S. howardii, a recently described species that I have finally got my hands on, although they haven't bloomed yet.
The powder-puff blossoms of the South African Haemanthus humilis ssp. hirsutus is in bloom, white with pink bracts and very attractive.
I was very thrilled to see emerging buds on my Hymenocallis hawkesii (probably more correctly named as Ismene hawkesii). I had obtained seedling bulbs some time ago, and now they have matured to bloom size. This is an extremely rare species from Peru, where it grows at about 6000'. Here it is to the right.
Work in the nursery continues with seed gathering and unpotting the dormant bulbs. The native bulbs are the last to go dormant, and can't be harvested until their seed has ripened, so this will continue well into July. The South African bulbs have mostly been lifted by now, with Oxalis being the first batch to be unpotted, and Oxalis orders already being shipped.
Summer is upon us, with sunny days preceded by morning fog in our area. The fields are being mown for hay, the cows all glossy, fat and contented. The solstice has already passed. I always feel a touch of sadness at the summer solstice that they days are incrementally shortening, although we will still have daylight beyond 9pm for a while. I love these long days. I can work in my garden until dusk or take the dogs to the beach at sunset. I wish it would last forever.
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