Sunny And Cold

After a recent brief taste of Spring weather, we are back into freezing temperatures with much of our time spent indoors.  This afternoon a walk to the mailbox drew both of us outside in the bright sunlight.  We provide homes for a rather large group of chipmunks.  They are sassy in their determined statements that we are trespassing on their home ground.  They have eaten possibly all of our California Trout lilies over this winter and feed freely on other plants in our shade garden.  This pictured tree trunk supports barbed wire fence and has several openings at ground level providing the resident chipmunk with several entrances to his home.  A chipmunk crossing the driveway here is a common sight but it was not until today that Becky discovered its home.

Camassia quamash is a plant native to the western part of North America.  This plant may have been responsible for the winter survival of the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Resident native Americans introduced this food plant to those explorers.  The picture shows that this single purchased plant has expanded generously but we have yet to see a flower.  The reason for this mixed success escapes us but we remain hopeful that flowers may sometime be seen here.   We have experienced previous failures with plants that also grow at much higher elevations.  I do not understand the impact of altitude on a plant but there is some reason why this plant does not flower.  New bulbs are produced each year with green leaves in evidence throughout the summer.  Little is written about this plant so no solution for this plant's struggle will likely be found.  The visible red stems may belong to a native wild geranium that produces beautiful flowers but is extremely invasive.  When the weather moderates, these invaders will be removed from this area.

There are many different varieties of Bleeding heart plants.  Neither the original source nor the proper name of this plant is known to us.  We do know that this plant has begun to grow while our other Bleeding hearts remain dormant.  For the moment the dead plant parts will remain in place to offer a measure of frost protection to this eager plant.  These two plants are located at either end of our garden bench.  Seated right next to these unusually shaped flowers provides us with an unforgettable pleasant experience. 

These native Rudbeckia trilobas have taken over extensive sections of our gardens.  Their yellow ray flowers sporting a brown center are waist high, wide and beautiful.  They successfully compete with the weeds that are claiming our garden ground but leave behind huge masses of dead growth and tons of seed.  The deer have not eaten them which is a tremendous advantage not shared by many of our desired plants.  This surviving cluster will likely be moved to a more open spot since we must encourage any native plants that can hold their ground from the weeds.  When the ground once again thaws we will return to cleaning up our growing areas.