These are some lovely Meconopsis at Far Reaches Farms in Pt Townsend, WA a few years ago. I grew my first from seed last year, and this year I’m scaling up!
Emboldened by my success, I ordered several species from the UK (they’re native to the Himalayas, but because the UK seems to be a nation of gardeners, they have all the cool seeds).
Behold my first batch of babies! Meconopsis Baileyi — very high germination, now pricked out into 2″ pots.
I’m quite pleased with myself over these modified tweezers. The Baileyi babies are really tiny (they’ve already grown significantly in this photo), and would have been impossible to pick out by hand without causing damage.
With these, I could pull out little plugs.
So far I also have a few sprouts of Grandis and Lingholm and Naupalensis.
Still waiting for a couple species, but I have some things to try.
It’s fun, but it’s a long game — the earliest any of these babies could bloom is next year.
Fortunately I have my yearlings to look forward to. They are just starting to wake up from winter dormancy!
We had a false spring at the start of February, followed by a cold snap last week that gave us a couple good hair ice (frost flower) mornings.
The one yesterday is likely the last one of the season, so I took half an hour off work to tromp around in the cold woods.
This is a globally rare phenomenon, but I am lucky enough to live in an area where it usually happens at least several times each winter.
This has been an especially good winter for hair ice!
To “grow,” hair ice needs temperatures just below freezing (~28-32F seems to be the happy range) for at least a few hours. It needs thoroughly sodden dead sticks that have been colonized by fungus Exidiopsis effusa.
Around here, they’re alder sticks. Fortunately they are a common native.
Around here, the sweet spot seems to be dead sticks that have been down a couple years, but they will only bear good frost flowers / hair ice for one season.
I have set aside “good” sticks before, and the next season there might be a few paltry formations, but short and disappointing.
Even within one season, especially spectacular sticks at the beginning may be subsiding by the end.
This is a very nice formation, but —
The one from a month ago was much more spectacular.
Note that this is a longer shot, that includes another six inches of stick above the newer close-up.
That is partly because this earlier formation was just bigger and more impressive; the newer formation is still lovely, but smaller.
It makes for a wonderful theme-and-variation throughout the season, with different temperature ranges growing frost out on different sticks to different extents.
Documenting the beauties of hair ice is one of my winter joys.
Thanks for joining me for this jaunt in the woods!
If you’re hungry for more, I have lots of posts of hair ice/frost flowers. Click on the topics above the header to easily find other posts.
Over the last few mornings, we had a lovely little stretch where conditions were suitable for hair ice (frost flowers) to grow.
That does not mean “lovely” for tromping around in the woods, since it has to be slightly below freezing, but these beauties are worth some discomfort!
Those of you who have known me for a while know that I prefer “frost flowers” as the term for these… but I’m reluctantly caving in to the reality that “hair ice” is both more frequently used, and more apt for most of the formations.
The thaw is on now, so these pictures are New Year’s Eve hair ice, not New Year’s Day hair ice.
Around here (south Puget Sound), hair ice “grows” on 2-3 year dead alder twigs and branches. The locks of the last couple days have been especially long, probably because the temperature has lingered just below freezing for hours.
When there is more of a cold snap, the formations can be cut short.
Often, larger sticks mean longer hair ice locks, but under optimal conditions even a skinny stick can grow impressive formations.
In this example, a slim stick 1-2 cm diameter grows hair ice 10-fold the length. Probably most of the moisture has extruded!
I admit that I enjoy the especially lush growths, where thousands of ice hairs form a graceful formation.
However, it’s easier to see what’s going on in the sparser formations.
In an acre of alder woods, I might see 5-10 sticks with really nice hair ice, and the same number again that are small or poorly formed.
We have been amazingly lucky in that both homes Rob and I have had together (Port Angeles and Olympia WA) have supported hair ice growth.
Alder groves+maritime climate with occasional frost=hair ice!
I found my first “home” hair ice 10 years ago, 12/30/2015, at the house we lived in at Port Angeles.
Here is one of the handful of formations I found that day.
The first hair ice I ever saw was actually on a hike on the Olympic Peninsula.
The first hair ice I ever saw was actually on a hike on the Olympic Peninsula the previous winter, 1/3/2015.
It was at a camp site by the Elwha River.
I had never seen anything like them, bits of cotton fluff scattered around.
This is still one of my favorite formations!
Because they are only out when it’s unpleasantly cold, your odds of running across them randomly like this are not good.
However, now that I know what to look for, I am out at dawn on every frosty morning.
I feel very lucky to have these to share!
May the new year hold many such little joys for you!
May there be previous moments and unexpected beauty.
We had our first hard frost last night — much later than usual! — and with it, the first frost flowers/hair ice of the season.
Hair ice is more apt for most of the formations — especially because the frost effectively “grows” from the stick — but I admit I like the aesthetics of “frost flowers” better.
This rare phenomenon usually occurs at least a few times each winter in our area.
It requires: sodden twigs that have been colonized by a certain fungus and temperatures that go from above freezing the previous day to just a couple/few degrees below to “grow” the crystals.
There weren’t many frost flowers this time — it was only just barely cold enough, so only the most exposed candidate sticks grew the formations.
It is lovely to have any, though!
If you want to learn more, I did a more detailed blog post a couple years ago:
Here at the solstice, in the dark of winter, I am dreaming of my garden at the summer solstice.
Here is a snapshot of what was in bloom within a week of the summer solstice.
First up, breadseed poppies and feverfew.
Breadseed poppies bloom for a relatively short window — each flower only lasts a couple days — but they can put on an impressive show when they’re in flower!
And in the autumn you get neat seedpods that hold the poppy seeds used in baking.
I tried a few new flowers this year. All of them were somewhat successful, and I will be growing most of them next spring.
Here, California bluebells and Bird’s-eye gilia join in a beautiful but ephemeral display.
Both are wildflowers, so they have a short but spectacular bloom in late spring.
This is Schizanthus, with the rather rude common name of poor man’s orchid. It is quite beautiful, and unlike the bluebells and Gilia it continues to bloom all summer.
It also looks good both close up and from a distance, which is not always true.
The copper on the pot is to keep slugs away.
Signet marigolds are one of my favorite annuals.
I grow them in big pots, three plants to a pot. They don’t photograph especially well, but they bring lots of life and color. Close up, the reds are my favorites, but the orange and yellow form a tapestry with the other flowers.
In gardening, everyone draws the line between weeds and flowers in a different spot.
For me, mullein is definitely on the “flower” side. This one is just getting started. They become a handsome 3-5 foot spike, and the birds love the seeds!
Feverfew and foxglove behind.
Some flowers photograph beautifully.
For others, a photo just does not capture their charm.
Here, gentian sage rises in front of agastache, with signet marigolds in the background.
Sages and agastaches in general are charming — especially in person!
And Chantilly snapdragons!
I grew these from seed last spring, but unlike the others they are not true annuals. They often overwinter in our climate, and I have also discovered you can take cuttings! I have a bunch of babies in the basement.
Thank you for coming on this tour of my summer solstice garden!
I will be growing all of these again… and I may have ordered a dozen or two packets of seed to try in addition.
Happy solstice, and know the light will be longer tomorrow!
I know that this is a difficult day for many, for historic/justice reasons, for personal/family reasons, or just because they are going through a lonely time.
To those for whom it is difficult:
I hope you can find another day to enjoy good food with friends and family.
If things look bleak and lonely at present, please remember that life is change. Please hang in there, and know that the world is richer with you in it.
May you find people to enjoy the good times with, and may there be lots of good times!
If your family is difficult or problematic, may you have found family, now or in the future, to bring you joy!
Perhaps things will get better with your first family… but even if it doesn’t, it does not mean you have to be without family!
Sometimes things can be repaired, but sometimes not.
I love the spirit of Thanksgiving: getting together with loved ones to share a good meal and contemplate the good in life.
We never lived close to my extended family, so it was always a happy group cobbled together from friends and friends-of-friends.
Since COVID, we have kept a small Thanksgiving with my parents. That year we met on the porch to swap goodies, and then went home. I appreciate each additional year when I can enjoy Thanksgiving with my parents in their home. They are in their 80s, and that era may be coming to an end.
I have much to be thankful for, and today I will be happy to contemplate those blessings, large and small.
These photos are a few favorites from summers past. Flowers and nature are two of the great small joys in my life, and I love sharing them with you.
I have grown coreopsis before, starting it indoors on the theory that it was a hot weather plant that needed heat to get a good start.
I quite enjoyed the dwarf mix I got a year or two ago, but they started blooming late, and the plants were very leggy… so I decided I probably didn’t have enough sun, and wouldn’t grow them this year.
I mentioned elsewhere that I tried Schizanthus (Poor Man’s Orchid) this year, direct sown into large pots.
Mid-spring, I noticed that some of the “Schizanthus” clumps were not like the others. In fact, they looked suspiciously like coreopsis!
I had reused the soil, and apparently my extra layer of coir/perlite/vermiculite to guarantee a clean base was just thick enough to make the coreopsis happy.
The result is a lovely airy cloud of color.
This is definitely the way to do coreopsis!
I’ll be trying to deliberately reproduce this serendipity next winter.
Another of the flowers that I am trying this year are Salpiglossis. They are cousins of the petunias, and can be quite spectacular.
Although you can direct-sow them, the best option for large plants is to start them inside.
They’re a bit fussy to start inside, so I’m not sure whether I’ll grow them next year. I love the stained-glass flowers, but in the mix I used, the yellow is more common and floriferous… pretty, but I have other yellows in the garden that are a lot less fussy to grow.
I really like the jewel-tones that some of them have, though.
We’ll see how my energy level is doing next spring!
I really appreciated the growing notes provided by Growing with Plants! I recommend the article if you want to give these a try, but a few key points are that the darkness germination requirement is probably nonsense, keep them fairly cool, use a dry/moist cycle, and use petunia fertilizer.
I might have fared better if I had found these notes before I had started my seeds for the year!
In the coming weeks, I’ll wait for each new bloom to open, to see what its patterning will be.
Here in the Pacific Northwest it tends to start in late June, and then continue intermittently for a month or so.
This is the umpty-ninth descendent of a Lauren’s Purple. I think the color is still pretty true… it’s a gorgeous burgundy.
Feverfew in the background.
Here is the poppy bed. Here in the Puget Sound area, I usually sprinkle out the poppy seeds in January of February. They sprout in a few weeks, then sit and do nothing for a couple months. It gives them a stronger start, though.
The one catch is that the slugs like them. No red frillies this year, for that reason…
I usually do two beds of poppies, one of the red frillies and one of the purples. For some reason the slug pressure on the reds was very high this year, and I wasn’t on top of dealing with it. Next year I will take measures early and thoroughly!
Breadseed poppies close up at night! Usually just for one night, but still, they have the mechanism.
They can’t re-pack themselves the way they were in the bud, but they close each pair of lips as much as they can (they usually have four symmetrical petals). The inner pair basically acts like a clamshell!
Genetics are always fun!
The cut edge on this one came by way of the cut-edged reds that I usually grow.
It also only has three petals, which is a straight-up mutation.
Here they are, a side-shot all closed up for the evening. It’s a good thing, because we got a little rain!
Possibly the last for weeks, so every drop is precious.
Breadseed poppies are fun, and if you can allow the seedheads to develop, you can use them for baking! Plus, the seedheads look cool.
Every year I try some new seeds, or try to improve on what has gone before.
Here we have Schizanthus, California Bluebells, and Gilia Tricolor.
I planted all three species in large pots outside on March 1st, just as the weather started to tilt towards spring. The pots have copper tape around them, since we have a lot of slugs, and our slugs like almost all types of flower babies.
I used large (~12″) pots, and did a cluster of seeds in the center, and three clusters equally spaced around the edge. I did not thin — I think these species really didn’t need it (with the possible exception of the Schizanthus).
The Gilia Tricolor was the first to bloom, opening a few flowers in late May.
The pollinators like it!
I think it’s starting to fade — it’s basically a California wildflower, so a relatively short bloom season is to be expected, but it has been a lovely addition to the mid-spring garden.
It has a naturally cascading habit. Next year I think I’ll do a bit more in the way of supports, but it doesn’t break when it bends over.
The California bluebells opened a week or so later, at the start of June.
I had grown them before, but previously I had started them indoors and transplanted them. They did much better direct-sown into their big pot!
Their color is amazing. They really are that blue!
They are still going strong, but I don’t expect them to make it far into July. They are another wildflower that really hasn’t seen any hybridization.
They also have a cascading habit. Some short supports will help control and spread the cascade. I might try a couple more vertical supports for the central cluster next year, to see if I can make more of a mound, but they are lovely as-is.
The Schizanthus were the last of the three to open, starting just after the CA bluebells.
I should have staked the Schizanthus early and vigorously; they want to be vertical, and they snap under their own weight when it rains.
The flowers are quite pretty; the common name is “Poor Man’s Orchid.”
I think this one has been hybridized more. We’ll see what the bloom span is like.
So far, the three make good friends, since their bloom period and color range overlap nicely.
Two of the three are basically CA wildflowers, so I expect them to finish fairly soon. Hopefully the Schizanthus will continue into the summer!
I think I’ll grow all three again next year, but with a lot more staking for the Schizanthus.
This year I did one pot of each; next year I’ll multiple the California Bluebells and Gilia Tricolor. They are very pretty at a time when not much is blooming here.
