Fall Happenings
It’s the last day of September and we are shipping out plant orders like crazy now. If you ordered please be patient as we are doing our best to get those out as quick as we can. Of course the work never ends so I thought I would just drop a quick note to say happy fall and show a bit of what else we have been up to! As soon as it looked like we were in for some nice cool weather, (it got to 37 degrees F. here the other night. We are back to highs in the 80’s and it’s way to soon to call it an Indian Summer but here we are with the grass growing like crazy because of the decent amount of rainfall we had. Please enjoy a brief scroll of the happenings of fall at illahe nursery and know that we are busy getting those orders on the way to your garden for fall planting.
Crocus banaticus
Happy to have this rare and unusual harbinger of fall doing it’s thing confidently in the sandy/peat bed. I designed this raised bed to grow some of the species that appreciate summer moisture and this has been one bulb that has really benefited.
We had a blast at the Fall Plant Fest!
Norm of the legendary Woodland Way nursery was in the booth, among other notables like Fred Nilsen, Tim Batog shopping xeric ferns for Lorrie of the Danger Garden. We don’t do too many of these sales, but it’s always a wonderful time of catching up and sharing horticutlural stories and material.
Silene hookeri
This lovely light pink form is having a moment as we go into the fall, sure hoping to get seeds of this one so we can share the joy next year.
Thomas Van Hevelingen at the family nursery
The Columbia-Willamette Chapter got to tour the legendary family run NW Herb nursery that is having a renaissance with son Thomas and his wife Kelly growing some of the most amazing drought tolerant plants from the mediterranean and beyond.
The drought tolerant shrub collection is mind-blowing
These folks have perfected the low water use planting for sure.
Nusery Patriach Andy, one of the best guys to have a booth next to at a plant sale.
If you ever wondered what happened to the Joy Creek Penstemon collection, it’s being faithfully cared for and propagated by the Van Hevelingen family.
Back on the home front, Sam the cat is having a hell of time with the massive mast year of voles we are having. They clear cut the little creek valley up jackson hill from us last winter and it scattered the wildlife that called the woodland home. The coyotes we once relied on for vole control are no longer here and we are now being pestered by deer and turkeys. Note the unoccupied barn owl box in the background, apparently the owls in the neighborhood are not of the barn variety, maybe uptown owls that we have? Too good to occupy a lowly barn box.
It doesn’t take much to throw things out of balance when it comes to nature. I hope we didn’t take it for granted too many years that we had a nice balance of predator to prey with suitable natural area for them to habitate. Are humans a keystone species, or a hyperkeystone species? It seems we are so capable of throwing things out of balance with the slightest little action.
Speaking of drought tolerant things, I set that Sempervivum rosette on the big basalt chunk in the rock garden 4 years ago, no soil just a slight ridge that caught enough of something to grow moss. I’ve never watered it and it’s growing without any soil or care.
Speaking of bringing things into balance, We constantly strive to be more eco friendly at illahe and thanks to Fore Energy and their Karibou PCM tile we are doing just that. A huge thanks is in order to Kyle who worked super hard to install the remainder of the 50 degree Phase Change Material tiles that now line the entire east side of the benches in our Geothermally heated greenhouse. I have some usb data loggers up and running to do some data collection on this fall season as this is where this product really shines at saving the warmth of a fall day and holding it at the bench for good root production in the pots as the night time temperatures drop.
If you are interested in these PCM tiles check out the website:
Kaia and Lindsey got a little break from pulling orders to get some hypertufa troughs made. Let this serve as a Public Service Announcement, you can no longer get Portland Type II cement, the new industry standard is type 1L and after some discussions with renowned trough maker Lori Chips, you must modify your recipe to account for the increased fly ash and limestone in the available type. If you are making troughs this fall be aware of the changes and plan accordingly.
Thanks to Loris experimentation and excellent notes we made up a nice batch of troughs and if you are interested in these and how we make them, we will be teaching a class and doing a plant sale for attendees of the class in Eugene on Halloween, Check out the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group website if you are interested in this. Click here to learn more
Nothing says fall like the golden goblets of Sternbergia!
We hope this change of seasons brings you peace and joy in a turmoil and chaos ridden world. Maybe all we can do is hold out a bit of hope and think about springs to come and the flowers they will bring? But also probably prepare for the worst as I’m sure it’s not going to get any better in this country without some serious craziness to come.
Cheers,
Mark and the illahe crew.