Drycreek Blog

The Chocolate Flower

2012-06-26T18:50:58-04:00

The chocolate scented daisy (Berlandiera lyrata) is a Southwest native. It's drought tolerant, loves full sun and opens fresh blooms about the size of a half-dollar, each day during its long season. The flowers grow on stems that reach about 14 inches. The dried flowers can be used for indoor floral arrangements. The plant itself matures at around two feet in diameter.

We bought plants from Dry Creek a few years back and planted them in a south facing spot close to the front porch steps. The morning fragrance is wonderful. Butterflies are attracted to the flowers, as are honey bees and other pollinating insects.

In late autumn, with the first killing frost, the plants die back completely. They disappear, so the first year we marked the spot to make sure we saved the space for their return the next spring. Sure enough, the plants returned, bigger than the year before.

Grow these great little plants along walkways, near the backyard patio or deck or in your rock garden. Just be sure to give them plenty of sun. They can reseed themselves, too, but are not invasive.

Little Garden Herb Forests

2012-06-21T14:59:00-04:00

For several years, we would grow basil, cilantro and dill as single plants in eight inch, herb sized pots. But they never did as well as we hoped. Almost immediately after potting the single starts, the cilantro and dill would bolt. Also as a single plant, the basil would so easily stress over the hot part of summer days. We figured the three plants just weren't cut out for our dry desert air. So we struggled along with our less than exciting herb garden.

Then one day a couple years back, we happened to be at our neighbor's house across the street where we saw basil being grown as a thick forest of crowded plants. The pot was large, a barrel type container, and flourishing. So, we tried it. We bought seeds and a good potting soil, and sowed the seeds as you can see in the photo. Each pot provides a little herb forest.

The basil, both green and purple as pictured, is growing quickly now that the weather has become consistently warm and the nights are less cool. We will soon be randomly picking the leaves off these plants. We read somewhere that the cilantro can be mowed like grass, so we tried it. This helps to keep the plants from going to seed, as they are otherwise prone to do rather quickly.

Located lower right in the purple pot is the dill. We're attempting a little dill forest in this pot. It is an experiment. Not that we need to find a solution to bolting. Dill often does perfectly well as a single plant in a pot. We're just interested in seeing what happens.

This year this herb garden also has two fennel bulbs growing in a single pot. They faint if they don't get enough water, but if watered, they are growing large and beautiful, with that deep fennel green. So delicious, too. We can't wait to eat them.

Drycreek has a great selection of seeds. Supplies are limited. You can plant several types of herb seeds anytime of the season, to keep your herb garden going.

Get a Head Start with Cool Weather Vegetable Starts

2012-04-01T20:17:26-04:00

Even if you plan to grow lettuce and cabbage from seed, it's always fun to plant a few six packs of beautiful spring lettuces and cabbages to set the garden in motion right away. In just a few days, the plants establish themselves and begin responding to the spring sunshine, and especially with lettuce, the leaves are delicious when young and tender and are ready to eat pretty much as soon as you put the plants in the ground.

Early April is the time. Setting these cool weather plants into the ground early gives a quick sense of accomplishment, and inspires even more planting as the days grow longer and the nights warmer.

Onions and potatoes, too, can be planted now. It's time!

Happy April!

Irish Saxifrage Blooms Emerging

2011-05-29T11:14:00-04:00

If you have a partly shady spot on a ledge where you would like to place a show plant, or a partly shady crevice in your rock garden that is crying out for something unique and interesting, Irish Saxifrage (Saxifraga x andrewsii) is a great choice. This hardy evergreen forms offshoots that grow into a cluster, eventually spreading into a nice sized mount. Great, too, for containers you can move around to where the plant receives just the right amount of easy sun and dappled shade. In other areas where cloud covered days are many, Irish Saxifrage can take more sun, but here in the desert, they seem to prefer more shade.

The plant forms clusters of saw toothed leaves that are fun to touch. The leaves fit into a variety of garden themes, from desert to alpine. In May and June, Saxifrage sends up tall, crazy looking reddish stems with tiny clusters of symmetrical white flowers with pink speckles. The stems reach to almost a foot in height and as the plant matures, multiply into a nice spray of delicate white flowers that sway in the breeze.

You can propagate this variety by dividing the root ball. If the flowers actually produce seed (some will not), you can let them dry on the plant, then collect for experimental sprouting. Growing from seed is a long process, but if you give it a try, scatter on a fluffy sprouting medium without much cover and keep moist.

Give your Saxifrage rich, well-drained soil. Keep it nicely moist, especially throughout the hottest part of the summer. Be sure to water them regularly while they establish themselves.

There are many different types of Saxifraga and many more gardeners who love them. So many, in fact, that there's even a Saxifraga Society. Drycreek often has several varieties of Saxifraga in stock. The one pictured arrived this spring.

Seeds in Full Development, The Maple Leaves Take Form

2011-05-09T10:39:00-04:00

Two columnar maples are new to the yard. They're young and slim and just now about 12 feet high. Adorable. Here come the leaves after the seeds have formed.

Wikihow.com claims that maple seeds are edible. They are in fact a treat whether cooked, raw or dried. These more desirable small seeds from young trees are more delicate, sweeter than larger seeds from older, more mature trees. The seeds need to be extracted from their helicopter shells. Taste them raw to see if they tend toward bitterness. If so, more preparation is needed.

It's difficult to have a favorite tree, but columnar maples are topping the list for trees that conserve land space. The small footprint, the narrow profile, the beautiful bark, beautiful leaves, spectacular color display in autumn -- all is combined into this amazing tree, the maple. Columnar or not, living amongst the maples is just a fun way to live.

In the late afternoon, lounging after the sun has left the side yard, it's like fishing, sitting peacefully in the shade, comfortable, quite, watching, waiting, wondering with thoughts to and from no place in particular, gazing at the two new columnar maple trees. New to Reno, these trees, so far braving the Reno weather, digging in quite well, their first spring in this final location. What better life than leisure to watch the trees grow?

What's Better Than A Springtime Rain In The Desert?

2011-04-23T13:21:00-04:00

The Museum of Paleontology at the University of California confirms what we high desert dwellers already feel in our bones, especially in winter and early spring: the Great Basin desert is different than most deserts in that the Great Basin desert exists at a much higher altitude than the "hot and dry" deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico. The Great Basin is thus considered to be a semiarid, nearctic "cold desert" with limited snow and rainfall caused by the wall of mountains we call the Sierra Nevada. Each winter the Sierra gathers most of the moisture coming from the Pacific causing the famous "rain shadow" that keeps the eastern lee side of the mountains so much drier.

It seems this rain shadow makes all the difference. The plants, the animals and insects have evolved to match the lower levels of moisture held back by the high mountains. Even the people have adapted. You can see it in how gardeners here react to a spring rain. On the coastline of northern California, gardeners long for and rejoice at the arrival of sunny days in the spring, hoping that the sun will warm and dry the soggy ground enough to sprout the seeds and energize the stock. Gardeners here long for and rejoice at the arrival of clouds with drenching rain to soak the soil enough to sprout the seeds and give drip lines, watering cans and garden hoses a day off.

This week we have a forecast of chance of rain and this morning rain is actually making it to the ground. What a perfect time to turn the soil, scatter the wildflower seed mixes and initiate springtime planting. It's so rare that we find this chance to actually get our heads wet! Even if the rain is only symbolic, it still makes us feel good, psychologically replenished. Of course, we can't forget that we're in the desert, that our lives are intertwined with this ancient xeriscape. We know it's the subsequent dryness that we can actually rely upon. And as this photo of hardy alyssum shows, the rain we received overnight didn't really soak the ground.

Helping the Mighty Honeybee Survive

2011-04-12T13:31:00-04:00

According to the experts, there are hardly any naturally occurring honeybee colonies left in the wild. Now almost all colonies are maintained by beekeepers, but even these are threatened. The consensus seems to be that the honeybee is under attack by deadly viruses, the source of which is not completely understood. But the bees have no built in defense to this new threat, so humans need to do all we can to help them survive.

What can we gardeners do? We can stop using pesticides and purchase foods that have not been grown with the use of pesticides! We can plan our gardens and landscapes with plants that attract honeybees. Bees love flowers, so to encourage the bees, make sure you plant a variety of flowering plants that will ensure blooming all season long. Fruit trees are a good source of nectar and pollen for spring. Vegetables, herbs, hollyhocks, foxgloves and all types of sunflowers will keep the bees happy through mid to late summer. Plan for autumn blooming plants like Asters and Chrysanthemums. Drycreek also offers desert wildflower seed mixes.

Other helpful tips: Take up beekeeping. Or at least buy local honey. Its fresher and the purchase supports the local economy. Even in Nevada, there is local honey being produced and sold at market. And if you find a swarm of bees in your yard, don't panic. Don't squirt them with water or spray them with pesticides! Even though it might look like a horror film in the making, swarming bees are relatively passive and not likely to sting, unless you act like a fool. Instead, contact a local beekeeper and swarm collector.

Don't Be An April Fool

2010-04-01T13:50:00-04:00

Since our local growing season is relatively short -- especially for the alpine regions, but also for the high desert valleys -- April is a very important month for gardeners. So get busy!

When planning for seasonal color, the Arabis Snowcap is a perfect plant for early spring. This medium growing, spreading perennial has fragrant clusters of pure white flowers that appear in March and April. It loves the desert sun and blooms for four to six weeks. It's easy to grow and perfect for well-drained rock gardens, garden walls, containers and borders. Plant it now, enjoy the blooms, and watch it reappear again next year just to make you happy.

This year you might like to try growing annual poppies, like the Shirley Poppy and the California Poppy. Poppies are easy to grow from seed and this is a good time to plant them. Since the seeds are so small, an easy way to spread them more evenly and to protect them from being tossed about by strong April winds, is to mix the seeds with some fine potting soil or composted humus in a small container, then scatter the mixture in prepared flower boxes, borders, and other empty spots in your garden.

If you grow Chrysanthemums, April is a good time to divide your larger plants and replant the divisions. The same holds true with other spreading perennials that benefit from division (including cacti).

Since the local insect-eating song birds are getting frisky this time of year, early April is a good time to place a birdhouse in your yard. (We have some nice birdhouses presently in stock, but supplies are limited.)

Don't forget that Arbor Day is the last Friday in April. As you make plans to celebrate, be sure to choose the spot carefully; you'll want a spot that fits the growing habits of the tree to be planted. You'll want to dig a large hole for the root ball. As part of the Arbor Day celebration, before you plant the tree, you can fill the hole with water and take a mud bath with your friends. Be sure to choose a tree that will work well in your landscaping design. We invite you to come visit our nursery. If you need help choosing a proper tree, we can show you an amazing selection of both deciduous and evergreen trees, from miniature ornamentals to mighty Sequoias.

Here's a checklist of projects and plans from our April Gardening Tips page:

Plan for springtime flowers
Plan your water garden
Plan your herb garden
Design your vegetable garden
Plan your balcony garden
Design or redesign your landscape
Choose your starter seeds
Divide and repot indoor plants

Of course, since the April sun provides some mid-day warmth, there are outdoor projects we can tackle as well:

Turn and prepare the garden soil
Clear the last remaining leaves
Plan and build or repair your arbors
Fertilize perennials, shrubs and trees
Prune your trees and shrubs if needed
Stake your tall perennials and vines
Set up a birdhouse or two or three

Celebrating the Vernal Equinox

2010-03-21T11:06:00-04:00

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox! And if we couldn't actually feel the intersection of the equinoctial points or the fact that night and day were almost equal in length and that the center of the sun passed vertically across an exact point on the Equator, it sure did feel like a day for planting!

This year, our plan for this raised bed is to grow salad vegetables. We will get a head start by planting some six packs of various lettuces, cabbage, beets, leeks and onions. We will at the same time plant seeds of lettuce, kale, spinach and carrot.

To stay organized, it's easy to mark the rows with a straight edge, then place a yardstick next to the line drawn for spacing the plants and seeds. The straight edge and ruler combination can also serve to draw the seed lines to their proper depth.

As we plant the seeds, of course the local song birds watch from nearby branches and ledges as if this yearly springtime ritual is for them. But, we will cover the frame to allow the seeds to sprout and to protect the starts from any sudden dips in nighttime temperatures.

Happy Spring!

Veggie Flats

2010-03-18T00:00:00-04:00

To get things started, early orders of beautiful vegetable six packs have arrived. Several types of lettuce, beets, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Broccoli, onions, leeks, parsley, cilantro and more! We also have beautiful pansies and violas.

For those who love to grow early plants from seed, we've received a shipment of many types, a wide assortment of wildflowers and many types of organic vegetable seeds.

To welcome the wild local songbirds, we have some beautiful bird baths this year. And we've received some unique containers for patio gardening.

Happy Spring!