Traveling a bit

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Mark Twain

I've been out on a bit of a summer solstice adventure this past week. Ran across some Calochortus to share. Eastern Oregon is a fantastic high desert, cut occasionally by deep canyons and snowmelt fed rivers that hold great fishing. 

Calochortus longebarbatus in the Painted Hills of the John Day Fossil beds

The habitat above Burnt Ranch on the John Day, open bunch grass, and very dry Juniper/Sage land.

Calochortus argillosus is pretty much all that is left blooming in the greenhouse now, this Central Californian coastal species is always putting on a show in June. All the references say it grows in hard clay soils, but I've grown it in my standard moo doo and pumice mix and it increases well. This hot spring and fairly advanced entry into summer has me thinking that the catalog will be out a bit earlier this year, I'm hoping to start harvest mid July sometime, so keep an eye on here and I'll post updates as I get closer.  Rain, 70 degrees, but warmer this weekend Cheers, Mark