Calochortus and Ambition

 "A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisify ambitions or to 

or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them." 

                                                                                                Liberty Hyde Bailey

Calochortus venustus

I said I would try to get another post in with the Calochortus and since I needed a break from setting up for the garden tour this weekend. I thought I would sit for a minute, hydrate and post. If you are wondering what happened to the bees, I'm proud to say I dissapointed a bunch of cell phone filming papparazi and did not come crashing to the ground with 40 lbs of bees on my head. The bees are safe in a new hive out past the greenhouse by the berry patch where the Marion berries, Triple Crowns and Blackcaps will no doubt appreciate their presence. This looks to be a super productive hive. 

Productive lil buggers had already drawn some nice comb in the couple days they spent in a nuk box.

This is the bees up in the oak tree, I found out later they had been there all weekend, so I was pretty lucky to have been able to get this capture. 

Calochortus luteus

If you are wondering to yourself, why did he decide to go all in on the nursery business now? Amid the still raging global pandemic, on the brink of world war III, with inflation at an all time high and the supply chain still figuring out how global economy works. That is a very valid question. 

Calochortus amabalis, just finishing up if you are into phenology.  The other two are just starting, diversity is key to having a long bloom period with almost any genus there is variation in bloom time, even given all the same environmental conditions.  Why now? Well I had actually moved to Salem right before the great recession of the mid 2000's with the intention of opening my dream nursery, a classical alpine, rock garden nursery with a great bulb offering to top it off. I had been growing alpines and rock garden plants ever since I was the propagator at the Berry Botanic Garden and had quite the stock collection going. But like always happens, life got in the way. Divorce forced me to become a single father, the economy of raising a child meant working full time for the gubmint, which I have written at length about here so no need to rehash. At the same time there were a few folks growing alpines around the area that could dedicate 100% of there time to it so I decided to just focus on the bulbs and not try to compete where I wouldn't be able to give it my all.  C. superbus

Nurseries are much like the plants in the quote above, it takes a lot of effort to make them work, and I didn't have the time until now. As it happens, Painted wings and Giants rings make way for other toys, little girls become adults with ambitions of there own, and parents become empty nesters. Nursery owners get older and focus sometimes turns to other other things. But, time has come. It's my turn to make a go of it and I'm gonna give it my all. It might take a bit to get it all lined up like I want, but if it's as good as the bulbs have been to me then I'll be just fine. 

I super appreciate the few nurseries I've visited in the last few weeks who have offered cuttings and plants so that there legacy can live on. As well as the friends in the rock garden society who have promised starts to get me on the way.  I'm proud to take on the task. This may be one of the last few blog entries in this format before I transition over the website and new format. So I thought I would just get the brief story of why I waited so long, it wasn't by choice but by happenstance and circumstance. If it had been up to me, I'd be 20 years into this Alpine Rock garden nursery by now. I only wish old Jack Poff could be around to see what it's gonna become. Maybe like ole Yoda, Annakin, Obi Wan and Qui gon Jinn he is somehwere smiling that his legacy gets to live on. 

Rain on the way, but a couple of nice sunny days made all the difference. 

Mark