Acer grandidentatum.

Tomorrow I will begin cold stratifying several Acer grandidentatum, or Bigtooth Maple, seeds I collected from the tree we planted in our front yard. I'm not sure that the parent tree was able to make the transition from nursery pot to ground, and the hotter than normal (for what "normal" is worth in Colorado) temperatures this past summer might have dried out its root ball more rapidly than my deep soakings could keep up with. Perhaps this year will be a little more moderate, which, so long as there's sufficient moisture and sun, will be a little easier on seedling and yearling trees. Anyway, the seed I collected from the Bigtooth Maple appears to be viable, but time will tell. I'll leave them in the refrigerator for about a month, then I'll see if they germinate in preparation for planting outside in late May.

Acer grandidentatum growing in Utah. Photo by Cory Maylett, August 2005.

Preparing an assortment of Penstemons.

As of today, three species of penstemon have joined the other seeds in our spare refrigerator, though none of these require months of cold stratification. About a week ago I began preparing two pots of Penstemon pinifolius and one pot of Penstemon whippleanus. Today I added six pots of Penstemon palmeri, commonly known as Palmer's Penstemon, Scented Penstemon, or Pink Wild Snapdragon. Penstemon palmeri will be planted alongside Ipomopsis rubra, commonly known as Standing Cypress, and these two herbaceous plants will form part of the background for a collection of dwarf conifers, such as Picea pungens 'Globosa'. I will post a picture once things get planted, but for now that part of the garden is still in preparation.

Filling up the refrigerator.

A few days ago I prepared and planted about thirty or so Shepherdia argentea, commonly known as Silver Buffaloberry. Like Ribes aureum (Golden Currant), Silver Buffaloberry is dioecious, so I'll have to grow out more than one plant if I plan on getting it to fruit. But first I have to coax the seeds to sprout. Which is why I'm filling up our refrigerator: Silver Buffaloberry requires cold stratification for two to three months. Thus eighteen starter pots planted with Silver Buffaloberry seeds joined an equal number each of starter pots planted with Vitis arizonica (Canyon Grape), Celtis reticulata (Netleaf Hackberry), and Golden Currant. I also planted two larger pots with a scattering of Penstemon pinifolius (Pineleaf Penstemon) and a single pot with several Penstemon whippleanus (Whipple's Penstemon). In another month I'll add Lycium pallidum, commonly known as the Pale Wolfberry and in the same family as the Goji Berry (but native to the American Southwest), as well as Penstemon palmeri, commonly known as Palmer's Penstemon . So...the refrigerator is filling up. I did promise my wife that I would try to keep the plantings manageable, so I will try to refrain from planting too many more species until later this spring.

Planting Ribes aureum.

Today I began cold-stratification of the Golden Currant Ribes aureum. From what I've read, Golden Currant seed can require 60 days or more of cold-stratification to stimulate sprouting. These seeds will join the seeds of Netleaf Hackberry Celtis reticulata and Canyon Grape Vitis arizonica, which began their cold-stratification a few weeks ago. I'm never sure if I'll get any to sprout, but I've had reasonable success with other species, so it's worth a try.

While I don't need many of the Netleaf Hackberry seeds to germinate, nor the Canyon Grape for that matter, I really hope that I get a good lot with the Golden Currant. Flowers and fragrance are all well and good, but I'm hoping for fruit as well!

But for now, as far as Ribes aureum is concerned, the waiting game begins.

A place to begin.

As I write this, the ground outside is covered with last night's two inches of snow, though along the northern fenceline the snow has melted into the ground.

I say this is a place to begin, but really this story began last spring, perhaps even earlier. Just as a forest grows and changes as one group of species succeeds another, so has our back yard. When we bought our house, the only trees on the property were a diseased clump of Quaking Aspen and a couple volunteer Siberian Elm. Otherwise, the soil was better than what I had been used to in Fort Collins, probably due to the local floodplain soil structure. The back yard had, apparently, been landscaped at some point in the past - I found the remains of potting soil and root balls when I began working the soil in earnest - but, aside from some white bearded iris clumps, it was a weed lot. It's come a long way.

The posts themselves will be few and short, until the rest of the blog's components are fleshed out. But I will try to post things as they come up.