Inula racemosa 'Sonnenspeer'

I perennial that is surprisingly underused (in my opinion) is Inula racemosa 'Sonnenspeer. It looks spectacular as it starts to grow in the spring. When I took this picture I didn't think to put anything alongside it for scale. Those leaves are huge and will reach up to a meter (3') in length and 8-10" wide!!

Then the 2" wide flowers are loaded on a sturdy stem, reaching up to 2 meters (6.5') in height:

 

At the end of the growing season it becomes a great dried flower. It will last for years if you want. I see that the picture below only shows the dried leaves. I will have to look around for a dried stem to photograph, as there are no dried flowers showing on the stems below.

 

Pushing the Boundaries With Willow Weaving

I don't know if my enthusiasm for willow sculpture comes through in our webpage by the same name, but I have a feeling it does. So I was thrilled to find this video showing work by Lise Bech in Scotland. I particularly like the screen!



Read more about Lisa Bech on her website.

Dare I Say It?

The month of January has been abnormally mild for us. Some of you may have heard about the lack of snow for one of the winter Olympic venues in Vancouver. The same mild weather (though somewhat cooler) has been melting the snow here, 500 km (300 miles) to the east. This detail may be of interest to those of you in warmer climes who order willow cuttings and hope receive them  before the weather gets too warm in your area. If I don't jinx things by making this statement, we expect to be able to start taking cuttings in a couple of weeks.

For those of you who don't know what I mean by willow cuttings, they are 11" sticks from our collection of over 50 varieties of willows. We bundle them up into groups of 10 cuttings and sell them that way. You can simply stick a cutting into the soil and they will sprout roots and grow an incredible amount the first year, as long as the soil is kept moist until they become established. Here is a picture of that amazing growth in one year, from just a stick:

These are growing in Jim's brother's yard in Ohio. Frank has contributed a number of pictures to our Grass Scapes Gallery and is also selling pictures of grasses on the BluestemArt website.

Willow Basketry - Joe Hogan, Ireland

I have always loved to do research for our willow pages. I usually either discover some new use(s) for willows or a new website showing baskets or sculpture. Most of the time the websites are in the UK or Ireland and Joe Hogan's is no exception. He makes willow baskets, using the natural colours of willow stems to add wonderful interest to a tradional basket: 

He also gets real creative with his contemporary baskets, even using the catkins. I can only guess that he wove the basket just before the catkins came out. One thing people may not realize is that the catkins, if not rubbed off, should remain on the branches for years.

Visit his website to see many more examples of his beautiful work: www.joehoganbaskets.com/  

Alopecurus pratensis 'Aureovariegatus' - Golden Foxtail Grass

Yesterday I was scouring my discs and hard-drive for pics that Marjorie Harris wants to accompany an article for the May issue of Chatelaine Magazine. I used to have them, but not anymore. At least something good resulted in that I found many pictures that I think people would like to see. But the website is sort of out of room or some pics need explanation, so this is where a blog works better than a website.

This is a picture I found. These gorgeous Alopecurus pratensis 'Aureovariegatus' are in a bed next to the City Hall in Grand Forks, BC. They are in full sun so they are a bright gold. If they were in partial shade they would be more lime-green in colour.

Welcome!

It occurred to me today that a blog would be a good way to post some more pictures. The website gets so much traffic that we are often over our bandwidth and some pictures are pretty good, but not quite good enough to use on the website so I figured I could post them here. This also allows for a bit of commentary in regards to a picture, which is not as well-suited to a website.

If you are thinking that the picture in the header is of Calamagrostis Karl Foerster, I am afraid that you guessed wrong. It is a Deschampsia. I am not sure which one, but they are all pretty similar except for D. Bronzeschleier, which is not as bright.