Some types of agave reproduce asexally, making cultivation easier and more uniform. Either small hijuelos (sons) form vegetatively at the base of a mature plant, or bulbils form instead of flowers and seeds. (This latter formation also occurs in many garden plants including garlic and chives.)
Other species are used in traditional mezcal production, but are difficult to grow. Traditionally they have been collected from the wild, but as the demand for mezcal keeps increasing, wild populations are shrinking, and growers are attempting to cultivate other species.
TobaláAgave potatorum, is one I particularly enjoy. The flavor is full-bodied, a complex of notes hinting at floral and spicy. The Tobalá plant is much smaller than Espadín:, requiring up to to eight piñas to equal one of the latter. Combine that with the fact that Tobala rarely produces bublils or pups, so it must be grown from seed. Luis Mendez in Solga Vega Oaxaca is now cultivating the plants to preserve the wild population from over-harvest. A nursery in Santa Catarina Minas is also selling seedlings.
In January 2020 I helped pot up Tobalá plants for Tony Raab at Casa Raab, San Pablo Etla, Oaxaca.
One of Tony’s workers, Rodregio.
Tobala seedlings
AMMA published this diagram of agave anatomy.
In my search for information on sustainable maguey preservation and cultivation, I came across this post Mescalistas: Can wild agave be successfully grown? In the future I hope to visit more maguey plantations.
Late autumn usually brings the most precipitation to Port Townsend and the eastern part of the Olympic Peninsula. Atmospheric rivers dump rain. Strong winds blow and fallen leaves swirl. The sun is low in the sky.
The winter vegetable garden is producing, but most growth happened before the fall equinox. Garden beds covered with hoops and floating row covers will be protected from frosts. Fresh salad greens, kale, Swiss chard, and leeks can be harvested throughout the winter. Monitor vegetables for slugs and cut worms. The wet weather favors slugs and snails. Get them now and there will be less generations come spring. Also cut worms are a problem and can be found during routine weeding.
Fruit Trees
Keep the base of young trees free of tall grass. Better yet, place mulch around the trunks. Winter is the time when voles chew bark and roots. If you have a serious vole problem wrap the trunks with hardware cloth to prevent the rodents from gnawing the bark. Some gardeners even use pea gravel as a mulch to discourage voles.
Late winter is a better time for pruning apple and pear trees, ornamentals and raspberries. The reason not to prune now is because we could have a warm, sunny spell in January that could encourage plants to grow—only to be blasted by a deep cold in early February. Better to wait until mid- February for most pruning. Because wet weather promotes bacterial and other diseases, many gardeners prune plums and cherries after flowering during a sunny spell.
This is a good time for large garden projects that warm the body. Pushing wheelbarrows of manure, woodchips, and making large compost piles. Building planter boxes and retaining walls. Cutting down dead trees or cutting up branches for firewood or hauling them to the yard-waste facility. If you live in the woods, think about a larger tree-free area around the home as future fire-prevention.
Going within
And then there are times to slow down, take walks and notice the birds. Different birds are here for the season. Watch for Pacific wren, red-breasted nut hatch, northern flicker, pine siskin, golden-crown kinglet and spotted towhee.
Winter is a good time to dream about the garden. A garden mentor once said that the garden is forgiving—we can always try again next year. It’s a time to think about rearranging perennial beds and planting more drought tolerant flowers. Or perhaps it is time to think about simplifying a high maintenance garden. For some gardeners seed catalogs arrive in January and planning the edible gardens begin. Now you can think about how you can extend the season or create a garden sanctuary.
Winter is a time to step back and evaluate the garden; to appreciate how much it has grown since last year and to analyze how we can improve it. One approach is considering it from a bird’s perspective. Gardens that favor birds provide food, water, cover and a safe place to nest.
Water for drinking and bathing is essential. Place it adjacent to shrubby habitat to provide refuge from predators. Shallow moving water with a place to perch is best, but a bird bath that has clean water is also valuable.
If the shrubs have berries, so much the better. Also, evergreen shrubs provide an excellent place to roost at night. Evergreen foliage provides screening from predators and insulation from winter’s cold. Above is Ebbings Silverberry, Elaeagnus x ebbingei in bloom. Hummingbirds were feeding here mid-November and new flowers keep opening. Below is Strawberry Tree, Arbutus unedo and Pacific Wax Myrtle, featured in an earlier post.
Arbutus undo
Feeding the birds
Bird feeders come to mind first and many people are committed to providing bid seed and suet. Some birds change their diet according to the season. Perennial seed-heads offer another option. Native plants have evolved with the local bird populations. In addition, perennials can be selected for architecturally interesting seed-heads. Plants in the mint family including sages, Salvia; anise hyssop, Agastache and Jerusalem sage, Phlomis. Sunflower family flowers like Joe-Pye weed, Echinacea, black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta and artichoke are attractive to birds.
Many cat owners recognize that a cat can kill up to eleven birds a year. A ‘Catio’, or cat patio is an outdoor enclosed space that protects cats from eagles and hawks and prevents cats from killing birds. Many homeowners have found ways to integrate this structure into their landscape. One of my favorite catios is that of my friends Kathleen and Pete. They constructed their catio around an existing blueberry patch, thus excluding birds from berries and cats from birds!
Watching birds is a relaxing and invigorating hobby for gardeners. People start off with bird feeders and it opens up an entire world. When David Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds, was asked why he enjoyed watching birds, he responded:
One of the most enduring attractions for me is that it gives me a chance to learn about an entire system (the natural world) by simply watching and getting to know the birds. When I can name a bird that I see, or notice subtle differences in appearance or behavior, that information gives me access to a store of knowledge about the species’ habits and preferences. I know where its travels might have taken it, what type of food it’s looking for, if it’s likely to be alone or part of a flock. In short, I know that bird and have a sense of how it fits in the world around it.
Check out The Courage of Birds: The Often Surprising Ways They Survive Winter, a new book by the birding team Pete Dunne and David Sibley.
Consider gifting a gardener/birder an online course covering everything about gardening for birds:
We know it’s autumn when the leaves start turning color. Here a Pin Oak brightens the landscape. It’s time to harvest winter squash and pumpkins, but if your squash isn’t quite ready, perhaps it will have time to continue ripening.
In Port Townsend, our typical first killing frost arrives by the end of November. If autumn temperatures drop slowly over time, plants get acclimated. The high concentration of sugars acts as ‘antifreeze’ in the protoplasm and this is what gives kale and other crops a sweeter flavor after the first frost. But if warm weather prevails until a sudden hard frost hits, then plants are not prepared. Sometimes in November the temperature can suddenly drop twenty degrees! Next month pay attention to the weather forecast and be ready to use floating row covers on crops and newly planted broad-leaf evergreen ornamentals. Forecasts for the next three to six months seem to be leaning toward La Niña but one forecaster described it as “a weak event”. NOAA posted this
Garden Chores
Leaves: Rake and compost, or save for mulch.
Lawns: Over-seed existing ones with white clover, yarrow, English daisy and other flowering plants for pollinators.
Mulch: shrubs and garden beds for winter protection and weed suppression. The increased organic matter will eventually feed the soil ecosystem. (This repeat from last month reinforces how important it is!)
Plant garlic: 2” deep in well-drained soil. Space cloves 5 inches apart with the tip up. Mulch with straw. Prevent disease by rotating crop every 3-5 years. Certified disease free garlic or saving your own is best.
Fruit Trees: Rake and remove any diseased dried leaves, rotten- and mummy-fruits to prevent disease.
Apple tree pests: Examine fruits for coddling moth larvae damage. The Hortsense link offers preventative measures for next year.
Winter squash can be slow to fully mature. One way to encourage this is to remove all small and new squash in September. This allows all the energy to go to the larger, more mature squash. The signs that a squash is mature include a bright yellow spot where the squash touched the ground, the stem becomes brown and corky-textured. Also, as the squash skin toughens up, it becoming duller, and even a bit waxy. It may difficult to make an indentation with your fingernail. These contribute to a good storage crop.
Tinker loved growing the Lower Salmon River winter squash. This variety of Cucurbita maxima is one of the few heritage crops from the PNW, and is known from the Salmon River area of Idaho. It has a distinctive flavor and texture. Seeds are available from Adaptive Seeds.
If you want to taste Lower Salmon River, Midori Farm grows it and the Food Co-op has some now. It takes about 90 days to mature. It can withstand a couple of light frosts although the first one will probably kill the foliage. For Cucurbita maxima aficionados, check out this Johnny’s Seeds critique of flavor and yield for varieties.
After the fall equinox, plant growth slows. We have not had frost yet in early October 20224, so crops are still growing well. Plants are able to sense cold temperatures and respond by producing carbohydrates. In vegetable crops, the high concentration of sugars acts as ‘antifreeze’ in the protoplasm and this is what gives kale and other brassicas a sweeter flavor after the first frost. For more on winter gardens see the OSU Extension Publication
Pacific wax myrtle, Morella californica, is native to the coastal areas of Washington state and south to California. It is considered on of the best evergreen native shrubs for our gardens. Although the flowers are inconspicuous, the waxy black fruits are popular with birds. Knock-on-wood it is still deer resistant.
This hardy native is adaptable to many conditions from full sun to shade. Although it prefers moist, well-drained soil, it can grow in a variety of soils. The root nodules have nitrogen-fixing microorganisms that allow the plant to grow in poor soil.
Hedge rowMature shrubMature fruit
Once established it is completely drought tolerant. It will grow to 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide in thirty years. For the average size garden, pruning will keep it within bounds. Late winter is best for heavy pruning, then general shaping can be made with heading-back cuts through out the season. This remarkable shrub can be pruned as a formal hedge, a loose screen or even a small tree. As a screening hedge, Pacific Wax Myrtle provides habitat for a multitude of birds including Spotted towhee, several sparrows, northern flicker, robin, goldfinch and cedar wax-wing. The latter are especially delightful in winter when small flocks gather on the shrubs. The waxy berries provide vegan fat in the winter.
Pacific wax myrtle is slow to grow at first and once established, it grows steadily. Here the tiny flowers are blooming. Within these red catkins are separate male and female flowers. To see a close up and more photos go to the OSU landscape plant descriptions. This website provides excellent plant descriptions. I have not found anything like it in Washington.
For the longest time I didn’t think any disease bothered this shrub, but I noticed some foliage die back and even some stems turning brown. The Pacific Northwest Pest Management Handbook describes a type of leaf blight caused by a phytopthera that only bothers this species. This fungal-like organism was first identified as a pest in 2009 on the Oregon coast. I have been growing several shrubs at my place for thirty years and have only noticed it recently. Some ways to prevent spreading the disease:
Avoid overhead watering.
Mulch with arborist chips
Increase air circulation at the base of the plant by removing weeds or other vegetation.
Remove any diseased plant material and throw it in the garbage, don’t compost it,
Don’t over-fertilize and don’t fertilize late in the season.
Sanitize tools with isopropyl alcohol, or prepare a mix of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. Dip tool or wipe with moistened rag.
Water to get the shrub established and then only monthly during summers to grow a hedge or screen.
The leaves make a pleasant tasting tea that is medicinal. The active medicinal substances include an astringent resin. The root and bark can be tinctured and used for inflamed gums according to Michael Moore’s Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West. The plant’s botanical name was changed in 2006. Previously it was known as Myrica californica.
A native plant adaptable to sun or shade and varying soil conditions, one that can synthesize it’s own nitrogen is bound to be more resilient!
Plants with textured foliage invite us to touch or pluck a leaf and stroke it, even caress our face!
Gardens can stimulate or relax us by how they influence the five senses. A relaxing ambiance can come from blending in with the existing natural environment. When we are alive to our senses, we are in the moment. The frargrance of a rose or the soft texture of a leaf slid across the face, contrasting colors in the garden, all influence us through our senses. A repetitive pattern has a soothing or harmonious influence.
Gardens that stimulate and bring the energy up often have bold colors and strong scents. Patterns that contrast and colors that contrast are powerful. Think magenta and orange flowers with combined with chartreuse foliage; ornamental grasses next to large-leaf shrubs like Fatsia; canna lily with ornamental onion, the list goes on! Whimsical garden features like colored globes or blown glass spikes and sculptures with mirrored surfaces all add to an energetic feel. Mahonia media and unusual hebes along with weeping dwarf conifers all add an element of excitement.
Sound
Most of us in Jefferson County are fortunate to live where it is quiet enough to hear natural sounds: wind through conifers, rain on roofs, treefrogs singing, and geese flying overhead. We can create or muffle sounds in the garden. A water feature outside our open window will bubble, gurgle and splash.
Birdsong is another feature we can add to our garden by offering habitat, water and food. Humans have evolved with birds—when they are singing, all is safe. The melodious calls of songbirds encourage us to relax.
Large ornamental grass like Miscanthus grouped together can whisper in the wind. Bamboo make a soft sound as the wind passes through.
Windchimes create different moods. Determine if high-pitch tinkling sounds or deeper, resonant bass notes bring you joy. Listen to different ones to choose.
Science has shown how auditory input impacts us, based on variation of pitch and length of time the sound The rhythmic sound of water on the shore is similar to the sound of humans breathing thus it is often soothing. When we hear many sounds at once it can be discordant and confusing. We can create a peaceful soundscape by muffling unwanted sounds with hedges and berms.
Scent
Flowers come to mind first when we think of scent—roses and lavender. Other scents include volatile oils in foliage and resins in conifers. Ambient temperature affects how strong the scent is. A sunny day will bring out the aroma of ponderosa pine bark or the resin dripping from a spruce. Walkable groundcovers are prostrate plants that can be placed in pathways or between stepping stones—in the shade Corsican mint and in sunny spots plant caraway thyme or pink ripple thyme. As you walk past fragrant plants along a pathway brush against them or let your hand glide over the surfaces. Better yet, pinch a bit and bring it to your nose, inhale deeply and set the bit in your pocket.
Scented plants along the path are easily pinched as we walk by, sniffed and placed in one’s pocket
Touch
Don’t forget the tactile dimension of the garden. Many gray foliage plants have textured surfaces of fine hairs to reduce water loss. Lambs ears, Stachys byzantina; giant silver Mullein, Verbascum bombyciferum; and the artemisia are ever so soft. Ferns have feathery foliage as does dwarf Japanese plume cedar, Cryptomeria japonica elegans. Moss is plush.
Taste
Edible flowers in the garden add an element for our tastebuds. The sweet-licorice flavor of anise hyssop, the peppery bite of nasturtium blooms, or the citrus notes of lemon thyme, all add to the multidimensions of the garden.
The fall equinox is approaching quickly. The weather is changing. Autumn offers opportunities to plant and transplant; the soil retains warmth longer than the air can—a perfect combination for encouraging root growth. With cooler temperatures and short day length, plant growth slows. The roots have a chance to get established without the additional stress of transpiration or pumping water through plant and out the leaf surfaces.
Autumn is a great time to make compost piles with debris from the vegetable garden, perennial plants and deciduous leaves. Some people prefer to leave the dead foliage and seed heads for spring removal allowing insects and birds food and habitat overwinter. Try it, but note that adding garden clean-up to normal spring chores might overwhelm some gardeners.
Edibles
Fruit trees: Most tree fruits are ripe when they come off easily by lifting and twisting the fruit. Take care not to break off the short branch with buds known as a fruit spur. Cut open an apple —ripe seeds are brown. Pears are picked when they are still hard, before they are fully ripe. They soften from the inside out. Asparagus: Let the fronds remain and turn yellow. Cut them back to the ground after a hard frost. If you have an excess of produce, try making sauerkraut or kraut-chi.
Soil Fertility
Soil Samples: Every couple of years it is worthwhile to take a soil sample and get it tested. Although Jefferson Conservation District no longer handles soil testing, they do lend a tool for extracting clean samples and lab suggestions including A&L. I’ve had good luck with Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.
Compost: Build compost piles in bins or free-standing rectangles. All the autumn decaying foliage from the veggie garden, perennials, and deciduous leaves. Add a source of Nitrogen: manure; powdered fish or bloodmeal; or urine.
Mulch shrubs and garden beds for winter protection and weed suppression. The increased organic matter that will eventually feed the soil ecosystem.
Cover-cropping: After removing spent vegetables, rake the soil, add seeds of clover, field peas, oats, rye, vetch, or fava beans. More information from WSU All seed available at Chimacum Corner.
Pests
Yellow jackets
Recognize yellow jackets and their underground nests. In the autumn listen for buzzing if there are more than two yellow jackets in a location, step back and search the ground for more. Yellow jackets can sting repeatedly. By contrast, bees avoid stinging because it is lethal, it rips out their stinger. Learn to distinguish them.
Spring Bulbs
Plant bulbs and corms now for spring bloom. The earliest bloomers are the small bulbs: snowdrops, crocus, chionodoxa, Siberian squill and winter aconite. Select bulbs that are firm with no signs of injury or mold. If one bulb is lightweight compared to others, discard it. Plant with root side down and pointy end up. Plant at depth three time the length. Small bulbs often are earliest. See Royal Horticulture Society for more information.
Tinker was involved with Abundant Life Seed Garden from its inception in the 1980’s until 2001. She and John Gilardi were garden managers in the latter years. In the above photo, Tinker and an apprentice named Nicole are stripping the flower heads of dried amaranth to remove the seeds. Next steps include winnowing and screening. Later amaranth was one of the crops Tinker experimented with in the dryland farm project.
Amaranth’s importance is twofold—its super nutritious and easy to grow.
Unlike grains, the seeds of amaranth contain all the necessary amino acids. The protein content is 16 percent, more than rice or wheat. Like quinoa, this offers complete protein for vegans. Amaranth is considered a pseudograin (only plants in the grass or Poaceae family are considered true grains)
Grain Amaranth comes from one of three species. All are white-seeded whereas the leafy greens amaranth tend to have black seeds and may become weedy.
A. cruentus, Purple Amaranth: Day-length neutral and most widely adapted. Typically white-seeded from Mexico, this is made into “Alegria”, the popped seeds mixed with molasses pressed into a small cake or bar.
A. hypochondriacus, Prince’s-feather is day-length sensitive. I know little about this species.
A. caudatus , Love Lies Bleeding is native Peru. Sometimes called Inca wheat, it is an important staple in the Andes.
While young foliage can be confused with weedy amaranth, (A.hybridus, A. viridis, A. retroflexus. A. spinosus.) grain amaranth has apical panicles, or seed heads forming only at the top. Grain amaranth can withstand drought conditions because their roots can grow several feet deep.
Early strains of A. cruentus were cultivated as far back as the time of the first maize in Oaxaca. The Jardin Etnobotanico de Oaxaca includes a section of early cultivated food crops. I was lucky to volunteer in the garden during the winter of 2019 and had the privilege to work with Roberto Chavez Rendon. Here he is with an early strain of Amaranthus cruentus.
Open-pollinated grain amaranth species can be variable. Many selected strains have full heads laden with seeds. Seed breeders are selecting for shorter plants that don’t shatter. University breeders are developing F-1 hybrids for food production.
Although claims vary, Amaranthus cruentus and A. hypochondriacus were cultivated before 1,000 BC in Mexico. Grain amaranth was an important food source from the Aztecs until European missionaries put a stop to eating or using amaranth in ritual. It is again popular and is best known as “Algeria” , the popped seeds mixed with molasses and pressed into a small cake or bar. An NGO in the Etla Valley of Oaxaca, Puente a la Salud promotes food sovereignty with a focus on grain amaranth not only for cakes but to add as an ingredient in many dishes ground into flour; boiled and used as a thickener in soups; toasted and popped as a cereal. They encourage farmers to grow the crop and teach communities how to make appropriate tech ovens and poppers for cottage industries with amaranth.
Amaranthus cruenthus. Farmer demonstrating harvesting with sickle.
Amaranth has the potential to be an important crop as we move into greater climate change. It is drought-, heat- and pest-tolerant. The nutty flavor can add more nutrients to oatmeal or ground into gluten-fee flour. Try growing this beautiful plant in the edible landscape, or in rows for production. Available from Adaptive Seeds, Bountiful Gardens and Johnny’s selected Seeds.
My earliest memories of Joe-Pye-Weed are from the coastal town in MA where I grew up. In late summer the purple flowers towered over other plants growing wild in what we then called swamps. I would bicycle down the country lane and cut stems of the flowers to make dried flower arrangements. Joe-Pye-Weed was likely named for Joseph Shauquethqueat, a Mohican medicine man who cured settlers.
Although the plants are found throughout the East Coast on moist sites, they can tolerate drought conditions. For this reason, they make a good addition to our landscapes. A myriad of hybrids is available for this popular genus. Formally known as part of the genus Eupatorium, botanists have recently reclassified this group into a distinct genus, Eutrochium.
One hybrid has been bred to grow only 3 feet tall. They can grow in part shade and look more robust with regular watering. If the intention is to encourage them to be drought-tolerant, plant them in lots of compost. After three years divide the plants. They will ocassionally reseed, mostly they spread slowly from the crown.
The 6 ft tall hybrid plants I have were divided from a friend’s clump. The hollow stems are a deep purple and after the perennial is finished for the season, these stems make excellent disposable tubes for Mason bee homes!
Landscape uses:
Consider this for outside the deer fence. Eupatorium works well with Miscanthus, perennial sunflower and cardoon for a dramatic late summer perennial display. After growing vigorously in spring and summer, they come into their own in August and September. Rain gardens need plants that can withstand inudated soils.
Other Uses
If you raise mason bees, see my earlier post, then the dried stems of this plant make great disposable nesting tubes for the mothers to lay their brood.The right photo shows the Joe-Pye stems on left and the purchased tubes on right.
The Eastern cotton-tail rabbit was introduced to Washington in the 1930’s as a game animal for hunters. These introduced rabbits thrive in close proximity to people. As habitat generalists, they adapt to different available plant food and benefit from brushy coverage. Although the state’s mapping shows the introduced rabbits widespread in Kitsap County and Whidby Island, Jefferson county rabbit population is not on the map! The population has recently boomed in Seattle.
The bunnies never bothered my vegetables while I had Black Labs. These dogs have a great sense of smell and can easily track the cottontails. My property is fenced with hog wire with openings large enough for rabbits but not their common predators such as coyotes and bobcats. However, the common garter snake that are abundant on my property probably consume baby rabbits in the nest and barred owls might catch young ones.
I became acutely aware of rabbits when a neighbor’s domestic bunny started living at my place and even chewed through the plastic deer fencing to get in the vegetable garden. As cute as it was I wanted to keep it out. I felt like the mean farmer in the Beatrix Potter stories. The neighbor and his children came over several times and were successful catching the wayward pet.
Rabbit damage is obvious, it looks like someone went through with garden clippers making sharp-angle cuts. The rabbits bite young stems, buds and flowers. By comparison, deer tear away stems, leaving a jagged edge because they don’t have upper front teeth.
Cottontails are most active dawn and dusk. In spring I noticed vegetable seedlings neatly nipped off. Lucky for me I always have a couple of red clover volunteers on the edge of beds and in the paths. While the rabbits certainly prefer clover to vegetables, I share enough of my garden with the voles and the birds, that I was determined to prevent another creature from entering. I bought some rabbit repellent called Liquid Fence that was effective but requires monthly applications.
After watching several YouTube videos, I decided rabbit fencing would protect the lower two feet of the deer fencing. So I hired someone to work with me and we installed the fencing where the rabbits were entering from the west. I also had already placed landscape fabric there to prevent grass and weeds from growing underneath the deer fence. One foot of chickenwire on the ground will prevent rabbits from burrowing under the fence. That was effective for several months and now I have noticed a rabbit in the garden at dawn. On to fortifying the deer fence on the north and south sides! For more information on fencing and general cottontail behavior, see the state Fish and Wildlife site
3 ft Chicken wire with 1 inch openings, 3 ft metal stakes, landscape pins and zip ties
Sustainable Garden Design 