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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2003)
°6!' h500 WOKTH c::C Jk"C ' 1 ~·::;-1-,/ ·:i;z "l~•·•~ •-i::- __ -;,.,__;c $500 OFF' 1' t '-;:,J,_,,:...o'-'.,(--.,_..c:;Fr ,r $7000 WOKTH-1- ,F·'-- , ,__,T~- ~;,.,(:::. $1500 0FF 111 1H,-.._CC)"10L I --------- SAVE 50¢ 1 I I I I I In the Pink I I I Hardy clyclemen flourish when nothing else grows. I t happens every year. Just when it seems that summer will last foreve _r, there appears in the garden a small reminder that it won't. It's a little like the occasional creak in a j_oint that reminds us of our own mortality, although more welcome. The new arrival In the garden is Cyclamen hederifoli- um. Right now there are just a few isolated flowers, emerging from dust-dry ground. By the end of August there will be hundreds more, to be followed later in the year by a ground-covering carpet of pretty, silver-mar- bled leaves that will last all winter. This easiest of the little hardy cyclamen is the first of several surprises in pink. Late August brings the imposing belladonna lily (Amaryllis belladonna), a slimmed-down, hardy version of the indoor amaryllis. By September there will be many kinds of colchicum. (Colchicum are often called autumn crocus because the flowers bear a superficial resemblance to crocuses. This is confusing because there are also ·true crocus- es that bloom in fall.) Like cyclamen, colchicum and belladonna spring suddenly from bare ground without leaves, giving rise to names like naked boys, naked ladies and resurrection lily. The dilemma with fall-blooming bulbs and corms is that they need space and light both in fall (so you can appreciate the flow- ers) and in spring, when the foliage is in full growth: As a result they don't mix well with perennials or over-vigorous ground cover plants, or even bulky annuals that may still going strong in August and September. On the other hand, the bulbs don't need much summer water, so they are perfectly adapted to yards that have unirrigate areas. Hardy ?Yclamen are easiest to accommodate, because they flourish among the roots of greedy · trees (maples and birches, in my yard) where hardly anything else will grow. Rooty, shaded ground is inhospitable even to weeds, so a light layer of compost or shred- ded leaves is all it takes to prepare the ground for their arrival. Belladonna lilies need sun, but as, they bloom on two-foot stems they will do well enough in a carpet of verbena, or even a bed of catmint or lavender. Where drainage is good, they won't object to some irrigation. Colchicum are harder to place because their lea".es are considerably taller than the flow- ers. You can · plant them in ap. area of low ground cover like vinca ( occasionally mown when it grows too thick), lamium or ajuga. Better still, put them in an area of rough iWWIUlP.leH8W8eKLVAltlm · On the purchase of one package of RISING MOON RAVIOLI CONSUMER: Umit, one coupon per package specified product. RETAILER: Rising Moon will reimburse you the face value plus 8¢' handling only when redeemed by 10" from a custaner at the time of purmase on product indicated. Any other constitutes fraud. Void if copied or where prohibited by law. Cash value I f20j. To redeem, mall coupon to: Rising Moon Organics, 888 West 8th, Eugene, OR 97402. COUPON VALID until December 31_, 2003. L ______ _ __________ I RAVIOU•PASTASAUCE•PESTO J I grass (along with wild iris and native bulbs, perhaps) and be sure you mow it in late July or early August. Well-established clumps can bloom for weeks. In spring, the leaves have plenty of time to ripen before the grass over- takes them . "Ripen" is, of course, a euphemism for dying. Some people make an awful fuss about dying bulb foliage, and in the case of big-leafed colchicum they- have a point. If you are impatient with ' daffodil or tulip leaves as they make their ex.it, colchicum may not be the plant for you. Even if you have some tolerance for withering leaves, you may consider ~ough grass or ground cover the ideal location for the common kinds of colchicum that geJ handed from neighbor to neighbor, while you reserve a few prominent spots in the garden for more exciting varieties. A few of these have flowers with a strange, checker-boai;d pattern that botanists call tessellation. There is some of this pattern in 'Violet Queen.' Others emerge almost without color, then gradually tum rose pink or close to purple. It takes sun to bring out the strongest col,oring. Colchicum 'Giant' is a strong, reliable variety with large, cupped flowers in lavender -pink. Double-flowered 'Waterlily' is strangely attractive, with many narrow petals that are closer to lilac-purple. In spite of words like lilac and violet in catalog descriptions, colchicum are mostly pinkish. So what if pink is not your color?- There are a few white colchicum . The most beautiful is C. speciosum •Album,' but it incre_ases slowly and is d!fficult to find. · C. autumnale has a pretty, heavy-blooming white variety with small flowers only 4 inch- es high. It is said to have a double-flowered white variant, but I have never seen it. Later in fall come true crocus, some of which are definjtely bluish, but they are more ~fa chal- lenge to grow well in our rainy climate. And there's a cheery yellow crocus look-alike, Sternbergia lutea, that is easy if you can find it a spot with fast drainage and plenty of fall and winter .sun. It is a little late to order colchicum from mail-order catalogs, but you will find the big, shiny brown corms at some garden centers and farmers' markets. Plant them with · only an inch of soil over them, in ground that won't be water-logged in winter. IIW WORLD PEACE BEGINS IN THE KITCHEN Lively Organic Parlh * MtLON~ • .MUON~. 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