Fungus grows on the PCT

I stood in this very spot on September 19th and waved goodbye to my husband as he walked away—starting a 4-day adventure covering some 50 miles from Mt Hood to Cascade Locks, a small town on the Columbia River.

Here's the trail he took, following the well-worn Pacific Crest Trail.

He'd said there would be no photos. He had his phone with him, but also needed to conserve it's battery power. Thankfully nature was just to glorious and he had to snap a few. Ramona Falls...

The record setting rain of September made his hike a wet one, but there was also lots of excellent fungus to see along the trail...

And moss...

And fungus...

And salamanders...

And fungus...

Here's his campsite on the second night. For those of you unfamiliar there are no amenities along the trail. You carry everything you need.

I've never seen fungus with red bits.

Wahtum Lake

And a crawdad who came to see what Andrew was up to (filling his water bottle, he had a filter, lest you think he was living completely on the wild side)...

This! Wow.

Terribly cool.

Switchbacks heading up and down steep mountain sides definitely added on the miles.

And of course there were slugs...

Weather Diary, Oct 3: Hi 60, Low 50/ Precip .03"

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

And that's (almost) a wrap from the Bromeliad Summit

Just a few more photos to finish up my (multiple) posts on the garden I wasn't sure I wanted to write about, funny how that worked out.

The light was bright, the plants were massed.

And large, specimen sized.

Kumara plicatilis, formerly Aloe plicatilis, the fan-aloe.

Impressive.

Dracaena draco, the dragon tree.

If I'd never seen an agave busting out a bloom-spike, well this would have been a very curious sight.

That pool. It was just off the back of the house. Not a bad way to start the day.

Crazy palm-fruit.

There's most of the group we (we being Gerhard and I) traveled with during the event.

And here's what they were looking at.

Agave americana var. striata

And that's a wrap on this garden. I still have countless photos from Lotusland—where we spent an entire day during the summit—to share, someday...

Weather Diary, Oct 2: Hi 62, Low 40/ Precip trace

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Wednesday Vignette, what the heck?

We're back in one of the gardens from April's Bromeliad Summit (this one). As I was going through the last of the photos, deciding what to post, I saw something I don't remember seeing "in real life"...

What the heck? Here in Portland, those rings are at curb level and they were used for tying up horses, back in the day.

Do you suppose that's what happens here?

Weather Diary, Oct 1: Hi 65, Low 37/ Precip 0

Wednesday Vignettes are hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum. All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

My orchid on a stick bloomed! And other goings on...

While portions of the U.S. are baking in still-summer-like heat, we up here in the northwest corner of the country are freezing. As a result of this untimely cold snap—it's 37 out there this morning—the autumn Great Migration of plants has flipped. Usually I start by taking in the dry-loving succulents, and the bromeliads and things that aren't bothered by a little moisture stay out until well in to October, maybe even November. Not this year. On a sunny day last week I started pulling them in.

The "orchids on a stick" I purchased last year at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, in Seattle, spent summer on the trellis next to the garage. Truth be told I kind of forgot about them, what with all the bromeliads tucked in around them.

So imagine my surprise when I pulled them down and spotted this on the Bulbophyllum saurocephalum...

What the heck!?

I never imagined this thing would actually bloom, I bought it for the foliage. Look at those tiny little flowers. Pretty cool eh?

And is that a seed? Crazy.

So here's what the basement currently looks like.

The bromeliad collection may have grown a bit.

They've even crept over into the succulent side. I need to start bringing in the succulents this week. They've already been out in much more rain than I like. Our Septembers are usually dry, not this year.

Back over to the bromeliad side.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. That's a lot of plants. I agree. I carried them all downstairs.

After reading about Kim at Urban Soule purchasing a humidity meter for her (now indoor) bromeliads, well, I copied her. My plants are so wet from all the rain that the humidity reading is high. "Most bromeliads grow best indoors at a relative humidity of 40 to 60 percent" (source) not a problem...

Weather Diary, Sept 30: Hi 60, Low 39/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.