Asparagus
Cultivation: Plant 1- or 2-year-old
crowns during March, spacing them 12 inches apart in trenches 8 inches
deep. Hold off on harvesting spears during the first year for stronger
plants the following year.
Soil & Sun: Loose, rich, well-drained soil
with a high pH. Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Mary Washington,
Jersey Giant, Jersey Knight
Beans
Cultivation: Sow seeds May-July,
1 inch deep, 3-4 inches apart, at the north end of the garden if possible.
Space rows 12-24 inches. Thin pole beans to 8 inches; thin bush beans
to 4-6 inches. Build trellis or pole support for pole beans before
planting to avoid injuring roots. Do not soak or pre-sprout seeds.
Treating seeds with a non-chemical legume inoculant will help plants
add more nitrogen to the soil.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained soil, pH 6.0-6.8,
full sun.
Suggested Varieties: BUSH
-- Oregon Blue Lake, Tendercrop, Venture. POLE
-- Cascade Giant, Kentucky Wonder, Romano, Blue Lake Pole. Shelling:
Jackson Wonder Lima, Montezuma Red, Cannellini.
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Ornamental Planting Guide
March
Plant trees and shrubs
Prepare new areas for planting
Divide and plant perennials
Pull weeds before they flower and set seed
Fertilize just about everything unless you did
it in February
Prune spring-flowering shrubs as blossoms fade
Protect new growth of bulbs and perennials from
slugs
April
Start new lawns.
Watch for local plant sales.
Plant perennials, gladiolus and hardy annuals.
Feed bulbs while they are green and growing.
Continue pruning spring-flowering shrubs.
Shear ivy and heather. Cut old leaves off sword
ferns.
Trim lavender and sage after new growth begins.
Check irrigation systems.
May
Plant dahlias and other tender
bulbs.
Plant perennials, annuals and container plants.
Remove dead flowers from young rhodies.
Water rhododendrons and bulbs liberally.
Start aphid control--flush with water, spray
insecticidal soap.
Control slugs.
Weed and mulch between plants.
June
Begin regular feeding of container
plants.
Prune rhododendrons and azaleas.
Control aphids with water and insecticidal soap.
Watch for cutworms and hand-pick!
Stake summer-blooming perennials.
Cut back those that have bloomed.
Continue mulching .
July
Watering lawns is not essential
but it helps discourage weeds.
Prune broad-leafed evergreens.
Watch for cutworms. Hand-pick or use BT.
Shorten new growth on espaliered apples and
pears.
Dead-head early perennials.
Stake tall perennials before they flop.
Replenish mulches to hold moisture.
August
Water annuals liberally, in
flower beds or pots.
Dead-head perennials, roses.
Remove diseased leaves from roses, rose beds.
Groom and feed container plants regularly.
Re-plant tired containers.
Order spring-flowering bulbs.
Remember to moisten compost piles.
Vegetable Planting Guide
May
After May 15 (frost free date
for our area) you can sow squash and beans seed and plant out
seedlings of tomato and pepper (protect from 40 degree nights!
Cool temps can stunt plants).
Hold off on planting basil till June 1!
There's still time to plant onion and shallot
sets.
You can still sow peas and parsley through May.
Water garden if rainfall drops below an inch
a week.
June
Continue sowing squash and beans.
Plant carrots (seed) and celery (transplants).
Plant basil and other annual herb starts.
Apply organic mulches while ground is moist.
July
Net blueberries if you want
fruit!
Prepare soil freed up by early vegetable crops;
you can still sow lettuce, carrots, beans and
chard.
Plant broccoli and Brussels sprouts for fall
harvest.
August
Sow lettuce, mustard greens,
turnips and spinach.
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Beets
Cultivation: Sow seeds 3/4 inch
deep, 1 inch apart. Gradually thin to 5 inches by harvesting baby
beets. Maintain consistent watering during dry weather.
Soil & Sun: Loose, well-drained soil, pH
6.5-7. Beets don't like acidic soil but will tolerate low fertility.
Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Globe: Early Wonder, Detroit
Dark Red. Cylindrical: Cyndor. Greens: Lutz Green Leaf,
Broccoli
Cultivation: Plant transplants
March-July, spaced 12-20 inches apart. Don't overuse nitrogen fertilizer.
Needs plentiful, consistent watering.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-7.5, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Small Miracle, Shogun,
Umpqua Dark Green
Brussels Sprouts
Cultivation: Sow seeds for transplants
1/4 inch deep in 4-inch pots April 15 and plant out May 15, 18-24
inches apart. Needs plentiful, consistent watering.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-7.5, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Prince Marvel, Rubine,
Vancouver.
Cabbage
Cultivation: Sow seeds for transplants
1/4 inch deep in 4-inch pots before April 15 and plant out May 15,
18-24 inches apart.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-7.5, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Derby Day, Ruby Ball,
Early Jersey Wakefield.
Chinese Cabbage
Cultivation: Plant transplants
after May 15, 12-18 inches. Closer spacings produce smaller, more
flavorful heads.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-7.5, full sun to partial shade (shade may slow down bolting
in summer crops).
Suggested Varieties: China Express.
Carrots
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/4 inch
deep, 1/4 inch apart, March-July 15. Thin to 2 inches. Do not use
fresh manure or nitrogen fertilizer or you will get hairy roots. Keep
soil moist during germination.
Soil & Sun: Carrots require rich, loose,
deeply-worked soil that is free of stones, pH 6.0-6.8 (slightly acidic
soil is okay). Full sun to light shade.
Suggested Varieties: Royal Chantenay (esp.
for heavier soils), Scarlet Nantes, Nantes Bolero.
Cauliflower
Cultivation: Plant 6-week-old
transplants 24 inches apart after April 15. Avoid high-nitrogen fertilizer.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-7.5, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Early Dawn, Snowball,
Fremont.
Celery
Cultivation: Plant transplants
6-12 inches apart, April 15-June. Requires plenty of water.
Soil & Sun: Rich soil, pH 6.0-7.0. Prefers
full sun; will tolerate poorly-drained soil.
Suggested Varieties: Ventura, Golden Self-Blanching.
Corn
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1 inch
deep, 4-6 inches apart, April-June. Thin to 8-12 inches. Plant at
least 4 rows of the same variety in a block to ensure adequate pollination.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-6.8, with full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Early Sunglo, Seneca
Horizon, Jubilee.
Cucumbers
Cultivation: Sow seeds in June.
Space seeds 2 inches apart in a row and thin to 12 inches, or plant
5-6 seeds in mounds spaced 3-5 feet apart and thin to 2 plants per
mound. Grow on a trellis to save space. Provide consistent, plentiful
moisture to prevent bitteness.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil
with plenty of nitrogen, neutral pH, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Pickling: SMR 58.
Slicing: Marketmore.
Eggplant
Cultivation: Plant transplants
18-24 inches apart in raised beds in June after nighttime temps remain
above 45F (eggplants require warm days). Use a black plastic mulch
to warm the soil.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile, slightly
acidic soil, full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Dusky, Bambino.
Endive, Chicory, Escarole
Cultivation: Sow the seeds of
these cool-season European greens 1/4 inch deep, 2 inches apart, April-August.
Thin to 8-12 inches. Keep well-watered and shaded during warm weather
to avoid bolting.
Soil & Sun: Well-worked seedbed. Full sun
to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Arugula, Radicchio.
Garlic
Cultivation: Best planted in fall
or February. Place cloves 2 inches deep, point up, 4-6 inches apart.
Keep well-weeded. Don't use supermarket cloves. Big cloves produce
big bulbs, so don't plant the skinny, small cloves -- save them for
cooking.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil
(raised bed ideal) with full sun. Tolerates wide range of soil but
prefers pH 6.2-6.8.
Suggested Varieties: Oregon Blue, Spanish
Roja, Purple Italian, Elephant.
Kale
Cultivation: Plant seeds or transplants
May-July. Seeds should be 1/4-1/2 inch deep, 1 inch apart. Final spacing
should be 12-18 inches. Drought-tolerant, but flavor suffers without
plenty of watering. Flavor improves after a frost.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-7.5. Full sun to light shade.
Suggested Varieties: Tuscan, Redbor, Dwarf
Siberian, Winterbor, Winter Red.
Kohlrabi
Cultivation: Plant seeds or transplants
during April and early May. (Late May plantings will mature in hot
weather, producing dry, woody bulbs.) Seeds should be planted 1/2
inch deep, 1/4 inch apart. Final spacing should be 6-10 inches. Needs
plenty of water; consistent moisture greatly improves germination.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.0-7.5, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Superschmelz, Kongo,
Grand Duke.
Leeks
Cultivation: Sow seeds in March
or plant transplants in April. Plant seeds 1/2 inch deep, 1 inch apart.
Final spacing should be 4-6 inches. Plant leeks in trenches 8 inches
deep and fill in soil as they grow to "blanch" the stems. Leeks require
consistent watering for good yields.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil.
Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Giant Musselburg,
King Richard.
Lettuce
Cultivation: Plant seeds or transplants
April-August. Sow seeds 1/8 inch deep, 1 inch apart. Final spacing
should be 12 inches for head lettuce, 6 inches for leaf lettuce.
Soil & Sun: Prefers loose, well-drained,
cool soil, but will tolerate a wide range. Sensitive to acidity; prefers
pH 6.2-6.8. Full sun to partial shade.
Butterhead: Buttercrunch, Continuity, Optima.
Leaf: Red Sails, Fire Mountain, Revolution. Crisphead: Suggested Varieties: Summertime.
Romaine: Cimarron, Valmaine.
Okra
Cultivation: Sow seeds or plant
transplants mid-May to mid-June. Soak seeds in warm water for 6-12
hours to improve germination, then sow 1/4-1/2 inch deep, 1 inch apart.
Final spacing should be 12 inches.
Soil & Sun: Rich, well-drained soil. Full
sun.
Suggested Varieties: Cajun Delight; Burgundy,
Annie Oakley.
Onions
Cultivation: Plant seeds or transplants
April-June. Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep, 1/2 inch apart. Final spacing
should be 4 inches for larger bulbs, 2 inches for smaller bulbs (and
higher yields). Onions require consistent, even watering for good
yields.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained, fertile soil,
pH 6.2-6.8. Full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Sweet Spanish, Walla
Walla Sweet, Yellow Ebenezer, Red Burgermaster, Redwing.
Parsley
Cultivation: Plant seeds or transplants
March-June. Sow seeds 1/2 inch deep, 2-3 seeds per inch. Final spacing
should be 8-10 inches.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained soil, full sun
to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Giant Italian, Curled
Dwarf.
Parsnips
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/2 inch
deep, 1 inch apart, April-July. Thin to 3-4 inches. Using fresh manure
or high-nitrogen fertilizer will produce hairy roots. Hardy parsnips
develop their best flavor after overwintering through many frosts.
Soil & Sun: Loose, well-drained, fertile
soil free of stones. Heavy clay soil can cause crooked or cracked
roots. Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Gladiator, All American.
Peas
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1 inch
deep, 1 inch apart in a 3-inch-wide band; space these rows 18 inches
apart. Support with a trellis. Don't use high-nitrogen fertilizer.
Soil & Sun: Well-drained soil, pH 6.0-7.0.
Full sun to light shade.
Suggested Varieties: Snow Peas: Oregon
Sugar Pod, Oregon Giant. Sugar Snap Peas: Cascadia, Sugar Snap.
Peppers
Cultivation: Plant transplants
May-June, 12-18 inches apart. Black plastic mulch will speed early
growth and help warm the soil.
Soil & Sun: Loose, fertile, well-drained
soil, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Sweet Bell: California
Wonder, Gypsy. Hot: Anaheim, Jalapeno, Ancho.
Potatoes
Cultivation: Plant spuds starting
on St. Patrick's Day through June. Space 10-12 inches in rows 2 feet
apart. Hill up soil over the growing foliage or mulch with straw to
increase yields.
Soil & Sun: Potatoes prefer loose, well-drained,
acidic soil (pH 4.8-5.5) and full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Yukon Gold, White
Rose, Yellow Finn, Purple Peruvian, Red Pontiac.
Pumpkins
Cultivation: Plant transplants
late May-early June in hills 4 feet apart. Water generously. Black
plastic mulch can speed growth.
Soil & Sun: Loose, fertile, well-drained
soil, pH 5.8-6.8, with full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Frosty, Small Sugar,
Spirit, Cinderella.
Radish
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/2 inch
deep, 1/2 inch apart, March-August. Thin to 1-11/2 inches. Radishes
require plentiful, consistent watering.
Soil & Sun: Fertile, well-drained soil
free of stones, pH 5.8-6.8. Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Cherry Belle, Altaglobe,
French Breakfast.
Rutabaga
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/2 inch
deep, 2 inches apart, June-July 15. Thin to 6 inches. Flavor improves
after frost.
Soil & Sun: Loose, well-drained soil, pH
above 6.0. Tolerates low fertility. Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Marian, Laurentian.
Spinach
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/2 inch
deep, 1 inch apart, March-August. Thin to 6-12 inches by harvesting
baby greens. Water generously; dry soil and heat encourage bolting.
Soil & Sun: Rich, well-drained soil. Sensitive
to acidic soils; pH 6.5-7.5. Full to partial sun.
Suggested Varieties: Olympia, Bloomsdale,
Tyee, Skookum.
Summer Squash, Zucchini
Cultivation: Plant seeds or transplants
May 15-June 15. Sow seeds 1/2-1 inch deep in hills, 4-5 seeds per
hill. Space hills 3-4 feet; thin seedlings to 2 per hill. Requires
consistent watering for good fruit set. Black plastic mulch speeds
growth. Seeds will rot in cold, wet ground.
Soil & Sun: Loose, fertile, well-drained
soil, pH 5.8-6.8, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Squash: Yellow Crookneck,
Sunburst, Butterstick. Zucchini: Gold Rush, Spacemiser.
Winter Squash
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/2-1 inch
deep in hills, 4-5 seeds per hill, May 15-June 15. Space hills 4-6
feet; thin seedlings to 2 per hill.
Soil & Sun: Loose, fertile, well-drained
soil, pH 5.8-6.8, full sun.
Suggested Varieties: Gold Nugget, Acorn,
Zenith Butternut, Waltham Butternut, Spaghetti.
Swiss Chard
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/2-1 inch
deep, 2-6 inches apart, April-July. Thin to 6-12 inches. Harvest leaves
throughout the season to encourage new growth.
Soil & Sun: Loose, fertile, well-drained
soil, pH 6.0-7.0. Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Rhubarb, Fordhook
Giant, Bright Lights.
Tomatoes
Cultivation: Plant transplants
May-June. Space determinate varieties 18-24 inches; space indeterminate
varieties 20-30 inches. Place transplants with the lower leaf set
just above soil level. Tomatoes should be staked or supported by a
trellis.
Soil & Sun: Fertile, well-drained soil
with full sun. Clays and loams produce higher yields, but loose soil
warms faster and provides an earlier harvest. Prefers pH 6.0-6.8 but
will tolerate acidic soils.
Suggested Varieties: Early: Oregon Spring,
Willamette VF, Medford, Big Beef, Early Cascade. Sauce: Oregon Star;
Principe Borghese. Cherry: Gold Nugget, Sun Gold, Isis Candy.
Turnips
Cultivation: Sow seeds 1/4-1/2
inch deep, 1 inch apart, April-September. Thin to 4-6 inches. Flavor
best if harvested during cool weather.
Soil & Sun: Fertile, loose, well-drained
soil, pH 6.0-7.5. Full sun to partial shade.
Suggested Varieties: Purple Top White
Globe, Scarlet Ball, Shogoin (greens).
Back to Top
Tomato
Quest
Jim Baggett and his OSU vegetables.
by
Kate Rogers Gessert
Dr. Jim Baggett's name is familiar to many Oregon
gardeners because of the locally adapted vegetable varieties he has
introduced, among them 'Oregon Spring' and 'Siletz' tomatoes and 'Cascadia'
snap peas. When I studied horticulture at OSU in the 1970s, I had
the good luck to work with Baggett on vegetable variety trials at
OSU's research farm. I visited him last week in his garden near Corvallis,
and we sat and talked in the winter sunshine by his greenhouse.
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Dr.
Jim Baggett.
. |
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Baggett began breeding vegetables at OSU in 1952 as
a graduate student and continued until 2001, six years after retiring
as a professor of horticulture. For 50 years, he has bred tomatoes,
green beans, peas, peppers, broccoli. cabbage, lettuce, and squash.
In the '50s and '60s, he worked with his colleague Dr. William Frazier
to revolutionize Oregon's green bean production by breeding bush 'Blue
Lake' processing beans that could be machine-harvested, replacing
traditional 'Blue Lake' pole beans that were picked by hand.
Until recent years, Oregon gardeners had to plant
peas in February to avoid stunting and crop failure caused by enation
virus. In the 1950s Baggett acquired an enation-resistant wild pea
introduction from Ethiopia/South Asia. He first worked on developing
commercial freezing peas, but eventually bred varieties for home gardeners,
'Oregon Giant' snow pea and 'Cascadia' snap pea, and 'Oregon Sugar
Pod 2,' a commercial and garden snow pea grown for fresh market in
many parts of the world. In Oregon and elsewhere, these varieties
can be planted in late spring without damage from enation virus.
"I'm an opportunist," Baggett says. "I did not plan
to do some of these things, but when I saw a chance to get something
people could use ... You can spend all your life trying to do one
thing and maybe you never succeed, but along the way, there are opportunities."
Many of Baggett's breeding projects have resulted in open-pollinated
varieties popular with Oregon home gardeners, market gardeners, and
small seed companies.
Baggett and his colleague Frazier carried on a tomato
quest that spanned five decades. According to Baggett, Frazier arrived
at OSU in 1948 and soon realized that Oregon growers needed early
tomatoes resistant to cracking. Many years of breeding led to the
1964 release of 'Willamette,' still a favorite of Pacific Northwest
growers. Then Frazier collected and intercrossed early small-fruited
tomatoes, including plant introductions from Russia. When Frazier
retired in 1973, Baggett inherited these tomatoes and developed small-fruited
varieties of his own, including 'Gold Nugget' cherry tomato. He crossed
large-fruited American tomatoes with a Russian variety, 'Severianum'
(Sever means north), work that eventually resulted in 'Oregon Spring,'
'Santiam,' 'Siletz,' and 'Legend.'
These OSU varieties are parthenocarpic: they can produce
fruits even if their flowers are not fertilized. Tomatoes pollinate
themselves. But if temperatures are too cold or hot, fertilization
of most tomatoes does not occur and fruits do not develop.
Parthenocarpic tomatoes do an end-run around these
difficulties. The cooler the weather, the greater the difference in
ripening dates. For example, 'Oregon Spring' may ripen a week earlier
than other varieties here in the valley, and a month earlier at the
coast. Parthenocarpic tomatoes are mostly seedless, and produce seeds
only late in the season, when temperatures are warm enough for fertilization.
OSU tomatoes are widely grown in the Northwest and across northern
states to New England.
In 1984, when I first grew 'Oregon Spring' in my own
garden, it ripened far earlier than other tomatoes and had tender
flesh and good intense flavor. I gave seed to friends in Siberia who
now save the seed and grow it every year. They treasure 'Oregon Spring'
because even when plants nearly freeze and then grow dry and hot in
garden greenhouses at faraway dachas, they still produce reliably.
'Legend,' the new OSU tomato offered by Territorial
and Nichols seed companies, is resistant to late blight, a tomato
disease that has plagued tomato growers in the Willamette Valley.
Baggett says 'Legend' is also "earlier, bigger, and smoother" than
'Siletz,' his last introduction. He thinks 'Siletz' may taste best,
while Tom Johns at Territorial prefers 'Legend,' with a slightly more
acidic flavor.
Baggett's advice to home tomato growers is to fertilize
and water determinate varieties abundantly, and to keep water off
tomato plants and fruit. He grows his plants in cages and irrigates
with a soaker hose. "Water on the leaves and fruits promotes late
blight, early blight, fruit rot, cracking ... western Oregon is a
terrible place to grow tomatoes! If it starts raining in early fall,
you've got a beautiful crop destroyed in the middle of the best fruiting
time." The message: Don't make things worse than they already are.
Baggett gives pepper advice, too -- advice I ignored
last year and lived to regret. "Peppers are more sensitive to cold
than tomatoes. Don't plant them outside until mid-May. They won't
grow when it's cool, and they might get sick from wet soil. Once the
weather is warm, they can grow fast. Give them plenty of water and
fertilizer."
Although we talked about vegetables, my favorite part
of visiting Jim Baggett's place was walking through the little grove
of 40-year-old Japanese maples that surrounded his back porch. The
understory was ferns and cyclamens, blooming in the dappled sunlight.
As we walked through the trees, birds were swooping
through branches, pecking in lichen-draped maple bark, hopping among
ferns: chickadees, finches, juncos ... more birds than I had ever
seen in such a small space. I noticed bird feeders and birdhouses
dangling from branches and nailed to trunks, new ones, crafted carefully.
Jim has been making them this year and last. He showed me which birdhouses
had been inhabited, which were still awaiting residents. We looked
at places where wrens had nested -- a bottle gourd, a stack of wooden
nursery flats, even a bag of garden socks. Jim said now he has quit
breeding vegetables, he's just going to garden. I imagine him charging
onward, turning his energy and patience toward a paradise for birds.
Back to Top
Mucho
Magnolias
A budding arboretum.
by
Rachel Foster
Gazing at Magnolia campbelli in bloom, you
might assume that plant breeders had a hand in fashioning those enormous
pink flowers. In fact, they are completely natural. Breeders have
selected variations in flower form and color, but wild trees in the
Himalayas have 10-inch flowers, too. Magnolia blooms are the largest
of any hardy tree. Their anatomy is unique and they are pollinated
by beetles, having evolved millions of years before bees and butterflies.
Forests rich in magnolias once covered the Arctic Circle, but today
they are limited to eastern North and South America and eastern Asia,
from the Himalayas south.
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There are about 85 species of magnolia, ranging in
size from eight to 100 feet. The species native to North America are
all large trees. The southern magnolia or bull bay (Magnolia grandiflora)
can grow to 80 feet or more. This tree is extraordinarily adaptable,
and is said be the most widely planted evergreen in the world. Heavily
scented, ivory blooms the size of salad bowls appear sporadically
throughout the summer, and the big, glossy leaves backed with tan
felt are a favorite with flower arrangers. You have to really love
this tree to plant it in a small garden. The shade it casts at maturity
is deep and gloomy, and the indestructible leaves seem to rain down
in every month of the year. Among natives, the swamp bay (M. virginiana)
is easiest to accommodate, and it's willingness to flourish in damp
places is a useful trait in the Willamette Valley.
Swamp bay is more or less deciduous In our climate,
and from my point of view, deciduous magnolias are the main event.
Their smooth, pale gray bark and furry flower buds are beautiful in
winter. Most bloom in early spring, the showy flowers erupting dramatically
from leafless branches. If magnolias have a fault as ornamentals,
it is perhaps that the flowers of the earliest bloomers are sometimes
spoiled by frost. If it happens this spring you'll have a chance to
see which are most frost-resistant, or bloom late enough to escape
the freezes! Some familiar varieties of magnolia occur all over town,
but with a little effort you can catch more unusual magnolias in bloom.
There are many splendid specimens in the rhododendron
garden at Hendrick's Park, and the Thurston neighborhood in Springfield
is blessed with two remarkable magnolia collections. One is the display
garden at Gossler Farms Nursery on Weaver Road. The nursery is open
only by appointment, but the Gosslers usually declare open days when
magnolias are at their peak in March. Just across the Gossler's meadow
is the new kid on the block, Wallace M. Ruff Jr. Memorial Park, otherwise
known as Ruff Park. The 10-acre site on Cedar Creek was donated to
Willamalane Park and Recreation District in 1992 by Wallace M. Ruff
Senior after the death of his son Wally, who once had a flower farm
there.
Always "Mack" to those who knew him, Ruff Senior was
a landscape architect, artist and teacher, and an energetic collector
and horticulturist. Magnolias were one of his passions. In the park
he established to honor his son he imagined "the largest magnolia
arboretum west of the Mississippi River." He began by planting magnolias
he had raised himself, including plants he had grown from seed. But
by then he was spending most of his time in Papua New Guinea, and
not all of his trees survived. The park really got under way after
1997. Since Ruff's death in 1999, more than 260 new magnolias have
been added, as well as many other plants for year-round visual interest.
Ruff Park is neighborhood open space as well as a
magnolia garden. There are picnic tables and a walking trail. Plans
are under way to expand the park, and also to plant wildflowers under
the native trees along the creek. But you can't miss the hundreds
of young magnolias, planted in well-mulched and irrigated beds along
with a variety of other ornamentals. As the custodians of the park
are well aware, an arboretum is most useful when you can identify
the plants, and this summer they hope to install a kiosk with a labeled
plan of the beds. For the moment, admire the gleaming foliage of evergreen
magnolias, and look for flowers colors that vary from white to deep
purple and from ivory to yellow, a color breeders labored long and
hard to achieve.
You'll see fast-growing trees with long, straight
twigs heading for the sky and not a flower in sight. Some won't bloom
significantly until the are 15 years old or more, but it's worth the
wait: their flowers include some of the largest and most exotic blooms
in the genus. You'll also see the twiggy, heavily budded branches
of smaller magnolias that bloom when they are very young. Among them
are some of the best plants for small gardens, including the star
magnolia (Magnolia stellata). This is a shrub to start with,
but the lowest branches fade away at maturity and it eventually forms
a wonderful small tree about 12 feet tall. Each flower has many strap-like
petals (tepals, more properly) that are white, pink or pinkish, according
to variety. The star magnolia is one parent of Magnolia x loebneri,
which is similar but more tree-like, eventually growing to 20 or 30
feet. Stronger flower color on petite trees can be found in M.
liliflora and many liliflora hybrids, such as 'Susan'.
Magnolias dislike dry soils and prefer some protection
from wind but otherwise they are very easy to grow. Jim Gardiner,
British author of Magnolias, A Gardeners Guide, the latest
book on the topic, says the Willamette Valley is "among the most favored
magnolia-growing regions in the U.S." I assume this is a reference
to the fact that we can grow a huge variety of magnolias, including
many that are too cold-sensitive for most other part of North America.
If you want to plant a magnolia and you won't be satisfied with the
handful of varieties (good as they are) in stock at most local nurseries,
call for an appointment at Gossler Farms. Any of the Gosslers will
be happy to point out a Magnolia liliflora that's been there
since the '50s and is still under 10 feet high; the Yulan magnolia,
(M. denudata), the tree of Buddhist temples and possibly the
loveliest of all magnolias; and the fabulous, floppy 10-inch blooms
on a hybrid of the Yulan that was named for Marj Gossler. And about
100 others, old and new.
Ruff Park is a collaboration between Willamalane Park
and Recreation District, the Ruff Trust, and "a great group of volunteers."
To learn more about it, go to www.mackruff.org
and hit Projects, or call Peggy Rice at 747-6705. To reach the park,
turn off Thurston Road on 66th Street at the Grange and go north 3/10ths
of a mile. Look for the park sign on your right and park on the grass.
You can also approach the park on a new path that starts in the Levi
Landing housing development on Thurston Road.
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