A tale of astute business sense combined with patience, love of the land, and a lifelong love of plants. Plus, luck. A happy story amidst all the terrible news this year.
Here, specific instructions on water use, (finally!), and tiny and most welcome 0.08" (2 mm) of rain.
Along with the rain came wondrous clouds, something rare here. Typically, the sky is plain blue.
Many cut off the old foliage, but then, no Morticia.
The article on the Yucca farmer does a good job of explaining why the plants can be so expensive - and it makes me more comfortable with the slow progress of my Yucca rostrata, planted from a 4-inch pot and still only a foot or so tall after years in first a large pot and then the ground.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got both pretty skies and some rain from the thunderstorm action this week. We got a little of the former but no measurable rain; however, a heavy marine layer the week before delivered an unexpected tenth of an inch. Mother Nature can be kind at times.
Lovely cloud images. There's a growing market for large specimen xeric plants here too - and only a few people catering to the demand. Big bucks to be made...
ReplyDeleteThat was a nice read - thank you! Glad you got some rain, too. The heat has finally found its way to Oregon. It's expected to hit 100F today - yuck. Kind of like flipping a switch, from 65-100 practically over night. Hopefully it will go back down again, before too long. Fingers crossed...
ReplyDelete@Kris, yes thought it was interesting for a number of reasons, the grower's point of view especially. We got something like 0.01 from that marine layer. I think across the whole region the rainfall sort of evens out over time.
ReplyDelete@Horticat, considering the time and work involved, the bucks are not that much. Very few people make a lot of money from plants--the guy who sells 5 million tomato plants a year to Wal-Mart, or the Bacopa guy, but for most, they are fortunate if it is a decent living.
@Anna K, 100F, yikes!! I hope it drops quickly for you. for us it's been near 90F for several days, 10degrees above normal--hard on the plants when one must conserve water per water company orders.
ReplyDeleteLove the yucca skirt but I always think they look more like Cousin It than Morticia. Family resemblance I guess.
ReplyDeleteGood point--the shape is Itt, and the hemline is Morticia. 😁 When my Y. linearifolia died I put a hat and sunglasses on it for Halloween. It made a great 'Cousin Itt', and made up (a tiny bit) for the plant dying.
DeleteA really great article accompanied by photos that are just as good! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteA fine way to make a living: growing beautiful plants.
DeleteI'm glad you got some needed rain! We seem to be getting just enough this growing season--so far, and knock on wood. We've had so many years recently with too much or too little rain. It's hot this summer, but if we continue to get enough rain, the plants will be just fine. Your photos of the rain and the sky are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWell, 2mm is not a lot, but it was something! "Just enough" sounds wonderful. I hope you have a summer full of happy plants.
DeleteHappy you liked the photos, thanks!