Shrubsteppe Blooms, Yakima, WA Videos

Flowers left right and center, all day. That’s July :)

The flowers are coming in faster and faster. This week it’s snapdragons, yarrow, clarkia and feverfew. Soon it will be sunflowers, zinnias and dahlias. This whole flower farm thing is shaping up pretty well! 🤩

Every year I make a list of things I’ll do differently in the garden, on the farm. Every year I re-learn that some of the items on the list are really hard to follow through on. I DID pull thousands of volunteer flower plants. But not all of them. I have been pulling sunflowers, but left some; my excuse being they’ll act as the earliest maturing sunflower crop in the field. I am getting high quality images, but still learning to take better videos. Through trying allllll the things I’m seeing what I don’t want to expend energy on, and where to expand my efforts. Maybe next year’s crop plan will be shorter. I’ve begun to accept it will take me a while to have ‘cleanly’ cultivated crop rows, if I ever get there at all. Farming is challenging, but opportunities to learn abound. Support local farms, wherever you are.

In the last year we’ve added over 100 roses to the farm. I don’t expect them all to make it, or to be enchanted with all of them. So far the roses that have bloomed are stunning, and I’m thrilled every time a new variety bursts into bloom. I keep exclaiming to anyone who will listen how magnificent the rose garden will be in two or three more years, once the plants had a chance to grow and fill in.

Left buds on some of the new peonies to see the color this year. This is ‘Coral beach’ and it’s gorgeous!

Native plant seedling update! Last fall I prepped ~30 trays and seeded native plants. Some species germinated very sporadically. Some germinated… not at all. And some are super vigorous. This is all helping me learn which species are easy to start, and which ones need further testing and experimentation in my somewhat limited setup. Plus it’s barely May; in the past I’ve seen germination into June, so more species may yet appear. There are so many germination patterns, it’s fascinating. While I’d love if all the seeds came up in every cell, I definitely wouldn’t learn as much! And frankly, not sure I’d know how to manage 3,000 plants at this stage of the business developing. Either way, there are hundreds of little plants growing. These species are native to central Washington, and more specifically Yakima County. What’s your absolute favorite native plant, wherever you are?

Busy bee on balsamroot! We’ve had a lot of honeybees visiting, but I’m ready to see more of the native bees and wasps too. #balsamroot #honeybee #plantforpollinators #washingtonwildflowers

It’s so fluffy! This particular big sagebrush is really putting on the foliar growth this year. This shrub also has a much greener tone than the others we’ve planted; you can see the more typical gray tone on the plant behind it in the video. Hoping it’ll bloom this year! #sagebrush #springgrowth #washingtonnativeplants #artemisiatridentata #plantnativeplants

Finally finally got some of the native plants seeded. Many species require months of cold stratification to germinate well which is not surprising, considering the environment we live in. I seeded a couple dozen species today, with seeds purchased from several companies including @taptealnativeplants and @northwestmeadowscapes. Plus seeds collected on the property and at a friend’s place. More to go, but feeling good with 8 trays done. One half of the business plan for Shrubsteppe Blooms involves producing nursery stock of plants *native to Yakima County. It’s become easier to find small quantities of native seed, but potted stock is still not super accessible (at least in my searching). I have a strong desire to make native plants more accessible for small-scale landscaping, e.g. folks who aren’t buying in wholesale quantities. No doubt this aspiration will grow and evolve over time (like plants!), but I am very excited to be embarking on and embracing this big experiment. *Let’s be real, there’ll likely be a smattering of non-native plants too, especially if I can get figs to grow in-ground here! I expect eventually to also dabble in growing plants native slightly to the south, to experiment with assisted migration. If you’re curious, I’ve gotten the majority of the more specialized nursery containers from Stuewe & Sons Inc. #washingtonnativeplants #nativeplants #growlocal #landscapewithnativeplants #centralwashington #plantnursery #yakimavalley

Our cats get supervised outside time a few times a week to stimulated their brains. Love cats but don’t want them free-roaming and eating the wildlife we’re working to attract. A different kind of farm cat. #farmcats