Scottish Wildflowers

[Bugbear]

Good idea about researching with the county extension office. All I know about growing asparagus it that it's grown standing up!

Here's a link to an OSU extension asparagus article to get you started:
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/node/243
There should also be Master Gardeners and experts associated with them of whom you may ask questions.

Good luck.

[MacBean]

Oregon coastal plants: Oregon grape, ice plant, heaths of all kinds, yews, rhododendrons, foxglove, madrone, manzanita ... but I'm guessing based on memories of the west coast. Some of the loveliest wildflowers I've seen anywhere were along the northern California coast in Spring.

[Bugbear]

I've been looking over this page. They have the beach plants marked as "D." "Oregon Coast Plants":
http://www.boskydellnatives.com/coast.htm

[CopperNGold]

Thanks for all of the suggestions everybody! Most of those listed above will work at the back of the property, but the front of the house, facing the ocean, is mostly glass, and everything fries in the summer. Geraniums and marigolds do well, but they're not my favorites. Maybe I'll just stick with native grasses and keep it natural.

I've got some great ideas from all of you for the sides and back this Spring. I'm going to be looking over those links. Thanks again!

[Bugbear]

Well, for what it's worth, a marigold managed to self-sow in my California poppy patch, and is blooming.
I'm having to cover it with a box covered with a plastic bag at night because it's rainy and getting down to freezing during the nights; I want to collect it's seeds.
The California poppies are just little sprouts right now.

I'm guessing everything is ice cold and frozen, without bloom or leaf, in Scotland at this time?

[ThistleDown]

Today was cloudy with a bit of sun and 3C at noon in Inverness. Nice day, in other words.

[piperdbh]

Today was cloudy with a bit of sun and 3C at noon in Inverness. Nice day, in other words.

Lucky rascal! It was in the mid-50s F here today, and drizzly. I'm ready for winter.

Ted, try taking a plastic plate and cutting a radial slit from the edge to the center. Slip the stem of the marigold through the slit and place the plate on the ground under the plant. After the seeds dry out, you can crumble them off and they'll land on the plate.

[Bugbear]

that's a good idea, piperdbh. It has several flower buds that have not yet opened, and one open flower; it re-seeded from a nearby patch of dwarf marigolds that bloomed this summer. Just need to get the plant through the cold nights, and I should be able to collect some seeds.

[Jock Scot]

I have been trying to post this picture for ages but somehow Photo bucket and my computer have not been talking to each other. So the nice people at photo bucket have spent many an exasperating hour trying to sort out the problem. So let's see-----

The Greater Butterfly Orchid.


Great stuff it works! Thanks chaps.

Anyway,they(the orchids) are not rare, but uncommon, and grow along the grassy edges of our river banks. There is also the Lesser Butterfly Orchid too and they do take some skill to differentiate between one and the other.

[BoldHighlander]

Mine is the Scottish heather. I love the purple hue and the tartans that bear it.

While the purple heather is a favourite (& Clan Donald plant badge) I also like the white heather, which is the plant badge for my Macdonells of Keppoch and of Glengarry.

a picture of one such white heather I planted (taken in 2009):


White Heather: An Old Celtic Tale

The story of the white heather is an old, old tale and a sad one. The Celtic Bard Ossian had a daughter, Malvina, who was as fair as the dawn and gentle as the dew. She was betrothed to Oscar, a warrior as gallant as he was handsome. Though he had wandered far in search of fame and beauty, no one held chief place in his heart save Malvina the fair.

Once in the glory of autumn, Malvina and her father were sitting on the moor's edge talking of Oscar's return from some warlike expedition. Over the heather came limping to them a ragged messenger. Wounded and weary, he knelt before them. Holding ut a spray of purple heather to Malvina, he told her that ti came from Oscar as a last token of his love for he was slain in battle and his henchmen had barely escaped to bring the news.

As Malvina listened, her tears fell on the purple heather which immediately became white.

Ossian made mournful music for his daughter's dead lover, and, as they wandered over the moors, her tears often fell upon the clumps of purple heather which immediately turned white. Then, even in the bitterness of her own sorrow, wishing the others may be happier than she, Malvina said, "Although it is the symbol of my sorrow, may the white heather bring good fortune to all who find it."

~ Author unknown.

from:Symbols_MacDonell_Keppoch/White_heather