A Northwest Gardening Forum

And jb I thought you were more on the coast. The Iris confusa should do fine, even for Donna, given good leaf-mold mulching to prevent hard-frosts on roots. I'm surprised how fast it grows during cool weather (right now!) and during the summer it has the potential to fill its growing area. The leaves at the end of a stem give it a palm look. It prefers an organic soil mix and doesn't seem to be picky. My plants are on a street-side downtown that get splashed by salt, stepped on, doors openned into and they spring back.

Gee, when are we gonna get a forum?

I started a new thread on this subject before I noticed this one. Sorry for the redundancy.
I am new to the Willamette Valley, and would love to have a PNW forum to know when and what to plant.
I had some spinach and lettuce going in my raised bed, but my dog got into it yesterday and tore it all up. It's gone, all of it.
So I am back to square one, and see more cold weather on the horizon. I'm just lost here.

Welcome SS,

Where did you come from? I think what you want to do is find the "Last Frost date" for your area. One thing you'll find is there are a wide variety of climates in the PNW. Our "Last Frost date" is around the end of may. If you're in Seattle it is a week or so earlier. Vancouver Island is probably some time in April. Hopefully someone from the Willamete valley will post. Or you might get lucky with a google search from Last Frost date willamette valley. Once you know that date most seed packets tell you how to work back from it to get your seed starting date.

jb

Thanks growin, a couple of things you posted really rang a bell with me. Yes, I come from a much drier area (even the snow is dry). And... the man who owned this place before me died about a year before his wife sold it so a lot of things were neglected for a while. I did think the Iris were planted pretty deep but had no reference for this area. Aha! But, I just got this photo from a friend near where I lived in Nevada County and I really, really don't miss the old place much. 'Boca Resevoir' LOL

Growin, I planted four o'clocks for the first time last year. One plant did really well and the other one died. The one that did really well, did almost too well! LOL It got much bigger than I thought it would and I had to remove it because the space was too small for it. The roots on it were huge and deep. It also put out tons of seeds.....not sure I like that idea. For me, it turned out to be more of an eight o'clock......flowers didn't open till about 7 or 8pm.

Salem Sunshine, welcome to DG and the Willamette Valley! I have an Old Farmer's Almanac that tells when the last frost date is, but right now it is lost on my desk somewhere! LOL I did some searching on the net and found these sites:

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/hardiness.htm
http://www.almanac.com/garden/frostus.php

Hope they help a bit.

Great pic, Katy!!!

Yes, Welcome SS and I too wonder where you came from. I was born in Orovillle WA and have lived in this area all my long life and really wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
Altho the Willamette Valley would be a great place to live.

DonnaS

Thanks for the welcome.

I was actually born and raised in Coastal Southern California. I love living up here, but I do miss the sun.
It also seems to be staying cold here for much longer than down south.

SS, welcome.
Yes, it is colder up here than CA. But this year isn't normal by any means. Just ask mgh. This year has been so cold and so wet!
As for your spinach and lettuce, just plant again. They will be fine. I have grown lettuce and planted them even much earlier than now. They are cool season crop anyways.
SPRING has to come real soon!
Carol

Yes, this year is really wierd! It was well below freezing for over a week here. The ground actually froze! And this was in November! Then it happened again in February, and now I understand we're about to get yet another 'winter' storm tonight. Harumph!

I planted 4 0clocks last year and they were barely passable. I'm hoping they reseeded a bit. My mother had a patch of them in her old house, not far from where I live, and they bloomed beautifully every single year, so I'm hoping mine just got off to a slow start.

Daisyruffles, there are several different kinds of weevils. Yours might be different from the ones I have, but they are all nasty. Grubs are not the same, I don't think. Those are generally moth larvae. The vine weevil larvae are really small, and it's unlikely they would cause the plant to separate from the roots like you describe. Their damage happens more slowly over time. What you are describing sounds more like a cutworm, although there are probably many kinds of those, too.

That's what I was thinking she was describing too, a cutworm. I had a nasty bout with them last year......darn near killed my Japanese Irises. I sprayed them with BT (? I think that's what it was) a couple of times and they were gone...at least for that season. I think they are back again. Here's a pic I took of one of them last year : http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1380389

Very true, Pixy.
My worm that I found was quite large and very ugly cream color.
Boy, did I have fun killing it, hehe.
But am frustarted to find them elsewhere in the garden.....

We had a huge wind storm this afternoon. It blew so hard and now it is getting very cold. Is to be in the low 30's to the high 20's in the next few days.
Unreal! For Oregon at this time of year!
Carol

Nope, Mendy, mine wasn't that color. Maybe different time of the year? Do they change color of skin, I wonder?

There are just many different kinds. Depends on what the 'morph' into after eating all your plants. This is the time of year to find them in the soil. I noticed so many of them when I was transplanting earilier this week. They are altogether hideous!


We're getting your weather now. Lots of wind, and it was actually snowing for a minute there. March. In the Pacific Northwest. I'm not liking it at all.

Me either!!

Nope, me either!
My poor plants already have taken a huge toll with both the freezes and now more???
Well, guess they are getting pruned naturally, hehe.
Tho I hope they will come back some???
My hydrangeas sure took a hit. Looked like they had been hit by a blow torch!
Carol

Mendy!
Look outside.
It is snowing!
I don't think I have ever seen snow this low at this time of the year ever!!!!
Carol

Hmmmm.... I don't see snow. I must be in the banana belt of Albany.

Well, here in north albany, there is snow, wished i could take a picture but don't want to go outside in the cold, hehe.

We need our own NW forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhh that explains it! And I thought this is our forum? Heck we're up to 58 replies!

:-( I didn't get to see the snow.

Well, maybe in the next couple days you will.
Darn it, I am tired of this cold and wet!

Well, actually I hope I don't see any of it. I want to finish weeding and start thinking about what flowers I'm going to plant and all that fun stuff!

I'll see your snow and raise you a 'high winds'! LOL It's a bit like weather poker around here. We had snow. I refused to go outside and look. It is simply too depressing. Fortunately, it didn't stick around. It's just too disgusting. So I'm with you MGH. We will refuse to look together.

Wow!!
It's been several days since I've looked here and I see a big intrest. So good to see fellow PNW Gardeners talking about problems and such good input given.
I sure believe it would be benificial to have our own Forum.

Welcome to Salem ..SalemSunshine..
We can get killer frost here in the Salem area up till the first part of May. As you can see we are now having terrible weather ~Wind~ Rain~ Snow .. Just a terrible Winter mix of all the elements right now. I took some extra days off this weekend to do some work like Mendy. Ha Ha ha ha.. We seem to have snow in the forecast. I just looked outside and found this...

OH Well....
Guess I will need to figure out something else to do.
Darn it!!!!

Hi all,
Looks like we have our Washington group. You all must of been having a nice time talking last night. I'm up early as usual, looking to see if my new greenhouse servived the wind last night. (which it did) How are all or you? Did any of you get any snow? I've got parents in Tacoma, a sister in Port Orchard, a son in Pullman and family on DH side in Spokane, Everett, Seattle, Beaverton, Salem and beyond. Most of all of them like to garden as so maybe a few of them would be interested in this forum and site. Sure is a great place to meet interesting people and learn allot.

Sagewood.

Woke up early and turned on the news. First words out of the box "it's snowing in Shelton". Huh? I looked out to the street light and indeed it is! Bah, humbug!

Hey Kin, good to see you back here.

I woke up this morning and my DH told me it was snowing. So I just had to take some pics. Uuuuuuuugggggghhhhhhh...........I WANT SPRING!!!!!

My poor daffs......it's coming down even harder now.......

Well, I'm lucky, I live at 1450 feet about 25 miles south of Canadian border. Some wind, only got down to 27 degrees this morning (which is colder than normal for this time of year), but no snow, one little rain shower, and the sun is shining. Very pretty outside, but I am not going outside to work in the garden at 27 degrees.

I will go out to the greenhouse as have a few seedlings needing to be transplanted. Hope the storms are over but weatherman says will be colder than normal for next week, so it sure isn't spring yet.

DonnaS

NOOOooo! No, no, no!

A bit of wind, lost power for 30 seconds, but no snow. Temp was 34 this morning. Many plants have freezer burn from this winter.

Good to see all the posintg going on. Hope that gets there attention and we can get a real forum.

I am only subscribed for two months. Thought I'd check out Daves site. Been on the Garden Web for years. I like what I see and a PNW forum could tip the scales to a full subscriber.:))))

This is a bit blurry. It's a pic of our pond during the last freeze
jb

jb, I'll bet it just breathtaking in spring/summer! I have pond envy again!

Well, here is my snow pic.
Can't believe the weather.
Plus the kids still have regular school hours!
It is sluggy but icy here in north albany.

No, I won't raise for high winds. We have our enough winds ourselves.
So how about I raise ya for sunshine,hehe.
Carol

Boy I feel for all of you with snow. But it looks pretty wet so hopefully it wouldn't last. As for me over in the Tri-Cities area, it's sunny as usual, with a bit of wind and cold.

Rutholive, did I ask you before if you grew berries? I need to replace my stawberries and have been debating as to which kind to get. Do you have any preference for this area? Also have you ever bought spuds from Irish Eyes out of Thorp?
http://www.gardencityseeds.net/index.php I thought I'd buy most from my local nursery but wanted go try a few new varieties as well. I LOVE fresh potatoes and with all the different ones out there why limit myself to the common ones.

Sage, I do grow berries, but made a new raised strawberry triangle bed last summer. I didn't actually build it myself, the fellow who works for me when I can afford it and he has the time, did the actual work, since they determined that I have angina, I have to watch what I try to do as far activities are concerned. Too much leaves, and lightweight stuff under the berry plants, and has now sunk to a little more than half of original heighth. It is right by my little chicken yard and of course when I let the three chickens out they loved the compost type soil and dug like crazy, so in the process my dividing boards and small labels all got moved. So I don't know what is what.

As far as potatoes I don't try to grow them here, did at the other place but now that there is only me and I eat plenty of potatoes at the Senior Center on the three or four days I eat there so don't need much of any more potatoes here. I do like new potatoes and peas, but guess I will just settle for peas.

DonnaS

jb, I didn't realize it had gotten that snowy and cold for you this winter. Would love to see your pool area. Didn't remember exactly where Duvall is, see that you are south of Monroe. My youngest son his family live south of Auburn, their address used to be Sumner, now has been changed to Bonney Lake. I don't drive over there very often, don't like all the traffic. Guess it was and is very bad right now to go across Snoqualmie pass.

I've been a member of DG since early 2002 think it was. Have really enjoyed it and learned a lot, I am sure you would find it worth the $15.00 a year.

DonnaS

Dave/Terry, I counted different names of people interested in Northwest forum, and if I didn't miscount there are about 20 of so far. How many do we need for a legal NW forum.

DonnaS

This snow is waaaaaay too late! I'm gonna have to run around the yard and knock the snow off the palm leaves so it doesn't break the petioles. I've always remembered the hardest frosts to be February but not March. So, gee, how do we get the PNW forum installed? Can we do it ourselves? Where's the button?

Here you go! http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/region_pnw/all/