Thursday, April 23, 2009

From John- Garden Event


Our Tree Peony is in bloom. A number of the double, soft pink blossoms have opened in recent days. It is the small shrub just to the south west of the front of the farmhouse.
Peonies are one of humans oldest cultivated plants in the non-food category. Ancient Japanese & Chinese texts from 500 AD refer to peonies long established use in gardens and medicine. Named for Paeon, a mythical physician.
"Tree" peonies are poorly named, because they are more like shrubs than trees. Rather slow growing, ours is at least 25 years old, probably much more. It has responded well to a bit of care. The Chinese Garden here in Portland has a Tree Peony Show and Sale on Mother's Day.
The much more common relative, the herbaceous peony, dies to the ground every winter, to regrow anew every spring, while the tree peony develops woody stems that survive from year to year.
Enjoy it now, for it is a fleeting beauty. The individual blossoms don't last more than 4-5 days especially in the full sun.


In the lower left, you can see the blooms of the peony soaking up the sun. Thank you to John for this garden note.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

From Judith...News From The Greenhouse



"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today." Indian proverb

Check out the greenhouse today as it fills with the baby plants that
will grow into our garden's gorgeous flowers this summer. The
butterflies will dance above the globe amaranth and zinnias.
Beneficial insects will be attracted to the cosmos and scabiosa. And
we'll get to decorate our Cancer, Leo and Virgo birthday cakes with
edible blue bachelor butttons.
The tomatoes, tomatilloes and basil that Linda started from seed are
coming on strong and the cucumber and green sunflower seeds that John
sowed are gonna pop any day now. Looking forward to seeing those lime
green sunflowers come July. Feel free to sow a seed or two too. It's
pleasant and warm in there.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Just got Keys and front fence work

join us for ice cream tomorrow night!

It's time for another ice cream social this week, Tuesday April 14, at Rose's Ice Cream, 5011 NE 42nd Avenue, at 6pm. Walk on over from the ecovillage or hop on the #75 bus to share in some locally produced, homemade ice cream right in our very own neighborhood!

This is also a great time for anyone interested in learning more about living at Columbia Ecovillage or pursuing our membership pathway to join us and find out about our thriving village and the few remaining units we have available for purchase.

See you there! 

Monday, April 6, 2009