Worried about how far your tangerine had to travel to get to your grocery? At least 1000 miles to the closest citrus weather for Portland, Oregon. That’s a lot of carbon offset. There is citrus weather somewhere in your house, though!
Grow your own satsuma tangerine in PDX!
Got the sunny window where the neighbors keep looking in? Or the front entry with the single pane glass? These spots could be perfect for a dwarf satsuma tangerine tree. As long as there’s not a terrible draft and the temperature stays about 50 (yes, 50!) in winter, these little trees can fulfill your tangerine dreams all year long!
Dwarf tangerines grow to the size of your container, and can get up to 7 feet tall.
The great thing about citrus trees is that you can prune them to suit you, which often inspires the tree to flower. Then, you take your little paint brush of love and tickle the flower’s bits. Nine months later, baby tangerines to eat!
Our 3 year old tangerine trees are on super sale at Westwind Farm Studio’s September 19 plant sale, in 3 gallon pots, only $15 dollars or 2 for $25! Many have fruit and flowers set on them, so it’s just a matter of time before you can reduce your carbon footprint and enjoy the fruit of your labors. Write for directions!
Jean Ann VanKrevelen very kindly included Yogacowgirls and Bridget Pilloud (listen to her earlier podcast with us!) on her latest installment of the Good Enough Gardening podcast. We talked about psychic connections with animals (@petsaretalking’s line of work), including birds and insects in our gardens. Find out what a walking stick insect said to Bridget. Determine the answers to more questions, like “what is a funion?”
We talked about the upcoming plant sale on September 19 at Westwind Farm Studio and had a lot of laughs about lots of various topics. Catch the podcast here!
Enjoying the deschampsia cespitosa 'schottland'
What do you think? I think this deschampsia cespitosa “Schottland” is the loveliest and fuzziest of all the deschampsias. It also is an AMAZING performer in the garden. We purchased and planted plugs in Fall 2007 and by Summer 2008, they filled in their entire space with light, fuzzy inflorescences that glow golden in the sunlight and wave delicately in the wind. Yes! It blooms in early summer! (Not like all the grasses that make you wait until fall.) They even look great when the watering system hits them and the waving, golden stuff glistens like a lead glass chandalier.
This is deschampsia cespitosa 'schottland' in spring after fall planting.
Here’s the kicker. We were able to divide them after one year to fill in another entire section where we were bummed out by a lackluster Bouteloua. The fact that the fuzz spreads way above the small grass patch makes it easy to compost and weed around, and it pretty much behaves itself with no seeding and by staying in a tight bundle of grass the following year. But think about the interplanting schemes! Think about something fuzzy around the daylilies! Soften those rose thorns! WOW!
2 year old grasses were divided and then grew beautifully!
Let me tell you, though, this particular variety of deschampsia is rarely found at your Oregon nurseries, who go for the more pedestrian varieties. We will be selling this terrific grass at our Open Garden on September 19, so be the first in your neighborhood to share ‘Schottland’
Write for directions to Westwind Farm Studio!
