Yes actually, I will be making this a lifetime project

When he thought you were taking a little too long to complete a task, a prior boss of Andrew's would ask, "are you going to make that a lifetime project?" I thought of that snide remark as I started working on the removal of a clump of Yucca filamentosa in the front garden. Because I fear this is going to be a lifetime project, or at least one I continue until we move from this house.

The clump (orange arrow) had what I believe to be a bad case of Halticotoma valida, or yucca bug. I started to notice the yellow stippling on the leaves of just one plant a couple of years ago, but I took my usual route of ignoring it and assuming nature would take its course and things would be better in a few weeks/months. Instead they got worse. More of the yucca in the clump started to look bad. I took this photo last summer as I was trimming off ugly leaves and kept it as a reminder to do something about the problem.

So far the issue is only on the clump with the arrow pointing at it, but the circles identify other yucca species in the front garden, ones that are much more dear to me. I've also read they might feed on dasylirion, there are two of those in the area, not circled.

These yucca, below, (a photo of the infected, taken earlier in the month) date back to 2005 and our first month living here. They're descendants of plants I brought to Portland from my garden in Spokane, WA. I would never plant them now, since I've learned about other, more fabulous yucca species, but at the time I didn't know and we didn't have a lot of money to spend on plants, and so they went in the ground.

Hoping to keep the bug from spreading I decided it was time for these yucca to go. I could have tried treating with a systemic insecticide but I'm always one to chose the non chemical route when possible. Oh and yes, I started this dig knowing that removing a yucca (especially a Y. filamentosa) was going to be a big job lifetime project, still, even I was shocked at what I found. Look at the size of that root!

There were more...

And more...

This was a solid mass of them.

I kept digging and digging...

The roots go out in all directions, including under the sidewalk and driveway. Even if I removed the plants I want to keep, in an effort to dig out the roots, there's no way I could get the ones under the concrete.

But you know what? I conquered the bishops weed, I've moved an Acanthus mollis and eradicated every attempt it made to regrow. I can do this. I think. I hope. I pray. Wish me luck...

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Indoor plant projects (working in the basement garden)

My need to garden transcends the seasons. Thus I am thrilled when there are projects beyond watering and fussing over the plants in the basement garden. This sweet little planting was put together when I found a terracotta candle holder that reminded me of the metal bits I'd seen planted up at The Tropics, Inc.

There's just a tiny space for soil. I looked to a few different plants I might experiment with planting but then fell hard for a small orchid (Oncidium Twinkle 'Red Fire') and that was that. I wish I would have taken in-process planting pics but I did not.

I loved the foliage and the swollen pseudobulbs...

But the fact there were three stems loaded with flower buds sealed the deal. The flowers are starting to open. 

They're tiny, but majestic.

My next project involved an Aglaomorpha coronans, but not this one. Nope, this one is my original plant that I've been growing for a little over two years now.

It's thrown out several new fronds, but is just starting to take ownership of the container I planted it in.

Here's what it looked like when I brought it home, back in September of 2022.

My plant came from the talented and generous Rob Co, of the Pitcher Plant Project and ix.rco.xi on Instagram. I visited Rob at his home and snapped many a photo (blog post here). Here's one of his impressive Aglaomorpha coronans from that visit, one that has taken ownership of the container it's growing in.

Okay, so the project. Since I've had success with my first aglaomorpha, and I absolutely love the genus/species, I grabbed an overgrown Aglaomorpha coronans in a 10" pot when I saw it, figuring I could divide it and have some plants to play with potting up. I've never seen this plant on offer at a local nursery (that I remember) and so I jumped at the chance. Here it is post division. One plant made five...

And here they are after potting up. I have no intention of growing them on like this (plant mounting/epiphytic experiments await), but once I realized I needed to treat them like ferns (rather than succulents) I potted them up to keep them happy.

I've never noticed the thin red outline of the leaves before.

And love the fuzzy rhizomes with tiny little fronds beginning to unfurl.

The next project involves Rob again, and another fern. He messaged me recently asking if I'd be interested in a few Diplazium proliferum pups and sent this photo...

Of course I would! Researching the plant online (I'd never heard of it) I came across this image from Th.Voekler on Useful Tropical Plants. Look at those adorable little ferns!

I also found this one from H. Zell on the same website.

Here's what I got from Rob...

And all planted up—in a green rubber seedling tray I scored at a plant swap last fall. BTW, if you haven't bought one, or two (or more) of the boot trays from IKEA (the grey tray below) what are you waiting for? They are perfect for working with soil indoors, or watering/soaking plants.

I went with a few squares each of soil and sphagnum moss to try and root the little bulbils, because I was curious how they'd respond to the different growing medium. The ones that have already "sprouted" came that way from Rob.

They are so cute, already green and with tiny scales.

The tray is fantastic because it's flexible and has small holes in the bottom to drain or soak up water.

Rob later shared this photo he took when visiting Dan Yansura's greenhouse in the Bay Area, Dan is who Rob got his Diplazium proliferum from. Pretty fabulous, no?

Of course then I went looking to learn more about Dan and realized I watched a presentation he gave for the Hardy Fern Foundation last April. It's a small world!

Just one more entry in this post and it's not a project, but rather just a tribute to my Nepenthes lowii x ventricosa ‘Red’, growing in the basement garden for the cool season.

Look at the sticky substance inside the pitcher...

The fabulous ridges around the opening...

And the little hairs underneath the "hood"... ain't nature grand?

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Goodbye Nolina 'La Siberica', hello mossy logs and ferns

I broke the sad news about the demise of my Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica' in late July. I began that post with the smallest sliver of a hope that somehow this long term resident of the garden might survive, but as I wrote I realized I had mentally already shut that door. I loved, I lost, and I was ready to move on.

It was August 6th when I cut back the razor-sharp leaves, preparation for digging it out. I put my foot on the plant for leverage and the whole thing bent over. Turns out I'd made the right choice, that plant was not going to pull through.

Interestingly I visited John Kuzma and Kathleen Halme's garden just a week later and guess what they'd just put in their yard waste bin...

The same thing happened in their garden, an established Nolina 'La Siberica' that had been fine earlier in the summer suddenly took a turn. While I don't wish losing a plant on anyone, this development definitely made me feel better about my own loss. Some had suggested my issue was too much summer water, meaning I could have prevented it. Seeing the same scenario play out across town seemed to suggest otherwise.

So, back to my garden and the newly emptied space. Inspired by the idea of planting pyrrosia with a fallen log or two (like this) my friend Susan had rounded up some nice pieces at Secret Garden Growers (where she works part-time), and lucky me she brought a couple over to my garden—with extra moss!

I played with the logs, plants I'd purchased, and metal—moving them around deciding what I liked.

I knew I wanted to work in a pair of pedestal/elevated dish-planter type structures and hoped to track down a couple of plough discs, but that was not to be.

Instead I went with flat platter-like surfaces and found...

...heavy terracotta dishes to plant up and sit on them. I thought thick terracotta would hold the moisture nicely but drain. Nope. There is no glaze but they held water for a ridiculous length of time, so I drilled holes. Two in the small dish and three in the larger. I might have to pull these if the weather gets bad and I didn't want to compromise their structure.

In went pyrrosia, Pyrrosia lingua 'Hiryu' (in the small dish)...

And Pyrrosia lingua 'Ogon Nishiki' with P. lingua 'Compacta' in the large. I also used a few pieces of black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') I'd dug up in the area, along with Lonicera crassifolia.

These didn't go into the dish planters but I have to share a couple photos of the cool fronds of Athyrium niponicum 'Aubergine Lady', from Little Prince.

Cool right? These went into the ground, but don't show up in the coming photos, sadly.

Since I knew I'd be returning with more ferns, planting the ground layer was put on hold until I got back from my trip to Far Reaches at the end of August. This Pyrrosia sheareri is from that haul. Between the log and the metal tube is a small Pyrrosia linqua from Little Prince—they'll grow to be normal size eventually.

The tubes are held in place with rebar and are straight, at least for now. In some photos they look a little crooked, but the angles are deceiving.

Like here for instance.

Planting done, it's time to put the dishes in place (different cameras, different days make for different colors and saturation in these photos).

It's a complete accident that these variegated fronds of  'Ogon Nishiki' ended up in a spot where the afternoon light can shine through them. I love the effect!

I did a little research on how rust effects moss and other plants and found nothing but positive reports. Hopefully that's the case. This is the larger dish...

And the smaller...

There was a nice planting pocket in one of the logs, so I worked in a Lonicera crassifolia. Fingers crossed it's happy there.

Adiantum aleuticum 'Subpumilum'

Davallia perdurans PMD, squirrel’s foot fern, from Far Reaches.

The short metal piece helps increase drainage and lifts the fuzzy bits up off the ground, so they can better be seen.

Also from Far Reaches, Deparia lobato-crenata.

And Lepisorus cf. macrosphaerus MD 15-09 now ID'd as Lepisorus rostratus MD 15-09.

This small Pyrrosia sheareri was sent to me a few years ago by a kind person that I've never met. It was hit extremely hard by last winter (I hadn't noticed that something had essentially pulled the rhizome completely out of the ground) but thankfully it has fought its way back. Hopefully it will be happy here.

There are multiple Asplenium trichomanes worked in here and there.

And the Rhododendron 'Golfer' I brought back from the Fling (and the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden) was planted nearby.

Euonymus fortunei 'Kewensis', another Fling crush that Little Prince satisfied.

Checking out one of the dish planters from the backside, while 'Golfer' glows in the sunshine...

These two new pedestals echo the bromeliad bowl I put in earlier in the summer, unintentional, but I do love a repeated element.

I can't remember if I ever called out the dark Rhododendron 'Ebony Pearl' I planted between Sammy (our oldest Yucca rostrata) and the palm, it's hard to see but rises up above the black mondo. This is also a good opportunity to mention the Parablechnum novae-zelandiae from Dancing Oaks, it's on the far right near the furry palm trunk. Closest to Sammy's trunk is a Pyrrosia linqua and above that the Blechnum sp. #3 from Windcliff Plants (Dan Hinkley) that I brought home from the Cistus Summer Extravaganza.

Looking at this shot I realize I didn't mention the big beautiful fern to the right of the pedestals, that's Dryopteris cycadina.

I wonder how many of you've noticed this new planting plops moss and ferns down in an area with agaves and yuccas all around? It was something I thought long and hard about before I planted. The agaves and yucca are throw-backs to when the back garden was much sunnier. However, they're still alive and doing well—and I love them—so why would I pull them out? When I mentioned this to Susan (she of the log gifts) she called it a very "PNW thing". Yep, I can live with that.

Bold changes. Rule breaking. Planting what you love. That's Fearless Gardening I think....

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