J Argyle

There are lists of endangered plants per state. For Alabama I'm trying to grow monarda austroappalachiana, blephilia subnuda, pycnanthemum beadlei, and lindera melissifolia so far. I'd like to get some apios priceana, torreya taxifolia, lilium grayi, and schisandra glabra but no luck so far.

This is nice to hear. Glad you are trying to help these plants in Alabama. Keep us updated on your progress. I would like to see some photos if possible.

Hi Jeremy,

Nice to know someone is thinking in the same direction of saving plants!

I am also working on finding land too. I live an hour north of SF. What area of CA are you looking to move to?

I have a have a few friends who have land and seem interested in building community. One changed his mind and seems to want to do his own thing. Another friend has been on her own for 30 years, so it seems to be a slow process. I have another friend who just got some property in Arcata, and are just starting the permit process, which will take at least a year before they finish that. I just met them, so I do not know them well.

What are your plans, or what are you looking to do?  

How do you get a post mentioned in the dailyish e-mail. I would love to hear about other people who are growing rare or endangered plants. I also feel it would be very rich subject matter.

Ben Waimata wrote:

J Argyle wrote:

That is a wild story. If only your friend would have been very clear that it was extremely rare. Sad you lost that plant. Does your friend still have his collection?

Here's the garden http://www.paloma.co.nz/gardens.html but these images give no idea of how incredibly diverse the plantings are, and how much rare genetics are conserved there. Absolutely incredible.

That place looks awesome. When did you last visit it?

Ben Waimata wrote:A few years back I was visiting a friend with an extremely diverse garden/botanical collection. He showed me something he said was a rare tree passionfruit, might have been Passiflora lindeniana or something similar. Anyway he casually broke  a piece off and gave it to me to try as a cutting. When I got home I placed it into my propagation system and got it going, eventually planted it out where it ended up getting killed by a renegade cow. Finally I got around to looking it up and discovered it was so super rare that there were less than 100 known specimens anywhere in the world, and only one that has ever flowered outside of habitat! If I'd known how rare it was I might have made more effort to keep the cows away.

That is a wild story. If only your friend would have been very clear that it was extremely rare. Sad you lost that plant. Does your friend still have his collection?

Jane Reed wrote:Not sure of their endangered status but I do know my 2 plants are collected thoughtlessly in the wild. I grow white sage, Salvia apiana, and sweetgrass, Hierochloe odorata.  

Here's a story about the sage.  A local demonstration garden, run by a Master Gardeners group, has stopped growing white sage because people kept tearing off stems and ruining the plant.  They replaced the plant twice and then gave up on it.

White sage is easy enough to grow from seed and the seed is easy to obtain.  But I understand that in the wild the plant is harvested by people who sell smudge sticks at art fairs and it has become scarce in the wild on that account.

I believe sweetgrass suffers the same fate.

I did not know both of these were over harvested in the wild. I do see dried white sage for sale quite often.

Looks like sweet grass is considered endangered in Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. White Sage is not considered endangered by the USDA or by California.

Roy Hinkley wrote:Here is the mulberry story. Got them at the same place.   I've planted them a bit farther north than their native range as things warm up, hopefully starting an isolated population.
http://puslinchnaturallynativetrees.ca/the-plight-of-the-red-mulberry/

Where are you growing the mulberry trees? Never Mind. You have your location on your profile. Is this your first year? Wondering if they have been through a cold winter?

Roy Hinkley wrote:Red Mulberry is endangered here. Planted a couple last year.

I did not know that was an endangered plant. Where are you growing them? How did you find the plant?

Devon Olsen wrote:Haven't produced enough to use it yet
Kusa seed society only sends you 50 seeds of each variety, that's what I started with
I'm quite sure they baby the piss out of their wheat (makes sense as they're attempting to revive the varieties and create a lot of seed) as the varieties I bought are purported to reach up to 14ft tall(some of them) where I've never hit 3 ft tall
I do NOT baby them, this year I tried 3 varieties that I had the most seed from
mauri black awed I liked and had few of so i planted those at the home garden where I could water with pond water, due to grazing circumstances they were eaten to death by horses
Milagre I trialed in my silt beds on farm(in irrigated created by gabion) and the drought killed all of it, the farm gets much less rain than town, I suspect approx 10in annual average precipitation
Baart early you see here went into the farm garden after forking the bed and mulching with finished purchased compost(fine material needs regular water to Mao rain moisture) this garden is fenced with corral panels, I transplanted maybe 30 plants, these 5-6  are what survived long enough to get the woodchip mulch later in the year after getting a pickup, they've been watered but minimally and will give me enough seed that next year I should have about 150 seeds to play with
This story is typical of my years with the wheat thus far, I get a few plants going and maybe a half dozen survive long enough to harvest so I guess I'm at least breeding resilient seed if nothing else, would love to grow enough to actually call for a scythe harvest
Mulch helps with moisture retention,  soil temps and most weeds but the only weed I care to be rid of is unhindered(perennial rhizomous thistle of some sort)
Maybe I should make a thread about my grain attempts....??

Wow. Sounds like a lot of frustration. I glad you are still sticking with it. Makes it hard with such little rain.

I am growing an endangered shrub. Out of the first 30 cuttings only one survived. I wanted to give up, but I am going to keep going.

You should start up a forum about growing rare wheat varieties.

Devon Olsen wrote:

J Argyle wrote:

Devon Olsen wrote:Not really endangered but I am working with some landrace varieties of wheat from the kusa seed society

I am very curious about your project. How long have you been doing it for? How of area have you seeded?

Been at it for maybe 5 years, haven't made all too much progress but slowly getting a little more seed with some of the varieties, probably gonna buy a bit more seed from kusa seed society this next year for genetic diversity but of their package I have baart early (best variety this year and this picture) and Mauri black awned, and Milagre are the three that have survived my attempts thus far
Hopefully within 3-5 years I'll have an actual field, also trying with barley and I'll be planting some triticale this year

Sounds like quite the journey. Does mulching help with keeping the weeds from competing with the Wheat? Have you had enough to make anything with them?