Halle’s Smooooth Words o’ Wisdom

Whereby M. G. Halle Lays it All Out…Silky Style

Archive for the ‘flora’ Category

autumn harbinger

with one comment

After a surf along the northern Oregon coast Tuesday I found my first Chanterelles of the 2008 mushroom season: 

chanterelle08

They were exactly where I found my first patch in 2007 only 2 weeks or so earlier.

Written by Halle

August 14th, 2008 at 10:08 am

macro photography day

without comments

I couldn’t pass up this moment:

It was more than a moment actually and definitely more than 6 minutes that these 2 tangoed. As a gardner it’s somewhat reassuring to see these Hemiptera(the order aphids fall into) chow hounds getting busy in your yard. I hope that they were hungry and feasted on aphids after.

Later the same day this moment was hard to miss on the shelf above our kitchen sink:

We keep this Venus Fly Trap near our fruit bowl and it captures many flys. Not until recently did I see the plant snap shut on a spider.

Written by Halle

May 27th, 2008 at 11:17 am

Chanterelle Hunting redux

with 4 comments

Claudia and I visited a favorite spot recently and came away with many mushrooms!

a good day

hand cleaning

We saw a fair number of moldy ones:

moldy chantrelle

Written by Halle

October 23rd, 2007 at 9:30 am

Posted in flora, oregon

Chanterelle Hunting

with 2 comments

Autumn in Oregon means many things. One of my favorites is chanterelle hunting. From the Oxford American Dictionary:

“chan•te•relle | noun. an edible woodland mushroom with a yellow funnel-shaped cap and a faint smell of apricots, found in both Eurasia and North America.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from French, from modern Latin cantharellus, diminutive of cantharus, from Greek kantharos, denoting a kind of drinking container.”

There’s nothing quite like picking your own chanterelles then frying them up the same day with unsalted butter, shallots plus a touch of soy sauce, sugar and creme before tossing the fresh-from-the-woods golden sauce with some pasta. Yum. I love eating chanterelles although the stumbling through the deep and dark woods might be the best part.

shr00m03.JPG

shr00m04.JPG

shr00m05.JPG

shr00m06.JPG

shr00m07.JPG

shr00m08.JPG

Written by Halle

October 7th, 2007 at 9:17 am

Posted in c00l, flora, oregon

Autumn in Portland

without comments

DSC04541

It’s raining hard here and the leaves are turning and beginning to drop.

Written by Halle

September 30th, 2007 at 10:18 am

Posted in c00l, flora

Red Bartlett Pear

without comments

After 3 years in the ground our espalied pear tree finally bore fruit:

Red Bartlett Pear

It did actually put a few on last year but, following instructions from a friend, we cut the fruit early in order to focus growth on the roots. Here’s to growing your own and not letting the dogs get to the goods before we do.

Written by Halle

May 24th, 2007 at 9:00 am

Posted in c00l, flora, oregon, pdx

Guerilla Gardening

without comments

This is a fine piece of guerilla gardening.

Written by Halle

May 18th, 2007 at 9:12 am

Posted in c00l, flora, oregon, pdx

Cypripedium Japonicum dos

without comments

These 2 pictures were shot in a friend’s Portland garden three days ago with assistance from Mark Clawson. The flowers were lit with sliver and gold reflectors held very close to the flower.

Cypripedium japonicum

Cypripedium japonicum

Written by Halle

March 22nd, 2007 at 10:00 pm

Posted in flora, travaille

Cypripedium japonicum

without comments

Cypripedium japonicum

This picture, shot at a private local garden, will be used for fundraising efforts as part of The Berry Botanic Garden’s 30th anniversary celebration this spring.

Written by Halle

March 8th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

Posted in flora, travaille

transplanting bamboo

without comments

Last weekend I needed to transplant some Blue Fountain bamboo(Fargesia nitida) from a smallish container to a slightly larger one. The terra cotta one near the upper righthand corner received the new bamboo.

_MGH0059.JPG

I prepped the pot with a bit of styrofoam to make it a tad lighter when filled with bamboo and potting soil.

_MGH0050.JPG

Pulling the root-bound clump from its home was a bit of a chore.

_MGH0068.JPG

Talk about root-bound!

_MGH0077.JPG

We’ll see in the next month or so how well the clump has taken to its more spacious home. It should be fine.

_MGH0080.JPG

This is a non-invasive clumping bamboo. After 2 years in the new pot I will have to find a home for it in the ground somewhere around here.

Written by Halle

February 7th, 2007 at 8:42 pm

Posted in Halle's Allée, flora