Exploring Concepts of Landscape Architecture: OKLAHOMA: Echinacea--coneflower

wanderings

I was born in Oakland California. I grew up in North Central Washington, in the eastern foothills of the Cascades and on the Columbia River. I graduated from a school of 250 students K-12. I didn't attend college until after I was 30, so I brought to school my experience: garden designer, carpenter, concrete worker, florist, greenhouse manager, perennial expert, shrub and tree salesman, bus driver, truck driver, apartment manager and maintenance man. Frequently I worked 3+ jobs a day during my go-get-'em-like-your-killin' -snakes years. So I was well prepared for the vigor's of the University and the initiation rituals of the Architecture department. I graduated from the College of Architecture with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design and a minor in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment. College has allowed me to bundle my many paths into a single and wide corridor. I started my Master of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 2006.

bearings

Knowing where I've been is the easy part. Knowing where I come from and where I am going is the challenge. I moved into a little rent house out in the country about 15 miles south of Norman Oklahoma. During my first winter in Oklahoma, I dabbled in some genealogy. I found two great-grandfathers and their families buried within a few miles of my new home. It was not just serendipity that my internal way-finder connected and centered me in the place of my forefathers. I have a deep connection with this place.

compass

The spirit of place. Present and past human connections influence our lives. Community, family and place are part of our soul. Regional identity is both cultural and physical. The spirit of place is what nourishes our beginings and tethers our world view. It is also that soul and bond that embraces our community. Technology has allowed us to disregard the environmental aspects of place. The media wants us to believe we are a global society and that our world is getting smaller. Our world gets smaller when we exchange our spirit of place for anothers. The spirit of place must be unearthed again to regain the comfort of belonging.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Echinacea--coneflower

The Transatlantic Plantsman had a note on some newly introduced coneflowers. They are one of my favorite prairie plants. I grew them very successfully back in Washington. Of course they had good drainage and plenty of good hot sun. They thrived, rebloomed and were consistently hardy. Henk Gerritsen & Piet Oudolf in "Dream Plants for the Natural Garden" rank them low. I quote: "It is extremely frustrating to have to admit that Echinacea is not reliable." They go on to say that they will not tolerate competition, and they dissappear after two years. I have an idea it is their wet winter conditions. I have had Echinacia be short lived, but not consistently short lived. There are numerous seed varieties that are vigorous and hardy that I recommend. With just a little web search I found a bunch more colors and varieties I must try. My mother has grown some of these new purpurea and paradoxa crosses. They were robust and in a glorious explosion of color while I was visiting last summer.

Seed catalogs bring out the compulsive explorer in me. So many plants, so little time and money.

North Creek Nurseries