Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Majombaszo]

My husband and I are thinking about getting a dog. I've never been much of a dog person in the sense that I enjoy other people's well mannered dogs, but haven't really considered one for myself (mostly due to not wanting to give up my habit of going barefoot in the yard), but we've talked it over off n on for a while and thought if the right dog came along, we'd go for it. My sister sent me a text this morning, she rescued a 5 or 6 week old pup from a very neglectful living situation and was wondering if we (or someone we know) would want to take her in in a few months after they get her healthy, fixed, trained, and socialized...they just don't want to be the permanent home because they already have a couple of other BIG dogs.

No clue on her breed, so I thought I'd post the pics she sent me here to see if anyone can help ID her and maybe give us some clues. Knowing what she is, how big she'll get, and some breed traits would really help us decide if she'll be a good fit for us. She has blue merle coloring, so I'm almost wondering if she's a pit or lab/aussie mix but I'm not great with my breeds...I hope ya'll can help me figure her out!

Aussie. Mixed with what is anyone's guess as a puppy. Breed traits may become more noticable as she gets older.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Of course, my great-grandmother planted Himalaya blackberries the year they were introduced and the Extension Service called them "an easy and fruitful plant for the home garden" and you all know where THAT has led us!

My husband's third (or fourth?) great-aunt Catherine Maynard (Doc Maynard's wife) is accused of being the first to plant dandelions in Seattle.  My husband used to get so frustrated at the sight of a dandelion, then, when I learned that she brought them here, all I had to do was remind him that the entire state can blame his family for that!  He hasn't complained about a single dandelion since I discovered that. 

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=4281

It's possible; there's known early introductions for a lot of other stuff, though. Either David Douglas, William Fraser Tolmie (factor and chief trader at Ft. Nisqually), or John McLoughlin (factor of Ft. Vancouver) was responsible for introducing Scotch Broom, despite the evergreen and utterly absurd myth that it was the US Highways Improvement Program; there's correspondence between those three men and Archibald Menzies (in special collections at Suzallo and also the collection of the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Garden). They also sent Douglas Fir seeds to both Kew and Edinburgh RBGs.

Tansy Ragwort probably came either in the fleece of sheep shipped round the Horn, wheat seed, or possibly Scottish textiles, but definitely before 1856. And both broad and narrow leaf plantains came west with Lewis and Clark, so distinctly that they're known as "White Man's Footprint."

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Other plants we have for offering.  I didn't range too far from the house - it's raining, I'm still in my pajamas (one good thing about living in BFE), and I didn't feel like juggling the camera and the rifle.  Again, if you see something you want, let me know.


Sampling of the Charlie Brown Christmas Trees.  The one in the foreground is about 3.5 feet tall, the one in the background is about 4.5 feet tall.


Baby evergreen huckleberry in the foreground and a much older one in the background.  They grow in all kinds of shapes - some are low and bushy, some are tall and leggy (like the one in the background) and some are huge and bushy.  We have some well over 7 feet tall and wide.  


Huckleberry berries.  (Sorry for the over exposure but there's a load of fog on the water today.)


I have no idea what these ugly things are but they're everywhere.  We cleared out an area that was overgrown with blackberry, thimbleberry, and salal and these sprouted up all over.  They're like miniature trees.  They looked quite a bit nicer before the wind storm the other day made the leaves all raggedy.

That "ugly thing" (how tastes do differ!) is Devils Club, Oplopanax horridus which is related to ginseng and has several traditional medicinal uses.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

*If* I get someone to help me dig (which: not so awfully likely) and IF Deirdre has room, I may be able to bring some lilacs and Carolina Alspice to Chehalis, but in general, if anyone wants what I can give, that means they need to come and dig. I do have shovels, spading forks, and pots if you don't want to deal with bare root plants, but I am outnumbered by garden these days.

Explain this Carolina Allspice...it is a bush, a small tree, does it have spice/seeds ?

I was grouching about it back along, it's this flower: which, in seedlings, may or may not be skunky (the scent does not breed true, and is not a simple SS/ss/Ss thing) the leaves and wood are alspice scented, and I planted it for use in potpourri, back when I did that as a Farmer's Market vendor.. It's a nice understory shrub, with bright yellow fall color.


Also, looking out the window, avilable for the digging: Pineapple quince (root suckers, but this is not a grafted plant), at least one or two Hamamellis mollis (Yellow Witchhazel), species Siberian Iris, and two thuggish shrub honeysuckles, Lonicera fragrantissma and Lonisera amurensis, both of which would be grand parts of a mixed barrier hedge and have edible berries that the tweety birds like. And oregano, God save us all, I can contribute oregano to feed all the bees there are in August. Several very nice if prone to root- running geraniums which I can share but am not actively trying to get shed of, and one horribe thug which I'd only recommend if you're trying to green up a traffic calming circle (Claridge Druce). Speaking of horrible thugs: Summer Wood, an insect-discouraging artemesia, and Motherwort, a nice friendly calmer and encourager of milk flow and bearer of beastly seed-burs. I'm encouraging mints and lemon-balm for the chickens, so that's what's going into any holes I can encourage.


I also have a bunch of bearded iris in gallon and two gallon pots which need rescued and sent on to real homes, because as much as I love them they're too much work to keep weeded when I am not supposed to lean over and my knees and hips have lost their "squat" gear.


OH: and for the crazy-brave, I have a Long John Silver climber in a pot which has reached the point where next fall it will be setting off 10-20 foot long canes and getting ready to bloom its head off. Would do well on an ugly fence or outbuilding but would not put another one on a house.




(Multiply by a thousand or so, blooms from late june until August-ish)

I would love to have some starts off of your plants. I can come over and bring my spading fork with me. Let me know when a good time for you will be. I am very flexible time wise. If I time things right, I should be able to help you with a few of your projects also. 

I'll pm you my number; I have to warn that my time is not my own this week, as we're doing the second phase of weaning: chasing everything into the round pen and then letting the cows out and leaving the calves penned up. I don't know what day, because my sister doesn't know what day, because it's the third thing in line, and the other two are Big Deals unlike my piddly little deal.

 

[Majombaszo]

That "ugly thing" (how tastes do differ!) is Devils Club, Oplopanax horridus which is related to ginseng and has several traditional medicinal uses.

Horrid. It's right there in the name. My mom's life (and countless others') was saved by a medication that is derived from pond scum but I don't want it in my yard!

 

[Hinotori]

Quote:
I'd guess Aussie something as well. With all the dog types over here, could be anything in the mix.

I don't have any pics of my Aussie/Blue Heeler cross that young. He was 4 months when we picked him up at the shelter. He looks like the cross now, but some people still think he's a smoothe coated Aussie. I kick myself for not getting one of his siblings as well. He's the sweetest thing.

When we got him, he looked like this.

 

[Majombaszo]

That "ugly thing" (how tastes do differ!) is Devils Club, Oplopanax horridus which is related to ginseng and has several traditional medicinal uses.

I don't think that's what it is. I just looked up the info and the plants I have don't have any thorns.

 

[Chicken Rustler]

Again, if you see something you want, let me know.


Huckleberry berries. .

Yes I would like a couple gallon of huckleberries. Oh and I would like them in a huckleberry cobbler. Oh and I need that huckleberry cobbler to be sugar free!!! Oh and I need that huckleberry cobbler to be sugar free and have a (ya gotta know it's coming) PINK CRUST !!!!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

That "ugly thing" (how tastes do differ!) is Devils Club, Oplopanax horridus which is related to ginseng and has several traditional medicinal uses.

I don't think that's what it is.  I just looked up the info and the plants I have don't have any thorns.

Really, looked very thorny; probably Big Leafed Maple seedlings, then. (Acer macrophylla, to feed my need for Latin binomials).

 

[Majombaszo]

Yes I would like a couple gallon of huckleberries. Oh and I would like them in a huckleberry cobbler. Oh and I need that huckleberry cobbler to be sugar free!!! Oh and I need that huckleberry cobbler to be sugar free and have a (ya gotta know it's coming) PINK CRUST !!!!

The huckleberries didn't cobble well according to my husband whom I've turned into a cobbler junkie; me, I don't eat cooked fruit because I'm weird and I have issues.