Update on Saving the Yellow Sophora
Linda McDonigal and I raided the empty next-door lot owned by Kerry of Island Native Surf Shop, with permission of course but it was fun to use the word "raid." The goal was to save a couple of Yellow Sophora from exctinction should the lot be sold - and it is up for sale.
First, there is a little confusion about what these are but they do resemble the Yellow Sophora, also called the Soap Bean or more commonly the Coral Bean. Nancy Patterson, proprietor of this board, thinks they're really a rare form of Indigo plant but ... after we transplanted them the plants seem to die dead as a doornail, thus preventing further plant identification.
Yup, those plants nearly died and for a month they just threw leaves, turned a nasty black color, and looked like heck. Then Linda, a master naturalist who lives a block behind us, called last week and said she had buds! New leaves! So I looked at my baby, which looked doubtful, but YES, it now sports some shoots for sure.
I don't know if you know how hard this was. First, last year I had to defend them from a huge agricultural tractor mower called a brush-hog. Then we worked hard for about 4 hours on excavating the Yellow Sophora or Indigo from the ground - we created a mess about 12 feet around because the taproots went down at least four feet. THEN we had to dig new holes for our new plants. Linda was a real trooper but we both had a back-ache for two weeks after that.
Then the plants nearly died. Linda called Frank Wiseman, the local native plant guru, and he said to never give up because it could take a season or two before they might ... just might come back. We are so thrilled now. We won the day! Commercial growers can't do this kind of thing. Despite almost insurmountable circumstances ... it worked.
/Sam
Linda McDonigal and I raided the empty next-door lot owned by Kerry of Island Native Surf Shop, with permission of course but it was fun to use the word "raid." The goal was to save a couple of Yellow Sophora from exctinction should the lot be sold - and it is up for sale.
First, there is a little confusion about what these are but they do resemble the Yellow Sophora, also called the Soap Bean or more commonly the Coral Bean. Nancy Patterson, proprietor of this board, thinks they're really a rare form of Indigo plant but ... after we transplanted them the plants seem to die dead as a doornail, thus preventing further plant identification.
Yup, those plants nearly died and for a month they just threw leaves, turned a nasty black color, and looked like heck. Then Linda, a master naturalist who lives a block behind us, called last week and said she had buds! New leaves! So I looked at my baby, which looked doubtful, but YES, it now sports some shoots for sure.
I don't know if you know how hard this was. First, last year I had to defend them from a huge agricultural tractor mower called a brush-hog. Then we worked hard for about 4 hours on excavating the Yellow Sophora or Indigo from the ground - we created a mess about 12 feet around because the taproots went down at least four feet. THEN we had to dig new holes for our new plants. Linda was a real trooper but we both had a back-ache for two weeks after that.
Then the plants nearly died. Linda called Frank Wiseman, the local native plant guru, and he said to never give up because it could take a season or two before they might ... just might come back. We are so thrilled now. We won the day! Commercial growers can't do this kind of thing. Despite almost insurmountable circumstances ... it worked.
/Sam
2 Comments:
After reading this I had to run outside and look at the sapphora Nancy and I transplanted in my yard a few months back.... hoping to see some signs of life but alas, the thing still looks dead as a doornail. But I'm not going to give up on it. Thanks for helping keep the hope alive!
Good work Sam and Linda! I will come by and see if it's what my brother identified as Baptista Indigo. Coral Bean is something else -- it puts out a beautiful Coral flower.
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