Emily Henderson Farm: Plant Palettes

Full Sun

Groundcover / Vines

Beach Strawberry Fragaria chiloensis

Robin’s Plantain  Erigeron pulchellus var. pulchellus ‘Lynnhaven Carpet’

Evergreen Clematis Clematis armandii

St George Heather Erica carnea ‘St George’

Silver Carpet Lamb's Ear Stachys byzantina 'Silver Carpet’

Perennials / Annuals / Grasses

Meadow Checkermallow Sidalcea campestris

Magnus Coneflower Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’

White Swan Coneflower Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’

Halo Apricot Alcea rosea

Mendocino Reedgrass Calamagrostis foliosa

Whirling Butterflies Gaura Gaura lindheimeri

Joe Pye Weed Eutrochium dubium ‘Little Joe’

Autumn Joy Sedum Hylotelephium telephium 'Herbstfreude'

Brazilian Vervain Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’

Dark Towers Beardtongue Penstemon ‘Dark Towers’

Tufted Hair Grass Deschampsia cespitosa    

Bulbs

Big Beauty Allium Allium sativum ‘Big Beauty’

Mount Hood Daffodil Narcissus 'Mount Hood'

Shrubs

Evergreen Huckleberry Vaccinium ovatum

Arborvitae Thuja occidentalis ‘Degroot’s Spire’

Barbecue Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis

'Spartan' Blueberry Vaccinium ‘Spartan'

Bald Hip Rose Rosa gymnocarpa

‘Summer Ice’ Daphne Daphne ‘Summer Ice’

‘Tiny Wine’ Ninebark Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Tiny Wine’

Nandine Smoketree Cotinus coggygria ‘Nandine’

Western Hills Hebe Hebe primeleoides

Trees

Natchez Crapemyrtle Lagerstroemia ‘Natchez’

Ichiyo Ornamental Cherry Prunus ‘Ichiyo’

Oregon White Oak Quercus garryana

Part Shade

Groundcover / Vines

'Black Prince' Clematis Clematis 'Black Prince’

Star Jasmine Trachelospermum jasminodes

Green Spice Coral Bells Heuchera micrantha 'Green Spice’

Plum Pudding Coral Bells Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’

Merlin Hellebore Helleborus x ballardiae ‘Merlin'

Big Blue Lilyturf Liriope muscari

Wild Ginger Asarum caudatum

Perennials / Annuals / Grasses

Sword Fern Polystichum munitum

Hay-Scented Fern Dennstaedtia punctilobula

Maidenhair Fern Adiantum pedatum

Fountain Grass ‘Karley Rose’ Pennisetum orientale

Prairie Dropseed Sporobolus heterolepis

Anemone ‘Coupe D’Argent’ Anemone x hybrida

Black Bugbane Actaea simplex ‘Black Negligee’

Bulbs

White Great Camas Camassia leitchtinlii alba

Canyon Snow Pacific Coast Iris Iris douglasii ‘Canyon Snow’

Shrubs

David Viburnum Viburnum davidii

Pee Wee Oak Leaf Hydrangea Hydrangea quercifolia 'Pee Wee’

Magnolia Camellia Camellia japonica ‘Magnoliaeflora'

Little Heath Pieris Pieris japonica ‘Little Heath’

Wavy Silktassel Bush Garrya elliptica

Trees

Shadblow Serviceberry Amelanchier canadensis

Western Redbud Cercis occidentalis

Vine Maple Acer circinatum

Pink Flowering Dogwood Cornus florida rubra

Star Magnolia Magnolia stellata

Japanese Maple Acer palmatum

Native / Unirrigated

Groundcover / Vines

Beach Strawberry Fragaria chiloensis

Woodland Strawberry Fragaria vesca

Showy Fleabane Erigeron speciosa

Wild Ginger Asarum caudatum

Perennials / Annuals / Grasses

Sword Fern Polystichum munitum

Maidenhair Fern Adiantum pedatum

Meadow Checkermallow Sidalcea campestris

Mendocino Reedgrass Calamagrostis foliosa

Tufted Hair Grass Deschampsia cespitosa

Upland Native Seed Mix

Woodland Native Seed Mix

Bulbs

White Great Camas Camassia leitchtinlii alba

Canyon Snow Pacific Coast Iris Iris douglasii ‘Canyon Snow’

Shrubs

Blueblossom Ceanothus thrysiflora

Evergreen Huckleberry Vaccinium ovatum

Wavyleaf Silktassel Garrya elliptica

Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis

Common Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus

Wavy Silktassel Bush Garrya elliptica

Ninebark Physocarpus opulifolius

Bald Hip Rose Rosa gymnocarpa

Trees

Shadblow Serviceberry Amelanchier canadensis

Western Redbud Cercis occidentalis

Vine Maple Acer circinatum

Oregon White Oak Quercus garryana

Companion Plants: A Partial History

Companion planting—the practice of pairing plants to enhance their growth—is elemental to the history of agriculture. In the following three vignettes, we will travel across time and space to explore three types of companion planting: symbiotic, sacrificial, and opportunistic.

SYMBIOTIC: Among the most ancient co-planting practices are the Three Sisters. Many North American First Nations have an origin story for why corn, beans, and squash grow in sacred union. The throughline is a story of cooperation, how one individual’s strengths can offset another’s weaknesses. In the excerpt below from Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer describes it beautifully:

Planted in a small hill of soil in May, the seeds of corn, beans, and squash become plants that grow together through the summer and fall into a natural partnership that provides benefits for all three. The corn, bean, and squash plants complement each other in many ways throughout the season.

The corn sprouts from the soil first and is on its way to growing tall when the bean seedling appears and begins its own journey towards the sun. The bean vine climbs the corn stalk without damaging or decreasing the corn’s vitality. At the base of the corn stalk the squash plants grows big and wide, shading the soil and holding moisture in.

The bean plant is a member of the Legume family and has the ability to absorb atmospheric nitrogen and release this nitrogen as nutrients into the soil. This nitrogen provides the corn and squash with much needed natural fertilizer.

Together, the corn, beans, and squash also complement each other in nutritional value. The synthesis of the Three Sisters provides carbohydrates from corn, protein from the beans and vitamins from the squash and is a sustainable selection of healthy foods.

SACRIFICIAL: Among the earliest known texts on companion planting comes from the vineyards of Rome, in the writings of Marcus Terentius Varro, 200 BCE. Varro noted that planting cabbage near grapes proved detrimental to the grapes. Since then, study of the interrelationship between species has led to what is called trap cropping. One plant is, in essence, sacrificed to save another. In the example above, roses and grapes are susceptible to many of the same illnesses and pests. One of the most devastating diseases for a vineyard is powdery mildew. Roses are more attractive to mildew than grapes so vintners watch for it on roses to gauge risk for the vineyard at large.

The manner in which your neighbour keeps the land on the boundary planted is also of importance to your profits. For instance, if he has an oak grove near the boundary, you cannot well plant olives along such a forest; for it is so hostile in its nature that your trees will not only be less productive, but will actually bend so far away as to lean inward toward the ground, as the vine is wont to do when planted near the cabbage. As the oak, so large numbers of large walnut trees close by render the border of the farm sterile.

—Marcus Terentius Varro, 200 BCE

OPPORTUNISTIC: The Douro Valley of Portugal is the oldest demarcated wine-growing region in the world. Romans, then Cistercian monks in the 12th century, terraced the steep hillsides to grow grapes where little else could. An interesting example of companion planting lives on in the Douro. In higher valleys where the land is flatter, the soil deeper, grapes are grown on tall trellises that wind down the hillside in line with the contours of the land. Beneath these trellis conventional crops like corn and wheat are grown. Human ingenuity enabled dual full sun crops to grow in one location. The trellises have the added benefit of suspending the grapes, which is more ergonomic for harvesting.

Pond for a Truffle Farm

Option 1: Site Plan

Option 1: Grading Plan

Option 2: Site Plan

Option 2: Grading Plan

Fall in the High Country

Transplanting native Colorado grasses: from left, Idaho Fescue, Festuca idahoensis; Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium; and Colorado’s State grass, Blue Grama, Bouteloua gracilis

Rocky Mountain Iris, Iris missouriensis

Field sketch of Rabbitbush

Deer bed

First leaves changing on Coyote Willow, Salix exigua

Tones of Sticky Currant, Ribes viscosissimum

Collegiate Peaks

Field sketch of Fringed Gentian, Gentianopsis Detonsa

Fringed Gentian, Gentianopsis Detonsa