digitS'
Garden Master
Hi Everyone
heading for the border - ID/WA!
- Thread starter digitS'
- Start date
Western Washington here. Twenty miles north of down town Seattle. Boy cities are great from a distance.
Birdgardengal
Leafing Out
Hi,
I live in Ephrata, WA, Pretty new to this kind of cold. I'm learning what can stay out and what can not. I am landscaping as natural as possible. Birds and animal friendly. It has been fun learning what grows here that provides food and shelter for the birds. Any one having any advice please let me know.
I live in Ephrata, WA, Pretty new to this kind of cold. I'm learning what can stay out and what can not. I am landscaping as natural as possible. Birds and animal friendly. It has been fun learning what grows here that provides food and shelter for the birds. Any one having any advice please let me know.
- Thread starter
- #4
digitS'
Garden Master
I doubt if there are any other states in the US with greater contrast from one side to the other than the 3 Pacific states of Washington, Oregon, and California. And, neither Seattle nor Ephrata represent the extremes of WA.
Seattle
Annual precipitation: 37.07 inches
July normal daily maximum temperature: 75.3
January normal daily minimum temperature: 35.9
Ephrata
Annual precipitation: 7.70 inches
July normal daily maximum temperature: 88.2
January normal daily minimum temperature: 21.6
Jeri, in my veggie garden, the plants that get the most attention from the birds are the sunflowers. The gold finches show up (winging in from Ephrata, probably
long before the seed is ripe. The chickadees are constant visitors by the time it is.
The neighbor's raspberry jungle is excellent cover for not only the quail but for song sparrows. A pair of catbirds built a nest in the Oregon grape between my little gardens this past year. The zinnias were visited frequently by black-chinned and calliope hummingbirds.
The Eurasian-collared dove showed up in this neck of the woods in 2006 and like to hang out & watch us in the garden. Oh, and a mother and 2 baby horned owls were residents in the neighbor's hay shed thru most of last Summer - my most important garden buddies!!
Steve
Seattle
Annual precipitation: 37.07 inches
July normal daily maximum temperature: 75.3
January normal daily minimum temperature: 35.9
Ephrata
Annual precipitation: 7.70 inches
July normal daily maximum temperature: 88.2
January normal daily minimum temperature: 21.6
Jeri, in my veggie garden, the plants that get the most attention from the birds are the sunflowers. The gold finches show up (winging in from Ephrata, probably
long before the seed is ripe. The chickadees are constant visitors by the time it is.The neighbor's raspberry jungle is excellent cover for not only the quail but for song sparrows. A pair of catbirds built a nest in the Oregon grape between my little gardens this past year. The zinnias were visited frequently by black-chinned and calliope hummingbirds.
The Eurasian-collared dove showed up in this neck of the woods in 2006 and like to hang out & watch us in the garden. Oh, and a mother and 2 baby horned owls were residents in the neighbor's hay shed thru most of last Summer - my most important garden buddies!!
Steve
Yeah, weather across the states is like night and day!
As for wildlife here... city coons, fat garbage can squirrels that come from distant neighbor bird feeders, and a few small birds that hide in the woods. Pretty much a land locked tree covered plot with one resident deer with nowhere to go because I'm surrounded by highway, developments, businesses, and shopping centers. I wonder if that deer even leaves. I only see it once a month or so, alone, with what looks like a car accident scar on it's side. Can a deer live on 5 wooded acres?
Gotta love how heat advisory gets issued when temps reach the mid 80's. My southern cali relatives laugh when they hear that. Humidity though is much higher than down there though.
As for wildlife here... city coons, fat garbage can squirrels that come from distant neighbor bird feeders, and a few small birds that hide in the woods. Pretty much a land locked tree covered plot with one resident deer with nowhere to go because I'm surrounded by highway, developments, businesses, and shopping centers. I wonder if that deer even leaves. I only see it once a month or so, alone, with what looks like a car accident scar on it's side. Can a deer live on 5 wooded acres?
Gotta love how heat advisory gets issued when temps reach the mid 80's. My southern cali relatives laugh when they hear that. Humidity though is much higher than down there though.
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- #6
digitS'
Garden Master
We need Jeri to comment on humidity with all of those "nearly" 8 inches of precip each year.
All I can say is that with less than 20 inches the humidity during the heat of Summer is below 20% nearly every afternoon in my garden. I come out of that stretch of weeks feeling like a dry Autumn leaf - burnt brown and ready to blow off the tree with the slightest gust of wind.
I have very little experience with heat & humidity despite living for awhile on the northern CA coast. If you want to see some contrast, look at Eureka (near where I went to high school) and Bakersfield, say. And, even more fun is to see how Eureka stacks up against Anchorage, Alaska for growing degree days! Incredibly, Anchorage, with it long hours of Summer sun, comes out ahead!! Alaska ahead of California for growing . . .
Steve
All I can say is that with less than 20 inches the humidity during the heat of Summer is below 20% nearly every afternoon in my garden. I come out of that stretch of weeks feeling like a dry Autumn leaf - burnt brown and ready to blow off the tree with the slightest gust of wind.
I have very little experience with heat & humidity despite living for awhile on the northern CA coast. If you want to see some contrast, look at Eureka (near where I went to high school) and Bakersfield, say. And, even more fun is to see how Eureka stacks up against Anchorage, Alaska for growing degree days! Incredibly, Anchorage, with it long hours of Summer sun, comes out ahead!! Alaska ahead of California for growing . . .
Steve
- Thread starter
- #7
digitS'
Garden Master
So as not to hijack the Willamette Valley Thread:
Here's near where Linda was talking about goin' north, I believe. The John Day/Fossil country is more-or-less half way from my diggings and the wet Willamette.
Not exactly what most people imagine when they think about Oregon. It has about the same annual precipitation as where I live.
Here's near where Linda was talking about goin' north, I believe. The John Day/Fossil country is more-or-less half way from my diggings and the wet Willamette.
Not exactly what most people imagine when they think about Oregon. It has about the same annual precipitation as where I live.
Birdgardengal
Leafing Out
Hi! I am sorry it has taken me soooooo long to write. My computer took a dump and I just got it back. I am in zone 6 here in Ephrata. It is dry though. We moved here from Sacramento, CA so we thought it was funny when people here complained about the heat. We thought the weather was great! Last year we planted a lot of sunflowers for the birds. I made the mistake of planting them in my flower beds and they took over some of the areas. We have 10 acres so this year I am going to make their own area and plant alot more. Sunflowers are beautiful! I will have to check out raspberry's. Don't they have Big Thorns! We planted several fruit trees (all kinds) and grapes. You asked for comments about the humidity! There isn't any! The first thing I noticed was wrinkles! You have to keep the body lotion close with out humidity! And water often! I planted lots of flowers and can not wait to start planting again this spring. One thing I want to do this year is plant evergreens and shrubs. The biggest lession I learned last year was to give more space between my garden plants. My Tomatoes looked like one continous plant. Thanks for the info. I really apreciate it!
- Thread starter
- #9
digitS'
Garden Master
Welcome back, Jeri!
I like your comment about the humidity in the Columbia Basin. Yep, you almost have to be IN the river to find any!!
I remember my Physical Geography 101 and the definition of an "exotic" river. It's a river flowing thru a desert and losing water in the process - partly thru evaporation. Along with the coulees and hoodoos, part of your corner of the world has these potholes. We really should come up with a better name. But, the water table is very high (or the soil is very shallow, however one might want to think of it So, there's all these tiny lakes and ponds - in the desert! Of course, they don't always survive very many months of Summer. The ducks and geese luv 'em in the Spring 
!
My college geography was so long ago the massive flooding of the Basin during the last Ice Age was considered highly speculative. I look at maps and cannot see any other explanation but without satellite imagery, I guess one's perspective can be trapped within the hoodoos and coulees. Wonderful world we live in . . .
Steve
I like your comment about the humidity in the Columbia Basin. Yep, you almost have to be IN the river to find any!!
I remember my Physical Geography 101 and the definition of an "exotic" river. It's a river flowing thru a desert and losing water in the process - partly thru evaporation. Along with the coulees and hoodoos, part of your corner of the world has these potholes. We really should come up with a better name. But, the water table is very high (or the soil is very shallow, however one might want to think of it
So, there's all these tiny lakes and ponds - in the desert! Of course, they don't always survive very many months of Summer. The ducks and geese luv 'em in the Spring !My college geography was so long ago the massive flooding of the Basin during the last Ice Age was considered highly speculative. I look at maps and cannot see any other explanation but without satellite imagery, I guess one's perspective can be trapped within the hoodoos and coulees. Wonderful world we live in . . .
Steve
Backyard Buddies
Garden Ornament
My in-laws live in the Tri-Cities. When folks ask me where they live, they never believe me when I say that they live in the desert part of Washington. My MIL always thinks it's so humid down here in So. Cal. It isn't really, but compared to where she lives, I suppose it would seem that way to her.
My MIL always thinks it's so humid down here in So. Cal. It isn't really, but compared to where she lives, I suppose it would seem that way to her.
