Sculpture Park ground cover

Q: Can you tell me what the tiny ground cover is all over the new Olympic Sculpture Park? It has little round leaves and looks almost like basil, and like it was sprayed on. I just can't imagine what it could be. Other people were wondering about it, too, at the park's opening celebration.

A: According to landscape architect Charles Anderson, the mystery plant you describe is probably a native aster or possibly pearly everlasting.

The park's meadows are seeded with a custom mix of native wildflowers and grasses. While the plants are still so small, it's hard to determine just which is the one you describe, although I noticed too that, at this early point after seeding, one plant seemed to be dominating the mix.

Anderson says the meadows will grow about 18 inches high and will bloom in an ever-changing display of yarrow, columbine, aster, camas, iris, lupine, cinquefoil, California oatgrass and tufted hairgrass, among a variety of native wildflowers and low grasses.

Q: I saved seeds from fresh lemons, then planted them. To my surprise, they started growing! Now the tree is about 2 feet tall. Lately it's been dropping some leaves, and the remaining leaves look wrinkly. Can you help me? Please? It's a beautiful tree, 3 years old, and I want it to grow. How long does it take for the blooms to come on?

A: Congratulations on growing a citrus tree from a seed. However, lemon seedlings take at least seven years and maybe more to bloom. Most indoor lemon trees are dwarf varieties grown from cuttings or grafts from mature trees so that they flower and fruit right away.

If you want those fabulously scented flowers and lemons on your tree, you might want to begin again with a dwarf citrus purchased at a nursery. Meyer lemon trees are the most popular, because they're easy to grow indoors. If you had a potted Meyer lemon tree flowering and fruiting prolifically, then you could always enjoy your seed grown tree as a foliage houseplant.

To keep citrus trees healthy indoors, give them southern exposure with five to six hours of sunlight a day. When the plant is actively growing in late winter, June and August, use an acidic fertilizer, or one formulated specifically for citrus.

Make sure the pot drains well (poor drainage might well have caused your tree to drop its leaves). Water every few days, mist the citrus a couple of times a week and give it an occasional shower.

Many local nurseries carry potted citrus, especially later in the spring; Raintree Nursery in Morton, Lewis County, specializes in fruit trees, including potted Meyer lemon trees; www.raintreenursery.com or 360-496-6400.

Q: Trader Joe's carries orchids that cost about a third as much as other orchids. Do you know why? Are the orchids they sell healthy?

A: I have two beautiful orchids from Trader Joe's on my desk as I write this. These orchids are so inexpensive that you can treat them like a living bouquet and enjoy them for the month or so while they're in bloom, and then compost them if you aren't into caring for orchids.

I'm no orchid expert, but I can't see that the lower price has anything to do with quality and everything to do with volume buying and special deals with suppliers, just like the rest of the good deals at Trader Joe's.

Valerie Easton also writes about Plant Life in Sunday's Pacific Northwest Magazine. Write to her at P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 or e-mail planttalk@seattletimes.com with your questions. Sorry, no personal replies.