This post is several weeks overdue, as the photos were taken a while back.  They need to be shared, however, as there were/are some amazing things happening in the garden.

You can’t escape spring even from inside the house, as the three clematis outside the french doors are blooming.  A pair of juncos is nesting in this particular vine, as well, so not only does it look good, but it sounds like hungry chicks!

The more double of the spring clematis.

 

You can see all three flower types of the vines in this photo–the more dainty single one on the left, the double one in the middle, both alpina clones.  C. montana rubens is to the right.

Montana rubens blooming extraordinarily well this year.  Some years it hardly blooms at all, and other years it is smothered in these luscious blooms.  Their beauty is magnified by the sweet fragrance.

You can really see the perfection of the blooms here.  They last maybe ten days.  The vine is attractive, too, with its darker leaves and reddish stems.  It can be a bit boisterous, but easy to prune back after flowering.

Here is an interesting contrast in the garden.  Two red Japanese maples, one with deeply dissected leaves, the other with the fuller classic maple shape.

For color contrast, the red maple and the golden hop excel.  The hop is becoming a bit of a thug, so we have to guide and prune it to keep it from overwhelming more delicate neighbors.

We have two stands of old-fashioned lilacs in our yard.  They bloomed well this year and very early.

These are blueberry flowers.  I have a couple of these shrubs blooming, so should get some good berry set this year.

A few of the forget-me-not volunteers in the driveway bed.  I love these little guys!

Two sides to camellia ownership.  First, the gorgeous, giant blooms.

Second, the mess!  I inherited this camellia with the house.  I’m not sure I would ever plant one of these big-flowered hybrids myself, since they struggle in the rain, which makes the flowers messy on the trees.  The small flowered species are more to my liking as garden shrubs.

A volunteer golden chain tree grows along the orchard bed next to the camellia.  It makes a nice transition.  I’m finding seedlings all through the new bark I put down last year.  I’ll move some of them to pots for bonsai and potted specimens.

These aronia blooms are really lovely.  This berry shrub is covered with blooms and should provide an excellent amount of berries for smoothies this year.

Another view.

Goumi flowers abound on my one shrub this year.  I love goumis because they are self fertile and prolific and completely trouble free.  The one challenge is the pit in each ripe berry–but I eat them fresh, usually, so it is less of a problem.

Here is a photo of one of the “rounds” I created around the existing plants in the orchard garden.  These are alpine strawberries and Jacob’s ladders.

A close up of the alpine strawberry blooms.  Berries are already setting on these charming woodlanders.

I’m very sad about my apple trees this year.  One of them didn’t bloom at all, and since they require a pollinator, it seems unlikely that I’ll get apples.  I planted two new trees this year, so in the future this may not be as big of an issue.  I saw very few bees this year pollinating the apple and cherry trees, so I took a paintbrush out and tried to pollinate myself.

Cherries have set, for sure, and there are also a few plums on the plum tree and a few Asian pears (above) on the mixed Asian pear espalier.

The bleeding hearts continue to bloom nicely.  This is the golden-leaved sport from sister Cate.

The standard form has become a very robust plant–like a small shrub!

The wall flowers that I started from seed last year look pretty good and smell even better.

Weedy as they are, I love these bluebells.  When we moved to the house, there were hundreds of them.  They’ve dwindled down to a few now, and I look forward to their show.

A few of the perennialized tulips along the driveway.

This beautiful shrub from brother Tim.  I let it grow up this year and tied it to the Jeff Tangen arbor.  It bloomed remarkably.  I will cut it back and hope for more flowers later in the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some more pictures from our recent Arizona vacation.

I believe this was a cholla cactus–the flowers not quite open yet.

 

This opuntia pad and fruits looks suspiciously like a foot with six toes.

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Large opuntia with the foot-pad above to the left.

This saguaro had been damaged/broken and you can see the skeleton inside.  It was still growing and appeared well despite the huge loss of its entire top.

Open cholla flowers

Delicate petals and deadly spines

Not a plant you want to stumble upon in flip-flops!

More cactus flowers

And more…

And one more…

These are called fish hook barrel cactus–for obvious reason.  Beautiful plants, but somewhat unsociable.

Another view.  Spectacular plants!

The distant hills on one of my walks.  You can see the limestone cliffs at the tops, eroded by rain and wind into beautiful shapes.

Another spectacular cactus flower.

Amazing cactus plant with delicate blooms amid the deadly thorns.

We hear how Saguaros are endangered and getting rare.  And maybe all the Saguaro-like cactus we saw were not Saguaros at all.  But if they were, there were thousands and thousands of them.  Hard to imagine them endangered!

This poppy proved a bright spot in the desert.  This wasn’t a California poppy–possibly a Mexican poppy.

The rocks/stones/boulders are very impressive in the desert.

More impressive stones.

And more–the colors are amazing.

A typical view on a walk in the desert.

Amazing that plants, including cactus and Palos Verdes trees, find a way to grow in these extreme conditions.

I was pretty excited to find tamarisk along the roadside.  Later, I read that in Arizona, this is called “Salt Cedar” and it is extremely invasive.

A close up of the flowers.  This plant would be fine to grow in Seattle, likely, with no worries about it spreading.

Not sure exactly what the name of this daisy is, but it looked a bit like a tansy.  I only saw it in one place.

It can get tiresome to see all the dry, dry, dry and dusty.  So, I walked to the river and the views were fresher!

Near the river, these brave guys were heading straight up one of the steep  hills.

Arliss took us to Quartzite to see the sights.  This was one of the better/worse ones.

Someone had been using this plastic squirrel for target practice.  It was a strange thing to come upon in the desert.

Spectacular views on a walk near Arliss and Mike’s.

Another great view.  I was actually following the power lines so I wouldn’t get lost.

These hills were full of quartzite.

You can see the sparkling quartzite that the earth is spewing up here.

Another view.

And again…

My shadow against the parched earth.

Another fantastic vision.

A dwarf oenothera in the desert.

Close up of the flowers.

Not sure of these flowers, but they reminded me of layias, only one color.

Fantastic cloud formation.

 

Below are a bunch of captioned pictures from our recent trip to Phoenix and Parker, Arizona.

Arliss, Mike and yours truly–we were hiking in a wash out past Shea Road.  Mike and Arliss are fun to wander with–they know all about the geology and flora and fauna of the desert.

Every rock and every plant is a new treasure.

Desert plant patterns are spectacular.

The color of the cliffs is fascinating, too.

Water only fills the wash once or twice a year, but the force has created canyons all over the desert and it forces shrubs to marry stones, as seen here.

Mike called these elk horn cactus.  The flowers came in various colors, from reddish orange to pure greenish yellow.

There are some giant bees in Arizona, but they were tough for me to photograph.  You can see one in the first photo here just to the right of the Ocotillo blossoms.  It is that giant shiny black bug.  The bees were just a bit smaller than hummingbirds, and probably heavier.

Ocotillos were blooming beautifully all over the desert.

Mesquite trees were blooming everywhere, as well.

The Colorado River runs very close to Arliss and Mike’s place and there were people out enjoying the water on hot days.

A dwarf form of Oenothera added a bright spot in the sand.

I haven’t identified this shrub with tubular flowers yet–it was in  a neighbor’s yard.

Opuntias take on a different kind of look in the spring.

Some other neighbors had a wonderful garden full of hybrid tea roses.  I couldn’t help but think of the water and chemicals they probably have to use to keep these beautiful flowers coming in the desert.

I’ve yet to identify this berry-sporting prickly shrub found in the washes near Parker.

I can’t imagine the berries last long if they are at all edible.

This hillside was regurgitating calcite in thin, translucent sheets.  I found several other hills like this in my hikes.

These shrubs turn lavender in the hot sun…and they blend in with the sand and rocks around them.

A smaller version of the above–its shadow gives it away.

Opuntias are hardcore survivors in the rocky desert.  Some have a lavender hue.

Close up of the same.

There isn’t a lot of wildlife out during the hot days, but these fence lizards scurried away frequently on my hikes.

This little guy had set up home right next to Arliss and Mike’s driveway.

Boat-tailed grackles take the place of crows in this environment.  Their vocalizations are more varied, but they have a similar sense of curiosity and boisterous charm.

Agave offsets–so tempting!

Lantana thrives in dooryards.

I found this boat in one of the washes.  The washes are used as garbage dumps by some and the water steals in own garbage when it really gets flowing, as well.

You can see the lines of different types of sediment/stone up the hillsides.

Views on some of my desert hikes.

Palos verde trees were in full bloom–this one was a  beacon at the top of a wash.

A large opuntia that had recently bloomed with fruit setting.

Barely hanging on a cliff.

This giant limestone-looking flat boulder was in the middle of a wash, having been excavated by recent floods.  It was probably six feet across, at least.

More views from a wash.  The sun and shadows are very different when you are walking in a canyon and I had to be very aware of the time so as not to get stuck trying to find my way out in the dark.

Much of the land looks like this.  It isn’t really dirt or sand–it is an aggregate of stone and sand pushed up from the earth.

Creosote bushes are amazing survivors.  They were the first and sometimes only settlers on barren ground.  They have a defense mechanism where they exude toxic chemicals that won’t let other plants grow nearby, including other creosote bushes.  So, they are spaced out quite a distance and the desert never really looks like a shrubbery.  It looks more like the bushes were planted by a machine on 12 foot axes.

Bougainvillea grow well in the desert, as well, but have to be watered.  I’m not fond of this, the most predominant hue, but it certainly stood out in a world where almost every flower is yellow.

I saw this hummer in a Mesquite–we were watching each other.

I’ve heard these called Mexican petunias–they are ruellias.

Very drought tolerant, apparently.

This beautiful Bauhinia tree is in the same garden as the tea roses mentioned earlier.  This yard is an oasis–lots of green plants and bright flowers and birds (they have multitudinous feeders).

You can see the great Orchid Tree leaves here, along with the graceful flowers.

I’ll post more pictures in the next day or two.