I was able to get around all the gardens and take some more photos this weekend.  The garden needs some love, but it still offers up a lot of beauty.

Columbine seedling in the Armando garden.  There is a wide range of flower colors and shapes revealing themselves this month.

I love this one–very elegant and bright.

This one is pretty, too.  There are probably ten or so blooming right now, all mixed colors.  That probably isn’t ideal from a design standpoint, but this garden is meant to be bright and fun and insect/bird friendly.  I’m not going to fret if some of the colors clash!

I’m so excited about this little plant, also in the Armando garden.  These are Chaenorhinum.  They are dainty,  showy, and the flowers are fun.

Another Chaenorhinum view.

The golden hops really shine in the bright spring sunshine.  Extremely vigorous, we fight these back all spring just to make sure nobody dies.  It seems like they could overcome all of us, plants, animals, and people.

The tangle of hops–very Jack and the Beanstalk!

Rhodies blooming in the woodland garden.

It is easy to forget about this snowball bush in the woodland garden unless it is blooming.

These rhododendron flowers glow from within.  I’m glad I got this photo because the blooms started dropping the next day–so sad!

Another view.

Another view.

Choisya blooming in the woodland garden–nice fragrance and lots of flowers, but needs to be hacked back to the fence.  It wants to take over.

More photos of woodland garden rhododendrons.

A view of the entire shrub lit up by sun and blossoms.

 

On to the greenhouse.  The pelargoniums are blooming, creating a fun cloud of pink bug-like flowers.

This dwarf Hippeastrum is blooming on a shelf I can’t reach, so I used the zoom for the pictures.  It is an intense shade of red.

This dwarf Hippeastrum is blooming on a shelf I can’t reach, so I used the zoom for the pictures.  It is an intense shade of red.

Pelargonium “Grossersorten” blooming in the GH.

These little Restrepias ended up having four flowers each, which is great.  The flowers take on funny shapes at every stage.  This older bloom looks like a Looney Tunes bird.

This one looks like an alien.

This seedling nasturtium is a great

Dwarf Hippeastrum blooming in the GH.

Same flowers with more light to catch the color.

Amazing orchid Coelogyne cristata blooming in the GH.  This huge plant has 30-40 flowers this year.  They should be fragrant, but I can’t smell anything.  Maybe at night?

Close-up.

Another view.

Seedling Pelargonium blooming in the GH.

Closer view.

Geranium cutting taken last fall.  This is a gorgeous clone.

Masdevallias still blooming in the GH.

Daphne blooming in a pot on the patio.

Happy blooming Daphne on the patio.

Close up of these fragrant beauties.

 

Things have been really busy, but I had a chance to take some photos in the yard today and plan to add more entries this weekend.  The weather was gorgeous and the garden is full of wonderful things.

We have four crows that hang out around the yard.  We believe two are the parents and two are year-old youngsters.   We can only tell one of them from the others because she has a deformed bill.  We feed them every day (dog food) and they let us know when they want something.  I’m impressed with how well crows have adapted to urban environments.  They are incredibly smart and fun to watch.

We have a window box on the side of the house.  One of the snapdragons from last year’s seed-starting efforts wintered over well and is getting set to bloom.  I added a Nemesia from the Fred Meyers trip brother Tim and I took several weeks back.

I forgot that I tucked some Ornithogalum nutans bulbs in some of the pots around the house.  You can’t tell it from this bad photo, but the flowers are quite pretty and large.

Some shots of the orchard garden now, including wallflowers, tulips and bleeding hearts in the bed in front of the woodland garden.

Another view.

I had purchased dozens of tulips for the Armando parking strip garden, but the ground wasn’t ready for them last fall, so I plugged them in around the garden.  They are all viridiflora types, with green in the petals.  They are showy and elegant and really add to the May garden.

These white/green tulips light up the Doug fir bed.

More tulips in the Doug fir bed.

This one has very little green.

These are next to the house, near a downspout by the lilac shrub.

The bluebells are blooming right alongside the tulips–they make a nice duo.

Tulip hosting a bindweed!  The gorgeous flower overcomes the poor background in this photo.

More tulips.

And one last indulgence.

The Lamiums have never looked so good!  And on both sides of the path…so rare to have great foliage and flowers.

More tulips.  Leon cut the lawn this week and it makes a nice backdrop.

Another view.

The bleeding hearts are blooming big in the orchard garden.  This one from sister Cate is getting really large–close to three feet tall and wide.

Geranium phaeum blooming in the driveway bed.  This gorgeous, carefree plant comes up through its shorter neighbors and blooms for a few weeks, then disappears quietly.

Not a great photo, but you can get a sense of the volume of flowers.  This is a great year for this plant–maybe twice as many flowers as last year.

 

A lone tulip survivor which is several years old.  Tulips don’t perennialize easily in my garden, but a few of them survive and thrive.

I was ready to rip out the bearded iris in the driveway bed.  They are such a pain, with weeds and grass in-between the rhizomes and they haven’t been blooming well.  They must have sensed my threats, as this year there are 15 or more flower spikes!  That’s far more than we’ve ever had before.

More tulip views.

And another.

Aronia flowers in the orchard garden.

The lilacs are blooming and scenting the entire yard.

Columbine seedling.  The flower color is almost too dark, but there is a grace to these plants that I adore.

Abutilons blooming in the orchard bed.  These are three-year-old seedlings.  The plants need to be pruned or staked or something, but I can’t complain about the flowers–the cultivar is Suntense.

Another view.

And another….

The berries are blooming and I saw a lot of native pollinators around them.

I’m very impressed with these Geranium plants.  Grown from seeds two years ago, they were kind of spindly last year, but this year they are boisterous and bloomiferous.  You can see all the buds next to the flowers.

You can see how big these Geraniums are this year, close to two feet tall!  They are officially Geranium pyrenaicum “Summer Snow”.

There is a lot to not like about this weedy Lonicera, but I’ve kept one hoping the flowers are useful to birds and bees.  They don’t have any fragrance, so they aren’t much use to me.

Another view of an Abutilon.

I won’t get my hopes too high, but the cherry tree has approximately one jillion cherries on it right now.  I need to get some netting over it ASAP.

I liked the way this bleeding heart looked against the fence/trellis.

I grew this Iris siberica from seed.  I thought it was going to be “Lilting Laura,” but the color is wrong.  I’m thrilled that it is blooming for the first time this year.  I started it four years ago, I think.

Close-up of bleeding heart flowers.

I don’t have time for captions but wanted to put a few more pictures of the Clivias that are showing off in the greenhouse.  There are about 18 scapes this year, which is really good.  There are a few non-Clivia pics too.

There is too much to do for me to spend much time documenting things.  I wanted to post a few pictures of some nice bloomers, though, so I have a record of them.

One of the gorgeous “peach” Clivias.  This one has a great scape shape, big blooms, and a fantastic color–a real winner!

Another view, with the tubular-flowered seedling behind.

Here is the other first-time bloomer.  This one is a bit more yellow, and the scape is a bit weaker, but it is still gorgeous.

My lens fogged over due to the humidity in the warm greenhouse, but I snapped this close-up of my favorite Clivia anyway.

Mom’s Cymbidium blooming in the corner.  Nice, graceful flower scape.

Here is the second Restrepia division with both flowers open.

These flowers make me laugh–they look so alien!

Not a good picture, but he Pelargoniums are just starting to bloom in the greenhouse.  These flowers are on top of a monster 5-footer!

 

 

The rain and cold came back today, so I spent much less time outside.  I did manage to plant some tomato seeds inside and to repot all of the Streptocarpus (Cape Primroses) in the greenhouse.  I’m pretty stubborn with those plants.  I refuse to give them bigger pots, so I root pruned them substantially and added some really rich soil to the pots that included about 40% composted steer manure and a healthy dose of organic fertilizer.

Streptocarpus blooming last fall.

One of the plants had rotted, but there were two decent leaves left, so I used them as leaf cuttings.  Another plant had divided so much that it had completely filled the top of the soil with plants.  I cut that one in half and sawed some of the roots away from both halves before potting them in the magic mix.  Another pot had an amaryllis seedling started in it with a decent sized bulb.  I potted that on separately.

I think this was the cultivar that died back but left me with two leaf cuttings.

I have about eight pots of Cape Primroses now, not including the five or six eBay leaf cuttings that I started last fall/winter that I’ll work to pot on next weekend.

Here is one of the eBay cultivars–would love to get this one to bloom!

 

A few more chores were tackled in the garden today.

Tomorrow is Easter and this big pot of bright hyacinths seemed more Eastery than anything in the garden.

More hyacinths on the shelf outside the French doors.

This second-year hyacinth has a more natural look than the fuller first-year bulbs.

Osmanthus x burkwoodii (?) blooming in a pot on the patio.  The fragrance is wonderful.

Another view.  The leaves are gorgeous, too.  This shrub was looking sickly a year ago with yellowy leaves, but I moved it to a shadier site and that appears to have done the trick.

Corydalis in the same pot as the Osmanthus.

Sedum in a pot from sister Cate.

I forget about the purple violets in some of the patio pots until this time of year when they cheerfully surprise me.

A full pot of violets.

Trays of transplants on the greenhouse floor.  You can see all the perlite I’ve put on the cells to slow the fungus.

Masdevallias showing on on a greenhouse shelf.

Peachy-yellow clivia.

Another gorgeous clivia blooming in the greenhouse.

More pictures of my new favorite clivia flower.

Another view.

Another view…

And yet another.

Old faithful Miss Clivia from brother Tim.  These are offsets of a plant that was purchased about 40 years ago.

Oncoming clivia spike.

One of my favorite seedlings, this one has HUGE, long flowers in a more pastel orange/yellow than the species.

Cymbidium just opening.  The flowers haven’t done great this year, but there are a few flowers coming out now.

The full spike from this full-sized Cymbidium.

Another family plant from brother Tim, this is Mom’s Cymbidium, which is at least 30 years old.  It is by far the best clone I have, blooming regularly.  It seems less susceptible to viruses and aphids than the other clones in my greenhouse.

The Pleione ended up having seven flowers this year.

Side view of a Pleione flower.

More Pleione flowers.

Lewisia blooming in the greenhouse.  I’m excited to have this bright flower show–neither of the two Lewisias I have bloomed well last year.

Closer view.

This nasturtium vine is going into its third year and has flowers coming along already.  I swore off nasturtiums many years ago when black fly destroyed a whole border of them, but this vine doesn’t seem prone to aphids at all, maybe because it is enclosed in the GH.

This Restrepia guttulata is another very old plant.  It was purchased from Baker and Chantry orchids over 20 years ago.  I divided it and have two pots now of this miniature, weird orchid.

 4

The two Restrepias are shown here in a tray on a shelf in the greenhouse.

Another tray of transplants–these are Dianthus and Anagalis.

The tags are for the seeds I planted yesterday of Meconopsis and Digitalis.

The remaining Osteospermum seedlings are in the pots surrounding the Restrepias.  They were growing pretty well, but have slowed.

Center is a pot of Eccremocarpus with several seedlings.  It is always interesting to see how leaf shapes change in seedlings.

Eventually the leaves will look like the below (photo from Hortus Camdenensis)

Here is the Air Plant Tree, recnetly populated by a donaton from our friend, Naomi.

I suspect we have Juncoes nesting around the house somewhere.  This one was keeping an eye on me as I gardened.

Mertensia buds in the Doug fir bed–also called Virginia Bluebells.

There is only one Trillium left in the Doug fir bed, but it is about to bloom.

Fritillaria imperialis blooming in the Doug fir bed.

Another view.

Anemone blanda trying hard to stand out in the Doug fir bed.

Gorgeous, delicate Anemone flowers.

Hyacinths and mini narcissi next to the house.  Cheerful and fragrant!

The last order was made through Bluestone Perennials.  I’ve had good luck with their plants before:

Geranium “Rozanne”

Geranium “Patricia”

Geranium “Brookside”

Anemone “Honorine Jobert”

Phlox “Laura”

Salvia “Crystal Blue”

 

For some more unusual plants, I turned to Annie’s Annuals:

Kniphofia thompsonii

Calceolaria “Kentish Hero”

Eriogonum “Red Buckwheat”

Euphorbia characias  “Dwarf”

With any luck, these will eat up a lot of space and add some texture and color interest.

It became pretty obvious as I was planting the seedlings I started myself last year that I wouldn’t have nearly enough plant material to cover all the parking strip, especially since I lost quite a few plants over the winter.  I had planned to add some other perennials, anyway, so I went ahead and ordered some this week.

I ordered from several places–including Gilbert H. Wild:

 Peony “Big Ben”

Peony “Coral Charm”

Peony “General MacMahon”

Peony “Krinkled White”

Peony “Sorbet”

Peony “White Dream”

Grass “Apache Rose Switch Grass”

Daylily “Going Bananas”

Daylily “Primal Scream”

Daylily “Tigereye”

Ice Plant “Fire Spinner”

 

 

 

 

I took an extra day off work this weekend and I’ve got a long list of chores, both garden and non-garden, to finish before Monday.

Seed starting is in full swing.  I’ve transplanted about 36 blue pimpernels (Anagallis monellii).  These are destined for patio pots, garden fill-in, and plant sales.

Note:  Image is on Annie’s Annuals website–they are an amazing nursery with lots of awesome and interesting plants.  They sell individual plants of annuals, but many of them can be grown on their own, which is what I do!

I also have about 50 Dianthus “Super Parfait Raspberry” seedlings that I’ve potted on.  I’ve grown these for patio pots, garden fill-in, and plant sales.

Note:  Image is on HPS website.  The seeds I got from this firm have given me almost 100% germination.

I also transplanted about 8 Eccremocarpus scaber seedlings.  I’m going to grow these in window boxes and up some trellises, with one in the greenhouse to keep permanently.

The photo is from Dobie’s website, a seed house in the UK.

Today, I transplanted about 50 monkeyflowers (Mimulus Magic Blotch Hybrids).  I’ve always loved this plant family, so couldn’t resist this fun cultivar.  Some of them are tiny, but they appear to be strong growers, so I’m hopeful most of them will grow to bloom in patio pots, the garden, and for plant sales (if they grow fast enough).

The photo is from HPS, who sell these pelleted seeds.  There were 250 pellets in the packet, so I’m giving a bunch of seeds away!

I also potted about 50 Salvia Lighthouse Purple seedlings today.  As with the other plants I listed, these will fill gaps in the garden, patio pots, and hopefully, help fundraising efforts at plant sales.

The photo is from Pinetree’s website, where I bought these seeds.  They look to be vigorous seedlings!  

There were about 14 seedlings from Chiltern’s Hardy Geranium mix.  I started these indoors under lights and they germinated and grew very quickly.  I’m hoping there were one or two Geranium psilostemon seeds in there.  These seedlings are destined for the Parking Strip garden.

The photo on Chiltern’s website.

After transplanting into soil that was amended with organic plant food and watered with fish poo water from Leon, I noticed the pots were forming fungus all over the top of the soil.  To combat this, I sprinkled perlite all over the tops of every cell.  I’m hoping this will do the trick.

Previously, I transplanted the Osteospermum, Delphiniums, Chard, Alyssum and Bachelor’s buttons.  I moved them to the cold frame, and tiny slugs decimated many of them, but the Osteospermum “Akila White with Purple Eye” transplants were okay still, so I moved them back to the greenhouse and helped one tiny slug to migrate elsewhere when I saw it crossing the top of one of the pots with an enlarged stomach full of Osteospermum!

Photo from Pinetree, where I ordered these seeds.

I planted sweet pea seeds from brother Tim this week, too, and today planted all the seeds I had been stratifying in the refrigerator, including three packets of Meconopsis betonicifolia and a packet of Digitalis obscura, which I hope to germinate in the greenhouse.  These will get planted out in the parking strip garden this fall if any of them sprout and grow big enough.

Indoors, I planted more seeds, including Salvia viridis “Pink Sundae”, Lettuce “Flashy Trout Back”, cucumber “Diva”, Agastache foeniculum, Petunia “Dreams Mix”, Marigold “Bambino” and Oregano “Kirigami”.

Tomorrow, I’ll plant more seeds in the greenhouse and the veggie beds.  Stay tuned for an update.  I’ll work on getting some good flower photos in the greenhouse and garden, too.