I ordered some seeds from a new company this year, along with the companies I typically use.  HPS (Horticultural Products and Services Division) sent me an impressive catalog.  I took it to the cabin and picked out a  few things.  They are geared toward the commercial market (nurseries, etc.), but they have a few items in lesser quantities.  Here is what I ordered, and they landed at home today:

Begonia “Funky Pink”

If I’m lucky enough to get some of these seeds started, I plan to grow the plants on the back patio.  I read directions on the Begonia Society site and plan to do my best to sterilize and use sterile medium and grow the plants close together.

Parfait Raspberry Hybrid Dianthus

This dianthus cultivar has really large, showy flowers and will look great in patio pots and in the garden.

Bambino Marigold

For patio pots and interplanting with veggies in and around the raised beds.

Mimulus Magic Blotch Mix

I’m crazy for monkey flowers, but I’ve had limited success raising them from seeds.  Since these are pelleted, I’m hopeful I’ll be a bit more successful.   The goal is to place some in pots on the back patio and maybe some next to the pond, as well.

 

I discovered a great gardening community called Epic Gardening.  Kevin Espiritu is the owner and he’s got a great energy and insatiable curiosity.  He explores new topics with each podcast and video and welcomes guests, too, who are often easily relatable new gardeners.  The topics range from hydroponics, sustainable gardening and houseplants, pests, diseases and other ideas.  It is a fun indulgence on these non-gardening winter days.

The other thing I recently discovered is an app called PlantSnap, which is designed to identify plants just from pictures that you have on your device or take using the app itself.  I tested the app on my phone and it did a good job of identifying most things–probably 90%, including passion flower, hardy fuchsia, lewisia, and pineapple sage.  For plants that the app can’t identify satisfactorily, you can send the photo in and the team at PlantSnap will identify it and send you the result.  The app still needs a lot of work, of course, as it is very new and there are millions of plant species/cultivars.  There is a shrub in a planting here in North Seattle that I haven’t figured out and the app didn’t identify it, either, and the experts identified it, but I’m not satisfied with their answer.  I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about an app that can do this work, as one of my favorite things to do is identify plants for people, and now they won’t need me!

 

Last Sunday, brother Tim and I walked around West Seattle.  Here are some things we saw:

Above a rock wall very close to Tim’s apartment we found a cute garden with this white Lewisia still blooming.  It was fun to see a white one, as most of the recent hybrids are much less subtle.

Also not far from Tim’s place, there were a few of these Rudbeckias in a parking strip.  I think this is Rudbeckia lacinata.

Brother Tim in front of some holiday decor.

This Passion vine still had quite a few flowers.  It is a hybrid and the flowers were pretty showy though the vine was massive.

We found a tree topper at the West Seattle Antique Mall and I brought it home for Leon’s topper art.  He put it all together today and it looks wonderful.

 

 

 

 

For a few years, I thought about getting a “camera trap” for the cabin to see what kind of wildlife is around there.  I finally bought one about a month ago, but couldn’t get it to work on our last trip to the cabin.  I’m kind of glad because I got it to work last week here at home and I can’t believe all of the birds that it has captured!

Here is a Chestnut-Backed Chickadee:

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Hummingbird:

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Hummer bathing:

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Chickadees fussing:

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Nervous Chickadee:

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Attack from above:

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Ugh!  Not a bird:

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Female Junco:

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Male Junco ready for his close-up:

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Junco pair and Golden-Crowned Kinglet:

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Kinglet having a vigorous bath:

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Male Junco:

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Red-Breasted Nuthatch taking a dip:

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More Nuthatch silliness:

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So far, I’ve caught hummingbirds, black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees, red-breasted nuthatch, golden-crowned kinglets and dark-eyed juncos!  That’s pretty amazing, considering the camera was only set up on two different days so far!

The rat film shows how the camera works at night, too.  I was trying to capture raccoons but got the rat, instead.  We set traps accordingly and have killed three so far.

Stay tuned for more surprises in the coming days.

 

 

We’ve had some dry weather and sun, but cool weather.  Still, a few plants are blooming outside, and a few in the greenhouse, too.  I like to inventory the flowers around the yard on Christmas Day, but I bet I won’t have time this year, so I took photos a bit early.

A dianthus blooming in a pot near the driveway.  This single, brave bloom looked chilly and wet but added some color to a gray day.

Rose hips on the crazy wild rose at the end of the driveway.  These are festive, and I probably should make tea with them, but I never remember before they disappear.

This Verbascum has gotten huge and fallen leaves are wedging in between its woolly leaves.

Lamium looks fresh this time of year.

Close-up of the Lamium leaves.

Algerian ivy from brother Tim trying to escape from the Doug fir bed.  The leaves are real stand-outs this time of year.

Ivy close-up.

Aucuba looking shiny fresh.

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A single white borage blooming in the veggie bed.

Very hardy geranium blooming in a pot near the veggie beds.

A few streptocarpus are blooming in the greenhouse still.  There are so many plants in there, I can’t get close to these to get a better photo!

I was a little surprised to see these nasturtiums blooming at the back of the greenhouse.  It doesn’t look like it has gotten cold in there at all.

Seedling pelargonium blooming at the sunny end of the greenhouse.

Plectranthus humbly flowering in the greenhouse.

Another streptocarpus that doesn’t seem to know it is December.

When I opened the greenhouse door, a sweet smell overwhelmed me.  It was the angel’s trumpet, with two perfect blooms.

The second bloom and there is another bud coming!

 

We just spent six days up in Tonasket at the cabin.  We were treated to a little snow, a lot of wind, and some incredibly gorgeous scenery.

 

When I wasn’t hiking around the ranch, I was planning the 2018-and-beyond garden.  I put two orders together from catalogs that I brought with me.  I’ll be ordering way too many seeds again, but I have plans for all of them.  Whether I can keep up with all of that remains to be seen!

I also did some brainstorming about what I’d like to accomplish in the next 13 months in the greenhouse and garden.  Here are my random thoughts:

Garden Ideas from the Cabin trip 11/26/17

Things to Order/Buy:

12/2  Seeds identified from Pinetree and PHS catalogs

12/2 Seed starting mix from Amazon—Espoma or Black Gold

12/16  Start investigating what Sky has available for manure/compost for the parking strip bed and potting mix for delivery for all the big potting on that needs to be done

12/16 Order organic fertilizers for potting on and garden projects from Amazon smile

2/16 Order large 3-gallon pots to move Clivias into

2/16 Order orchid bark and moss for potting on Clivias and Cymbidiums

3/16 Get compost tea bags to add to water trays for the GH and shelf plants

Start looking online and at thrift stores for patio pots to use this summer—will need more of them, as will be adding some of the small trees/shrubs to patio pots this year

Wish List Plants and Seeds for the Future:

• Nicotiana sylvestris seeds
• Acanthus spinosus seeds
• Centaurea dealbata “John Coutts” seeds
• Geranium psilostemon seeds
• Incarvillea delavayi seeds
• Linum narbonense seeds
• Oenothera missouriensis seeds
• Agapanthus “Headborne Hybrid” seeds
• Cyclamen coum seeds
• Cyclamen hereifolium seeds
• Erythronium revolutum plants
• Lilium regale seeds
• Nerine bowdenii bulbs
• Gentian septemfida seeds
• Ceratostigma willmottianum plant
• Daphne mezereum seeds
• Mahonia “Charity” plant
• Philadelphus “Bouquet Blanc” plant
• Rhododendron “Yakushimanum” plant
• Ruscus aculeatus plants (male and female)
• Nothofagus—various species, seeds

Ideas to try in 2018:

• Buy or make some window boxes to hang on the fence by the compost bins and around—with vines like Thunbergera and Nasturtium
• Try growing vines up the summer-boring shrubs, like Clematis viticella hybrids up the camellia, the honeysuckle in the corner of the orchard bed, and the witch/winter hazels (4 vines needed)
• Put some sort of netting on the wall behind the tree peony seedlings and plant Eccremocarpus scaber to grow there and maybe another fancy vine—Trapaoleum speciosum, maybe? Or morning glories.
• Find another aucuba, preferable a female, to plant in the Doug Fir bed near the other one. They grow well there and not much else does!
• Plant the Paulownia tomentosa out in the garden and use it for coppicing once it settles in.

Garden Projects for 2018:

The theme for 2018 is Purge and Organize

• Sort through the outside shelf seedlings
  • Pot on the newest ones individually
  • Repot the older ones
    • Root prune with new soil, or
    • Move to larger pots
  • Determine a purpose for each plant
    • Bonsai
    • Patio pots
    • Garden
    • Sales/give-away
  • Identify, document, and label the bonsai plants
    • Photos
    • Labels with estimated start dates
  • Sort through the greenhouse plants
    • Clivias
      • As they bloom, photograph and label them so they can be identified later
      • Sell/give-away any that are no longer wanted/needed
      • Repot the remaining Clivia plants into new soil and larger pots
    • Cymbidiums
      • As they bloom, photograph and label them so they can be identified later
      • Sell/give-away any that are no longer wanted/needed
      • Repot the remaining Cymbidium plants into new soil and larger pots
    • Repot the older ones
      • Root prune with new soil, or
      • Move to larger pots
    • Others
      • All hardy plants get moved to the garden permanently
        • Eucomis
        • Sinningia tubiflora
        • Ferns
        • Daphniphyllum
        • Persicaria—move some outside
      • Repot and divide the big Pleione pot when it is finished blooming
      • Repot the Impatiens into a much larger pot—divide it if possible
      • Repot/top dress all the streptocarpus
      • Remove pots with no signs of growth (some were kept in fall just in case something is dormant in there)
      • Get rid of multiples and non-performing plants
      • Be RUTHLESS
    • Clean-up
      • Move the Clivia, Cymbidium, and Holiday Cacti to the Doug Fir bed for the warm months
      • Totally clean up under the greenhouse shelves throughout the greenhouse
      • Get rid of poisons
      • Get rid of old tubs of dirt
      • Organize pots and trays in the GH and the potting area
      • Organize the space to better use the sunlight and lower light levels
    • Greenhouse crops
      • Try to raise some crops in large pots in the greenhouse
        • Organize the space for best light and trellises where needed
          • Cucumber (2 3-gallon pots)
          • Peppers (2 3-gallon pots)
          • Melons (2 3-gallon pots)
          • Tomatoes (2 3-gallon pots)

 

I set out today to get pictures of my favorite leaves in the garden.  There were many gorgeous ones to choose from!

Here are two Japanese maples–a laceleaf one in front and a fuller leafed one in back.  The contrast of texture is interesting and the color is brilliant this time of year.

Close-up of the laceleaf variety.

This isn’t a clear picture, but it is pretty cool–these are the dropped maple leaves on the gravel path in the woodland garden.

Close-up of one of the fuller maple leaves.

Bright red leaves and ceramic mushrooms make a vibrant scene.

Redbud growing in a pot on the back patio.  The leaves color very differently than most, with beige around the veins and bright yellow on the rest of the leaves.

Another patio tree–possibly a hawthorn, but not sure.  It hasn’t ever bloomed.

I winterized the seedlings on the shelf next to the house today, taking them out of the trays I keep them in for the warmer months.  There are some pretty cool plants here.  I can’t wait to give them more attention starting next spring!

 

The greenhouse is “stuffed to the gills,” as brother Tim would say.

Here are some seedlings from arboretum seeds.  I need to investigate these.

I put the heeled in perennials to sleep today with a cover of leaves and needles.

Hard to believe there are 200+ perennials under this light mulch!  I hope they survive and thrive throughout the winter.

The asters in the Doug fir bed are still blooming–the light frost last night didn’t phase them at all.

 

I took great pains to shake the dame’s rocket seed heads all over the Doug fir bed to make sure I have a lot of new plants next year.  It appears to have worked!  Thousands of seedlings are up and growing.  Hopefully, they will make it safely through to spring.

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This mullein is growing robustly in the lawn near the driveway bed.  I’ll move it early next spring.

Soft pink linaria that brother Tim planted in the driveway bed.

Raspberries don’t get enough credit as garden plants.  There is so much beauty in their autumn leaves!

More views of raspberry leaves.

More aster flowers, these ones near the driveway.

Gorgeous leaf from winter hazel.

And another…

And another…

Another gorgeous raspberry.

Hakone grass starting to color up as the cool weather sets in.

This honeysuckle stump on the back patio is full of life–fungus sprouting the moist weather.

 

We’ve been blessed with more days of sun than rain…a mixed blessing if you are a plant that has struggled through a very dry summer followed by a surprisingly dry, sunny fall.  It does make it easier to get out there and work in the garden, though.

Last weekend, I decided to heel all of the perennial seedlings (destined for the parking strip garden) that were in small six-packs into the raised veggie beds for the winter.  I think they will survive much better there and get a chance to grow.  I took a rough inventory of all of the seedlings, both heeled in and in larger pots on shelves.  Here is the rough inventory, including other plants I intend to add:

Sedum	24
Arabis?	24
Aubrieta	24
Kenilworth Ivy	3
Ice Plants	(to be purchased)
Erigeron	18
Chaenorhinum	9
Verbena tuberosa	10
Helianthemums	(to be purchased)
Achillea ptarmica	24
Catmints	27
Heuchera	36
Agastache	8
Asters	12
Geraniums	(to be grown from seed next year)
Achillea	48
Columbine	56
Oriental Poppy	2
Penstemon	6
Peony	(to be purchased)
Goldenrod	(to grow from seed next year)
Tulips	(to be ordered online)
Echinacea	14
Goats Beard	4
Lupines	6
Anemones	(to be purchased)
Lychnis	22
Asters (my own)	(divisions in spring)
Delphinium	(seeds to start next spring)
Fuchsias	(to purchase next year)
Verbena bonariensis	60

I cleaned out the beds and heeled in 200+ seedlings.  It was brutal, but I’m so glad I got it done!  In addition, I organized all the other seedlings mostly in one place so I can keep track of them.   The grass in the parking strip isn’t dead yet, and the ground needs a lot of work before I plant it.

 

This is a cheerful October vignette with Linaria and a poorly timed Easter lily.  One of the Cola series geraniums is in the lower right.

Some of the seedling sweet williams are leggy and not spectacular, but this one is a rich cherry shade, with decent-sized flowers and a showy lighter throat.

The coral bark maple and some other trees are coloring up nicely.

 

Coral bark maple against the bluest sky.

Aronia thicket starting to flare.

Close-up of aronia leaf.

I like the contrast of shade and bright and large and tiny leaves.

Impatiens still making a grand show of things.

Brilliance in the shade.

 

Cercis leaves dressing for their final performance.

Dramatic hops against the house.

More drama with light and shade on maple leaves.

 

Vivid maple leaves.

And more.

Cerise geranium hanging on the fence.

Fuchsia Cardinal still blooming and enjoying the cold nights.

More Cardinal flowers.

And more…

Potato vine glowing on the back patio.

Close-up of some “potatoes” forming in the leaf axils.  This plant could be a runner if let out into the wild.  I’m only growing them in pots.

Begonia is flowering in the greenhouse during a very slow time.

A few more greenhouse flowers–these are cape primroses.

And seed-grown geraniums.

Acer davidii in pots on the shelves next to the house.  Cramped quarters don’t stop them from making lovely fall colors.

Not in my garden–these monk’s hoods are blooming down by my workplace in Georgetown.  There is a gorgeous garden there in the middle of nowhere with lots of amazing plant treasures.  I really want to add these to my own garden now that I’ve seen what they can do!

 

Another Georgetown treasure–I have grown this sage before, but not for a very long time.   And I haven’t seen it quite this robust.  It is the pineapple sage, Salvia elegans.

We had gorgeous, sunny autumn weather last weekend, so brother Tim and I took a trip to the arboretum.  Here are some of the things we saw:

In several spots, there were hardy cyclamen plants making a show.  They look great under trees, just graceful and simple.  I especially like this soft lilac shade.

Our favorite species fuchsia was blooming really well.  This substantial shrub has been in the same place at least twenty years, near the greenhouses by the visitor’s center.

Another view.

 

We saw this brilliant aster near the greenhouses, as well.

We stumbled on large clumps of colchicum flowers.  The rain had beaten them down pretty badly, but they still provided some cheer.

We never found the tag for this shrub, but I had o take a picture–the leaves were incredibly graceful.

Not a great photo, but it was fun to see this azalea in flower.

And some rhododendrons, too.

I think this was a Callistemon that had formed seeds.  If any of them come up, we’ll find out.  They were quite striking, like wood with an intricate pattern.

Brother Tim in front of some amazing grasses.

A liquidamber tree and a red maple starting to light up the sky.

Another view.  The blue, blue sky helped highlight the leaf colors.