I’m 90% sure that I lost all of my plums to squirrels this year (there’s a 10% chance it was rats, but I’m choosing not to explore that option).  The apples are nearing perfection right now and my preference is that they don’t meet the same fate.  Because the apple trees are small and columnar and not near many other trees or fences, I figure that I might keep the squirrels at bay by surrounding the trees with a thorny barrier of bramble and rose clippings.  Today, I put piles of berry and rose branches all around the apple trunks.  Hopefully, that will be enough to save the apples for another week or two when I’ll pick them all.

It is tough to see the stickers in the above photo, but trust me, they are there!  And I got poked enough stacking them there–I think it might work!

The jewels I’m hoping to protect!

This has been a difficult summer for the garden.  We had the longest period of no rain in Seattle history–over 50 days.  And even the rain that ended that stretch was not garden-worthy.  No significant rain has still fallen through mid-September!  However, starting tomorrow at around 1:00 pm that is supposed to change–nearly 100% chance of rain for the next four days.  I really hope it happens.

The plants are definitely stressed out, despite our efforts to irrigate them regularly.  When the ground is this dry, the little amount of sprinkler watering we do just barely keeps the plants alive.  They still show signs of stress.  For example, powdery mildew came earlier and more heavily this year than most.

Despite the challenges, though, there are still signs of beauty in the greenhouse and garden.  Below are some of the things I found today.

The impatiens have impressed all summer long.  Leon and I are in agreement that I need to grow more of them next year for the back patio.  The conditions suit them perfectly and they require nothing but water to look this good for months–right up until frost.  I may move them into the greenhouse to try to winter them over, or maybe I’ll take some cuttings next weekend to winter over.

Closer photo showing flower form.  One of the most impressive features of impatiens plants is their self-cleaning ability.  While I’m forever pinching off dead geranium flowers, I never once had to attend these user-friendly plants.

Even closer…

And closer still.   You can see the light spots near the flower center that add even more light to the shady patio.

On the fence surrounding the back patio, this geranium is enjoying a second flush of brilliant bloom,

Cardinal fuchsia blooming despite all the heat and dryness.  Trying to keep patio pots watered is a full-time job!  I absolutely love the wall hanging here on the patio fence.

The best greenhouse show is provided by these streptocarpus plants and an angel wing begonia.  The “Cape Primroses” are late this year due to the rat that was eating the buds off the plants until it was

I overlooked this seedling geranium when I was potting them all on into patio pots.  It is a gorgeous soft salmon shad with white eyes.  I plan to label all of the geraniums so that I can match them up better next year.  This year, I’ve got some pretty awful clashing going on, offending even my very relaxed sense of color propriety.

This tradescantia flower is large for its type and very pretty.

I sprinkled hippeastrum seeds on some empty pots and this one sprouted in just a few weeks.

I found two flower stalks on Sinningia tubiflora in the greenhouse.  The plant needs some significant love–maybe this autumn I’ll repot it in some good soil in a much bigger pot.

I received a perennial daisy plant mix when I mail-ordered starts this spring.  This rudbeckia is one of them.  It is in a small pot and barely clinging to life, but it threw a cheerful flower.

Yellow ironweed blooming in near the old lilac.  This is Verbesina alternifolia.

Gorgeous cherry tomatoes in the veggie garden.  We didn’t get very many tomatoes–just enough to remind us how good real tomatoes taste!

Monster Echinops ritro in front of the greenhouse.  This impressive perennial didn’t seem phased at all by the lack of rain.

Garlic chives from brother Tim blooming in the driest bed of all, the raised bed under the Douglas fir.

Voodoo lily berries starting to color up.

Another view…

And another.

Asters blooming in the Doug fir bed.

Close-up of the dwarf aster flowers in the Doug fir bed.

Dogs enjoying what may be their last chance to be tied outside for awhile.

Rose hips from the wild rose grown from arboretum seed at the end of the driveway.  I sometimes want to pull this rose out, as it is a monstrous thug, but these hips remind me why I love it.

Lots of bright hips this year–should be very festive through the holidays.

Phlox still has some flowers.  They bloomed better this year than ever.

Another view…

Verbascum seedling that needs to get moved–it is growing in the lawn near the new cherry trees.

Seedling geranium blooming in a pot near the driveway.  These flowers are interesting in that they are stippled with darker pink in an attractive way.

David Austin rose blooming in the orchard bed.

Prime Ark blackberries in the orchard garden.  I’ve finally hit on consistent berry production by adding the Himalayan blackberry to the veggie beds.   The domesticated berries produce July and early August, then the wild Himalayan produces heavily in August and early September, then Prime Ark comes through with some giant berries later in September.  They taste amazing!

Some more giant Prime Ark berries–they are about six times as big as the average Himalayan berries.

The perennial peas in the orchard garden are starting to bloom again, happier now that the weather is a bit cooler.

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides blooming in the orchard bed.  This unassuming perennial amazes me late every summer when these bluer than blue flowers show up.

Another view…

And here is the whole plant.

There are two different kinds of aster near the driveway–this taller, periwinkle blue one…

And this shorter lavender one.

The fragrant rose on the Jeff Tangen arbor has bloomed better this year than ever before.  It continues to throw buds and flowers and to waft its sweet scent throughout the front yard.

 

Love the colors of these roses.

One of the salvia seedlings in a patio pot in the driveway.

The pansies I bought in very early spring are still blooming.  I know the cooler fall weather will help them to look their best again.  I’m hoping they’ll winter over.  They have been excellent pot plants!

The clematis on the Jeff Tangen arbor has thrown a few late, very welcomed flowers.

 

 

 

A large western hemlock tree died across the street (no surprise, since they built a new house there and compacted the soil and removed nearby trees that helped shade it).  We were sad to see it go, but happy when the tree cutters came and shredded it.  Leon had the foresight to ask if they would give us the chips from it, and they did.  On top of that wonderful gift, they offered to drop off more chips when they cut down other trees in the neighborhood.

Because the seedlings for the parking strip garden are doing so well, I decided it makes more sense to plant them this fall, rather than in the spring.  So, Leon is helping me kill the grass in the parking strip so it will be ready to plant come early November.  We put down tarps and landscape cloth in anticipation of the second batch of chips.

And then this happened:

The tree cutters dropped off a huge pile of chips on Friday!  I called it Mt. Chips and this is Bodhi conquering it.  I estimate it was about four square yards of chips that smelled great–we think it was a pine tree.  And it was all free!

So, I spend a lot of the Labor Day holiday spreading it onto the parking strip and beyond–because there was way more than we needed for just the parking strip.  We also mulched the woodland garden and mulched over the too-thin mulch around the raised veggie beds.  Brother Tim helped out today and it went pretty fast with three of us!

IMG_4771

Click above to see Brother Tim and the final results.

I also potted up six Streptocarpus leaf cuttings from eBay that I plan to root in my room on the heating cable in the humidity tray.  The cuttings arrived in wonderful shape and I’m hopeful that all of them will root.  They include:

UA Solar Eclypse

Nina

Midnight Thunder

Leon

Angelina Jolie

Valor

Some of the perennial seedlings are blooming already.  The Achillea ptarmica are blooming, as are the Santa Barbara daisies, and a few of the catmints, as well.  Most of the plants look pretty strong, but I’m not sure exactly how I’ll get them safely in the ground and mulched when they are still pretty small.  The soil in that strip will need some organic matter, manure, and fertilizer, too, to help them out.  I’ll work on that in the coming weeks.

 

A few of last year’s dahlias came through the winter.  This waterlily-flowered beauty is in the driveway bed.

The rose on the Jeff Tangen Arbor has been blooming since spring, but for some reason, the summer flowers don’t self-clean the way the spring flowers do…so it isn’t quite so pretty right now.

But there are still some fresh flowers–and oh, that sweet scent!

Here are the “Cola Series” geraniums I grew from seed this year.  I made the mistake of not labeling them by color.  The mixed up pots would make Christopher Lloyd roll over in his grave!  But I can label them this year before they go to sleep and maybe match them up a bit better next year.  Each color is lovely, but they clash pretty badly as a group.

The other clashing is from the snapdragons that I also started–they are beautiful but don’t necessarily mix with the geraniums.

I had cut back this mullein way back, never expecting it to rebloom so quickly.  This is a gorgeous one–I’m hoping to get some seeds off of it to keep it going.

The David Austin roses have flushed with second blooms in the summer–some of them, at least.  The others are fighting with the bindweed, so maybe they don’t have the strength.

A soft pink geranium seedling and an orangey snapdragon.

The amazing first flower on this streptocarpus that I bought last year.

A closer view.

I’m working on my degree at North Seattle College.  The campus doesn’t have the classic architecture and beauty that you might see at UW or Harvard, but can I consider it Ivy League, given that many of the cement walls are covered in Boston ivy?  There are some nice, interesting plantings around the campus, too.

The dwarf gesneriads that I bought late last year have been struggling at work.  This little guy threw a flower, though–either to celebrate life or foreshadow death–anybody’s guess at this point.

Clematis on the Jeff Tangen Arbor.

Clematis and roses hanging in front of the arbor…a little wild growth, but beautiful excess.

Brugmansia blooming on the patio–very heady scent.

A more sunshiney view.

 

We took a trip to the cabin back in late June and I’m just now getting around to posting the pictures.  The wildflowers were more outrageous than I’ve ever seen in twelve years of going there!

This is the front yard of the cabin blooming with lots of lupines and more.  You can see our meadow and the aspen grove beyond.

Blanket flower (Gaillardia) blooming on the ranch.  Despite having taken dozens of photos of these flowers, I have a tough time resisting every chance I get!  They just seem to handle the sun better than any other wildflower around.

I had only seen Phacelia linearis growing in front of our cabin before, but I found another patch of them on the ranch on one of my hikes.

I’m sad that Buckwheats have such a bland name.  They are spectacular wildflowers and were really making a show on the ranch when we were there.  I’m not sure which one this is.

Growth habit of buckwheat.

This picture is from a hike I took with Bodhi.  So beautiful!

Another view of the same mountain.

Deer Indian Paint Brush–Castilleja cervina.  These grow along Bench Creek road a short distance from the cabin.

The habit of growth of the Deer Indian Paint Brush.

Another field with wildflowers.

My best hiking buddy, Bodhi, covered in thick mud from some adventurous exploring we did.

He’s filthy but happy!

This is one of the old-growth larches left on the ranch.  I love the surreal, misty look of this photo, but the truth is that a car just drove by on the very dusty road!

Another view…

And another view…

This was an amazing find.  On one of our hikes, we went up a road to a vacant space that used to have people living there, probably just before we got our place twelve years ago.  They had tried to garden in old tires.  This is what was left–with no care for twelve years, this poor little rhubarb was still trying to make it!  I plan to dig it up in the fall and bring it to Seattle so it can get cared for!

There were dozens of Columbia Ground Squirrels around the ranch.  Some years there are very few, so it was nice to see so many this year.

Here is a youngster that was naive enough to let me get within about six feet and take his picture.

Bodhi on the road again.

Pups enjoying the meadow view.

Another ground squirrel keeping watch in the high grass.

Wild clematis I stumbled on while lost on a hike.  I suspect this is Clematis occidentalis.

Interesting fungus on the dry ground, forming huge “fairy rings” in some areas that are probably decades old.

I believe these are Penstemon pruinosus–startlingly blue and very beautiful.

Another view…

 

I haven’t ID’d this wildflower yet, but will keep looking.

Penstemon fruticosus in bright sun.

Veronica in a wet spot off the side of one of the forest service roads.

Geranium viscosissimum on a hillside near the cabin.

Geranium viscosissimum flower.

Western tanager–not a great photo, but he definitely was there!   It is always a delight to see these vibrant birds.

Chipmunks were common on this trip, too, so I took more photos of them, too!

I’m not sure of the ID of this pea relative.

Another view of this mystery vetch.

Another view.

Among the thousands of blue-eyed grass flowers in the various meadows around the property, this white clone stood out.

I could smell this rose from a distance–and it was gorgeous to boot!

More ground squirrels keeping a lookout for dangerous Lhasa Apso pups.

Leon with his best buddy…

Cows in the meadow…

Closer view of the wildflowers…

I realized the Say’s Phoebes were nesting on one of the logs under the eaves…and when I looked, I saw this little guy…

And this little one…

Ended up there were four babies and they fledged (partly to avoid the paparazzi).  I was worried about them, but later in the day, one of them landed on my glasses while I had them on my face while I was sleeping in the hammock on the porch.  I was able to get Leon to look over and see it, too, so it wasn’t just a dream!

Another view of the wildflowers and the meadow in the background.

Another chippie pic–he thought he was hiding, but my zoom lens found him.

The opposite lens, the macro, caught this hover fly on a wildflower-possibly Arnica.

Another chippie with sage in the background.

Another view.

Gorgeous yellow daisies amid the summer grasses.

Close-up.

A beetle on the flower.

Flower and bug–my idea of heaven.

More wildflowers.

More daisies.

Scarlet gilliflowers in the vivid sunshine.

I’ll have to investigate this little guy…no idea…

Another view of the gilliflower.

Looking up in the flowers, you see that they aren’t a solid scarlet–there are spots and stripes.

I believe this is salsify…the flowers have a delicate beauty and they eventually turn into giant dandelion-like puffy seed heads.

 

A very different kind of yellow wildflower–maybe a hawkweed.

Love this light on the aspens…

And this light….I guess I love every light on the meadow!

I had to take a picture of this Ipomopsis–it was so bushy and full of flowers–very unlike most of them that are just one or two narrow stalks.

Rose flower…slightly out of focus.

More rose blossoms near the cabin.  All the wild roses have a wonderful sweet smell.

Another rose–I can’t resist them.

More roses…

And yet one more.

The wild delphiniums were blooming everywhere around the ranch–many more than I’ve ever seen before.

You can see more of the delphiniums here.

It was hotter at the cabin than it has ever been, surpassing 90 degrees on a few days, but because the summer was just starting, everything was still very green.

The cows came around while we were there–always fun to see.  Bodhi took off down the meadow to bark at them, but they luckily turned and ran without kicking him.

One of the better pictures of a delphinium amid the high grass.

Another view showing light through the blue-purple flowers.

Another view.

Silly calf wasn’t sure what we were up to.

Prairie Smoke, a native geum, going to seed near the cabin.

A ground squirrel on one of the giant felled logs in the meadow.

View of the cabin looking back over a giant felled log.

Looking back over the seasonal stream.

Blue eyed grass near the stream.

Gorgeous little butterfly on a sage plant in front of the cabin.  This may be a Boisduval Blue.

 

 

Garden writers often call out the infamous July gap in the garden.   This is the down time after all the classic perennials have finished their show. Admittedly, my garden usually has a gap from about July to February!  But this year, it feels like there are just enough things blooming to avoid the “gap” term altogether.

This is a happy sight!  I received free gift seeds with a bunch of other seeds about four years ago–Agapanthus praecox.  I planted them, thinking they would never grow.  And here is the result, blooming for the first time this year.Another view.  The color is remarkable–a little deeper than sky blue with darker stripes down the middle of each petal.

Here is Europeana rose blooming near the Jeff Tangen arbor.

Better lighting in this close-up.  The color is darker than what his show here–somewhere between scarlet and crimson.

A glorious mix of clematis and rose on the Jeff Tangen arbor near the front door.

Another view…

And another…

I always find it interesting that some of these gorgeous flowers have four petals…

While some sport five.

Some carry-over geraniums from last year near the driveway, blooming their hearts out!

Daylily near the driveway.

Here are some of the year’s seedlings grown for patio pots.  I love the salvias–they have cheery color and graceful form.

A little fuzzy, but these are snapdragons I grew from seed.

More patio seedlings–the Cola series geraniums have nice color on their leaves.

Crocosmia “Lucifer” blazing bright in the orchard bed.  These are from sister Cate.

Close-up of “Lucifer.”

These are almost too bright to be true!

I think this is Verbascum olympicum from a seed mix a few years ago.  This is the queen of mulleins–extremely showy and long-lasting.  I should have staked it, though, but it has held up okay, with just a graceful curve.

One of the oldest plants in the garden, this came with me from our previous rental house, so is at least 22 years old!  Richly fragrant, this beauty is lighting up and scenting up the orchard garden.

The berries have landed!  This is an unripe Tayberry.

The black-cap raspberries are providing dessert every night!

Close-up of one of the Lathyrus vines growing through the Goumi in the orchard garden.

Brother Tim came by last weekend and brought some fruit stockings.  I put about 25 of them on the apples and plums.  Some of the fruit is still naked.  We’ll see which ones fare better.

Here are the plums–they are just starting to show some color.

Unprotected plums.  I’m so anxious to finally taste some of these “Beauties.”  The squirrels got all four of them before they were ripe last year.

More patio seedlings–these impatiens are extremely impressive.  The flowers are huge and they self-clean and just keep blooming!

My long-time friend, Begonia boliviensis, blooming on the patio.  The plant came up really strong this year in the same pot it’s been in for three years!

More Agapanthus pix.

A little blurry, but you can see how big the flowers are and how graceful and intricate.

I spent hours this weekend potting on the perennial seedlings that I’m growing for the parking strip garden.

I’ve transplanted seven trays so far (72 plants each) of perennials, including three kinds of yarrows, lychnis, arabis, dianthus, echinacea and more.  There are a lot more to move along, so I’ll be working on it throughout the coming week.

This Verbascum surprised me by opening flowers in the orchard bed.  It has many other spikes coming on below the original flowers, as well.

The low late-spring light shining through the first streptocarpus to bloom–this lovely white flowered, purple edged cultivar.

There is a Portugal laurel growing just down the street.  I don’t have room for this shrub/tree, but I enjoy it in other people’s yards.

The flowers have a light, sweet fragrance.  They show strongly against the dark glossy foliage.

This gorgeous cistus is planted at a housing development very close by.  These shrubs are blooming spectacularly this year.

Another view showing all the flowers open at once.

At my new bus stop, an apartment building added some very nice landscaping.  There are large Acanthus mollis and variegated Hebes looking really sharp along a faux creek bed.

Hebe habit.  I think this is Hebe variegata.

Close-up view.

 

It is that crazy time of year when the rain combines with the warmth to promote exponential growth in the garden.  Below are a few pictures I captured today.

This penstemon from brother Tim is blooming along the fence in the orchard garden.  It is pretty lax and low and always has to fight with the bindweed, but I’ve cut a lot more bindweed back this year, so I got more flowers.

Lady of Shalott rose blooming in the orchard bed.  The flowers on this rose are spectacular, but I was sad to see quite a bit of damage to the leaves this year.  I’m not sure who the culprit is–it’s almost like leaf miners, but not really trails that you usually see with miners.

Another photo of these beautiful blooms.  And they smell wonderful, too.

This one is Boscobel–another very beautiful flower, but the shrub is very lax.  I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong–I might try tying the shrubs up so they get a hint to grow more upright.

More Lady of Shalott flowers–they are so big, they kind of hang down, but they are worth kneeling down for!

It is pretty strange to have the Bleeding Heart still blooming–usually, it is done and heading towards dormancy by June.

Campanula porscharskyana blooming in the afternoon sun on the wall to the Doug fir bed.

Close up of the bellflowers showing their interesting shape and bright blue color.

This scented pelargonium is blooming very strongly this year in the greenhouse.  The flowers are dainty, bright, and brilliant.

A delicate Abutilon in the greenhouse–a very light pink with darker veins.

Lewisia blooming in the greenhouse.  I have two of these hybrids in the greenhouse.  This one seems happy and healthy.  The other one seems to be struggling.  I may try repotting it if it doesn’t get any flowers soon.

Hippeastrelia blooming in the greenhouse–five or six flowers open at the same time–more than ever before.

Close up of the Bird of Paradise bloom–amazing shape and color.  And it changes shape every day.

Another view.

The air plants seem really happy this year–this clump is throwing three flower spikes.

So much going on and the garden and greenhouse are changing daily.  Here are some pictures of today’s highlights:

Hippeastrum/Sprekelia cross just popped up in the greenhouse.  The pot of bulbs has three spikes this year.

I planted most of the year’s seedlings into patio pots today.  I couldn’t get the phone camera to focus because of this white impatiens–the camera just didn’t like the light reflecting from it.  I only ended up with three seedlings, but that is perfect for the one pot on the back patio for which these were destined.

Strelitzia reginae just opening in the greenhouse.  Watching this intricate, odd flower open is a fun endeavor.

One of the patio pots I planted today with pelargonium, snapdragon, and salvia.

The gorgeous red hippeastrum is still blooming well.   Photos don’t do it justice.

But that won’t stop me from trying to do it justice…

Pelargonium “Grossersorten” blooming all through the greenhouse.  I keep many starts of these favorites growing every year.  The combination of dark, healthy, zoned foliage and the clean coral pink flowers.

The David Austin roses are really putting on a show around the orchard garden.

The form of the flowers, the colors and the scent–it all adds up to an exceptional show.  My only complaint is that the bushes aren’t particularly strong, but I think possibly this is due to a lack of sun and the ravages to the ever-present bindweed.  I am taking time and effort to keep the rampaging vines off the roses, but it is a Herculean task.

Another slightly different view.  This one is Fighting Temeraire.

This bulbous gem is the one remaining Nectarscordum siculum left in the garden.  I probably started with twenty-five of them ten years ago and they slowly died out.  I’ll likely add some more this autumn since they have such interesting blooms held high enough to notice.

The gorgeous rose on the Jeff Tangen arbor started blooming last week.  The fragrance is remarkable when you pass underneath.

Close-up showing how the flowers open a soft apricot yellow and fade to cream and then white.

Styrax japonica blooming over the koi pond.  This graceful tree is a mixed blessing–beautiful, but pretty messy (and a bit poisonous), so not the best choice for over a pond.  In this case, though, what’s done is done–the tree is twenty years old and I’ve yet to come up with a better solution for that particular space.

Every year I intend to plant perennial seeds in May to get strong seedlings to plant out the following spring.  This is the first year I actually did it–all of these seeds I planted for the parking strip garden I’m planning.  And the best thing is that virtually every type of seed has come up.  You can see one tray above, and there is another similarly fertile tray to match.  There will be much transplanting to do in the coming weeks, but I’m happy to do it–hundreds of plants for a bright new garden!

I really love this plant so far–Malabar spinach (Basella rubra).  It is a climbing substitute for spinach.  I just need to find some space for it to climb.  I’ve got so many vines and brambles up now, most of my vertical options are taken.

The raised bed the brother Tim helped me plant a few weeks ago has finally settled in.  The lettuce and escarole are really starting to grow and the tomatoes have finished sulking.  I put some tomatillos out today next to the tomatoes, but not sure how they will do, since they were very small and already getting flowers.  I’m hoping they aren’t stunted.

Hesperis matronalis catching some early evening light.

The violas that I got at Fred Meyer early in the spring are enjoying to bursts of sunshine mixed with the wet spells.

More baby pansies in pots in the front of the house.

I suspect the lack of water in a very crowded pot resulted in the white geranium having these wispy blooms.  You can see the normal flowers at the very left of the photo.

The plum tree has more than a dozen plums this year–up from four last year.  I’m hopeful that some will get ripe and I’ll be able to taste one before the animals find them.

Another rose photo.

And another.

This beauty is “Olivia”–supreme form and strong, sweet fragrance.

The columnar apple trees have apples this year–not sure if my brush-pollination helped, or if some winged critters did the trick, but we’ll have a few dozen apples if all goes well.

The taller tree has even more flowers…

Blackberry flowers.  The domesticated cultivars may be a bit light on berries this year, but I have a “wild” Himalayan blackberry trained in one of the raised beds, and it has dozens of flower buds–it looks like it will provide all the blackberries I need.

Goumi berries developing on the shrub.  There were a LOT of flowers this year, but I think fewer berries than last year–not sure if it was a pollination issue or what.  The shrub is growing quickly this spring.

Aronia berries are also plumping up.

Another rose bud.

More little pansies.

This sad looking clump of sticks is all that’s left of the scorpion senna that had taken over the brick bed near the Jeff Tangen arbor.  I cut it way back today, which looks really drastic.  It should be a mass of new green growth in a month or so, and it will probably bloom again, too.

Just a quick post to put some photos up from Seattle and Honolulu.

Interesting Hibiscus near our friend Dean’s condo building.  The flowers don’t seem to open all the way–and yet they have their own charm and showiness.

Close-up of one flower.

I didn’t get to the beach much on this trip, but here is Diamondhead–always so nice to see.

And interesting Hibiscus bloom near Fort Derussy.  It must have taken eons to breed these delicate pastels in the blue-purple/smoky brown shades.

Upon my return, the iris in my garden were all up and blooming.  The hardy purple clone that always survives and thrives dominate this bed.  They look good and smell great, too.

Huge Hippeastrum flower in the greenhouse.  I was surprised to see this monster open already.  It was just a tight bud eight days before when I flew away.

I hope I don’t miss this orchid cactus when the flower opens.  They only last a day, I think, so it is easy to miss them, especially since I have to work away from home much of this coming weekend.

The Hesperis are blooming in the Doug Fir bed.  More and more lavender ones are creeping in among the white, but the effect is pleasing and the fragrance wonderfully sweet.

Another view with Leon’s Miracle Grow Sculpture rising behind/above.

This Rhododendron is really shining outside our bedroom window.  My plans to rip and shred the current foundation shrubs lose out to these amazing blooms!

More foundation Rhodies–there are two of these along the living room window with a dwarf lilac in-between.  The flowers are maybe a bit more purple/blue than the photo shows.

Geranium phaeum blooming in the driveway bed.  This cranesbill rises above the Big Root Cranesbills surrounding it.  The color is a nice purple, showier than many I’ve seen.

Another view.

A poppy popping open in the driveway bed.  This is one of the Pizzicato strain that I grew from seed probably 20 years ago.  I am growing them again this year and there are at least 50 seedlings, so I should get a nice variety of colors.

The Dianthus that overwintered in the patio pots in front are blooming nicely–an electric pink.

The wild arboretum rose plant grown from seed 15+ years ago is blooming.  It is a pain most of the year, literally and figuratively, due to thorns and robust habit (and stupid placement), but the flowers are some of my favorites.  They are simple, wild-looking, and sweet-smelling.

The shrub roses have open flowers in the orchard bed.  The vindictive bindweeds have taken over again in my absence.  I need to find time to snip them back again this week/weekend.

Another of the Austen roses in the orchard bed.

And another.

Polemonium “Heavenly Blue” grown from seed and blooming nicely in the orchard bed.

Close up of these very blue flowers.  Heavenly is right!

This is Austen’s Ebb Tide blooming in the orchard bed.  A scrumptious purply red.

Another Ebb Tide flower.

Columbines in the driveway/orchard bed.  They are being overwhelmed with raspberries and now bindweed, but they lok pretty good right now.

I didn’t make it out to the garden this weekend, except to look around.  This afternoon it rained like mad, which was fine with me.  I took the opportunity to dip a lot of water out of the rain barrel and thoroughly water the greenhouse plants.  I haven’t had to use the hose yet for any watering…which is great for the plants and the water bill, but tells you how wet the weather has been, as well.  It takes 6 or 7 watering cans full of water to hit all the greenhouse plants and that takes the barrel down pretty low for the three goldfish that live in there.  Today, though, it was raining so hard that the water was filling in as I pulled it out.

On the fence behind the house, this Clematis montana variety rubens blooming smartly.  The flowers smell of vanilla and perfume.

Lit from the front and photographed from behind–these flowers are short-lived, but really welcomed on these wet, gray days.

The display area of the greenhouse showing the two Hippeastrums in bloom.  A third bulb is spiking on the shelves there but it is far from opening.  I suspect it is the white-starred red one that I’ve had for many years.  This little red one is gorgeous!

One of my original Abutilon “Bella Select Mix” seedlings.  This one is probably close to ten years old.  The plant is a bit of a mess, but the flowers are big and showy.

I was happy to see some of the perennial seedlings up in the trays I planted last weekend.  These are yarrow seedlings.  There are three types of yarrow in the tray and all of them are showing growth.

This nasturtium is becoming a monster.  But I can’t get mad at it–it is blooming so brightly already!

If there was a “weed of the year” contest, Freesia laxa might win.  These are flowers on my original pot of them from Edelweiss Perennials maybe five years ago.  Each flower forms a pod filled with gorgeous red-brown shiny seeds that pop out into all the surrounding pots.  I tried moving some of the offspring into the garden, as they are said to be hardy, but I haven’t seen any of them come back up.  Luckily, there are dozens more popping up every minute!  The color here is a bit brash.  The other types I’ve started from seed are either bluer or whiter and would be easier to mix into displays.

This is one of the pitcher plant flowers (there are two this year for the first time).  Very odd and interesting flower structure.

Photo of the Masdevallias still in full flight.  The bonsai wisteria from brother Tim about 25 years ago is twining up the orchids.

Another photo of the air plant blossoms.  The coloring and design are irresistible to me!

This is one of the Pelargonium (geranium) seedlings started indoors earlier this year.  It has a tiny flower spike, despite being only 2″ tall!