My schedule this weekend included moving the Cymbidiums and the Clivias from the greenhouse to the brick circle around the Doug fir bed.  It took the better part of the afternoon yesterday to fertilize, water and move them all.  Most are reasonably sized, but a couple of the Clivia plants are monsters–probably close to 40 pounds for one windowbox-shaped pot with three divisions in it!  I woke up sore this morning, but I also felt accomplished.

Below are some pictures of the goings-on in the garden.

Brother Tim helped me get this chore done–the raised veggie bed with lettuce, endive, and tomatoes.  We also put in some pumpkins in the herb garden behind.

Hippeastrum blooming in the greenhouse.  This is “Green Dragon” and an unknown mini red.  The red pot has three scapes coming up!

Close-up of the red flower.  Very clean red color.

I created a display of the flowering plants left in the greenhouse–still some great color in there.

The potted Daphne from sister Cate pictured in the last blog.

Another sister Cate Daphne–this one is a lovely lavender and smells even stronger than the other one, but is a more hesitant bloomer.

Lots of Clematis blooms on the back fence.

Another Clematis cultivar–might be “Markham’s Pink.”

Nasturtium vine that climbed up the greenhouse wall and is blooming already.

An air plant blooming in the greenhouse–an amazing color combination.

Pitcher plant blooming in the greenhouse.  It has two flower scapes this year.

“Green Dragon” close-up.

Another view of “Green Dragon.”

Another view.

My favorite of all the Clivia seedlings so far–just the right amount of pastel yellow and salmon.

Another view.

I planted the two Sisyrinchium striatum plants out yesterday in the bed in front of the greenhouse.  The flowers were much showier this weekend than last.

Close-up showing more flowers blooming around the stem.

 

I took a paint brush out to the orchard bed and driveway bed today to try to pollinate the fruit trees.  I only saw one bee all weekend!  It is extremely worrisome.

Below are some garden and greenhouse highlights.

Clematis alpina “Willy” blooming on the fence behind the house.  There aren’t as many blooms this year.  I plan to cut this vine way back after blooming, as it has gotten too big for its own good.

Another close-up of these delicate, graceful blooms.

Here is the potted daphne from sister Cate blooming on the patio.  The fragrance is fantastic!

A few species tulips persist in the woodland garden.  I believe these are Tulipa batalinii–such a vivid red.

Choisya ternata blooming along the fence in the woodland garden.

I just read that Choisya is in the rue family, and that makes sense–I’ve never liked the smell of the plants themselves, but the flowers are wonderfully sweet.

Gorgeous rhody blooming in the woodland garden.

The path in the woodland garden is surrounded by blooms–Dicentra, Muscari, Hyacinthoides, and Choisya.

 

Cymbalaria muralis (Kenilworth Ivy) blooming in a pot on the back patio.  I started a bunch of these from seed last year and now they are in many of the seedling pots on the shelves near the greenhouse.  

Interestingly, the “Red Deer Tongue” lettuce that I transplanted last week are now of two distinct colors.  The ones I left outside are now deep red, while the ones in the greenhouse are still green with just a hint of red.  I’m not sure if this is a temperature issue or a sun issue.

Masdevallias are going NUTS in the greenhouse–there must be more than twenty flowers open at once!  Quite a show!

These wispy flowers are from a scented pelargonium.  It sulked for a year, but now it is spreading its cute flowers far and wide on the top shelf.

The mystery irid opened a few flowers today.  I think it might be Sisyrinchium striatum, and it may well be hardy–so out it goes into the garden when the weather warms!

Close-up of flower.

Another photo showing interest way the flowers appear on the stalk.  Online photos show that this plant can be very showy when it is well-grown.  The leaves make a stunning fan, as well.

Pelargonium blooming in the greenhouse.

Rhodohypoxis baurii putting on a wonderful show in the greenhouse.

Clivia clone blooming in the greenhouse.  This reddish shade is a nice contrast to the usual orange/yellow.

Pelargonium papilloniaceum really going crazy in the greenhouse.

Beautiful tillandsia blooming in the greenhouse…

Abutilon hybrid blooming in the greenhouse.  I plan to pull everything out of there next weekend if the weather cooperates, and the flowering maples will go into the ground.  They are not hardy, but I can get cuttings in the fall to keep them going.

Some cutting-grown Abutilon megapotmicum in the greenhouse.  I expect these will be hardy, so they are getting planted outside next weekend.

Another seedling Clivia clone–this one with large flowers with interesting white markings in the throat.

The plants I purchased for brother Tim’s p-patch plant sale are starting to grow.  They are slow due to the cool weather, but I think they’ll be just right when the sale comes around.

 

Polygonatum multiflorum popping up in the Doug fir bed.

Cherry “Morello” in full bloom.  The one bee that I saw was on this productive little tree.

Cherry “Vandalay” blooming  nicely for a small tree.  I tried to pollinate this one with the Morello, but I have no idea if it worked or even was the right thing to try!

There aren’t many tulips left in the garden, but these three are sturdy and stunning.  These might be Arabian Mystery.

Lamium blooming near the Jeff Tangen arbor–very pretty ground cover.

More Lamium maculatum near the arbor.

Lovely violet blooming in the driveway bed.

The scorpion senna is about to be in full bloom.  It is a mess, I admit, but I still love it!

My gardening hasn’t advanced to a point where I feel like there are a lot of beautiful vignettes to be happy about.  However, near the fence of the orchard bed, this welcoming sight makes my heart sing.  These are wallflowers and bleeding hearts, with a nice mix of foliage types in and around them.

The columnar apple trees blooming nicely in the orchard bed.  I worked the flowers over with a paint brush today and will again in another day or two–hoping to fill in for the missing bees!

Goumi berry shrub starting to bloom in the orchard bed.

 

Another part of the visually appealing fence-bed in the orchard garden.  This golden bleeding heart is from sister Cate.

Another view–you can see just a bit of yellow in the richly colored wall flowers that pick up the golden color of the Dicentra.

I transplanted some things this weekend.  The first batch were tomatoes, a variety called Black Vernissage.  They appear very strong and are ahead of the seedlings started sooner, but moved to the cold frame after transplanting.

You can find seeds at http://www.rareseeds.com/black-vernissage-tomato/

I also transplanted a bunch of lettuce seedlings–this one Red Deer Tongue.

The seeds were from Renee’s and can be purchased here:  https://www.reneesgarden.com/products/lettuce-red-deer-tongue.  Almost every seed germinated, but they weren’t showing much red color yet–hopefully, that will come with age.

The last big batch of seedlings were dianthus starts from seeds I harvested from plants Leon had put in the patio pots last year.  There were probably 50 of these seedlings.  I put 36 of them in six-packs, two to a cell, and put the rest in larger pots.  These may not be as brilliant as their hybrid parent, but they are growing very strongly and I can’t wait to see what the flowers look like.  The parents looked like this:

The sages and snapdragons needed to be potted on, as well, so I moved them to larger pots in the greenhouse.  The salvias are a Salvia coccinea mix–I don’t recall which one.  The snapdragons were a dwarf double pot-type, but I don’t specifically remember which one!  It will be fun when they get to blooming size and remind me what I ordered.

Another task accomplished this weekend was to go through all of my seeds and put the direct sow and the ones I’ve given up on into a plastic container.  I mixed in some sand and spread the mix around the garden by the fence in the orchard bed.  There were shirley poppies, bachelor buttons, wallflowers and many others.  I am hopeful that some of them get a foothold.  We certainly had enough rain today for them to get off to a good start!

My plan to turn the parking strip into a gorgeous flower border moved forward yesterday when I ordered a bunch of perennial seeds to get started in May.  I ordered from Swallowtail Garden Seeds, a company I’ve not used before.

Here are the seeds I ordered–photos are from their website.

YARROW SEEDS, NOBLESSA50 ea.
YARROW SEEDS, SUMMER PASTELS50 ea.
YARROW SEEDS, SUMMER BERRIES50 ea.
WALL ROCKCRESS SEEDS, SNOWFIX50 ea.
VERBENA SEEDS, POLARIS50 ea.
VERBENA SEEDS, PURPLE TOP500 ea.
SANTA BARBARA DAISY SEEDS50 ea.
SALVIA SEEDS, BLUE CLOUD25 ea.
ROCK CRESS SEEDS, CASCADE MIX100 ea.
PRUNELLA SEEDS, FREELANDER BLUE25 ea.
POPPY SEEDS, PIZZICATO ORIENTAL100 ea.
PENSTEMON SEEDS, RONDO50 ea.
PENSTEMON SEEDS, SUNBURST COLOURS30 ea.
NEPETA SEEDS, BLUE CARPET50 ea.
NEPETA SEEDS, SELECT BLUE30 ea.
NEPETA SEEDS, GREEK CATNIP250 ea.
LYCHNIS SEEDS, OCCULATA ROSE CAMPION50 ea.
LUPINE SEEDS, MINARETTE DWARF MIX50 ea.
LUPINE SEEDS, TUTTI FRUTTI20 ea.
GOAT’S BEARD, NOBLE SPIRIT DWARF50 ea.
GEUM SEEDS, BLAZING SUNSET10 ea.
DIANTHUS SEEDS, ARCTIC FIRE50 ea.
CORAL BELLS SEEDS, FIREFLY500 ea.
CHAENORHINUM SEEDS, BLUE DREAMS50 ea.
CALAMINTHA SEEDS, MARVELETTE BLUE25 ea.
ECHINACEA SEEDS, CONEFLOWER MIX25 ea.
ECHINACEA SEEDS, PRAIRIE SPLENDOR30 ea.
COLUMBINE SEEDS, DRAGONFLY HYBRIDS DWARF100 ea.
COLUMBINE SEEDS, BIEDERMEIER MIX100 ea.
AGASTACHE SEEDS, BOLERO20 ea.
AGASTACHE SEEDS, APACHE SUNSET ORGANIC20 ea.

 

 

It was a wonderful day to work outside.  First off, I potted up a bunch of seedlings–geraniums, peppers, tomatoes and tomatillos.  I put them all in the cold frame to harden off and grow for the next few weeks before I find homes for them.  Some are destined for our garden and pots around the place.  The rest are for gifting and brother Tim’s p-patch and the patch’s spring plant sale in May.

A full cold frame…the coolness and light make for stocky transplants.

Here is a happy greenhouse surprise.  This is an iris relative I grew from seed two years ago.  It is likely a Moraea or a Dietes.  And it is spiking, so I should be able to tell in the next few weeks!  It sports an amazing fan of healthy-looking leaves.

Another fun surprise–the Restrepia guttulata that I’ve had for close to 20 years (from the old Baker and Chantry Orchids near Woodinville) has two flower buds.  This has been a shy bloomer for me and it is so tiny–maybe 3″ high–that it is easy to miss the flowers.  They are spectacular, though, and a bit silly–I’ll be sure to post some pictures when they open.

Gorgeous and graceful, these Coelogyne cristata flowers are the classiest act in the greenhouse right now.  They are supposed to be fragrant, but being nose blind, I can’t tell if they really do or not!  I’m happy just enjoying how they look, though.

The Plant Delights package landed this week and I planted the treasures directly in the garden.  This is Cestrum parqui, which I planted in front of the greenhouse.

The pineapple flower is still shining brightly in the Doug fir bed.

Close-up of the Fritillary flowers.

The Doug fir bed is full of weeds this year.  I dug some up and planted foxgloves out there today that I started from seed last year.  These are both “Foxy” and “Apricot”

Gorgeous, tasteful flower of Kerria japonica–this is the single cultivar that you hardly ever see.  We had the double pom-pom one growing up and it was fun, too, but this one looks less messed with.

More foxglove–I think I put about a dozen in today.

There aren’t many tulips left around the garden, but these white ones have persisted and I’m so glad they did.  They opened wide in the sun today.

  

The bleeding hearts are really starting to put on a show near the fence in the orchard garden.

I planted out all of the geranium seedlings from last year.  These are mostly “Summer Snow.”

Another great treasure from Plant Delights–this is a tree peony–Paeonia ostii Feng Dan Bai.

Buttercups had invaded this flower bed over the winter.  I dug them all up today–never fun because they find their way inside the crowns of other plants, some of which are fragile.  I added another Plant Delights special plant here, Gladiolus Rosy Cheeks.

The scorpion senna is about to burst forth with bright pea-like blooms.  This shrub has grown over eight feet tall–I will cut it way back after flowering to bring it back under control.

From Plant Delights, this is Nerium oleander Mathilde Ferrier.

Another Plant Delights rarity, Antirrhinum glutinosum White Hot

Geranium macrorrhizum blooming in the driveway bed–and also in the Doug fir bed.  These vigorous ground covers help suppress weeds  and they aren’t difficult to control.

Pristine narcissus in the driveway bed.  This clump has actually expanded in size and is blooming beautifully this year.

Lots of great flowers in this clump of narcissus bulbs.

More hyacinth photos–can’t help myself.   They are particular wonderful this year.

And another…

I’m planning to actually work in the garden tomorrow, but I went out on a break from homework today and found a bunch of flowers and neat surprises.

These fun little pansies from Fred Meyer are starting to show their potential.  The weather has not been super friendly for flowers–really windy and rainy, but these little plants are unphased.

From a distance, the Camellia looks pretty good.  Close-up, though,

One of my favorite surprises–this Kerria japonica (natural form) has been in the Doug fir bed for several years, barely hanging on, but here it is showing its very first buds.  This is the single form and the flowers will really light up the shady space there.

A close-up of the Epimedium in the woodland garden.  The flowers are just starting to open.  Unlike many of its kind, the flowers of this cultivar don’t turn completely inside out.

You can see the contrast between the delicate flowers and the bold, heavy leaves here.

From a distance, you can really see the growth habit.

Another picture of the GIANT Hyacinth flower.  It has held up well, even in the disruptive weather.

Closer-in photo shows some detail.

Great close-up shows the flower detail.

I’m so thrilled with this pastel yellow-salmon Clivia miniata seedling.  The color is wonderfully soft and drastically different from the typical orange/yellow.

I took photos of the Clivia spikes today–there are five or so that still haven’t opened yet.

Another promise for next week…this looks like it may have some pastel coloring.

Pelargoniums open hundreds of flowers–just gorgeous!

Tillandsia buds pushing their way into the open.  I hadn’t noticed these until today.  This plant has two buds coming on.

Another spike coming on.

A few Hippeastrums have spikes.  This is “Green Dragon”–a very strong growing hybrid.

Not sure which cultivar this one is–will be fun to find out when the flowers open.

A newly opening Clivia spike–these flowers are traditional colors, but the plant features a more compact habit.

Another spike–this is an even more compact seedling–squat, even.  And the flowers have a different form, too.

Richly colored flowering maple flowers in the greenhouse.

Veltheimia bloom back against the far wall in the greenhouse.

Seed tray with Dianthus, Tomatoes and Lettuce sprouting.

Pleione formosana clump ended up having eight flowers.  The divisions that I planted last year are growing well, too, although not all of them appear to have come through the winter.

  A bunch of Pleione flowers.

Gorgeous Clivia flowers.

Love this close-up of the pastel Clivia.  The flower form is beautiful.   The only other non-standard colored Clivia I had was a yellow cultivar and the flowers were more spidery–not nearly this nice and the plant was weak, as well.

Another view.

In the pots along the house, the Geranium “Summer Snow” seedlings are looking strong.

These kids are ready to go out to the garden tomorrow.

Little Japanese maple and larch seedlings waiting to be bonsais someday.

Osmanthus in full bloom and full fragrance–just wonderful!

Fritillaria imperealis lutea looking stunning in the spring sunlight.

Anemone blanda blooming in the Doug fir bed.  These plants seem to be fading away over time, but at least one is left to bloom.

Brunnera “Alexander’s Great” in bloom in the Doug fir bed–I noticed this the other day on my way to work.

Close up of the forget-me-not-like flowers.

This rambunctious ivy needs to be cut way back or eradicated altogether.  It is taking over big patches of the Doug fir bed and traipsing up the trunk with abandon.

Virginia bluebells popping up in the Doug fir bed.  I don’t think they will bloom this year, but they seem strong.

The Trillium flower has opened.

Another view.

Another view of the Fritillaria.

Primrose close-up.

Showy pots in front of the house.  Just gorgeous and cheerful!

Camellia flower close-up.  The flowers are spectacular when viewed individually.  I haven’t seen this cultivar anywhere else–or at least I don’t remember seeing it anywhere.  The flowers are HUGE!

I’ve always loved grape hyacinth (Muscari).  They pop up around the garden, helped out by squirrels, I suspect.  This clump is in the raspberry bed.

A great way to propagate berries–this is a blackcap raspberry that stuck in a pot last fall–it is sprouting now and can be cut away from the mother plant now.

So excited to see the Abutilon vitifolium “Suntense” seedling in the orchard bed with a few buds on it.  These seedlings are three years old and I was starting to think they might never bloom!

Bleeding hearts budding up–this one is particularly vigorous, with a dozen or more flower spikes.

Sister Cate’s Hellebore.

Close-up of sister Cate’s Hellebore.

Plum blossoms on “Beauty.”  Not sure there are any pollinators around, but hopeful…

You can see some of the petals got blown away in the storm yesterday.

“Beauty” tree.

This is a one-year-old seedling of Geranium “Summer Snow.”   It is really big and vigorous.

Front view of the patio pots near the porch.

Mixed hyacinths in a porch pot–gorgeous colors!

In the kitchen window, another hyacinth in an interesting lavender.  I might have a hyacinth addiction!

Gorgeous tulips forced in the cold frame and now in the kitchen window.  I’m not sure “forced” is the right word–the tulips outside are blooming now, too!

Love these little species tulips–so graceful!

You can see the color better here with some flash.

Both windowsill pots showing the colors with flash.

We spent almost six full days up at the cabin at Bench Creek Ranch this last week.  Every time we go up there, the experience is different.  This trip we saw winter trying hard to hold on and spring fighting to take over.

Snow remained on the ground around our cabin (3000 ft elevation) and above/below a bit.  The deepest drifts, discovered on long hikes around the ranch, were about 24″ deep.  The roads were snowy, icy or muddy.  I had hoped to take some training runs up there, but that just wasn’t possible!

The skies were not bald, for sure–full of interesting clouds and magnificent beauty.

More amazing sky…

And more….

Here is the view from the front of the cabin–the meadow view we enjoy so much.  The aspens and larches were not even starting to leaf out yet.  This photo was taken the day we left–notice that the snow is reduced to near the trees.

The sun fighting to part the clouds.

This is hilarious.  I wanted to remind myself to look up deer droppings when I got home.  There were some piles of really large deer-like droppings and some tracks that looked much bigger than any deer tracks I’ve ever seen.  I suspect there may be a moose afoot.

Here is a group of sagebrush buttercup blooming on a hillside.  These brave little wildflowers were the only thing I found blooming–almost the only thing that had started to leaf out.  They have small leaves and relatively big flowers, always glistening with water droplets.

One of my hiking buddies–Mona wrapped up from the cold.  It got close to 60 degrees during the days, but down in the 20’s at night. 

Leon brought a bag of stale cashew nuts to feed to the critters.  Steller’s Jays apparently can’t get enough cashews. They are skittish up in the mountains, not like the raucous, confident city Jays.  I had to be really patient to get these pictures on the railing of the cabin porch.

The seasonal stream was running under ice through the meadow.

Another meadow picture–you can see there was more snow earlier in the week.

This week was a bird-fest.  We have a flicker house that Leon built and we set in front of the cabin.  Here, a pair of Williamson’s Sapsuckers approach.  The house is a popular telegraphing station for all the woodpeckers.  Because it is hollow, tapping on it resonates throughout the meadow.

A Red-Breasted Nuthatch that visited the cabin one day with its mate.

Bodhi enjoying the sunshine.

Mona had a grand time exploring and hiking.

Another Bodhi pic…the sun was too bright for his eyes!

Here is another Nuthatch peeking between the cabin logs.

Super cute Bodhi on the porch.  He’s eleven-years-old now, but he hiked with me a like a puppy.

I would call this photo, “Little Dog, Big Sky.”

There weren’t a lot of animals, or even birds out, so it was the sky, trees, and mountains that I enjoyed on my hikes.

Close-ups of the Sagebrush Buttercups.

And another…

This a bad picture of a chipmunk–just had to prove that some of them were awake!

At the 100-plus year-old homestead near our cabin, I could really see how the Douglas fir trees and the Ponderosa pines were more yellow in winter than they are the rest of the year.  You can make out the yellowish green with the wood as a contrast.

Bodhi waiting for me…impatience written all over his face!

This was the ultimate turkey trip.  I heard a tom gobbling near the cabin every morning, the first time I’d ever heard that.  And a hen crossed the meadow one day towards his concert.  The next day, he sauntered past us in the near meadow, as well.  Turkey tracks in the snow above.

Two male Williamson’s Sapsuckers at the flicker house.

We had a funny experience in the little town Republic, east of Tonasket.  As we finished getting gas, I noticed a deer crossing the main street and going down a side street.  We followed in the car and I popped out when we got close.  they seemed very tame.  Leon threw me some carrots and I threw some to them.  The deer in front here was a carrot fan.  Eventually, he ate one out of my hand.  It was surreal.  Deer near there are usually very afraid, since hunting is so common there, but Leon pointed out these were likely “city deer,” used to people and handouts.

The meadow the day we landed–notice how much more snow was on the ground than when we left.

Our first walk…and the dogs were ready.

Off on their own–so many smells to explore!

Hauling wood from the woodshed to the cabin.  It was in the 40s int he cabin when we got there–took about two days and a lot of logs to really warm it up.

Big sky over the meadow when we first landed on Saturday.

 

I brought “The Gardener’s Essential” by Gertrude Jekyll with me to the cabin to get a better feeling for one of the iconic gardeners of all time.  Having read much of it, I can honestly say that Ms. Jekyll is not my favorite writer.  Certainly, she shares one common trait with Christopher Lloyd, who I love—they both have very strong opinions.  Unlike Christopher, however, Gertie doesn’t seem to possess an ounce of humor.  And I find her references to the people who do the labor of her gardening condescending.  I must remember this book was written in another time and place, and that Ms. Jekyll was a completely different kind of gardener than I’ll ever be—she had the luxury, the “leisure”, as she would call it, to focus on the minutia of painting her land with plants.  She helped me realize that, at this point in my busy life, I’m not a garden artist, I’m just a garden minimalist—trying to create a space I enjoy and keep it going.  On top of that challenge with her writing, my slight color blindness also makes it tough for me to care so deeply about color.  When it comes to color, I just know what I like and I can’t suggest you will like it, too, becasuse it is very likely you see it differently than I do!

Rather than focus on the book I didn’t like, I’ll talk about the book I LOVE that I also brought on this trip:

GAIA’S GARDEN by Toby Hemenway, A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture.

This amazing book is written focused on natural gardening, and very specifically growing food in the garden without need for chemicals, neither insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, nor synthetic fertilizers.  The concept obviously appeals to me, not just from a “save the earth” standpoint, but the methods described seem to be much less labor intensive than the standard way of growing things.

The first idea that stretched my mind in this book was in a subchapter titled “The Natives versus Exotics Debate.”  Hemenway asks, “Does exotic mean a species that wasn’t here before you got here, or before the first botanist did, before Columbus, the first human, or what?”  An excellent question.  Hemenway prefers to call plants opportunistic, rather than invasive—and he points out that in the most well-known cases of new plants taking over large areas (Purple loosestrife, European bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle, Kudzu, and Russian olive), the plants were “invited” by the disturbed land and disrupted ecosystems.  “Humans create perfect conditions for exotics to thrive.”  He goes on to explain that Nature will fill in disturbed places with pioneer plants, and “she doesn’t care if the plant arrived via continental drift or a bulldozer’s treads, as long as it can quickly stitch a functioning ecosystem together.”

These thoughts were meaningful to me because I’ve seen so much effort being put towards eradicating so-called invasive plants, and very little of it seems successful.  It all feels like a case of “too little, too late.”  Certainly, this is a complex issue, and losing native species entirely due to invasive species doesn’t feel right.  Native animals are also affected greatly when native plants are no longer available to them.  What I like most about this book is that it approaches gardening as a healthy mix of natives and exotics…which certainly seems like a more realistic approach.

The second idea that completely spurred my imagination is the concept of plant “guilds”.  This concept started with the Native American’s plantings of corn, beans, and squash in the same hills—called The Three Sisters.  The idea of a guild is that all the plants support and benefit the others.  The beans fix nitrogen in the soil, the corn stocks provide a trellis for the bean vines to climb, and the squash leaves densely cover the ground, keeping out competing weeds.  Grown this way, a plot will produce 20% more food than if just one of these crops was grown.  A fourth “Sister,” is the bee plant, Cleome serrulata, that was also a food plant, but contributes by attracting pollinators for the beans and squash.

Hemenway describes how to plant fruit trees with plants underneath/around them so that they are mostly self-sufficient.  I took this idea and designed a front yard that meets my wants regarding providing food and my likes of having flowers and year-round garden interest.  I’m extremely excited about this plan and hope to implement it in the same timeframe as the parking strip—so that the fruit tree guilds are planted by spring of 2018 and the rest of the garden will be completed by spring 2019.

The dogs need some lawn out front, so I’ll measure off a fair amount devoted to them and then start the orchard beyond that.  I plan to add another semi-dwarf cherry tree, a leaf-curl resistant peach tree, a multi-graft apple tree, along with mini dwarf pollinators for all of them.  There is room for two more trees/guilds in addition to these three; I thought about combining them into one, with an arbor for kiwis and a bench underneath.  I’m not sure of the light in that area, so may have to adapt to the fact that there may be too much shade.  If so, I’ll utilize the sunnier space for one more fruit tree—maybe a pear.  And the final guild may just be an evergreen huckleberry surrounded by ornamental shade-tolerant plants.

There is much work to be done to have the ground ready, the plants ready and the time available to implement all of this, so I really need to plan far in advance.  For example, I’ll need to winter possibly hundreds of seedlings in the greenhouse next winter, so I need to clean up that entire area, especially under the benches, to allow for more “storage”.  This clean-up project has been on the “list” for years now, but if I want to move ahead with the planting strip and the orchard guilds, it will have to be done before November.

We got back from the cabin today and I can’t believe how fast things are growing!  Spring is bursting forward and I feel like I’m behind already!

Here are some pictures from the garden and greenhouse today:

The big Pelargoniums are starting to bloom.  The flowers are intricate and quirky, and a welcome change from the heavier flowers in the greenhouse.

This is a first-time blooming Clivia that appears to be pure yellow.  I can’t get at it through the jungle, but I plan to pull it out this weekend and label it, along with labels of the others that are blooming.

I can take no credit for this, but I think this is the most full, gorgeous Clivia umbel I’ve ever grown!  It is fantastic!  I didn’t do anything different–it just happened to turn out this way.    Flowers like these remind me why Clivias are my favorites–well, that and the fact that I have 100+ of them!

This Clivia has the largest flowers of all of my seedlings.  It is the same one I photographed earlier with more pastel-looking flowers.  They are less pastel now, but the light colored centers are more cream than yellow, and their size and substance are unsurpassed.

More Pelargonium papillonaceum flowers.

These are offsets from Miss Clivia, brother Tim’s first plant that introduced us to this genus.  I’m not sure when he got that plant–I think it was from Park’s, maybe 40 years ago!

Above are the Pleione formosana flowers I’ve been waiting for.  Five of them opened while we were away and two additional buds are nearly opened.

The Masdevallias continue to shine in the greenhouse–lots of big, loud flowers!

The biggest surprise in the greenhouse this week–just when I had given up on the Coelogyne cristata, here it is with flowers for the first time in maybe four or five years!  It seems much happier where it is currently in the greenhouse, and there look to be maybe 20 or more flowers coming on!  I can’t wait to see and smell them!

The Camellia bloomed a bit while we were gone, too.  The show is less than spectacular, but the individual buds and blooms make up for it.

Another fuzzy photo, but this is a tree peony bud on the plant that Tim and Cate gave me for my birthday about 20 years ago.

Another bloom.

Another bud and bloom.

Too much sun on this giant flower, but you get the idea how full and huge it is–the leaves below it are Daphne laureola.

The Corylopsis is in full bloom–I think this is Corylopsis spicata.  This large shrub is having to pull the weight for the Forsythia that got cut back hard last year and is barely blooming.

Another view.

Very first Beauty plum flower opening.  I hope there are some pollinators about!

S

Sister Cate’s Hellebore, sparkling in the spring sunlight.

Wallflowers planted out last year are budding up again.  I love that you can tell the darker reddish-orange ones from the yellow ones.

Here you can clearly see the yellow–should be open in a week or so, with a little sun on our side.

I keep adding to the front patio “show” with forced bulbs.  The little Narcissus are blooming and I added some Hyacinths that had been in the cold frame way too long today.

Just a few sweet flowers of this Primula poking through the Lamium.  I didn’t realize it was even still there!

These surprise Chionodoxa popped up in the Doug fir bed.  They are gorgeous–I should order more of them.  I suspect they were free with another bulb order.

My Frittialria imperialis lutea is going to bloom again this year–it seems to be getting bigger/stronger over time.

Closer up view of this interesting bulb’s flowers.

Lone Trillium left in the Doug fir bed–going to bloom.  I think these woodland plants prefer moister soil than what this giant conifer allows, but it has hung on for probably ten years.

The Hyacinths pulled from the cold frame a few weeks ago are starting to open.

 

The golden hop in the woodland garden is erupting from the ground!  It is gorgeous and if provided with a bit of guidance, it stays in line.

Epimediums starting to bud up–they’ll be bright yellow flowers in another week or ten days.

Leon bought this grouping at the Flower and Garden show this year–we haven’t decided on a final placement, but he may install them in the pond.

This qualifies as the largest Hyacinth I have ever seen!!!  It was forced in the cold frame and set in the kitchen window while we were away–and here it is!  I had to move it outside–the fragrance was overpowering!

 

The danger of buying myself thinking time at our secluded cabin is that my mind runs amok with ideas I want to pursue with little reasonable thought given to my capacity to complete these projects.  One thing is for certain, though—I am ready to recreate our entire front yard and parking strip.  To make it seem more plausible, I’m breaking the parking strip down into its own project.

I estimate that the parking strip in question is about eight feet wide and sixty feet long.  I’m estimating because I’m at the cabin and don’t have access to it now—only in my mind’s eye.  I found out that some gardeners refer to parking strips as “hell strips,” which seems appropriate.  Ours currently only features bad grass, dandelions, and the water meter/shutoff valve.  I only use it to for placing the garbage, recycling, and yard waste containers for pick up.  So, it is a hideous waste of 480 square feet of what could be a colorful garden.

An eight-foot long, eight-foot wide patio to accommodate the waste containers and make the water valve accessible will be built first.  I don’t see this being particularly challenging—I just need to root out the sod and make the ground level before putting the bricks down.

The strip is too public to be useful for food production and dogs do their business there every day—another factor in looking more toward aesthetics and less to food production.  So, my idea is to turn it into a long perennial border.  24” edges on the street and house side will feature ground hugging mats of plants so as not to interfere with parking cars or the walking neighbors/dogs.  The center strip will feature taller perennials of varied heights, colors, and bloom times.  This is the south side of the house, so gets a LOT of sunshine and should be a great place to grow sun-loving flowering plants.

For the low-growing edges, I plan to use the following:

• Ceratostigma
• Dianthus (several types) from seed
• Campanula poscharskyana from divisions
• Geranium macrorrhizum from divisions
• Cerastium tomentosum from purchased plants
• Thymus (several types) from purchased plants
• Sedums (several types) from cuttings/purchased plants
• Sempervivums from cuttings/purchased plants

For the middle of the bed, I plan to add:

• Achillea (Summer Pastels or similar) from seed
• Anemone–japanese “Honorine Jobert” from purchased plants
• Aquilegia (long-blooming mix) from seed
• Aster from purchased plants
• Dicentra from purchased plants
• Iris sibirica from purchased plants
• Lychnis coronaria from seedlings in the yard/seeds
• Nepeta from seed
• Papaver orientale “Pizzicato” from seed
• Penstemon from seed or purchased plants
• Echinacea from seed
• Agastache from seed
• Geranium (various) from purchased plants
• Sidalcea from seed

This will be a full-year project, to end in April 2018, featuring the following steps:

• Find out if the City of Seattle has any limitations on parking strip use and if approvals or permits are needed. Notify City of intent to dig parking strip up—have them mark any danger zones—May 2017
  • Note:  See the CAM here for Seattle parking strips
• Order the seeds needed and start them Summer 2017
• Measure the “patio” and put landscape cloth and paper down to kill the grass (Summer 2017)
• Pot up divisions and cuttings Summer and Fall 2017
• Order the patio supplies and build patio Fall 2017
• Cover the rest of the strip with newspaper/tarps/landscape cloth/mulch/leaves to kill it over the winter—Fall 2017
• Winter the plant starts in the greenhouse
• Order the purchased plants February/March 2018 for April delivery
• Peel away the landscape cloth and all else and dig leaves and fertilizer into the entire strip—March/April 2018
• Plant out all the starts – late April 2018. Shop for fillers if any space remains.
• Weed and water carefully until the strip is bursting with plants (Summer 2018)

Spring starts officially next week and I’m a bit behind in starting some seeds.  I’ve gotten some of my patio pot flowers started (geraniums, pansies), but neglected to get the peas started until today.  I soaked them overnight and that, combined with the saturating rain the last few weeks, should get them off to a great start.

The first type I planted were these:

Blue Podded Blauwschokkers Garden Pea

I also planted a lot of these:

Tom Thumb Shelling Pea

And lastly, I started some of these:

Sugar Daddy Pea

I probably planted 100 seeds in the raised beds today and planted 7 pots with the remaining seeds.  My hope is that I overwhelm the pea snackers with so many plants that some of them survive.  I may put out some netting, too, just in case.  I suspect that birds get most of my pea seedlings every year. 

The leaf mulch got removed and put in the compost bin today and the peas were planted underneath.

Other peas were planted in this cleared area — weedy dead nettle, Lamium pupureum, had taken over.

Now, for a look around the garden and greenhouse:

Deep, rich burgundy flowers on this hellebore in the woodland garden.

Another view–amazing color!

Pachysandra blooming in the woodland garden–odd flowers have brownish tips.

Exquisite corydalis blooming the same pot as the Osmanthus fragrans.

A big pot of hyacinths that should bloom in the next two weeks.

I really like this sturdy pot, filled with a few hyacinth bulbs this year–and the ever-present chickweed!

In the greenhouse, the orchids are blooming madly.  They love this cool time of year combined with the improved light.

Geranium seedlings pouting on the greenhouse shelves.  I started them inside the house on a heat mat, but had to move them outside to make room for more seed starting.  I think they will thrive once things warm up a bit.  The sun predicted for tomorrow will no doubt get them back to a happy place.

This lovely clivia is spiking–this is Light of Buddha seedling.  A tree peony seedling is next to it, leafing out vigorously.

The Pleione orchids are budding up. I counted six buds today on the big mother plant.  I realized I can pot some up for brother Tim’s plant sale in May.

More seedlings that I’ve cast out into the greenhouse–geraniums and petunias.

The gorgeous pastel clivia is opening its giant blooms finally–it opened two about a month ago, then waited to open the rest until now.  Two different pictures show the color differently–but it is orange leaning toward pink and very softly colored.

This cymbidium is trying to be pretty–but it struggles every year with marks on the flowers and the fact that it doesn’t open its flowers all the way.

More traditionally colored Clivia miniata flowers–this is a gorgeous umbel.  The plants are blooming well this year–I expect at least a dozen spikes.

Another striking clivia umbel.

Another cymbidium about to bloom.  This one opens green and turns creamy white over time.  It is a full-sized plant given to us by Karl Huffbauer (an artist friend) ten or more years ago.

The Voodoo lilies are coming!  Here is a strong clump and you can really see the spotted/striped stems.

Close-up of these Dracunculus vulgaris plants jumping out of the ground.  Their stinky blooms will expand in six weeks or so.

Plant Delights hellebore blooming beautifully in the Doug fir bed.  This plant outlasted the two others that were planted at the same time.

Another view–a few of the flowers look outward instead of down.

Another view…

And another….

Here is the brother Tim hellebore near the downspout on the corner of the house.  It isn’t blooming as heavily as I’ve seen it in the past, but it is still remarkable.

Too lazy to get down on the ground low enough to photograph these flowers responsibly…but the camera did a decent job without any help from me.

Another view…

And another…

The poor Fred Meyer plants that I bought a month ago to perk up the patio pots outside the front door have been deluged by all the rain and aren’t looking their best.  The blue primrose is impressive, though.

I set a couple of pots of dwarf narcissus in front here–they’ve been flooded, too!  You can just hear the ground and the plants drowning!  But the sun will be out tomorrow–maybe that will help.

Sister Cate’s hellebore–similar to brother Tim’s, but the white is maybe whiter and there are fewer freckles inside.

Another view, showing the wet, dripping blooms with spots inside.

 

Close up–and you can see all the raindrops, too!