That little alliteration pretty much describes my garden of late. March came in like a lion and took up rainy residence, leaving us with only brief, fleeting patches of blue sky. Despite the fact that my garden puttering has come to a virtual halt, the plants are taking it all in stride and waking up and stretching out.
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| Ornamental Rhubarb (Rheum palmatum var. tanguiticum) |
I really love the red coloring on this ornamental rhubarb.
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| Ornamental Rhubarb (Rheum palmatum var. tanguiticum) |
I'm excited by this new flowering current. Look at all the buds! And I just bought it last fall!
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| Flowering Current (Ribes sanguineum 'Pulsborough Scarlet') |
Little bits of color all around the garden...
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| Bergenia cordifolia |
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| Hebe albicans 'Pink Elephant' |
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| Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' |
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| Lathyrus vernus 'Albo Roseus' |
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| Aquilegia vulgaris 'Woodside Strain' with Impatiens omeiana 'Silver Pink' |
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| Osmanthus x burkwoodii |
Years ago I had this Osmanthus (above) but pulled it out for some stupid reason. I saw it again at a nursery for cheap so I'm going to train it up like my friend Carol has done with her plant, (below). Such a pretty thing, and fragrant too!
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| Carol's Osmanthus x burkwoodii out of bloom |
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| Mukdenia rossii 'Crimson Fans' |
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| Skimmia japonica (male) |
Last week, my sister and I visited Trina Studebaker at her home/nursery,
From My Bed to Yours. Unfortunately it was really raining so we didn't get to spend as much time looking as we would have had there been sunshine. We did get a few plants though, including this new (to me) Sedum, (below). Have you heard of it? Do you grow it? We couldn't resist the pink-ness of it.
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| Sedum 'Winky' |
I found this "Hairy Canary" last fall. It is doing surprisingly well considering all the rain that has pummeled down on it. I love the way the water glistens on the silver tips.
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| Hairy Canary (Dorycrium hirsutum) |
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| Magnolia stellata 'Royal Star' |
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| Doronicum orientale with Persicaria runcinata 'Purple Fantasy' |
The primroses have survived a few years now in my shady bed. Their biggest enemy is the slugs. I have to constantly be on slug patrol.
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| Primroses |
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| Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold' |
Wow. A brief, two-minute break in the clouds, (below)!
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| Euphorbia mysinites |
Duke is an early blueberry variety and just about to pop open its pretty bell-flowers. The other blueberry plants aren't quite as awake yet.
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| Duke Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum 'Duke') |
This sweet violet (below) hitchhiked on a nursery purchase. It is spreading around now and because I really like the leaves, I'm allowing it.
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| Viola koreana |
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| Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' |
A few weeks ago, my friend Carol and I went to
Rocky Mountain Nursery in Independence, Oregon, not too far from here. I was thrilled to pieces to see that they had Hydrangea macrophylla 'Ayesha'. A five gallon pot cost $15.99! Below is a photo of Carol's plant in bloom. Don't you love it?
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| Hydrangea macrophylla 'Ayesha' |
Okay enough of my blathering. Below are a few photos of the garden at large, such as it is.
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| Looking south |
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| Looking south |
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| Looking north... the bare patch on the right is where the pear tree was. I've got bare soil, but not for long! |
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| North |
Hopefully the snow has melted (
Joy) and you too are garden puttering!
Gracie girl you do have the most interesting plants ! and I get such a giggle out of some of the names .. and YES ! the snow is melting, plus garden PA did shovel off the snow from where my rows of daffs were trying to peek out.
ReplyDeleteSo that made all the difference seeing there sweet heads popping up : )
That gorgeous dramatic red of the rheum and the flowering current is wow factor. The hebe reminded me of the ornamental oregano I have (hope it made it through the winter !) ... I like that sedum "Winky" ! ..Hairy canary makes me laugh ... the hitch-hiker viola koreana is beautiful, I love the foliage.
What a find you have with that hydrangea ... gorgeous !
Love the shots at different vantage points of your garden .. I want to see how it progresses through the seasons .. it is so pretty !
Thanks for the mention girl .. I have to go highlight YOU ! haha
Joy : )
Dear Grace ~ it is always a 'treat' to see what is blooming in your wonderful gardens. You have such a fantastic array of plants. Like I've said before, your gardens are lovely any time of year. Pretty soon they will be bursting with lots more beautiful colors, shapes and scents.
ReplyDeleteHappy Spring ~ FlowerLady
I would hang onto that hitchhiking violet too, what great foliage! Your garden is much further along than mine.
ReplyDeleteNext time Mother Nature threatens to dump more rain on you, please point her to the nearest jet-stream south! (Tell her to skip NorCal too as they've also had enough.) Despite the soggy conditions, your garden looks quite happy. I love that Mukdenia and will need to look into how much water it requires to grow it successfully. Your post also left me wondering what it takes to get a job developing cultivar names for plants ('Pink Elephant', 'Spotty Dotty', etc.) - I'd like that gig!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Grace! Lovely blooms!
ReplyDeleteI wish my Mukdenia was as pretty as yours. Poor plant doesn't want to grow at all. I guess, it's time to move it to another spot.
I hope you'll have several next days sunny! And, they should make even bigger difference in the garden.
Gorgeous as always! And I have to agree with Joy...those names make me smile, too! Grace, someday soon you will have to show me how you do the "word cloud" at the end of your blog. Great search tool! See you in the garden! Xoxo!
ReplyDeleteAll that rainy cloudy weather you hate makes for some seriously happy, gorgeous plants. What beautiful plants you've filled your garden with! Who else grows Lathyrus vernus!?
ReplyDeleteHello grace
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful even in winter
I love your plants ;-)
Good night
Christine
The plants do take all this rain in stride...much better than I do. I like seeing your garden as it is just waking up and we can see the hardscaping details.
ReplyDeleteGrace, I'm glad you shared some photos of the whole garden this time around. You are a garden junk afficianado like me so I enjoy seeing what you do with yours. Your plants are gorgeous, too, but seem so foreign to me. I'm in south central Texas where most things need to live with little or no extra water. I hope you will share more of your garden decor again.
ReplyDeleteIt makes me smile to see all the pink in your garden, because I also have a fondness for garden pink. I think I'll need that variegated sedum too. I'm trying to transition my garden into mostly drought tolerant varieties, so it will fit right in.
ReplyDeleteWOW, WOW, WOW, Grace! Your garden is looking fantastic!!! I can't believe all the color you have. LOVE the ornamental rhubarb! I'm hoping we can get out in our garden tomorrow.
ReplyDeletePlants are so much more affordable on the west coast. Of course, I love everything you've shown and half of it won't grow here. I've never seen that impatien before! So cool! I need to keep an eye out for that little Winky sedum. So cute!
ReplyDeleteSo many fun things up and at em already! And I think that's the Persicaria that you gave me a piece of, so thanks for the ID.
ReplyDelete