I took these pictures as a chance of showers was coming in.We got no showers, but some great clouds and patches of sun on the distant Olympics.The wind whipped and sculpted the clouds.Then it all ended in a serene pastel wash. Beautiful! Read Full Story
Each of these impossibly electric pink/purple flowers is about 1.5 inches across. Not big! In closeup they look bold and tropical.The foliage is fuzzy and white and nearly bulletproof. The local deer had their early spring samples of the fuzzy leaves, and since then no more damage. So this flower is here to stay.On the downside, Rose Campion is is a little aggressive and I may need to control it in a few years. Until then let 'er rip, and crowd out the weeds, please!More info on Rose Campion:... Read Full Story
We have six baby blueberry bushes and they are loaded with hard green berries.According to Wikipedia, Blueberry (V accinium corymbosum) is not a berry! It's a "False Berry", AKA an epigynous berry. Check out the bizarre description:It is an accessory fruit found in certain plant species with an inferior ovary, distinguishing it from a true berry. In these species other parts of the flower can ripen along with the ovary, forming the false berry.I love how tight and round these berries, or fals... Read Full Story
This pretty flower stands about 3' tall in big bunches. Last year the deer devoured all the buds and I never got to see the blossoms. Now, it's protected behind fencing and - wow!It has a really cheerful bright color splashed with tie-dye white. Can you help me identify it?Thank you in advance!Thank you, readers, several of you let me know that this beauty is Sweet William!! I really appreciate your taking the time to help me with the ID.From Wikipedia: Dianthus barbatus (Sweet William), a sp... Read Full Story
It happened: Thee pretty Cistus laurifolius buds have opened up, revealing white crepe-y flowers with sunny-side-up centers! Popular with the bees... you can see the profusion of buds lined up getting ready to open.Here are more shots of the fuzzy buds from my previous post. What a great plant. I can tell that this is a real winner for my garden.Here's a good source of info on Cistus laurifolius: The Cistus & Halimium Website Read Full Story
Just look at the buds swelling on this interesting shrub, the Laurel-leaf Rose. I can't wait to see them open! It's my first year with this plant.I got this small columnar shrub at Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend, WA, in Fall of 2008. What a great unique nursery! Then I picked up a few more at a parking-lot nursery clearance sale. I have unfortunately misplaced all of the plant's latin nametags. For this blog post I tried doing some research online - to no avail. All I can find about it onl... Read Full Story
One of the many treasures shared with me by my gardening friend Donna were lots of Iris divisions, which I planted in Winter of 2007. After being in the ground for a year getting established, this year I'm being treated to stunning blossoms.When I planted the bulbs, I didn't know what color Iris I would end up seeing... but I would definitely have chosen this purple and lavender confection for my garden in any case. SO pretty!!!! Read Full Story
The hardy Digitalis Purpurea plant is very, very common in this area. All it seems to want is a little bit of dirt and presto, here it comes!Soon it will be shoulder-high everywhere! What a treat for the eyes. In this earlier post from last year, you can see the big stands of it here, in all their glory at the peak of bloom. Read Full Story
This massive split boulder turned out to be just the stage I imagined for this pretty Columbine and Goosefoot grouping!The humble little rosette of leaves has turned into a tall, leggy dancer and is blooming beautifully now. See it getting started in an earlier post.BELOW: I really like the form of this plant's blossoms. Some Columbine have feathery "shooting star" trailing embellishments on the blooms, but this one has a chunky flower that reminds me of an old-fashioned lady... Read Full Story
