Tuesday, May 27, 2014

A gathering...

Since the demise of  the Musella Lasiocarpa  this winter , I've had this huge empty planter .  So, rather than getting something new to plant in it ; why not gather all those super market succulents  together for the summer. A luxurious sunny pond side holiday accommodation. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Garden in color...

How handy to have this editing option : going from color to B&W , back to color . So, here are the same photos in color . Not a lot of color , plenty of green with just a few dabs here and there. Since all the Agastache seem to have parished this winter , I'm left with mostly blues, pinks and yellow . 






Red poppies 

Monday, May 19, 2014

The black and white garden...

Yesterday in Portland I attended an HSPO lecture " Planting; A new perspective" by Noel Kingsbury . One of his suggestions was to examine our gardens in B&W photos …removing the color , suddenly…texture. Fortunatlly I never have much color in the garden , so I  was quite pleased not to see "porridge "  







Thursday, May 15, 2014

A May bloom day from Far Reaches Farm….

I thought I'd do my bloom day post from Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend this month , as we've stopped on the way home today . Philip and  doggies patiently waited while I had a little  look round. 

I really wished I'd taken this lovely Astrantia 'Dark shiny eye's' but I was after things for  dry sunny positioning 

Most of the Iris's  were over , but this Iris 'big money' was still looking fresh.


This was not ready to bloom yet, Nomocharis pardanthina a lily relative , must remember to look for this bulb.

Chiastophyllum oppositifolium , so not blooming quite yet , but a very nice shade moisture lovely succulent  that I would have loved to bring home, but didn't.

Finally a bloomer, Soldanella alpina . A sweet primula like native to the Alps and Pyrenees.

This one I did take with me, Myrteola nummularifolia , because I can't resist teensy white flowers. 

Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum'

The star bloomer … Meconopsis'Lingholm'


And a simple species peony .
A whopping huge tree peony bloom … gorgeous. Then it was time to collect my , not that full tray of plants and get back on the road.
 Happy bloom day and for more lovely blooms visit   May Dreams Gardens.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The self seeding Aquilegia...

For years I have been pulling  out these  pale Mauve Aquilgea selfseeders . They never plant themselves in the right spots.

But this year I've left them ,  They seem to have got the message ; and made a neat  little colony surrounding the Honesty and Forester grass , which is looking so fresh this time of year.

With a few tall spikes of Verbascum , this won't last long.

This one has nestled next to the  Syneilesis , which I like …

And here decorating the gate. `Yes, I'm enjoying these pale little Aquilegia this year.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

For the best...

When I planted Callistemon "Sieberi'  twelve  inchs  away from Juniperus 'daubs frosted' (which can speed out to six feet) I knew that it was stupid and I've never even liked the two textures together.  So after far too many years ,  I dug Sieberi up and she's now residing at the front of the house , which is south/east facing,  still warm , but a little more protected. She's looking a little winter tattered.

 The Daubs' can stretch out more comfortably now ; and I will look out for a new companion.

 Sieberi in her new home, which badly needed more occupants .

For-get-me-nots and Ladies Mantle


Sunday, May 4, 2014

May in the garden.

A mini heat wave  last week , has got things springing upwards and outwards in the garden .   After  rushing around weeding , digging , splitting and everything else. It was a treat to just  sit  and enjoy, too hot  to plant anything out . I did have a few moments of inspiration , which I couldn't ignore ; and had to make a few tweaks , so a few sad wilted ones around for a few days.

Here we are at the end of March , Mickey enjoying all the open space.

My shady patch , which is looking much fuller than a few weeks ago. Most of the Platts black brass buttons ground cover that has taken years to cover the pathway, seems to have been killed this winter.  So , the stepping stones were put back in…thank you Philip. At least it's not such a wide path these days , I've been squeezing the planting in.

Here in March , no Brass buttons, so I threw the steps back in .  Than dug up the Black mondo grass clumps and planted them along the path.

This was last spring , a carpet of Brass buttons …oh well.