Growing a Greenhouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I posted awhile ago about my greenhouse, when it was still in the throes of clean up and I was far from this day of amazement when I have things growing all over the place. I seem to have good luck in starting certain things from seed and then transplanting them to small pots and finally to the garden. This year I focused on tomatoes and some greens and of course some corn. Here’s some pictures of the greenhouse in full production mode.

The first shot is one of the whole greenhouse from the doorway. It shows the starting bed on the left where I have heating cables in the soil to allow for greater germination of the seeds. I cover it all with a plastic cover to keep it moist and it works great to start all sorts of things.

There are a lot of corn plants in the starting bed and on the right are the ones that are growing to to become plants for the garden. You can see a lot of tomatoes and some other seedlings, like zinnias, one of my grandmother’s favorites which I wanted to plant a lot of this year just for nostalgia’s sake, and because I also love them. The second shot shows the zinnias by themselves.

Next is a permanent part of the greenhouse under the starting bench. I wanted to have some tender plants growing year round so I planted a Tradescantia Purple leaf form that sprawls all over the floor and I have to keep it trimmed back some. There’s also a nice Persian Cyclamen that blooms quite nicely in winter and later into spring, tho it’s done now. It makes for a lovely scene under the bench for some year round color and foliage. There’s also a native fern growing wild in the tradescantia that I’ll have to remove someday as it’ll get too big but it’s so pretty now I’ll leave it.

In the next one you can just barely see the little peppers on the plants I held over thru the winter in the greenhouse and pruned back to allow for new growth.  To my surprise and joy they came back strongly and have been blooming well and already have set some fruit. How welcome to see because the peppers from this year are just still sitting there. So it’s lucky I have the ones from last year to have some fresh hot peppers for my cooking as they grow and develop.

There’s also a shot itself of the corn which we started in flats and then transplant out to the garden. We also give a lot of them away to neighbors. We do the same with tomatoes and this year I went kinda hog wild and planted far more than I can use and I suspect I’ll have a hard time giving them away. If you’re in the Seattle area give me a holler and I’ll share with you. I’ll have to get creative to see what to do with all of these local plants that are doing so well.

I bought some heirloom tomatoes from the Seed Savers’s Exchange this year – a Ukranian Purple, a Beams Yellow Pear, and an Emmy that is a golden orange that they sent as a bonus to me, like I needed more seeds! I also planted a local variety called Siberia because it’s a short season grower and we don’t have a long hot summer here in the Northwest. So I’m hoping it will put on some good fruit. Last year I did all heirlooms and they dd so well I thought I’d try them again. I plan to plant at least 4 types of tomatoes and see how they all do. We’ve already started planting the veggie garden with some greens I started earlier and some onion sets and some lettuce starts we got at the nursery. It’s looking good.

So I’m keeping this a short post. I just wanted to share what it’s like to have a greenhouse and how wonderful it is to be able to start your own plants. Some I have better luck with than others but it’s OK. I’ll have plenty of plants to put out into the garden and tho it may not be totally cost effective to do all this it sure does pay off in the good it does for my soul to garden and take care of these baby plants till they can become the giants some of them become. I can’t wait to see the results. If you have a greenhouse or just a cold frame I hope you’re having good luck yourself in growing things so you can plant them soon. We intend to put things out this weekend so they’ll have a good chance of growing into good size plants soon.

Happy gardening to you all and good luck with your starts.

Steve

Spring Renewal

Happy Earth Day!! It’s been some time since I wrote a post here and today feels like a good day to start again. I’ve been dealing with a serious health problem and it’s finally resolving such that I can start writing again, I hope. In the interim tho, I’ve been doing a lot of gardening and I want to show you some pictures of how things are beginning to look like spring is here. I’ve been doing a lot of weeding and mulching and putting bark on the paths and making the whole place look tip top before it all starts to take off and I just made it. Things look good and I’m happy with how they’re growing and developing. It’s very exciting to me.

Above are several of the plants that capture my attention right now. I hope you can see them well enough to tell what they are and what’s happening with them. In the upper left corner is an Aristolochia californica, or California Dutchman’s Pipe, an insectivorous plant which uses the insects only to pollinize the plants  and doesn’t eat them as do some insectivorous plants. It’s a rarity that grows in the swamps of central and northern California where I’ve been lucky enough to see it on occasion. It’s amazing with it’s “pipes” and is growing well.

Next to it is a small daphne named “Lawrence Crocker”. It’s from the Czech Republic and only gets about 12″ tall and wide but it sure does seem bigger with its smell. You have to get down on your knees to smell it but it’s worth it as it smells so sweet and like a daphne should.  It may not want to create a cloud of scent like my big “odora” out front but it’s lovely in its own right. Beside it is a variety of Ceaonothus called Pt. Reyes Ceanothus or California Lilac. It’s in almost full bloom now with its blue flowers which most of the genus have tho some are white and cream. But they’re known for blue flowers and this one is no exception. It trails down from the bed it’s in quite nicely.

The next row starts off with a small rhododendron called Ginny Gee which is a mass of white blossoms right now. It’s quite a sight. Next to it is a picture of the plants around the fountain from one side. There’s the Lawrence Crocker and the thrift I mention in a bit as well as the native bleeding heat and a dwarf Nana Lutea Hinoki Cypress for some evergreen color. It turns a nice yellow in the summer. Beside it is a new plant I just got recently -a  Japanese maple called Waterfall. I was tricked into thinking it wasn’t a dissectum when I bought it but I’m glad I was because it’s so lovely and will get to just the right size in its  place. It’s the earliest of my maples to leaf out tho others are on their way.

The next row begins with s Sorbaria sorbifolia “Sem” or Ural false spirea, which has a wonderful pinkish cast to its creamy green branch tips. It spreads by underground suckers and I have to dig them out but it’s ok because it’s so lovely. It has sprays of white flowers in the late spring. Next is a shot of the new fence we just put up. We bought rolls of bamboo fencing and attached it to the wire fence we had. It looks great and provides a wonderful background to the plants and encircles the yard to make it feel more cohesive and give it a sense of a garden rather than it floating off into the neighbors  lawn. On the left is a  Sequoiadendron Giganteum pendula and on the  right is a Scotch Pine called Inverleith which gets to a decent size in time but is dwarf for now at least.

Next is one of my favorite plants. It’s kind of hard to see it in the jumble of foliage but there’s a Metasequoia  “Miss Grace” in there in front with a Cryptomeria elegans in the back and a dwarf yew called Beanpole next to the Metsasequoia. It gets about 10 feet tall and only 1 or 2 feet wide they say. We’ll see, eh?

Next row  starts out with a bed of Pieris Mountain Flame putting on new growth with some tulips and a Blue Diamond Rhododendron next to it that is almost finished blooming but is still lovely. It’s a pretty bed. Next to that is a picture of the Thrift that does so well. It’s at the base of the fountain. It is so small but blooms so incredibly it’s a treasure to have. As you know I like little plants and this one is just too cool to believe. The last one is a shooting star, a member of the primrose family and a native to the west coast and beyond. This clump is 3 years old and is beginning to really flower nicely now.

There are so many other things I’d like to show you but this seems enough on my first post in awhile. There’s the Pieris Little Heath that is colored all pink with its new growth. And the two Andromedas that are both blooming with their light pink flowers that are so tiny and sweet. And the Daphne odora in the front that has been blooming for weeks now and scenting up the whole front yard with its blessings of spring. It’s amazing and I wish I could get a picture that shows it off as well as it does in person. It’s quite large and I’m thrilled because it’s usually so finicky. I’ll hope it grows a few more years at least. And of course there are the other Japanese maples that are starting to leaf out now.

So that’s the current tour. I hope you found some pretty things to delight you and I wish you all well in  your own gardening endeavors. I’ll try to post more often again now that I’m in better shape and keep this journal of a simple but unique garden and Nature Sanctuary growing for my next visit when things are a bit bigger and more fully leafed out. We’ll see how they do. Until then Happy Gardening to you all.peace,

Steve

Seeds, Seeds, Seeds

Well I’m finally getting around to it. I’ve had some seed catalogues for awhile now and I’ve been procrastinating about ordering seeds from them, but I think it’s time I get to work and do it. I’ve decided to mostly try to go for heirlooms this year since I had such good luck with some last time around so I’m focusing mostly on one catalogue – the Seed Savers Exchange.

The Seed Saver’s Exchange is a unique and remarkable entity. They encourage the saving of open pollinated heirloom seeds from all over the world in an effort to maintain the genetic diversity of our plant life. You may know this but if you don’t you should. Our genetic pool is dwindling precariously as more scientists plan more genetically modified and patented seeds. Now a farmer often can’t save their own seeds and has to buy new ones every year from the seed supplier because of patents and protections. It’s a dumb thing to do. And terrible for 3rd World farmers who should be saving their seed for money’s sake but instead are forced to buy from their suppliers. It’s a scam of monstrous proportions.

We only have a few varieties of many of the major plants we rely on for food. One is corn. We generally use only a couple of varieties of corn for all those thousands of acres of it plants all over the country. It would be a calamity if some scourge attacked the crops and we had nothing to fall back on. That’s where Seed Savers comes in. They have genetic stock of all sorts of old style varieties that still bear really well and are open pollinated and non patented so you can grow your food and save your own seeds, thus making the plants stronger and more adapted to your climate every year.

I haven’t gotten into that much yet tho I’ve been saving some seed for years. But mostly flowers. Now I’m going to try saving my veggie seed as well. I’ve been going thru the Seed Savers catalogue and have found a plethora of wonderful plants that sound just so yummy to eat that I’m barely into the booklet and already I have more than I’ll probably plant. But I want to try some things in the greenhouse again this yer so I have to order some things soon so I have a chance for growing them before I get to the real work of the outer garden.

I want to plant some old fashion zinnias this year. They were my grandmothers favorites and I try to grow them every year but haven’t for a year or two. So this year I’m getting some special red ones that have been around since the 1800′s sometime. They’ll make a great border for the fr0nt of the yard where the street is. I have Oregon grape and nandina as a back drop next to the Thuja pyrimidalis  and it will look so pretty with the red zinnias all across it.

I’ve found several other flowers that I want to plant too. But mostly now I’m focusing on veggies. I’ve got an Early Bird Turnip Beet that grows a huge red beet that will have lovely greens to munch on in the interim while I wait for the beets to grow. They talk in the catalogue about baking beets and carrots for the best flavors. I haven’t tried this yet but I intend to. I do it with yams all the time and they turn out so well. I’m sure the beets will do just as well.

I’ve also picked out a couple of varieties of carrots – a Nantes variety for keeping since they do it so well and an Oxheart for the same but I also picked out one called Dragon for it’s red skin that just looks so delicious I had to try it. I love root crops tho they aren’t always easy to grow for me. I’m still somewhat of a novice to veggie gardens as I haven’t had a place for it for too long but I do remember some things. And carrots do well for us so it makes sense to want a lot of them. They keep well.

As far as keeping goes, the best plants for us have been our yellow onions we buy from a local nursery in bags ready to plant. We’ve grown them for 3 years running now and the bulbs stay firm and lush all thru the winter and into spring. We have a whole bx of them in the garage just waiting for us to come to pick them to eat. They’re quite yummy and have a sharp flavor that goes well with strir frys and Mexican dishes. I love onions. They say they increase your sex drive but I dunno if that’s really true. Sounds good tho eh?

I love eggplant and have had good luck with the Japanese variety in the greenhouse a year ago so I’m going to try some again. It’s a different variety and has a longer fruit so I hope they make it in time. I figure I’ll start the seeds of them now since they’ll always be in a sheltered place and that way I can increase the growing season. I’ve done tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse the last two years and had mixed results. The first year I got a tomato specifically for greenhouses and they did quite well.

The peppers did wonderfully. I plan to grow more of them this year but haven’t decided on which varieties I should try yet. I ate the ones I liked and didn’t save seeds, darn it, so will have to start new, but there are so many types to try. I’ll do OK I’m sure. I love the possibilities with all the peppers. And of course I like the hot ones the best. Ah well.

I couldn’t get by without greens and I intend to grow my usual Bok Choy, using one of the Seed Saver special varieties. I also want to try some Tatsoi which is an Asian green that looks to be quite tasty and has a rosette of rounded leaves and will form a nice head. I tend to just pick the bok choy as I need it and let the plants keep on growing rather than try for heads like the markets do. Maybe I’ll see if I can get some to head up this year, just for a change.

And of course I have some Red Russian Kale which looks to be beautiful and will last thru the winter and only get sweeter as it tends to do when it chills. Kale is so full of good stuff and it lasts so well in the garden it’s always nice to have fresh greens in the depths of winter and we enjoy it immensely. This variety it so lovely with its red veins and light green leaves, so different from regular kale with its darkness and full bodied leaves. These look like they’d be delicious.

I have so much more work to do still. I have to finish going thru the catalogue and finding out everything I’d Like to grow and then I have to get real and narrow it down to what’s likely for me to be Able to grow and come to a happy compromise. I’ll stil buy too many seeds I’m sure. I always do but then they do last for some time usually and I do keep them. In fact I still have some good seeds left but I may just do the heirlooms this year and see how they do.

It’s exciting to feel yourself a part of a movement to reclaim our horticultural heritage. I’m a member of the Seed Savers Exchange and get a discount on my purchases but if not I’d buy from them without the discount. I think they do such good work. Such essential work. I hope some of you decide to try to find them. You can Google them I suspect but I’ll give an address just in case. They’re at: Seed Saver’s Exchange, 3094 N. Winn Road, Decorah, IA, 52101. Look them up and check them out. You may find a whole new world of seeds to try!

Happy seed shopping,

Steve

Ferns

I think ferns are one of the loveliest parts of a garden. I have a whole bed of them as well as some stuck in here and there to give that airy, lacy effect they’re so famous for. I love the ones that stay green all winter so I can enjoy them but I also appreciate the ones who go dormant and lose all their leaves and just wait for spring to come forth again as they all do with their new growth. I’ve tried to capture the spirit of each plant here both for my own records but also to share with others. I hope you enjoy this fern tour.

The first fern on this tour is an Alaska Fern, or Polystichum setiferum. It grows about 2-3 feet around and stays green all winter. I have a couple of these because I like them so much. Next to it is an Autumn Fern, Dryopteris erythrosora, which comes on with new growth that is bronze in color tho it’s not in autumn that it does this so I’m uncertain about why it was named this. It’ll all stay evergreen and gets about 2-3 feet big. Next is a Japanese Tassel fern, another Polystichum, polyblepharum. Smaller than the others but still evergreen.

Here’s a ratty looking specimen of our native Sword fern, Polystichum munitum. It’s in winter since I couldn’t find another picture of it in spring or summer. It will get 5-6 feet tall and is a staple of NW gardens and hillsides. Beside it is a Long Eared Holly fern or Polystichum neoloblatum. Not too big a grower but evergreen. Then another Holly fern, this time a Cyrtomium falcatum. It looks a little more like Holly but both have scratchy scales on them so both are aptly named.

I think this is a native Lady Fern, Athyrium filix-femina, but I’m not sure. We transplanted it from a part of the garden where it had naturalized. It didn’t do  so well here so I took it out but still wanted to show it off as it’s really something. We still have some of them coming up here and there all over the garden. They look so sweet when they’re young and small but they do get huge and I don’t have many places I can accommodate them so I pull most of them and let a few survive for awhile. They’re deciduous so disappear completely in the fall.

Here’s a Licorice fern, Polypodium glycyrrhiza, another NW native whose roots have a licorice like flavor and were used for that by the Native People. It’s another evergreen. Next is one of the 2 plants in the garden I lost the sticker from. It’s an unknown fern but may be a male fern, Athyrium filix mas, or may not be. I dunno really but it’s pretty and stays evergreen all year so it’s nice to have where it is. Then there’s a Dragon Tail fern, Asplenium ebenoides, that is supposed to look like a dragons tail. I have a hard time telling it from the Deer fern but they’re not related apparently so I don’t know why. Ferns are like that tho. They often look similar.

Here’s another Alaska fern, or soft shield fern, Polystichum setiferum, here, as I said, because I like it so much. And next to it is a variety of it called “diversilobum” for the way it grows into something of a stalk as it gets bigger. It hasn’t done that yet for me. This next one will get to be about 5-6 feet tall which is why it’s tucked back in the corner of the yard. It also loses its leaves so I have to put in a stake so I don’t forget it. It’s a Purple Stemmed Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis var. regalis Purpurascens”,  and has purple stems on it’s lovely stalks and interesting leaves. I can’t wait for this one to get big!

This an Auriculate Lady Fern, Athyrium otophorum,  and is another deciduous one. It’s one of the parents to the Ghost fern you see later on in this pictorial. Beside it is a clump of what will become a large fern 5-6 feet tall.  The Giant Chain Fern, Woodwardia fimbriata, native to the Sierras of California and parts of Oregon. I got these in tubes just a year or so ago and they’ve really grown a lot in that short time but still have a long way to go. They’ll get there in time.

The last row starts with a Japanese Painted Fern, Athyrium nipponicum “Pictum”, another unusual deciduous fern from Japan that has won numerous awards of merit for its unique coloring. It’s the other parent of the Ghost fern next in line. The Ghost fern, Athyrium x Ghost,  is a cross between the Auriculate Lady Fern and the Japanese Painted Fern and has characteristics of both. It seems to get bigger sooner than either of its parents and has wonderful under-lighting qualities to it. Last is the Deer fern, Blechnum spicant, another NW native. It puts up sterile fronds in the top of the plant in spring and keeps the basal leaves all year round.

So that’s the tour. I didn’t realize I have quite so many of these things. I know there are still a couple more I missed but you got the majority of them. As you can see they do give a certain quality of grace to the garden and harmonize well with their surroundings and the plants with them. They go well with all sort of things especially my faves, the Ercicaceae. They make the garden more interesting and give it a certain quality of light and delicacy that nothing else quite does. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour and come back for more when you can.

in ferny delight,

Steve

Transition Time

This time of year is always hard for me as a gardener. Things are dormant now and it’s a bit too early for most of them to be putting out new energy. It’s a time of resting and preparation and a time to be aware of both the endurance and the impermanence of the garden. It’s a time for reflection on what has been, what is, and what will be in time.

When I walk thru the garden now I see mostly the evergreens that stay with us all year round, sometimes in their winter colors and some their usual greens of varying hues. What I also notice are all the bare stems and especially the places where there is nothing growing at all. It’s those places that intrigue me right now in this interim time. I can remember so well what the plants looked like and in some cases I purposefully don’t clean up the dead fern fronds or the last of the poppies for awhile so I can recall them in their glory. It reminds me that they were there and they will come back. There’s something about a blank spot in the garden that bothers me. I feel like the plants are missing and it feels like loss to me.

Loss is  a big part of gardening. You have to deal with it every year when the “season of falling off and dying” passes us in the fall and we come to the winter of bleak prospects. There really isn’t a lot going on now tho there is still plenty to see, as I talked about in my last post. But loss is the big theme for me right now. I think it happens to me every time this time of year. It just goes with the season. And it’s not a bad thing either. It’s just what it is in the cycle of life. But it’s something you can feel full force in the garden. Things are just gone and we don’t know for sure they’re coming back again. We have to hope they will.

I have a lot of evergreens of all sorts, and they comprise the majority of plants in the garden. I imagine it’s true for most people. They’re the ones who hold the place together and provide us with a sense that the garden endures and that things will be once again as they were in the past. They allow us to keep going on and not feel the loss of the others so much. But it’s still there. Even the evergreens lose some leaves now in the winter.

The deciduous trees and shrubs are special to me in a different way. They give me 4 seasons of beauty and this is the most subtle time to comprehend them. The time when there’s nothing there but stems and buds and the leaves are long gone and on the ground decaying into compost for next year’s growth. They show themselves fully to us at this time of year.

I love seeing the way they are shaped right now. You can really see it in the habits of the plants that are deciduous in a way you never can see the structure of the evergreens unless you do a lot of interior pruning which I don’t really do much of. Tho I could and will do more in time as the plants grow. I like to see the shapes of things. To see their bare bone structures and how they grow into such amazingly different forms and styles. There are so many ways for a plant to manifest its being and I appreciate them all.

Of course we see this in the evergreens as well. Their shapes are more permanent in the landscape and they always look more or less the same except when they put on their bursts of growth in the spring. That’s an exciting time and it won’t be that long till it’s upon us again. But not for awhile yet. We still have a lot of winter to get thru first. All of this transition time. It’ll take awhile and we might as well enjoy it.

We’re on the cusp of the new season now. I see the buds growing on some plants and my Lenten Rose is almost in bloom now and so is the Himalayan Sweet Box and the Winter Daphne. It won’t be long till there are actual flowers in the garden again after this time of other sights to see. There’s so much more to a garden than flowers, tho I think that’s why most people garden. Of course we all love flowers.

But in Asia they have styles of gardening that emphasize the shapes of things and I’ve come to really appreciate that perspective. This is what we see now most of all. The shapes are dominant in the landscape, not the colors of the pretty flowers. This is what we see now in our own gardens.

We see the shapes of the various plants, from the strong uprights of the yews and pyramidalis cypresses to the rounded balls of the dwarf firs and cryptomerias, to the cones of the Alberta spruce and the upward sweeps of the Hinoki cypress. Also the rounded balls of the many deciduous shrubs like the creek dogwood that is upright but still round tho it’s bare as can be. And the “sticks” of so many plants that look like nothing more than stakes in the ground to some people. But to me they are potential.

That word more than any other may sum up this time of year, this transition time. It’s a time of potential, waiting in the ground to burst forth again in the spring with all its magnificence. It’s there in the plants and in the herbs in the ground. It’s in the buds of the evergreens and conifers, in the flower buds of the Pieris and the Mahonias. It’s everywhere and it’s not to be denied. It’ll take over soon and we’ll all be thru this transition time of waiting for things to happen.

So for me it’s a time to just enjoy what we have and appreciate this latent potential awaiting us soon enough. We wouldn’t really appreciate it as much if we had it all the time I suspect, but I speak as a northern gardener and it’s much different in the tropics I suspect. I can’t imagine that prospect and even here in Seattle we have a short winter by comparison with other places in the North. It’s really a brief time to appreciate all this transitioning and waiting and just being with the garden in all its phases.

This part of gardening  – to be with it all the time in every moment if we can, and just see and comprehend what we’re seeing. To listen to the birds sing and the cracking of the ice in the fountain. To Be Here Now in the moment of time right where you are and how you are and everything about the garden and its appropriateness. This is the Magic of Gardening. The garden is never out of tune with itself unless we make it so. We’re the ones who get out of tune with the garden. This is the time when we can go within and let ourselves just let go and tune into the energy of transition and marvel at it.

To latent potential,

Steve

A Stroll Thru the Garden in Winter

I know most of us don’t do much with our gardens at this time of year and I’m no exception. It’s cold and rainy out most days and not exactly great weather for gardening of any sort. There are still things to do that I haven’t gotten to yet and some clean up I have yet to follow thru on, as well as some pruning of big trees I’m putting off for a nice day. But mostly what I find myself doing these days is simply strolling thru the garden and appreciating it for what it is in this time of year.

You may think there’s not much to look at now but there are still so many things that catch my eye as I wander around the yard and follow the paths I’ve got winding thru the garden. The first thing I notice are all the colors that are in such abundance even in this dreary time. One thing that catches my eye first off is that the Cryptomeria “elegans” is slowly turning from its usual green to an incredible purple for winter. It’s not fully there yet but it stands out now and is clearly no longer a green tree. And it’s still soft and ‘pettable” too!

The Leucothoe is very striking with its purple and red leaves overlaying the green and yellow ones. Its arching branches make it stand out in the empty space around it. And it’s almost starting to set those bloom buds that are so attractive later on in the season. Across from it I spot the Winter Creeper, which, tho it’s not dramatic, has gentle shadings of reddish/purple in the margins of the leaves that you have to get close to in order to appreciate. So that’s what I do. I get close.

One plant I don’t get close to is the Oregon grape and it’s varieties I have. The blue berries that covered them earlier in the season have mostly been eaten by the birds and are gone now but the plants are still prickly like holly and are covered now with holiday lights instead of fruit. The nandinss planted among them are all turning a lovely shade of reddish purple and make the whole front of the house look pretty against the backdrop of the tall dark Pyramidallis arborvitae that screens the house from the street.

Of course the conifers are the backbone of many gardens and mine is no exception. Many of the dwarf confers that line the paths and are at the junctions of the walks and at corners of beds are really holding things together now. You may think of them as green when you think of evergreens, naturally, and most are, but some of mine, like the Baby Blue False Sawara cypress are bright blue as are the Blue Spruce and its cultivars, and the Blue Star juniper at one corner. The Snow false cypress is a whitish green and the Lutea Hinoki cypress is a nice golden color as is the globe arborvitae in front. And the Blue Pfitzer juniper is actually a beautiful greyish color.

The bed of Scotch Heathers is really pretty at this time of year. The dead flower buds still hang on the plants in profusion and carry with them a sense of the season. They may be drab, their colors faded, but that’s so appropriate for this time of year that they seem beautiful to me even in their faded glory. There’s beauty all over if you look for it I think.

Of the deciduous plants the creek dogwood and the Sango Kaku Japanese maple both have striking red branches this time of year and stand out from the grey around them. I can’t wait to see them in the snow! Next to the creek dogwood the swamp cypress is still valiantly  holding onto a few of it’s leaves. It’s the very last thing to lose them and it amazes me how long they stay on there.

The choke cherry on the other side of the dogwood is covered with its usually biter fruit, but I ate one today and it was actually sweet. I guess the cold does that to them. I leave them for the birds of course but maybe I should try making some syrup or something from them some year. That’s what they grow them for commercially in Russia where this variety comes from, tho it’s an eastern US native. The purple/black berries really stand out in the border.

As I say most of the plants have lost their leaves by now so it’s the buds I look at next. The Pieris, or Lily of the Valley shrubs are most notable now because they’re all starting to put on long racemes of buds in various colors from the white of the Little Heath to the red of the now deceased Valley Valentine to the pink of the Mountain Flame, which also has some new red leaves on it amazingly enough. They strike me as quite beautiful with their abundance of buds that will bloom in a few months but are preparing us now with their displays.

Of course the main things for buds are the big Rhododendrons. The Sappho and the Blue Peter both are literally covered with them and they’re mostly big fat bloom buds so this will be a good year for flowers from them. The Anna Rose Whitney is a little slower but still is shaping up to have quite a few flower buds on it in the midst of all the growth buds I see. The smaller Rhodies also have buds on them as does the giant Camellia japonica in the front corner of the yard. It’ll be amazing soon.

I also notice near the Rhodies the flower clusters of the Viburnum rhitidophyllum that are growing larger day by day and will be a full 5 or 6 inches across by the time they bloom in spring. They’re a dusky brown now but open to a creamy white. They set these buds out to show us even now of their future beauty. I had to prop this one up this year as it was getting to be over 6 ft tall and I guess the peaty soil wasn’t firm enough for it. Kinda scary but I think we fixed it OK.

It may be my imagination or not since I so love to see things develop, but I’d swear that several others of the plants are also putting on buds. I know for sure that the metasequoia is doing so since it started just after the leaves fell and they’re on there solidly now. But even the enkianthus are putting on what looks to be the new buds for spring already and the Ural False Spirea has fat green buds that may not be swelling yet but will be soon.

Next to it is a winter daphne and it really is putting on some growth now and it’ll be blooming in another month or two. It’s got big flower buds and growth buds both and it’s getting large. I may have to prune it gently this coming year to keep it safe. Last year the snow broke a branch but I duct taped it back together and it’s been fine ever since. Bet you didn’t know you could use duct tape for fixing plants too did you? (Just be careful to take it off soon…)

The Himalayan Sweet Box is already close to blooming now and its buds are swelling even as I write this. They’re so strong smelling that the one I planted by the front walk will carry its scent up to the doorway when we open it to come outside and it will great visitors with its lovely smell. I have a couple of these because they’re such tidy shiny evergreens and have such amazingly sweet smells that they impress everyone who even comes close to them. They’re great plants to welcome people to our home.

Well I think I’ve covered the most significant parts of the garden for you now. I hope this little tour was interesting to you and shows you how much there can be to see even in the drab days of winter. It won’t be long now till some things start to bloom, in fact my Charity Mahonia has been in bloom for weeks now, but things will really start up soon and I’m ready for it. It’s past the Solstice and the days are getting longer now and the plants can tell that even if we can’t so easily. It’ll be spring again before you know it, but why wait to enjoy your garden. Go out in it now and see what pleasures you can find on your own Winter Stroll!

Have a nice walk,

Steve

The Ericaceae

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve talked before of my love of the Ericaceae, or as it’s c0mmonly known, the Heather Family. Here are some representative samples of it from my garden. I have more but I didn’t have good pictures of them so I left then out. And besides I figured this was enough. I’ll try to give a brief intro. to each plant and let you know a bit about why I think they’re valuable. They’re all different but have similar aspects. For instance they all have a bell shaped flower with five locules or “chambers” to their ovaries. Some are bigger than others, like the Rhododendrons compared to the andromedas. You may have to click on them to see them in large enough size to appreciate them and I hope you do so. They’re really worth it.

Starting at the upper left and working my way from left to right and then down is a Kurume Azalea called “Ward’s Ruby”. I love it because it has such deep red flowers in the spring. They cover the plant and light up the back yard where it’s growing. Beside it are some Furzy Heaths along the front walk to to house. They bloom in late winter at a time when not much else is blooming. In fact they’re starting now in December. They welcome visitors to the house with their gentle colors.

Next is an Enkianthus, a large growing deciduous shrub which has red veined flowers and turns some amazing colors in fall as you can see. Now where it’s planted it turns orange instead of purple. Go figure…. Beside it is the Salal, a common understory plant here in the Pacific Northwest that the Native people used for food and basketry. It has large purple fruit that isn’t that tasty but makes a good pemmican I understand.

This is one of the several dwarf Rhododendron varieties I have. Called “Bow Bells”, it has bright pink flowers in early spring and keeps a nice rounded form. I replaced another dwarf Rhodie with this one after it gave up the ghost. Even in my garden things do  die. Beside it is one of 4 Lily of the Valley shrubs I have. It’s called “Prelude” and is a dwarf that only gets a couple feet tall and has racemes of white flowers along the stems in spring.  Very lovely in bloom and compact in form.

Then come the Blueberries. Of course Blueberries are in this family, along with hucklberries, lingonberries, cranberries and other berries we eat. We have 7 varieties and get lots of fruit from them every year so far. I love it when they turn color in fall and are all red and purple. Lovely. Next is a large Rhodie called “Blue Peter” which was here when I got here and is a large flowered plant with a deep purple splotch in the center. Next is an “Anna Rose Whitney” Rhodie I planted and is finally blooming after 3 years in the ground. It’ll get about 5 or 6 feet tall.

Here is another azalea. This one is a Formosa, tho I don’t know for sure because it was already here when I arrived. It really shows itself off where it is in the rockery in the front yard. Next is a small heath called “Rose Glow” that has since died but I like the picture and the plant so I included it. I don’t know why it died but it just went one day and was gone. Sigh. It always makes me sad to lose plants tho it’s the way of the garden so I  get used to it. Beside it is a small Uva Ursi Manzanita, a ground cover found around the Northern Hemisphere. It has small apple like berries which is why it’s called a Manzanita – Manzan is apple in Spanish, so “little apple” is its name. They were eaten by Native people but aren’t that tasty and were used in pemmican like the Salal.

This one is a Mountain Laurel variety called “Raspberry Glow” and its flowers show why. It’s just starting to bud out here so the blooms are a week or two away. It’ll get 5 feet all over in time but is very slow growing so it’ll take awhile. It’s close to the deck so we can see it up close when it blooms. Another large Rhodie is next to it – a “Sappho” named for the  famous poet of Lesbos, it has a deep purple blotch in the center of a creamy white flower. Very nice and floppy like some Rhodies are. Next is another Lily of the Valley Shrub that gets large and has flame colored red leaves in the spring as you can see. It’ll provide a nice setting for the deck and a screen from the neighbors as well.

Here’s another dwarf Rhodie called “Ginny Gee”. It only gets about 3 feet big but has pure white flowers that cover the plant in early spring. This next one is a Satsumi Azalea that is grown mostly for its foliage which is tight and is used a lot in Japanese gardens for its formality and ability to withstand close shearing to form it into desired shapes. It hasn’t bloomed for me yet and maybe it will someday, but I don’t care. It’s lovely as it is. Last is another Lily of the Valley shrub called “Little heath”, a variegated form that has pinkish new growth and white flowers in racemes like the rest of them do. They don’t look a lot like Lily of the Valley to me but I can see the resemblance I guess…

Then there are two andromedas, or Bog Rosemarys. The first one, the “Blue Ice”, has small tight growth and flowers. The second is “Macrophylla” for its large leaves and flowers. Both bloom in spring with pink bell shaped blooms and stay very small. The final Lily of  the Valley shrub, called “Valley Valentine” has also gone away since the rats dug a tunnel around its roots and piled up so much dirt so fast that it was gone before I even noticed what had happened. It hit me hard as I love the colors in these flowers. I’m glad the cats are getting the rats now and hopefully we won’t have this problem ever again. Grrrr….

This one is another dwarf Rhodie called “Dora amateis” that gets about 3 feet across and sits at the corner of the front entrance where it can show itself off to all and sundry who come to visit. It’s covered with blooms as you can see. The plant literally disappears under the burden of the flowers. Next is a “Howard McMinn” Manzanita, a slow growing form from California  where most Manzanitas grow, tho some come up into Oregon and down into Mexico. It has these lovely little bell shaped flowers in the very early spring that you have to look for but are worth the effort. I’ve talked about this Kalmiopsis in another post so won’t do much here. It’s a special and rare plant that is native to the Umpqua National Forest in Oregon and is a dwarf that again covers the forest floor in a northern clime.

The Western Azalea is a West coast native that is the parent plant of many of the deciduous azaleas in the nursery trade, such as the Exbury hybrids of England. It’s got a wonderful fragrance and I can see why it’s been used with its creamy white yellow colors and lovely smell and form. I get to see that form in the winter. Then is the “Wickwar Flame” Scotch heather. It’s in its summer colors of golden green but in the winter it turns a deep reddish color tho not too much here in this spot because of not enough sun. It has lavender blooms in the summertime.

Last is the “Drooping Rainbow Leucothoe”. These plants love being wet and we usually dump all the water from cleaning the fountain here when that happens. It turns this deep shade of purple in the winter and has long racemes of white flowers in the spring, along with its arching form. It won’t get much bigger than it is now so will be a nice underplanting for the “Bloodgood” Japanese maple I planted next to it when a large Rhodie died this last year.

So that’s the tour. You can see there is a huge variety even in my small garden in the sizes and shapes and colors and forms of these plants. And I don’t have any of the huge tree Rhododendrons or the Madronas that cover the hills of Asia or the northwest respectively. They get to be truly large trees but most of the Ericaceae are small and are good ground covers all over the Northern Hemisphere and also are shrubs that do the same in the Southern parts of most of our country and elsewhere in the world. I’ve actually got a pretty representative sampling of the kinds of plants that are in this family. I have found them fascinating for many years and I’m so happy to be able to have this collection of all these different kinds. I suspect many of you in the north have at least a few of these plants in your garden, if not the same varieties then others that are similar. They’re ubiquitous all over their range and I for one am very happy about that.

Good Gardening to you!

Steve