Ginny Gee Rhododendron/Rhodendron “Ginny Gee” – March
This will be the last of my Random posts. I could do many more I guess but this’ll be over 5 dozen, and that’s a lot of plants to profile. This has been a fun exercise for me, and I hope for you too. In the future I’ll try to keep up with the changes in the garden more as they happen, but I got so far behind this seemed the best way to try to catch us all up. I don’t make any promises about how often I’ll post tho. I go by my emotions and they change so often, and sometimes I just can’t bring myself to write anything clever or informative. We’ll see how it goes as time goes along. Here are the last Random plants.
This is such a cute little rhode. It’s smothered in light pink blossoms, with some yellow shading to them. It grows relatively slowly and will only get to be a 2-3′ ball. It’s been in our garden for about 4 years and has grown a lot since then. I had it in a shadier spot and it only put on a few blooms last year. But I moved it to a sunnier spot and it loves it. This year it rewarded us with zillions of blooms. Again, it shows just how much difference the sun makes!
Sango-Kaku Japanese Maple/Acer palatum “Sango-kaku” – now
We planted this tree at the corner of the path to the front steps and the one into the garden. It’s also known as a Coral Bark Maple. Its red stems (supposedly) look like a tower of coral rising from the sea in spring when it puts on new growth. You can’t really see that now because the trunk grays out with age, but it’s brilliant in spring. It makes a wonderful archway with the Green pine as you walk under it into the garden. It’s gotten this big in 10 years and will grow to 25′ or 30′ in time.
Ward’s Ruby Azalea/Azalea kurume “Ward’s Ruby” – May
This may be my all time favorite azalea. I love the deep dark red and the intense effect it creates when it forms a mass of tiny blossoms. By some wonderful chance I planted it where you can see it directly from the back door of the house straight thru the garden. It’s so bright it shows up way back there. It’s been here for 10 years and won’t get much bigger, just fuller.
Wissel’s Saguaro Lawson False Cypress/Chamaecyparis lawsoniana “Wissel’s Saguaro” – now
This is one strange looking plant. It’s named for the Saguaro Cactus of the southwest area of the US because the arms spread out and up like the cactus does. It’s grown great here – to over 8′ in just 5 years. No one seems to know just how big it will eventually get. 15′, 20′, ??? – who knows? I even cut a hole in the maple above it to allow it to grow thru it if it gets big enough to reach that high. It’s a great plant to have at the front entry to the house. It gives the impression that perhaps the folks who live here are just a bit eccentric. Now why would they think that?? Ha ha…
Pacific Fire Vine Maple/Acer circinatum “Pacific Fire” – now
This is a cultivar of our native Vine Maple that grows abundantly all over the Pacific Northwest, and down into California. In the forest the species of this tree will grow to 30′ as it grows up thru the surrounding trees like a vine. In less shaded areas it’s only a bush 15 or 20′ tall and wide. This variety is called Pacific Fire because the new growth is a brilliant red and the stems keep some orangish color in them as they age. It’s been here for 3 years and has grown this big from a 5′ sapling.
Anna Rose Whitney Rhododendron/Rhododendron “Anna Rose Whitney” – May
The flowers on this rhodie come in trusses of 10 or 12 flowers, and are so abundant the whole plant is just covered in them in spring. It’s gotten pretty big in the 10 years it’s been here, and will get bigger still. The only fault I find with this plant is that the blooms only last for 2-3 weeks – not as long as some, and not as long as I’d like. But they’re so beautiful when they bloom I’m just being picky. And after all – photos are in bloom forever!
Howard McMinn Manzanita/Arctostaphyllos densiflora “Howard McMinn” – February
I lived in the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California for many years, and the Sierras were my “backyard” as I was growing up. So manzanitas have been in my life for over 60 years. Their mahogany brown bark is a defining characteristic of them. They twist and turn and form amazing shapes as they grow. Some are as big as small trees, but this one only gets about 6′ x 5′. It’s been here 10 years. The flowers are very fragrant and the bees love them. A bee-keeper friend in the Sierras would bring us manzanita honey sometimes. It was so fine it set up and crystalized almost immediately. Yummy!
Underplanting of the Red Pygmy Maple – now
There’s no one plant to focus on here. You can see the leaves of the Red Pygmy up above and the Treasure Island Cypress at the right. In the center are 3 nice rhodies – on the left is a Ken Janeck with its new leaves such a soft light green. Next to it is a Ramapo rhodie which has light purple flowers. Barely seen behind them is an Impeditum that doesn’t get enough sun to bloom (remember what I said about enough sun??). The Japanese Tassel fern is on the right and the Japanese Forest Grass is behind the maple’s trunk. The ground cover is Redwood Sorrel, the plant that grows all under the trees in the Redwood groves on the California coast. I love it but it’s also a terribly invasive pest. Gotta go with the love I guess.
Irish Heath/Daboecia cantabrica – now
This is an unusual heath. Most heaths are Ericas, and heathers are Callunas, but this one is a whole different genus. I got it 10 years ago at the Kruckerberg Botanical Garden in a 2″ pot. I stuck it in between the heathers in this bed, which have since all frozen off. I had to move it, but it’s survived all the rest. It’s full of lush spring growth but I’ll show it off later when it’s in bloom. It has lovely lavender bell shaped flowers (like all the Ericaceae) that bloom from midsummer to early fall.
Little Heath Lily of the Valley Shrub/Pieris japonica “Little Heath” – now
This got pretty crowded over the 10 years it’s been here, so last fall I decided to prune out the deadwood and open it up to see how it would look. I was amazed. A little hint – always take out the dead wood first. You may find that’s all you need to do to make the plant look spectacular. At least always start with deadwood before you prune the rest of it. You can see the intricate form of the branches here now with a few flowers at the top (where it gets sun) and some new pinkish growth on the tips. In front of it is a small growing Gemstone Hinoki False Cypress. We just panted it over this last winter. It’s a dwarf, only growing to about 24″ tall and 18″ wide. It may take 20 years to get that big. It’s truly a gem!
Cilpinense Pink Rhodendron/Rhododendron “Cilpinense Pink” – February
One of the earliest rhodies to bloom here. It has delicate light lavender flowers that contrast nicely with the soft blue of the Snow White Lawson Cypress next to it. It’s been here for 4 years and has tripled in size in that time. It’s not super hardy tho and one year the entire set of blooms got hit by a late freeze just as they were blooming. Since then we cover it with burlap sacks to keep them safe, and it’s worked well. It also has very lustrous leaves that are a bit downy looking at the margins.
Stockholm Scotch Heather/Calluna vulgaris “Stockholm” – now
A most unusual Heather. It only grows upright and doesn’t bloom at all, supposedly. It had a few blossoms on it when we got it 2 years ago, but none since. It turns a darker purple-brown in the winter. It fits in well here with the Wild Ginger at the left and the Western Bleeding Heart above it. To the right is a Nana Dwarf Hinoki Cypress – one of the smallest Hinokis. I like how heathers and heaths have coniferous looking foliage. I’ve planted some just for their foliage, knowing that they won’t get enough sun to bloom. But that’s OK sometimes….
Entrance to the Front Garden – now
This is where you come into the front garden. You can just see the arch I created with the Japanese Maple on the left and the Oregon Green pine on the right. The ground drops slightly as you go under the arch so it really feels like you’re walking down into a little glade in the forest. It’s a charming garden to be in. I did a post called A Hidden Gem awhile ago that shows it off much more fully. You can see the Waterfall Maple at the back right, and the Silver Knight heather on the front left. Our Wildlife Sanctuary sign is just under the Maple by the heather. This seems like a good photo to stop with, so I will.
For those of you who have been counting you’ll notice that this is actually the 13th photo in this post, as opposed to only 12 in the previous 4 Random posts. I guess I had an extra one somewhere. I decided it was more important to show you all of them than to cut one for the sake of continuity. I think it was the right decision. They’re all cool photos.
I’ve really enjoyed putting out all these photos in such quick succession. I do prefer to do more informative posts, focused on certain plants or collections of plants, but this was cool to do because I didn’t have a focus. Sometimes Random is the way to go, especially in this chaotic world we live in. It just seemed natural. I have no idea when I’ll post again, but I hope it’s not another 5 months like it was this last time. As I’ve said, my moods determine when I post, and my life in general, so I just hope they give me the impetus to post more often again. Time will tell…
Randomly yours no more,
Steve