Thursday, April 28, 2016

Other flower and vegetable beds

Iris ready to put on a show

I've mentioned that I'm trying to focus on three main areas of the yard this year. There are so many things that I could do, but I know I won't get anything done without focus. The rose garden and sunny hillside are coming along nicely though, and I'm mostly keeping up with the invasive plants in the back corner. Meanwhile, I have been doing a little maintenance work on the rest of the yard.

This was my vegetable garden but is now starting to be taken over by flowers. I decided last year that I actually like growing flowers better, although I enjoy a few vegetables. This area gets full sun year round and is quite hot and dry in the summer. The soil has too much clay, and eventually when we have to replace the retaining wall (which is rotting in the back), we may put in a raised bed.

Strawberries

A whole section has been taken over by strawberries, with mint and hollyhocks. Vegetables that I've planted: kohlrabi, bush beans, cucumbers, dill, corn and sunflowers. Oops, not a vegetable. I usually buy just a few pepper and tomato starts too.

The clay pot in front is an experiment, I just stuck it where a giant dahlia was that didn't live through the winter. I think the slugs got it, because temperatures were never very cold. There are poppies, small delphiniums, lupine, irises, two other dahlias, and green onions all in here.

Flowers in the vegetable garden

A few years ago, we started to get some type of invasive grass growing in the lawn, so I decided to just dig it up and plant flowers. This is in the middle of a grassy slope just below the vegetable garden.

Flower circle

This salvia has been coming up every year, although I think it was sold as an annual. There are also two types of monarda (bee balm) and gladiolus and irises. The irises were just transplanted from under a row of trees where they were being eaten by slugs, so they are very sad looking.

Salvia

Our front yard is on a slope too, but a two level retaining wall creates a flat space at the top. That's where most of the roses are, and a small lawn area. This bed is in the middle of the retaining wall levels, shaded by the house and by overgrown lilacs.

Shady garden

There are true geraniums, English daisies, balloon flowers, two types of lavender and daffodils in this bed, plus lemon balm that is pretty much going wild. The lavender and balloon flowers did better before the lilacs were so overgrown, so they may get moved next year. Well, the lilacs need to be cut back a bit too.

I bought two blue poppies this year, looks like one of them should bloom.

Blue poppy

Also just last weekend got three foxglove, which I hope will do well. In the background behind the foxglove is a narrowing section of this bed, with a large rosemary bush, vinca minor groundcover, and a small red maple.

Foxglove

And, can't forget the peas! They grow much better in this bed, with more shade, than down in the hot sunny vegetable garden. There are two hollyhocks behind the peas too, which did very well there last year.

Peas!


Sunday, April 24, 2016

In bloom this week: Apr. 24, 2016

Roses!
I skipped my in bloom post last week, I just didn't have the energy to put pictures together. It was very hot and bright for the first half of the week, reminded me unpleasantly of last summer. I've planted so many new plants this spring, had to do a lot of watering. Back to rain now, so I was dodging showers to take pictures.

Roses are about to leap into full bloom, about a quarter of our bushes have large buds or blooms already.







A few last spring bulbs: the allium are in full bloom, anemones and bluebells are fading. The bluebells went quickly, they weren't even fully in bloom two weeks ago.

Allium
Bluebell

Anemone
This is cheating because I just planted it, but I've always loved foxglove. I remember seeing these as a kid - and being warned not to touch them. Apparently it's not really a native plant, but is very common in more wild areas.

Foxglove

Borage in my vegetable garden, planted earlier this year because it's supposed to be a good companion plant. I didn't realize it would have such nice flowers.

Borage

I really hope my great camas will spread a lot, I don't know how it took me so long to discover this native plant.

Great camas

The kiwi blooms finally opened all the way, and now starting to fade. The grapes will be next, and then that's all of my fruit.

Hardy kiwi

All except the strawberries, which will bloom on and off all summer.

Strawberries


Next week: maybe an iris?

Iris, unknown variety

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Progress on the hillside, part 2

Great camas
At this rate, I may end up with my whole backyard covered in cardboard. I finished covering the sunny half of the hillside and then just this week decided to cover the strip at the bottom too. The cardboard should mostly kill the grass in a couple of months and then I can dig out the old landscape fabric that's buried under here.

Feb. 21 and April 19

In my last update, I mentioned that I had planted aquilegia and transplanted wild strawberries next to where the raspberries would go. I've added a few more wild strawberries, dug up from other areas, and planted the raspberries. The bottom three are Autumn Britten and the top three are Caroline, both everbearing so I should have a few berries by late summer.

Raspberry

First aquilegia flower


I also put in four steps, they're dug into the hillside and stabilized with sand, but not as solid as a staircase would be. I think they'll be stable, but it's an experiment so I won't be upset if they need modification. I planted kinnikinnick between them, and will eventually add wild strawberries on that side - after the cardboard comes up.

Kinnikinnick, steps, raspberries, aquilegia and wild strawberries

Then I went to a plant sale and found native plants that I've been researching. The bottom of the hill is very soggy in the spring but dry and hot in the summer, so I want to try to grow a native meadow. This is blue eyed grass (Sisyrinchium idahoensis), common camas (Camassia quamash, 'Blue Melody'), great camas (Camassia leichtlinii) and thrift (Armeria maritima). The thrift will be moved further up the hill later. If I can find golden eyed grass, shooting star, taper tip onion, and hairbell, I'll plant them too and probably some type of sedge. 


Meadow plants

The crocosmia are starting to come up in between the raspberries, but something has been eating them. I bought two plants too so I can see what to look for, I was worried that I would accidentally pull them up when I'm weeding out grass shoots. That's my excuse anyway!

Crocosmia

Out of the scope of this project, but I'll mention it anyway: on the shady side of this hill, I planted two bleeding hearts and two mountain huckleberries. These are the native blue huckleberries and native bleeding hearts that some people call invasive, but I hope they will spread a lot. Eventually I want to dig out the weeds that have grown on this half of the hillside and fill it with native shade groundcover plants - under the flowering currant, Oregon grape and hazelnuts. That may be a project for next year, but I couldn't resist a few plants now.

Mountain huckleberry on top, another on bottom and bleeding hearts in the back

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

In bloom this week: Apr. 13, 2016

Lilacs
Lilacs! We have giant old overgrown bushes next to the front porch. There were barely any blooms the first year, because the previous owners had chopped them flat across to look nice for the sale. We just let them grow wild.

Overgrown lilacs

A couple of very early roses are blooming. These aren't very healthy blooms, but they are a nice hint for coming weeks.

Early roses

The wisteria is also blooming, this is the only time of year that I like the plant. It's boring in the winter and way too much work in the summer. I cut it way back this winter, it seems fine with that and hopefully will help keep it under control this summer.

Wisteria

The anemones that I mentioned last week are open now, I love the blue!

Anemone

Other bulbs continue to bloom, including one lonely allium - I wish I had written down what type it is.

Allium

On the fruit front, strawberries are starting to bloom. How many weeks until ripe berries?

Strawberry

Hardy kiwi are also just starting to bloom, I thought that would happen weeks ago but may finally see full bloom next week.

Hardy kiwi

And my bluebells - a birthday present from my husband last fall - are finally starting to grow blooms. I thought they might not at all this year, since all of the others around our neighborhood are in full bloom now, but the flower stems have popped up almost overnight.

English bluebell


Sunday, April 10, 2016

Progress in the rose garden, part 3

Early rose
Our recent sunny weather has brought out a couple of very early rose blooms, so of course the rose garden will start to look nice now. I've finally been able to plant more too, now waiting for everything to grow. What a difference from late January!

Jan. 28 to April 10, looking north
Jan. 28 to April 10, looking east

From local nurseries:
  • 5x Stachys byzantina 'Silky Fleece' - a very short Lamb's Ear 
  • 6x Erodium x 'Bishop's Form' - Heron's Bill
  • 1x Phlox subulata 'Crimson Beauty' - pink creeping Phlox 
  • 2x Phlox subulata 'Emerald Blue' - blue creeping Phlox 
  • 3x Ranunculus asiaticus 'Mache' - mixed ranunculus, but these three are all red 
  • 3x Lavandula multifida (fern leaf)
  • 3x Lavandula 'Munstead'

The ranunculus are very scraggly now, the leaves are not doing well. I suspect it was too early for them to really be outdoors when I planted them. Everything else is growing and starting to spread out.

Bare root plants, from Breck's:

  • 5x Salvia nemorosa 'Blauhugel' (Blue Hill)
  • 1x Agastache 'Black Adder' - anise hyssop
  • 5x Nepeta faassenii 'Walker's Low' - catmint
  • 10x Ranunculus 'Purple Sensation' - these are bulbs, not yet coming up

These looked so tiny when they arrived, but they've been in the ground for a week and are starting to grow. There were quite a few more than 5 each of the salvia and catmint, so that may make up for the small size.  I hope they will all make good progress before the dry summer weather arrives.

Catmint
I also divided a giant geranium from a shadier area of the yard and planted four pieces in here. It is a true geranium, possibly 'Johnson's Blue' or 'Rozanne'. I'm leaning more toward 'Johnson's Blue' now, but need to see it bloom again to compare pictures.

Geranium
The peonies that I planted in the fall are doing great too. They were a grab bag, should be one each of pink, red and white, but I don't know what varieties. I hope they'll bloom this year, but peonies often don't the first year.

Peony

I've let the wild geraniums grow on the lower section of the north side, and weeding everything else out. I cut a couple of small blackberries today but otherwise the geranium seems to be crowding out the worse weeds.
Jan. 28 to April 10, looking east at lower section of roses

Now, I need to wait for other plants that I'm growing from seed to get big enough to put outside - and keep up on the weeds! I suppose we'll need to mow the lawn eventually too, before the dandelions go to seed.


Tuesday, April 5, 2016

In bloom this week: Apr. 5, 2016

Forget-me-not
I was working in the back yard on Sunday and realized that there was no sign of the forget-me-nots that usually bloom in one little section along the fence. Then on Monday, there they were! They're mixed in with purple dead nettle, which I think is a lovely combination.

Forget-me-not and purple dead nettle

The small anemones in my front yard have been blooming for weeks, now the big ones in the back yard are just starting. I didn't keep track of what the small ones are, but these are anemone coronaria 'Mr. Fokker'.

Anemone

Lilacs are just barely starting to bloom, mostly the ones that are higher up on the bushes and not shaded as much by our house. They will be in full bloom and the front porch will smell lovely by next week.

The first of the lilacs

My two apple trees are now in full bloom. I tend to favor blues and purples, but I love the pink as the apple blooms are about to open.

Apple

Other apple

The geraniums that I'm letting grow wild on the lower section of the rose garden are starting to bloom too. I think these are geranium robertianum, which are somewhat invasive, but they're pretty and small so I'm taking the chance of letting them grow.

Wild geranium

I finally figured out how to get an in focus picture of rosemary. This plant has been blooming for at least three months now and still has new buds.
Rosemary

Oregon grape bushes have had blooms for months too, some of the blooms are done but now the tops (which get the most sun) are turning almost purple.
Oregon grape