Meadow and Sunny Hillside Update

Fall color on the hillside

It's been just over a year since I planted a meadow with native seed mix and native plants around the edges. I also spent a lot of time last year on the sunny hillside just above the meadow. I'm now thinking of this whole area as my mostly native border (plus berries and spring bulbs). It's a big area, probably about a quarter of the whole yard, and furthest from the house and water outlet, so hardest to maintain.

Sunny hillside from the bottom

I did very little on the sunny hillside this year, just let everything grow. No water except the drip line on the blueberries and raspberries. I ended up moving some of the lewisia and probably will move the rest, they get buried under other plants. Now that the raspberries are really growing, the lupine are too big, I can't get up the steps between them. I dug out one of the lupine and will need to take out the other two or keep them well trimmed back.

Now that the ground is starting to soften up, I planted these on the lower part of the hillside:

• Roemer's fescue - a bunch more, grown from seed
• Xerophylum tenas, beargrass - 2 grown from seed
• 3 Erigeron karvinskianus, labelled as Oregon fleabane but now I see that's erroneous
• Echinacea p. 'Pow Wow Wild Berry'
• Echinacea hybrida 'Cheyenne Spirit'

Meadow, looking south

Meadow, looking north

The meadow has more surviving lawn grass than I had hoped, plus some other obvious weeds, so I've done a little weeding a few times. I can see more of the native perennials growing in though so I'm hoping they will take off next year. I've also continued to dig out false bamboo from the back corner, it is close to gone. Plus a lot of watering over the summer, apparently I picked a bad year to plant so many bushes and trees! But I've continued to plant a few more native perennials in and around the meadow:

• 2 allium cernuum, nodding onion
• 1 solidago rugosa 'Fireworks', goldenrod
• Asclepias speciosa, milkweed - a bunch grown from seed
• Chamaenerion angustifolium, fireweed - a small clump transplanted from elsewhere in the yard

Goldenrod

Milkweed seedling

Also planted in the the shade under the bottom edge of the flowering currant:

• Tellimia grandiflora, fringecup
• Trillium ovatum
• Oxalis oregana
• Asarum caudatum, wild ginger
• Decentra formosa, bleeding heart

Bleeding heart and wild ginger

Oxalis and bleeding heart

Whew, the plants add up to a lot more than I thought and I suspect I'm missing some too.

Next year, I need to tackle the other side of the hillside, get the Oregon grape and flowering currant under control and plant groundcover under them to keep out the grass and weeds.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August 2016

Salvia

I don't know where the last month went but it's time for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day again. Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting the monthly roundup!

We're in the hottest part of summer, the grass is all brown and early summer blooms are definitely gone. I'm envious of all of the hydrangeas around my neighborhood and making plans to plant some, but I do have quite a few perennials in bloom.

In my rose garden, where all of the plants are new this year except the roses.

Creeping bellflower

Catmint

Yarrow, calamint in front and Heron's bill in the back left

A few last flowers in my shadier bed below the roses.

Hollyhocks fallen over the lavender

A very late foxglove, planted in the spring and just now blooming

Fireweed with very interesting fasciation

Flowers in my vegetable garden, where it's nice to see blooms because my vegetables aren't doing that great this year.

Dahlias are loving the warmer weather

Aquilegia,bought on sale in the spring when it was almost done blooming, now reblooming

Lupine, reblooming

On the sunny back hillside, again mostly new plants this year. I especially love the aquilegia because I planted them from seed and didn't expect blooms until next year.

Aquilegia

Thrift, armeria meritima, has been blooming all summer

Harebell, campanula rotundifolia

A drought resistant lupine, 'Hot Lips' salvia and a glimpse of penstemon in front

Yarrow reblooming

Seeing these all together, I'm surprised at how many of my flowers have been blooming and reblooming for months. I'd like to add more fall blooms though. What's in bloom in your garden in late summer?

In bloom this week: July 11, 2016

Gladiola

This week it's the gladiolus turn to pop out. They're one of those bulbs that does well for a few years and then seems to disappear, at least in my yard, but I'm fond of them. I planted a mixed bag two years ago in a couple of areas.

First, the little circle garden in my back lawn.

Gladiolus, monarda and salvia

Monarda

Also in my shady front garden bed - not really shady, but more so than the rest of my yard.

In between the bottom roses

Gladiolus in the last afternoon sun

Balloonflower and lavender

Last foxglove blooms

Lavender, peas and daisies

Fireweed mixed in with the bottom roses

Since I'm on a purple and blue theme today, here's a few more around the yard.

Fading ranunculus and catmint in the rose garden

Dahlia in the vegetable garden

Cosmos at the back of the vegetable garden

What's popping out in your yard this week?

In bloom this week: May 24, 2016

Peas!

Peas are growing spectacularly well this year, I can't wait to eat them all.

The foxglove and geraniums that are nearby in my shade garden are lovely too, plus lavender on the sunnier edge.

Foxglove and geranium

Lavender

My flowers that are taking over the vegetable garden are fading now, the iris is done and oriental poppies and lupine are finishing up. I cut the remains of the first blooms off of these aquilegia when I planted them and now they're blooming again - a good super sale purchase.

Oriental poppy

Lupine

Aquilegia

I did some deadheading in the roses this afternoon and was surprised at how many are just starting to have full blooms. There are a few that bloom early and are done with their first blooms, but now is the peak for many others.

More lavender in the rose garden, white and Munstead; these are tiny little plants still.

On the sunny hillside, all of my new plants are settling in well. Two of the penstemon are blooming, nice shades of purple to go with the red and white salvia. I still need to write up info about everything that I've planted on this hill!

Penstemon

Penstemon

Hot lips salvia

At the top of my rock stream, yarrow is blooming along with thrift and sedum. At the bottom, one lewisia keeps on blooming, happy to be out of the very crowded nursery pot.

Yarrow, thrift and sedum (plus low hanging blueberries)

Sedum and thrift

Lewisia blooms mixing in with lupine leaves

I also have a few aquilegia towards the shadier side of the hill, they've been cheerfully blooming all spring. I don't know why I never tried to grow aquilegia before, they have great flowers in so many varieties.

At the bottom of the hill - blue eyed grass is another of my new favorites, why did I not know that this plant existed?

A couple of random flowers from a wildflower mix. Not a whole lot came up, but there are now a few flowers and it was a temporary plan anyway.

By next week, this fireweed may start to open up. They grow from seed every year at the very bottom of my rose garden and bloom for most of the summer.