Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Progress on the hillside, part 3


I'm long overdue for a progress update about the sunny hillside. Since my last update, I dug out and planted the middle section between the blueberries and new raspberries. Again, the cardboard worked very well at killing the grass, I dug it out only because there was old landscape fabric underneath that I needed to get rid of.

First, the area right above the blueberries, where I started a rock stream.





Plants:
  • Bear grass - Xerophyllum tenax 
  • Penstemon davidsonii 
  • Harebell - Campanula rotundifolia 
  • Sedum spathulifolium
  • Thrift - armeria aliacea 'Dusseldorf Pride', and armeria meritima

Then the lower part of the rock stream.



Plants:
  • Oregon stone crop - sedum oreganum
  • Lewisia 'Regenbogen'
  • Lewisia columbiana 'Rupicola' - added after the above picture, I bought one plant and divided into five
  • Roemer's fescue - Festuca idahoensis subsp. Roemeri
  • Thrift - armeria aliacea 'Dusseldorf Pride' 

And finally, the rest of the middle.


Plants:

  • Salvia, 'Hot Lips'
  • Penstemon, two 'Rocky Mountain' and one unknown variety
  • Lupine - lupinus, 'My Castle'
  • Kinnikinnick, 'Vancouver Jade'
  • Wild strawberries, transplanted from nearby

The plants along the rock stream are all native, those in the middle are "near" native - there are varieties that are native, but not easy to find. The one exception is the hot lips salvia, which I couldn't resist. They are all drought resistant, once established. I have a drip line on the blueberries and will add one for the raspberries, but I don't plan to regularly water anything else on this hillside.

Everything is growing well so far, including a few weeds - time to weed and mulch!
Sedum and thrift
Hot lips salvia

Penstemon
Lewisia

Wild strawberries spreading near the raspberries

I had planted a few packets of wildflower seeds and poppy seeds along the strip at the bottom of the hillside and was disappointed that only a few were coming up. Suddenly, they've all sprung up and getting ready to bloom.



There is still a section of cardboard at the top of the hill, which is probably next on my list. I have a few stepping stones, matching those going up the hill, to create a pathway across the top. The grape trellis at the top is a problem though, it's going to block the path until we get it reconfigured - maybe in the fall. 

I also just started a new experiment with two large sections of clear plastic - more about that soon!

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

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.


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2016


I'm a couple of days late for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, but I missed April completely so better late than never! Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts GBBD each month and it's always fun to check out what's in bloom around the country and around the world.

I've been posting "what's in bloom this week" almost every week, not sure if I'll keep doing that all year but it's been fun so far. Sometimes there's such a huge difference from week to week, and it helps remind me to get out and really look at my yeard.

Roses continue to be the big bloomers this week. I'll have to count one of these days but we have about 20 rose bushes along the front and north side of our yard.






A few of the new plants that I've added in with the roses this year are blooming, including these fern leaf lavenders.
Fern leaf lavender

In my partial shade retaining wall bed, the hardy geranium are starting to bloom. I've also transplanted a few pieces into the rose garden and they are doing well there too. I'm guessing these are Johnson's Blue, but hard to tell for sure.
Geranium
The foxglove that I planted earlier in the spring continues to bloom, now there are much smaller spikes around the main stem.
Foxglove

One blue poppy has a second bloom, and looks like a third will pop out too. The other plant shows no sign of blooming - hopefully next year.
Blue poppy with bonus geranium

Also these aquilega, which I found on super sale last month and couldn't resist. I deadheaded and now they're blooming nicely.


The flowers taking over my vegetable garden are still going strong, an unknown bearded iris, oriental poppies and lupine. 
Oriental poppies, lupine, bearded iris
I really like the color combo of the oriental poppies with a new gazing ball. See my reflection? More super sale aquilegia hidden just behind the poppies.



I've finished another section of the lower hillside, which I'll post details of later in the week. I couldn't resist buying a hot lips salvia, already in bloom. The blooms are red and white, although I think even just the red is gorgeous. 
Hot lips salvia

And a lewisia, which was very crowded in it's little nursery pot, I divided into five pieces. I'll confess I'm never too impressed with tiny pale blooms, but I love the leaves. 
Lewisia

Just below the sunny hillside is an area that I hope to build into a native meadow. The showy camas bloomed weeks ago, but blue eyed grass is peeking out now. 
Blue eyed grass

What's coming next week? More roses, I'm sure! Maybe my new penstemon that is next to the hot lips salvia.