Union Station

Union Station had a lot of renovation work done to it some years ago when it was nicely restored inside and out with a more historic look and feel. While I was there to pick up our train tickets for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, I took another look at the landscaped beds in front of the station that were revamped at the same time. For public plantings, they have a lot going for them.

This is either a Yucca rostrata or a Dasylirion wheeleri in a prominent place in one bed.

Hellebores are everywhere this time of year, and the train station is no exception.

Lots of spiky, pointy things in this bed. And is that some kind of echium in the foreground?

I'm loving this yucca, which might be 'Bright Edge', but looks a lot more colorful than mine.

Several of the beds are anchored by Trachycarpus species that are starting to get some height.

I'm guessing this is some kind of daphne (maybe D. mezereum?) but I didn't detect any scent. I haven't seen a deciduous daphne  before this and it looked very healthy and happy.

Another happy yucca.

Some of the beds are edged with Sarcoccoca, which was in full bloom.

Others of the beds are edged in boxwood and hebes. And roses and grasses will fill out the summer look.

For public plantings in a well-used space, these beds are a fun green oasis of interesting plants and shapes, with some tried-and-true favorites mixed in. There's a little something for everyone here.

Mystery Plant, Revisited

I'm beginning to feel like I'm in some kind of garden time warp.
It's still here. And it looks exactly the same.

Last summer I posted about a strange, cool plant that had showed up in my garden.

It was a wide, flat rosette, maybe 24 inches across, with broad, crinkly leaves set with little hooks along each leaf half. I expected to see it eventually mature, send up a flower spike, show its true weedy style, or something.

No one could identify it at the time, and it's showing no new identifying characteristics to help me out now.

Same lush, hooked and amazingly green leaves.

Same flat, unrevealing center rosette of new leaves.

Aside from a little winter wear-and-tear, exactly the way it looked in mid-July.

Maybe it's a biennial and spring will produce some different growth that will help me decide whether to keep it or haul it out. But for now I keep wondering ... just what IS this plant?

More MG goodness

Two Fridays ago, our OSU Master Gardener units were on soils, compost and fertilizers. As I have in each unit presented, I learned an unbelievable amount about components, properties, benefits, problems and ways they can be addressed. The sessions were taught by Claudia Groth, (a.k.a. Doctor Dirt on KEX radio), a Master Gardener and a consultant to the horticulture industry. She was dynamic, humorous and a wealth of information (Did you know there was an Oregon State Soil? It's Jory, and it's found in the foothills around the Willamette Valley.)

Claudia brought examples of many soil components and amendments to share. She talked about soil biology, the relatively new field of soil microbes and the way microbes work to nourish plants and fight pathogens.

I always knew I shouldn't walk on wet garden beds, but now I really understand what happens when soil is compacted. I learned how soils hold water, about soil pH, and what loam really is.

In the fertilizer unit, Claudia taught us how they work, the differences between organic and synthetic fertilizers, and why you might want to use one vs. the other. She taught us to read and understand fertilizer labels, application instructions, and explained what agencies regulate fertilizer ingredients. True to form, I took seven pages of notes to supplement the day's PowerPoint handouts.

This could all be tedious, difficult stuff to absorb, but with instructors of the caliber of Claudia Groth in the MG program, each unit becomes accessible and fascinating. I'm loving my Science Fridays!

Popweed be gone

My garden nemesis.

They drift in from my neighbor's garden ... I must have pulled up 687 of them today.

Addendum: Thanks to Grace of Gardening with Grace for her ID of this as Little Bitter Cress (Cardamine oligosperma.)

Master Gardener classes begin

Wow! A room full of 80 passionate gardeners! I'm pumped, yet slightly sobered by what I've taken on.

Yesterday, I attended the first in my series of eleven OSU Master Gardener classes. I've been looking forward to this for years, and it didn't disappoint: I took eleven pages of notes.

And just look at the vast binder of reading assignments provided.

They even gave us a snazzy zippered tote bag in Gardener Green to carry the notebook.

I love botanical nomenclature, but science is not my strong suite. So after sitting through the Botany for Gardeners unit, I began to realize this would be work - fascinating, of course, but definitely work. With class only once a week, I'll have time to read the chapters ahead, listen to the presenter, then review again after class. After all, I want to get the maximum value from this experience.

Time to hit the books!

Winter-hardy gardening - Portland style

Baby, it's cold out there! We've already had two hard winters and seem to be seriously looking at a third here in Portland. The past two winters decimated many of the MulchMaid's marginally hardy plant choices and left her wondering just how many times she's willing to start over (so far, she's on her third arbequina olive sapling, for example.)

So on the last day of 2010, with the second freeze of this winter upon Portland, it seems a good time to take a look at some plants that can easily deal with whatever zonal irregularities Mother Nature deals out this season. These are the Northwest natives that the Mulch Man loves and has incorporated into his part of the gardens at Longview Ranch. And the MulchMaid is happy to admit they look fabulous right now.

Mugo pines, a species rhododendron and kinnick-kinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) laugh at our torrential rains and current below-freezing temps (with George and Martha, the pink plastic flamingos, providing an incongruous note to the climate discussion.)

Seasons Greetings

Wishing you and your garden all the quiet joys of the season, whichever holiday you celebrate!

An Astoria conifer garden

We got away to Astoria for a long weekend. It was perfect: a little Christmas shopping, a lot of relaxing, eating great oysters and looking at houses for sale (we dream about living there.) On Sunday it dried up and we retraced our steps to a garden we had seen on on an earlier visit.

The last time we were here, maybe 9 months ago, the homeowners had just begun this project and had the front garden of their house graded and set up in general planting areas. It wasn't evident at that point what they intended, plant-wise. Now it's abundantly clear - they LOVE evergreens!

Like almost every piece of property in Astoria, the house is on a slope. This gave them an interesting perspective, but some challenges retaining the soil and in planting.

Evergreen Forever stamps

Even if you pay all your bills on line, and keep up your correspondence by email, there's always something you need a stamp for. And for many of us, it's that time of year when we mail holiday cards to friends and family.  So I was really happy to see the new crop of first class "Forever" stamps the Post Office recently issued.

 

Each of these four designs is a finely executed botanical illustration of an evergreen conifer species.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, December 2010

I'm back in the blogging fray with a Bloom Day post, and a "thank you" to those of you who inquired about my status. Life intervened, but I hope to be more regular again now.

It may be Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, but there is only one plant blooming in the garden this month. And there are a few promising buds I can't resist showing as well.

Fatsia japonica got slammed by our early cold snap, but amazingly, its slightly-tired blooms have been holding on through the ensuing rain and wind. I love their goofy, sputnik shapes.

Vaccinium ovatum 'Thunderbird', the evergreen huckleberries from the UBC botanical garden are getting ready to bloom. Those two seem to be a little ahead of the other evergreen huckleberries that have been in for three years now.

Also looking promising for next month is Arctostaphylos 'Martha Ewan'. It is so heartening to see these Pacific Northwest hybrids taking our weird weather patterns in their stride.

Moving indoors the almost ever-blooming Streptocarpus, or Cape Primrose (a gift, so no variety name) is doing its darndest to brighten up a corner window.

In sharp contrast to the ebullient primrose above is the quiet bloom of this Aglaonema. I even had to lift some leaves to expose it for this picture.

Lastly, a stunningly-colored oncidium whose tag, if it ever had one (you know how Trader Joe's is!) is gone. This is the second time this little orchid has bloomed, and the lovely color combination brings out my inner gypsy.

Over winter, when gardening is at a minimum, it's so good to have these indoor plants to reward us. Although our last house got good daylight, we find our houseplants seem to respond even better to the big windows and bright life here at Longview Ranch.

To see what else is blooming today, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.