I deleted my August Luck blog post!

http://mulchmaid.blogspot.com/2014/08/august-luck-and-some-musings-on-mother.html

I accidentally deleted this blog post. I'm trying to recover it, but not yet having much luck.

August luck, and musings on Mother Nature

If I do say so myself, I am a humble gardener. When things go right in my garden, I generally don't think it's my doing. What I usually think is that I got lucky. Lucky gardening and the beneficence of Mother Nature in my garden have been on my mind this week. Let me explain.

Last year I lost my huge and very favorite Agastache 'Acapulco Orange' to winter. Multiple web searches turned up no stock anywhere to replace it. Then a month or so ago, I spied a tiny seedling in the garden that looked like young Agastache foliage. I hardly dared to hope, but it now seems irrefutably to be growing into exactly that plant. I had assumed it was a sterile hybrid, but I got lucky.

I stopped by a Fred Meyer in Vancouver last week and found this four-foot Musa basjoo plant for the lofty sum of $4.99. Lucky, right?

I bought this Abutilon megapotamicum at Cracked Pots last year and I was sure I lost it over winter. The little sticks of its remaining branches were dry and sad looking.

It's lucky I didn't give up on it earlier, because now, not only is it most definitely alive, it is finally beginning to flower.

Ceanothus 'Victoria' blooms profusely in May. Then in August, when the last thing on my mind is its flowers, comes this: a single, sweet reminder of one of my all-time favorite spring blossoms. Thank you, Mother Nature!

This piece of August luck came in the form of a mystery: I have almost no idea what this is, nor do I know from whence it came, but I love its big, dusty gray leaves sprouting from the point where a patch of Lilium columbianum had lately bloomed. I'll hazard a guess this is a volunteer Verbascum of some kind. Time will tell the answer and meanwhile I'll enjoy the surprise.

Lewisia columbiana var. walloensis has been a non-stop summer bloomer in a gravelly part of the Northwest Territory. It's winding down now, but not without leaving a little present.

I recently discovered a little seedling of the Lewisia going for broke just in front of the Eriogonum compositum. It's just delightful when the plants you really love are the ones that really love your garden.

So is it luck, or is Mother Nature working extra hard on my behalf this month?
I'll take it, whichever it is!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

A shady and colorful southeast Portland garden

My friend Karin has a beautiful eye for color. And since she is an avid gardener, her color sense extends to the garden of her inner southeast Portland home.

Much of inner Portland has a wonderful tree canopy resulting in shady streets and gardens. Karin's garden is no exception. A hedge of arborvitea in the westside neighbor's garden limits her sun exposure even more.

So Karin gardens with shade plants, almost exclusively.

All the shade-lovers that would cook in my garden flourish in hers. I love the layered look of this variegated shrub with the Hosta, Podiphyllum and Pulmonaria.

When you don't have to worry about sun, you can grow the most light-sensitive plants, like this Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web',  accented by a fire-cracker red Fuchsia Begonia 'Bonfire'.

In addition to colorful shade lovers, little touches of whimsey abound.

A row of de-constructed building elements rescued many years ago by Karin's father, a noted Portland architect, forms a gentle divider alongside the eastside pathway.

Her father also dragged home this stunning classical column that now drips with foliage.

Blue figures prominently in Karin's color compositions.

Though she is hardly afraid of red and pink...

... or magenta.

All her containers let Karin arrange and re-arrange for maximum impact.
Like this one, some groupings feature multiple bold colors.

While others are more subtle, but equally effective.

And some color combinations rely on a single strong contrast to make their point.

This shady garden is the perfect place for a summer gathering - it's always a few degrees cooler than the rest of the city.

Karin's garden beautifully illustrates the fact that shade gardens need not be boringly green; wherever you look in this garden, you'll find something colorful - and often whimsical - to delight your eye.