Foliage Follow-up - March 2012

Today is Foliage Follow-Up at Pam Penick's Austin blog Digging. But as I ventured out to take some photos for today's post, I discovered flowers that hadn't been open yesterday for my Bloom Day post. Forgive me for hijacking the foliage post but I first had to include this image of tiny Tulipa hageri x aucheriana 'Little Princess' as a Bloom Day postscript. What an amazing difference one day of just partial sun can make!

Now on to our intended subject: foliage.

First, moss. I love the way moss looks good in Portland's wettest weather. This is Sagina subulata, also known as Irish Moss. Right on time for St. Patrick's Day, it's looking fabulous.

A naturally occurring moss in the garden: it came here all by itself.

The new growth on the salal, Gaultheria shallon, brightens up the understory of the cedars.

Eryngium planum 'Jade Frost' is sprouting a small rosette of pink-edged leaves.

 The new foliage of Astilbe arendsii 'Glow' reminds me of a small peony unfurling.

Our mild winter was kind to Tetrapanax papyrifera 'Steroidal Giant' - that lower leaf lasted all winter and more are coming quickly now. I'm thrilled by its promise of greater height this summer.

My chartreuse Japanese maple is just beginning to open. I liberated this as a 2-inch seedling  - one of hundreds under a landscape tree at Providence hospital. After four years, it's over four feet high.

And speaking of chartreuse, there's no better color to epitomize spring. Here is Sedum 'Angelina' with a few Sisyrinchium californicum poking through.

Thank you, Pam, for hosting Foliage Follow-Up today!

A quick and dirty (actually, muddy) Bloom Day post

I'm short of time and dry weather this month. But I found some blooms to share and even a surprise out in the wet, wet garden.

First up, a bit of a cheat: I bought Grevillea junipera 'Lava Cascade' at the Yard Garden and Patio show last month. But it's in bloom, so it gets a photo and a mention today. Yes, I'm actually going to risk my heart again with this beloved Grevillea which I grew and lost last year as 'Low Red'.

Mahonia aquifolium is budding hard and just opening.

It looks great backed by the neighbor's garage wall we painted "Chocolate".

I showed Vaccinium ovatum last Bloom Day, and it's still going strong.

We have three camellias that are covered with fat, pregnant buds, but only one actual bloom so far.

It's a perfect flower if you can ignore the white over-spray specks from last summer's paint job.

Daphne odora is perfuming the entire back garden.

Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths' is putting on a soft pink show.

Helleborus argutifolius, despite three moves (one late last fall), has decided to bloom like crazy. I tried to find more of this amazing performer, but no one seems to have any of the argutifolius.

And last, here's the surprise: Loropetalum chinese 'Sizzling Pink' has one tiny bloom. There aren't any other buds on the plant, so I guess it's an anomaly....I'll take it!

Thanks go out to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day every month. Pop over there to see blooms galore!

Disorganized bulb gardening

I'm not much of a spring bulb fan. Actually, I like the little or offbeat spring bulbs, like snowdrops and Persian tulips. It's the huge King Alfred daffodils, massed armies of hyacinths and the garish Dutch tulips on steroids that I don't really care for. So last year at this time, I was looking at posts on Linda's whatsitgarden blog and wishing I had some small species tulips in my garden. Tulipa hageri x aucheriana 'Little Princess' filled the bill. I bought some online and tucked them away, as usual forgetting about them completely until late in the year.

I was cleaning out the garden room some time in November and found them, along with several Camassia quamash bulbs I ordered at the same time. In desperation, I looked for any sunny spot to plant them and pretty much threw them into the soil. Records? Planting location? Ummm, no, I didn't make any notes.

So what do you think these are?

From their location in the Northwest Territory, I'm hazarding a guess they may be the Camas emerging. What do you think? Do these look like Camas sprouts to you?

I had several pots of Ornithogalum, known as Star of Bethlehem, a South African bulb I bought from New Seasons at Easter time. When I researched them, it seemed worth taking the chance and planting them out in the garden. Whether it was our mild winter (so far) or the bulletproof nature of the bulbs, they (I think it's them, anyway) are peeking out now. They usually flower in summer, as I remember. Of course, that would be summer in the southern hemisphere, so all bets are off after forced flowering last Easter anyway.

Do any of you know Ornithogalum? Does this look like it might be them?

I feel slightly more confident about the location of the aforementioned 'Little Princess' tulips.  My confidence is boosted by the buds I see forming in the centers of the bulbs.

This looks like a tulip flower bud, right? Of course, it would be nicer if it got a bit of a stem, but I'll settle for tulip flowers growing straight out of the ground at this point.

This last group is a dead giveaway because of the distinctive buds. It was a pot of Narcissus 'Tete a Tete' someone gave my dear old dad last year, that I tipped into the ground in late November. I'm not crazy about them, but I just didn't have the heart to toss them on the compost. At least they are the tiniest daffodils you can get.

So one out of four is my embarrassingly low ID count for spring bulbs.  And if they actually produce flowers and I can positively identify them, I promise myself I'll record the locations.

Yep, this is the year I'm really going to get organized.

Bloom Day, February 2012

What mild weather we've had for the past month! It's not exactly balmy, but many shrubs are blooming this February Bloom Day. In fact, almost every plant I showed this month last year is included this month, except for a few sad demises. Here goes:

Camellia x 'Winter's Snowman' continues its show from the past few months.

I'm glad the plants have decided to bloom well into the new year...that's when I need and really enjoy them the most.

Little Rosemarinus prostratus 'Bonnie Jean' is making tiny purple-blue flowers.

Even when temperatures are considerably colder, Rosemary is a winter performer.

Vinca minor (some the straight species and some 'Bowles Mauve') are taking hold, I fervently hope. Many people are aghast that I want to encourage this rampant spreader, but I have such an inhospitable location (with local dogs and their pee-mail) that I am ready to encourage almost any ground cover that will survive (no thank you on the Bishop's Weed, however!)

Vaccinium ovatum 'Thunderbird' is just opening.

Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths'.

The scent of Sarcococca hookeriana var humilis is perfuming my front garden and doorway. These tiny flowers are hardly noticeable, but their powerful scent can't be missed.

That's it for Bloom Day here at Longview Ranch. Click over to our host, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens to see what else is in bloom today. Happy Bloom Day!

Pasadena in January

This past weekend, we flew to Pasadena. That sounds rather blithe, but this family reunion to honor my late mother-in-law had been planned for over a year. I'll be posting about other parts of the weekend, but I'm beginning in reverse with our last day: Monday was very wet and our plans to visit the Huntington Gardens were ditched in favor of exploring some public buildings in Pasadena.

The Mulch Man was interested in finding out more about any structural damage from a freak high wind event that happened there in November and arranged to talk to a City of Pasadena building official. Afterward we wandered over to the main building of the Pasadena Library.

The lovely old building was somewhat marred by this unattractive orange mesh, apparently protecting people from falling into the ongoing fountain repair project.

The main Pasadena library has a feel something like the downtown Portland main library, and it's probably about the same age. Inside, along with a wonderful children's library, we found the Pasadena Centennial Room, a reference room devoted to publications specific to California and Pasadena.

Of course, I made a beeline for the horticulture books.

That tiny field guide in the center is from 1911. It had some beautiful drawings, but I wasn't permitted to photograph them.

There were other great titles: I was surprised to read about the large number of Opuntia species endemic to Southern California in California Cactus.  The Mulch Man discovered a book on wild food by an old school friend, Chris Nyerges, in the collection. And I didn't even get inside Big Trees of California.

The large room was full of readers, but I wasn't allowed to photograph people, either, so these shots are necessarily limited.

Leaving the library through the courtyard, I enjoyed the potted plants (Dasylirion?) and a big planting of the irrepressible Bird of Paradise.

Across from the library was a bed of Agave attenuata, one plant of which had a huge, arching bloom.

As we walked back toward the car, we saw what I assumed to be evidence of the wind damage from November. The bloom stalk on this Agave americana (variegata?) was broken, although its companion's was intact. Maybe the second one came up after the windstorm.

Further down the street, branches that had fallen out of trees were still languishing over the plantings.

The size of these plantings is hard to tell from my pictures, but some of the Agave americana were over eight feet high.

I just love the huge, ropey arms on these big guys.

 Here's a sight that made my heart beat faster: an entire planter filled with Agave truncata! (correction: Agave parryi var truncata ... had a brain fade there.)

And here's a lovely couple. I'm guessing from the the empty bottle in the picture below and the weedy, messy state of most of the beds that the City of Pasadena is dealing with some of the same economic issues that Portland is experiencing. Maintenance certainly appeared to be taking a back seat to other priorities.

The view back to the happy twosome along the Agave truncata planter. That's quite a bloom stalk that Agave americana is sporting.

Check out this planter full of aloes!

Some were blooming, oblivious to the wet weather. Do want!

I think that gorgeous orange is a dead ringer for Tangerine Tango, Pantone's recently announced Color of the Year for 2012.  It's certainly my idea of perfection.