After work yesterday, I took a quick walk around the garden, well part of it, before getting busy with the many jobs that need doing. Here's some of what made me smile.
Last summer, a few nurseries were offering Polygonatum x Hybrid 'Striatum' which have highly variegated leaves. I got one, planted it immediately and it promptly died. Well, perhaps I'd not watered it enough so I found another and left it in the pot where I could baby it a bit more. It also decided to die. Being a lazy gardener, I just left the pot near the dead specimen in the ground. This spring, I decided to start cleaning up some things, picked up the pot to empty the soil and saw shoots coming up.
The one in the ground was also coming up. Wow, they weren't dead after all. Hooray.
The combination of Dicentra 'Gold Heart' and Podophyllum delavayi always thrill me and the white Polygonatum is now planted in front to take over when the dicentra goes dormant for the summer.
The first of the carnivorous plants to bloom this year is Darlingtonia californica.
Most of the tuberous begonias are still inside but these, from Marbott's Nursery in Portland really wanted to be outside.
Robins have been busy picking at the Spanish Moss to make their nests, so I keep giving them more.
Every now and then, the thought enters my mind that there are too many Camellias in my garden. It passes.
Somehow, this Cardiocrinum preparing to bloom escaped my notice until it was about six feet tall. What a nice surprise!
Rhododendron 'Wine and Rose' is just about finished blooming but it's the fabulous purple indumentum on the foliage that makes this plant so special. It's growing in a pot on a pillar so I get to enjoy those leaves every time I pass.
Acer palmatum ‘Ukigumo’ looking ghostly white.
The divine fragrance of Magnolia dianica or Magnolia laevifolia or Michelia yunnanensis wafts over the garden, especially on warm days. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Canna 'Stuttgart' will look even better when it fills in a bit and those naked twgs of Clerodendrum bungei clothe themselves. Their late and fragrant blooms earn forgiveness for the being late to leaf out and their tendency to take over the world.
Another Rhododendron in bloom.
Progress has been made on the danger gardenette but there are still more plants to be added.
In September, my pal Camille gave me this plant stand that her mother was getting rid of. I'd no idea what I'd do with it but it's hard to turn down anything rusty.
It's perfect to hold some of the bromeliads during their summer vacation outside.
Really, there are bricks under all those Forget-Me-Nots but I let these pretty weeds stay until they're done blooming when they all get pulled out. Fortunately(?) they produce enough seed to come back year after year.
Some of the begonia baskets are out but a couple are still in the greenhouse getting fattened up.
The pot ghetto is a mess but at least I can walk down the narrow path without tripping on empty pots. Small steps.
The sorta stumpery is coming along nicely.
Hosta haven is okay but needs a little tidying. and re-arranging.
The fire pit looks a bit different this year. As I was planting it, I noticed that the Canna 'Tropicanna' from last year survived and is sending up new shoots as well.
I usually buy one or two of these intense blue gentians each year and have tried them in a variety of areas of my garden. None seems to suit them but these, growing in a pot beneath a rhododendron seem happy enough and this will be the second or third year that they've bloomed for me.
Schefflera delavayi reaching it's new little hands skyward, trying to catch the sun.
Next tour, we'll look at what's happening in some other areas but don't want to bore you with too many pictures. Happy Friday Eve!