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Aspidistra elatior, My Favorite Plant, this week.
 Aspidistra elatior, also known as Cast Iron Plant, was a popular house plant in drafty dark Victorian parlors. I suppose they liked them in bright parlors with no drafts but the literature doesn't...
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Blown Over!
We had a bit of a windstorm on Friday and Saturday. Some folks lost power and there were a couple of  stories in the news of trees falling on cars and houses. We were spared any such damage....
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Warm Thoughts; The Dudan Garden
Meanwhile, in California at the Garden Bloggers' Fling back in June it was time to visit a lovely private garden designed by Buenoluna Landscape Design and Floradora Gardens. The property sits atop a...
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Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day January 2014
In looking at last year's GBBD post, it looks like many of the same things are blooming in my garden this year with the exception of the abutilons that, after this year's freeze are bare branches....
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Foliage Follow-Up January 2014
 Many thanks to the globe trotting Pam Penick at Digging for starting foliage follow up on the day after Garden Bloggers Bloom Day each month to help us remember the importance of foliage in our...
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Plants are Difficult; Imitation is the Highest Form of Flattery.
Last Saturday there was a big football game going on between the Seahawks and another team. The winner of that game would move on to play one more game, the winner of which gets to go to the Super...
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And Lead us not into Temptation. (Because we can find it pretty easily on our...
So, it's January. The holidays are over, seed catalogs start arriving to warm our winter weary hearts. Here, signs of spring are everywhere. O.K. we call them signs of spring when in reality we...
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An Unexpected Christmas Gift
My pal Florence, about whose Italian-inspired garden I posted here, here, here, and here decided that I needed a little bit of Italy in my own garden. I got a call from Florence a day before Christmas...
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It Might as Well Be Spring
In the covered but not walled area of Molbak's nursery, it feels like spring has already arrived which reminds me of one of my favorite knock knock jokes - Knock, knock. Who's there?  Marcus Welby(go...
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Nandna domestica 'Fire Power' is my Favorite Plant, this week...
The longer I garden, the more I want something interesting at which to look in the winter as well as the other three seasons. We're lucky in the pacific northwest to have so many conifers and broad...
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A Typical Winter Saturday; Visiting Bark and Garden Nursery
Although the daylight lengthens a little with each passing day and now I can see the yard in the light really briefly before I'm off to work, I still come home from work in the dark. I also work until...
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Saturday With Alison and Nigel: The Tacoma Home and Garden Show Part One
I am of the strong belief that every garden show should begin with someone offering you complimentary chocolate covered something! More about the rest of the show later but first, all strung out on...
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Blackwaters Metal - Cool Stuff & NWFGS pass up for grabs
Visiting the Tacoma Home and Garden Show was a delight both because of the company and because there were so many great things to see.  Blackwaters Metal work appealed to me both for the quality and...
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The Ann Nichols Garden
On the third and final day of the garden bloggers' fling, we visited some amazing places. We started the morning at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, a zeric paradise showcasing the result of 40 years of...
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A Novel Idea - A garden by Olympic Landscape and Irrigation
This being my first visit to the Tacoma Home and Garden Show, I was delighted that we were greeted by strangers with candy. Thank you Bay Equity Home Loans for starting the day off in a sweet...
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More Fun from the Tacoma Home and Garden Show
Like Alison, I bought some lily bulbs at B & D lilies. Some Casa Blanca, a few African Queens, and a variety new to me that I can't remember right now. It was such a treat to smell lilies in...
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Pining Away for Winter Color; A Tale of Two Trees
In September 2012, I posted about Pinus contorta v. latifolia 'Chief Joseph' AKA Chief Joseph Lodgepole Pine here . I'd seen them at a local nursery and at a few specialty sales. The chief is an...
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I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage
"Vintage Markets" seem to be quite popular at garden shows of late. I admire the "shabby chic" look but when I try it in my house it ends up just looking shabby. (That was being kind, it really ends...
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Topsoil, the 2014 Northwest Flower and...
Alison and I were lucky enough to get a sneak peek at the display gardens at the NFGS today. We both left energized after seeing so many green and blooming gardens after seeing snow falling but not...
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The Garden of Keeyla Meadows
Keeyla Meadows is the author of the books Making Gardens Works of Art: Creating Your Own Personal Paradise and Fearless Color Gardens: The Creative Gardener's Guide to Jumping Off the Color Wheel. Her...
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