The japanese maples are leafed out; the bigger maple is still working on it. Also, I finished the path today, and added some other stepping stones.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Japanese Maples leafing out, hardy geranium blooming
The Japanese Maples are nearly done leafing out!
Osakazuki Japanese Maple
Hardy Geranium - Geranium phaeum - Mourning Widow - just started blooming in the last couple of days.
All the ferns are growing new fiddleheads like crazy.
Two of the five Astilbe. All five were planted from bare roots last fall, and all look happy now. Growing very fast, too.
Emperor I Japanese Maple
All the ferns are growing new fiddleheads like crazy.
Two of the five Astilbe. All five were planted from bare roots last fall, and all look happy now. Growing very fast, too.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Path
Eleven stepping stones are set. Need another four or five, and the "secret path" from behind the hammock to the back patio will be complete.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Hebe, Vacouveria, Jack Frost Brunnera, Alliums, Hardy Geraniums, more Vancouveria. Can't believe how awesome the Brunnera is.
More Vancouveria, Hellebore, plain Brunnera, vancouveria. Vancouveria is growing large fast.
my other Jack Frost brunnera, next to a happy evergreen huckleberry and a leafing-out Vine Maple.
It's spring!!
Love the daffodils. Wish the Muscari had fared as well, but the critters were eating them as fast as I could plant them.
All the fiddleheads unfuring on the shield fern.
This... I don't know what it is. It looks like some sort of fungus or spore-holding-tank-on-a-stick growing up underneath the giant rhodie. I've got my eye-on-you, either-a-perennial-or-a-spore-holder-thing.
Birds nest in the big rhodie.
Dog is knoking things down. Snapped the daffodil and most of the leaves, ugh. The new fushcias are broken in pieces. I don't know why... she seems to hate fushcias.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Wonderful spring
Very happy jack frost brunnera. I'm finally seeing the maidenhair ferns just starting to emerge! The japanese painted fern had only a hint of maybe something a couple days ago and today has a dozen fronds maybe five inches tall. The vancouveria is roaring back so fast, the hardy geraniums look ready to think about flowers, even Daniel's violas are pretty. The yellow daffodils fell over in the rain, so tall and heavy, but the white ones are happy.
Both of the red flowering currants are supposed to be King Edward, but they are not the same color at all. The one that bloomed sooner is paler pink, ther one just blooming now is deeper. Huh.
One of the columbine I planted looks completely dead; the other two are fine. Huh.
The robin hill serviceberry are flowering beautifully.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Serviceberry, fuchsia
Robin Hill serviceberry, three Black Prince hardy fuchsia. Trash promises deep purple corolla and red sepals.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Crocosmia
Four altogether near the fence. Lucifer, george davidson, repeat. First three on left from flower world, fourth is from molbak's.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Mummyberry
Last year, we planted blueberries we got at Flower World. Everything looked great until the berries were nearly ready. Suddenly they shriveled up - nearly all of them.
I took a picture to the farmer's market and asked at the master gardner's desk. Mummyberry, she told me, opening her book to the mummyberry page with illustrations. Yep. Exactly.
She told me to get rid of all fallen ruined blueberries; they contained the source of the next year's infection. I've find these little mushroom-looking open cups. They open and the wind carries the spores to the blossoms the next year, repeating the cycle.
I tried to get rid of all the infected berries and resolved to watch closely for the spore cups in the spring. I just remembered that this morning.
Went and looked, and it was waiting for me, exactly like the pictures had shown.
I only found one. That makes me suspect there are more I've missed. The buds are on the plants but not open yet. I'm reading that the spots can infect other parts of the plant, too. I'm guessing it's probably too late, but I don't really know. :-(
Monday, April 2, 2012
April 2: After vacation
We were gone for nine days on vacation. Upon return, a number of things have changed!
Most notably, the new large rhodie is looking pretty sad. I don't know if it's going to make it.
The brunnera are very happy. The leaves are still small but they are putting out so many flowers!
Jack Frost brunnera
Brunnera and Vancouveria (Inside-out flower) Also a bit of Japanese Forest Grass popping back up there. I think that was probably a mistake, and I'll likely move or remove it.
The alliums grew a bit, and two more popped up. They're hard to see, but are closer to the house. Looks like we'll have five! Another vancouveria is getting going here as well.
We're having a beautiful morning, and the daffodils are out! They are spread out more than intended - the moles and the squirrels rearranged all my bulbs, so the crocuses (that survived) are in random spots and the daffodils are moved and the hyacinths are lucky to be here at all. Blueberry is budding in the background, and a hardy geranium is leaved out nicely. There's another patch of it a few feet away that I didn't plant -- I guess it spread!
The sunshine blue blueberries are losing their winter pink leaves now that they are leafing out for 2012. More daffodils and hyacinths, and the violas -- the three small plants Daniel wanted to plant, the very first flowers (before the hellebore, which was the first deliberately chosen nursery purchase) we picked up one afternoon at Home Depot, got pretty shaggy last fall. I cut leggy shaggy parts off, and now they are just fluffy and beautiful. Huh!
Another very happy hellebore. I'm told I should trim off last year's old large leaves that are lying there on the ground. Maybe I'll get to that, but I'm happy it's happy. Behind it is a smaller white hellebore that is not happy at ALL. Wonder what the difference is? Why is the purple one going crazy when the white one right next to it is miserable?
My other, older red flowering currant from last fall is starting to leaf out at the bottom. No red yet!
Side yard near patio. Little rhodie (I broke a big part off with one of Daniel's balls!), pacific wax myrtle, tiny hebes, pansies, daffodils, muscari, evergreen huckleberries....
I couldn't figure out what this was at first! There are three of them back under the large rhodie (the long green leaf is part of a snowdrop). Pretty sure it's one of the Astilbe I planted last year. I ordered my bulbs and some bareroot daylilies and astilbe from BloomingBulb.com last year. This one should be "Europa". I ordered 5 at $4.80 apiece. Looks like at least three are coming in. Have never planted bareroot before, so this is a good sign.
The oregon grape are happy, and the yellow flowers are pretty. They are oddly spaced along the fence now, and look crowded near the new rhodie but too far apart back here. Not sure if I'll move them or wait. I think I'll wait and see how much they grow this year, since they went in pretty late last year. Also, some salal on the ground. I moved it twice last year, and it really hasn't been happy since. Doesn't die (it is salal, after all!) but doesn't thrive back here in the shade, either. Will be interesting to see if it recovers and takes off this year, or continues to sulk.
Two red flowering currants (King Edward) and red huckleberry. The currants have leafed out considerably since I saw them last, and the one on the left has the pretty red flowers! The hummingbirds that come through in the spring are supposed to like them... I hope to see some!
Closeup of the red flowering currant on the left.
The burgundy wine nandina loves this corner. Looks like the random daffodils over here are going to come up just fine. (No, I swear, I didn't plant them there, but there they are now!! Looking forward to seeing them open!)
Serviceberry is getting ready to open leaf buds.
Hooray, the oceanspray is alive! It was all sticks before... leap of faith to plant it!
The red sunset maple is blooming. Yay! Can't wait to have a leafy tree over there!
Pretty red against the green. The big tree behind is the cottonwood in the neighbor's backyard. It should be dropping its messy seedpods on us soon, but with the old cherry gone, I'm glad it's there.
The giant pieris on the north side of my house. It has some pretty flowers... but only in the very small portion of the plant that actually gets sun! These have grown a lot in the time that we've lived here. Trying to decide whether to keep them and move them when we do the beds and path back here (completing the backyard layout!) or no....
Most notably, the new large rhodie is looking pretty sad. I don't know if it's going to make it.
The brunnera are very happy. The leaves are still small but they are putting out so many flowers!
Jack Frost brunnera
Brunnera and Vancouveria (Inside-out flower) Also a bit of Japanese Forest Grass popping back up there. I think that was probably a mistake, and I'll likely move or remove it.
The alliums grew a bit, and two more popped up. They're hard to see, but are closer to the house. Looks like we'll have five! Another vancouveria is getting going here as well.
We're having a beautiful morning, and the daffodils are out! They are spread out more than intended - the moles and the squirrels rearranged all my bulbs, so the crocuses (that survived) are in random spots and the daffodils are moved and the hyacinths are lucky to be here at all. Blueberry is budding in the background, and a hardy geranium is leaved out nicely. There's another patch of it a few feet away that I didn't plant -- I guess it spread!
The sunshine blue blueberries are losing their winter pink leaves now that they are leafing out for 2012. More daffodils and hyacinths, and the violas -- the three small plants Daniel wanted to plant, the very first flowers (before the hellebore, which was the first deliberately chosen nursery purchase) we picked up one afternoon at Home Depot, got pretty shaggy last fall. I cut leggy shaggy parts off, and now they are just fluffy and beautiful. Huh!
Another very happy hellebore. I'm told I should trim off last year's old large leaves that are lying there on the ground. Maybe I'll get to that, but I'm happy it's happy. Behind it is a smaller white hellebore that is not happy at ALL. Wonder what the difference is? Why is the purple one going crazy when the white one right next to it is miserable?
My other, older red flowering currant from last fall is starting to leaf out at the bottom. No red yet!
Side yard near patio. Little rhodie (I broke a big part off with one of Daniel's balls!), pacific wax myrtle, tiny hebes, pansies, daffodils, muscari, evergreen huckleberries....
I couldn't figure out what this was at first! There are three of them back under the large rhodie (the long green leaf is part of a snowdrop). Pretty sure it's one of the Astilbe I planted last year. I ordered my bulbs and some bareroot daylilies and astilbe from BloomingBulb.com last year. This one should be "Europa". I ordered 5 at $4.80 apiece. Looks like at least three are coming in. Have never planted bareroot before, so this is a good sign. 
The oregon grape are happy, and the yellow flowers are pretty. They are oddly spaced along the fence now, and look crowded near the new rhodie but too far apart back here. Not sure if I'll move them or wait. I think I'll wait and see how much they grow this year, since they went in pretty late last year. Also, some salal on the ground. I moved it twice last year, and it really hasn't been happy since. Doesn't die (it is salal, after all!) but doesn't thrive back here in the shade, either. Will be interesting to see if it recovers and takes off this year, or continues to sulk.
Closeup of the red flowering currant on the left.
The burgundy wine nandina loves this corner. Looks like the random daffodils over here are going to come up just fine. (No, I swear, I didn't plant them there, but there they are now!! Looking forward to seeing them open!)
Serviceberry is getting ready to open leaf buds. 
Hooray, the oceanspray is alive! It was all sticks before... leap of faith to plant it!
The red sunset maple is blooming. Yay! Can't wait to have a leafy tree over there!
Pretty red against the green. The big tree behind is the cottonwood in the neighbor's backyard. It should be dropping its messy seedpods on us soon, but with the old cherry gone, I'm glad it's there.
The giant pieris on the north side of my house. It has some pretty flowers... but only in the very small portion of the plant that actually gets sun! These have grown a lot in the time that we've lived here. Trying to decide whether to keep them and move them when we do the beds and path back here (completing the backyard layout!) or no....
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