Archive for April, 2007
One of the prime Northwest native flowering shrubs that’s in bloom right now is red-flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum. It’s a good shrub for the garden, as well as being found at woodland edges in the wild. It has a wide range in the Northwest and is a good early food source for hummingbirds.
In this Bainbridge Island garden, red-flowering currants have been planted in several areas around the edge, including in this mixed border. Some native plant gardening enthusiasts are sticklers for only growing natives while others, like this gardener, believe that its OK to mix and match. The currant will stay in bloom for two or three weeks in the spring, and flowers will be followed by rather tasteless blue-black berries mid-summer. The attractive foliage will become a backdrop for other plants that bloom later, like the ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum planted at its base.
April 13 2007 | Gardens and Native Plants and Photography | No Comments »
Spring feels like it’s getting off to a slow start around Bellingham this year. I had to scrape frost of my windshield on Tuesday morning, and high temperatures have remained in the mid-40s. Our daffodils are continuing to look good — a blaze of gold in the corner garden. It must be too cold for the slugs as they haven’t been eating many blossoms this year.
We can go from sun to cloud and back to sun again quickly. The two different kinds of light make for different feelings in a photo of the same subject. On the left, Monday afternoon sun. On the right, Wednesday afternoon cloudy skies. One captures the brilliance of spring in a sunny garden; the other a more mellow feeling under softer light.
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April 05 2007 | Gardens and Photography | No Comments »
After hauling more rock and more soil and constructing three low stone walls, the result is good. Here’s what one of the three new beds looked like right after the soil was placed and roughly leveled.
Natalie worked for a couple of hours the other evening to start planting the beds. This one got a nice low-growing variegated Ceanothus in the middle. She put bunches of crocus, which had come out to make room for the wall, around some of the edges. There’s still more planting to do, but we’re making progress. We’re thinking of mostly low-growing plants in this bed, with some dwarf conifers in the other two corners. We spent a bunch of money on plants the other day, but still need to do more shopping. We haven’t been plant shopping together for a while, so it’s a fun thing to do. continue reading »
April 03 2007 | Gardens and Photography | 1 Comment »
