Blog Archives

Red Elderberry

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Red-flowering Currant, Red Elderberry at woodland edge

Red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa, flowers are peaking in our woods and woodland border right now. This medium-sized Pacific Northwest native shrub puts on quite a show when she’s in bloom, covered in masses of somewhat pyramid-shaped clusters of small white flowers. In the photo above of the woodland border in our garden, made a couple of weeks ago on April 12, the flowers have yet to emerge among the newly unfolding leaves. The showy red flowers are red-flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum, blooming below the elderberry.

We’ve been watching our elderberries develop all month as they come into flower, and now as the flowers begin to fade. Continue reading →

Serviceberry Time

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Serviceberries

One of the great things about being confined to our home is to watch the near-daily changes in our garden since we can’t go far afield to catch the blossoms somewhere else. The flowers that were in full bloom just a week ago are fading and new ones are taking their place. Right now, it’s the serviceberries (Amelanchier alnifolia) that are putting on their spring show.

The serviceberries are the white flowers in the photo. Behind them are the brilliant yellow flowers of golden currant (Ribes aureum). Both shrubs are native to Washington state, although the currant is an east of the mountains species. Also starting to bloom is great camas (Camassia leichtlinii), another Pacific Northwest native.
Continue reading →

Trillium Season is Winding Down

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Sweet Woodruff w/ Giant Purple Wakerobins

We’re getting to the end of the season for trillium blossoms in our garden and woodland. It’s been a wonderful run for these favorite wildflowers this spring. In the photo above, our Giant Purple Wakerobins (Trillium kurabayashii) are beginning to look a little bedragled in the petal department, although the foliage is still fresh. The white flowers just beginning to open are the non-native Sweet Woodruff, Galium odoratum.

These flowers have been looking good since early March. I photographed them the first time this year on March 18 and shared the photos in a blog post on March 24, a full month ago. I have trouble thinking of another perennial flower that stays looking good for this long. Continue reading →

The Chicken Channel

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Garden bed with chickens on the lawn

Every afternoon about 5 o’clock we let our chickens out into the yard and garden to forage until their bedtime. Since we have predators around — hawks, eagles, and coyotes — we make sure there’s a human nearby in the yard to keep an eye on our girls.

We joke that we’re tuning in to the chicken channel. It’s relaxing live entertainment. We’ll even pop open a beer or pour a glass of wine to enjoy while watching the hens forage for grass, bugs, grubs, and slugs. Continue reading →

Fire on the Mountain

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'Mountain Fire' Japanese Andromeda

‘Mountain Fire’ Japanese Andromeda, a cultivar of Pieris japonica, is a standout shrub in our garden. It’s a broadleaved evergreen so we can enjoy it year around but it’s especially nice right now as the new foliage emerges. It’s those bright red new leaves that give the cultivar its name. It’s the small shrub in the foreground of the photo above. Continue reading →

Come Walk in the Woods With Me

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I spent about four hours meandering the paths in the woods behind our house on Friday, enjoying a day with a soft overcast sky and a few sprinkles that made photography a real joy. In the course of that time I exposed over 300 frames of our wildflowers at various stages of growth, as well as ferns and horsetails. This video slideshow runs about 3:20. I hope it brings you a bit of relaxation and good vibes. It will look best in full screen mode on your computer.

We’re very fortunate to have this space to roam during “stay at home” time and enjoy walking one or more of our trails almost every day. There’s always something new to see among the familiar landscape.

A Weedy Afternoon

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Dove's Foot Geranium

I spent my afternoon yesterday among the weeds. I didn’t have to go far. This cute little flower, Dove’s Foot Geranium (Geranium molle), was growing at the edge of our front garden bed, just a few feet back from the shoulder of the road. The flower is only about one-half inch across but that bright pink is hard to miss. Continue reading →

Something Old, Something New

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Ground-ivy

This pretty little garden weed, which goes by the names Ground-ivy, Gill-over-the-ground, Creeping Charlie, or Field Balm (Glechoma hederacea) is one of the first plants I learned the name of when I was a kid. It grew at the edges of my dad’s garden in West Virginia … and it grows today in our garden in Bellingham on the other side of the continent. The name I use most often is Gill-over-the-ground because that’s how I first learned it, but out here in the west I don’t hear many people using that name.

Ground-ivy isn’t native to either the Appalachians or the Pacific Northwest; it’s another of many plant introductions from Eurasia. Continue reading →