Blog Archives

Waterworks Canyon

Posted on by

This past weekend I was on the east side of the Cascades for a Washington Native Plant Society state board meeting in Ellensburg. We had a productive session all day Saturday, but six-hour meetings are trying even when everyone is on the same track and the discussion is genial. The cure? A day tromping in the field to see what’s blooming.

Sunday, Walt Lockwood and I headed down to Yakima and west another 15 miles to the mouth of Waterworks Canyon. It’s a fairly small canyon tending north-south that drains into the Naches River. The land is on the Oak Creek Wildlife Area, administered by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. There’s a small parking area on the north side of the highway about a quarter mile west of the junction of WA 410 and US 12. [N 46° 44.921′ W 120° 47.874′]

Carey's Balsamroot & Showy Phlox
Carey’s Balsamroot & Showy Phlox on rocky hillside [Balsamorhiza careyana; Phlox speciosa]. Waterworks Cyn, Oak Cr Wildlife Area, Yakima Co., WA

The mouth of the canyon is just over 1600′ elevation. After passing through the gate, we were soon greated by spectacular displays of Carey’s Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza careyana) and Showy Phlox (Phlox speciosa), particularly on the east-facing hillside that was bathed in early morning sunshine under a brilliant clear blue sky. Continue reading →

Trilliums

Posted on by

One of my favorite wildflowers, dating back to my childhood, is the trillium. I grew up in central West Virginia and in the spring one hillside along the road to my grandparents home was always covered with large white trilliums, Trillium grandiflorum. When I moved to Washington state I learned that our native trillium here, which looks quite similar to the eastern white trillium, is Trillium ovatum. Both of them can be grown successfully in Northwest gardens.

Western trillium among redwood sorrel in a garden

I photographed in a Tacoma-area garden recently where there were a couple of patches of trilliums planted. In this photo, they’re mixed with redwood sorrel, Oxalis oregana, and a non-native fern. This planting is practically inside the house where it can be easily enjoyed. Elsewhere in the garden was a larger patch of trilliums, which had been self-seeding and establishing a rather nice large patch of flowers. The gardener pointed out to me that first-year trillium seedlings have a single leaf, second-year seedlings have two leaves, and not until their third year do they develop their typical three leaves. Continue reading →

Red-flowering Currant

Posted on by

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.

Red-flowering Currant in garden border

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.

Fickle Spring

Posted on by

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.

Daffodils and Sage in spring garden
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.
Continue reading →

Walled Beds

Posted on by

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.

Low stone wall with daffodils

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 →

Heavy Lifting

Posted on by

We garden on a very public triangular corner close to downtown Bellingham. The point of the triangle once had a street under it, so the soil is shallow. When we moved in we weren’t sure anything would grow out there, so we planted a bunch of spreading junipers from K-Mart. Sixteen years later they had become overgrown and weren’t very interesting. So last week I ripped the last of them out, hooking a retired climbing rope to the stumps and literally pulling them from the ground with my truck. I also dug up an infestation of Euphorbia robbiae, which was crowding other plants out. Continue reading →

Beginnings

Posted on by

Lettuce seedlings

Just as a seed germinates and then grows into a mature plant, this blog will grow and mature over time. These small lettuce seedlings, some of which still have their seed coats attached, are only a day or two past sticking their heads up through the ground. This blog is just beginning, and like the seedlings, is seeking sunlight and nourishment.

Over time, I expect to write about gardening, native plants, and photography. I’ll share thoughts about the plants we grow, plants I find interesting in the wild, and photographic interests. It’s hard to tell at this point just where this missive will lead. Check in every now and then to see what’s new.

The seedlings were photographed on my back windowsill with a 100mm macro lens, a 2x teleconverter, and a short extension tube between them to make it all fit together. In actuality, they’re only about an inch tall. The light came from the window, and the background is black because they’re growing in a black plastic 6-pack tray. When they get big enough, I’ll transplant them into our garden and eventually they’ll be dinner.