We had visitors in our garden last night and one of our guests, who had moved to Bellingham from the Houston area a couple of years ago, asked about the showy and fragrant flowers blooming at the edge of our patio. He was unfamiliar with garden phlox, Phlox paniculata. The photo below shows what our friend saw and commented on.
It’s February, and we’re on the cusp of spring after an extended period of colder than normal temperatures and lingering snow in our garden. Each year, the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle brings inspiration to gardeners all across the Northwest, inspiring us with creative ideas to integrate cool plants with fantastic hardscapes and sculptures.
The display gardens at the show can best be described in terms I’ve used many years: garden theater. The lighting is theatrical, the plants are always perfect, and you’ll see things blooming together that would never be possible in an outdoor garden. Nevermind, it’s all still good.
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Every year when February rolls around it’s time once again for the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival at the Seattle Convention Center. It’s the second-largest flower show in the US (after Philadelphia) and has been inspiring northwest gardeners since 1989. I’ve been to the show nearly every year since 1996 and have photographed the display gardens many times.
We sometimes joke that spring begins on New Year’s Day here in our corner of the Pacific Northwest. Given how mild December 2023 was, there’s a bit of truth to it even though the calendar says winter has just begun. Winter gardens are quiet, but if you look around you’ll find things in bloom.
These blossoms of ‘Dawn’ viburnum, Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’, are lightly fragrant. They’re on a substantial shrub we planted along the path between our house and my photo studio about eight years ago from a rooted hardwood cutting. On calm days during the winter I enjoy their fragrance on my way to and from my office.
Cascades Penstemon (Penstemon serrulatus), the purple flowers in the photo above, is native to the west side of the Cascades and a prolific self-seeder in our native plant garden. It stays in bloom for about three weeks for us, just finishing up now. If I recall, we started with just one or two plants in a different garden bed a few years ago. We cut a few stems with mature seeds and spread them in this bed and now we have masses. They seem to move themselves around to where they want to grow, which is how we ended up with this floriferous border. Continue reading
Psst… What’s that thing sticking up among our Delphiniums?
In a couple of days it’s going to unfurl into the bizarre blossom of a Voodoo Lily (Dracunculus vulgaris). Continue reading
Henderson’s checker-mallow, Sidalcea hendersonii, is a somewhat uncommon Pacific Northwest native plant. In its natural home you’ll find it just above the high tide line in coastal environments where it tolerates being periodically inundated with salt water. However, it’s quite happy in a garden setting. Continue reading
A couple of evenings ago Brian and I went out for our usual after-dinner stroll around our garden. We enjoyed a dramatic sunset from the back yard and then ambled down by the road to see how the front yard was doing. Brian plucked one of the first rose blossoms from a bush by the back door and inhaled deeply of its fragrance as we walked. Since we don’t get much traffic, I asked him to stand in the middle of the road for this photo. Continue reading
Once again, Brian and I didn’t get far in our after-dinner stroll around the garden. These daylilies, planted in a narrow bed between the house and the driveway, just opened in the last day or two. We love their rich yellow blossoms held on strong stems above the narrow leaves. Continue reading
I’ve been a big fan of nearly dark photography for a long time. A couple of days ago Brian and I headed out to enjoy our garden after our usual late dinner. We didn’t get far, as the view from our driveway compelled me to run to the studio and grab my camera.
These ‘Russell Hybrids’ lupines, paired with ‘Fireglow’ euphorbia, are right in front of the house. The red-orange euphorbia came with the house when we moved in, but Natalie started the lupines from seed and planted them out a few years ago. They self-seed as well as being perennials, so we continue to enjoy the combo each spring. Continue reading
