sprig to twig

I seem to detect a note of desperation in the search for blossoms among bloggers this month. These snowdrops are singing their swan song, and like anything that’s been around for a while, one must get down on all fours to appreciate them (unless, I guess, you have great drifts of them…i do not).

The violets are just beginning. This is the commonest, and my favorite scent: Viola odorata, a shovelful of which came to my garden from my mom’s many years ago and has claimed space in every shady nook and cranny in two subsequent gardens.

Out under the sweetheart trees (see yesterday’s post) a carpet of white violets went unnoticed by me until joining in Carol’s Bloom Day project. Thanks again to Carol for opening eyes to hidden treasures.

They are sparse now, but soon there will be swathes of them. Here, again, it was necessary to get down for a worm’s eye view. Am I soggy and muddy? Guess. Was it worth it? You bet!

Still crawling around to get this shot of ‘Diane’. She has put on nice spurts of new growth each year, so I think by next year she will be tall enough to make a real impression on her own, without the camera tricks for giving a starlet presence.

About the time my back threatened to revolt over the permanent stoop, here came Euphorbia wulfenii doing its thing right at eye level. It is still getting into character before straightening up and unfurling its full glory, but I like it almost best at this stage…so full of promise…very like February itself.

Here it is! The one thing blooming outside right now.

Once all the Christmas razzle dazzle gets put away, the racks in front of our one-stop shopping center fill up with cheery primroses. I can never resist picking up a few to brighten the entryway deck. Once other things displace them, they go into the ground in the woodland. The white ones are most satisfying. The blues and pinks kind of disappear against the dark background of the forest duff, but the white sparkles and seems more vigorous as well. These began blooming as soon as the snow melted.

The dahlias soldiered on even through torrential rains, but even they were no match for the cold snap we just went through. For that reason, we Portlanders must look elsewhere for the beauty of the season.

The rains have returned with a vengeance, but this morning there was fog to act as a backdrop to the raindrops shimmering in branches and leaves.

This gnarly old apple tree silhouetted against the fog looks like a setting for the “Twilight” series.

The Euphorbias are bouncing back, especially this ‘Persian Velvet’, which captures raindrops for display.

The birch trees are filled with cute, dangling catkins.

The catkins on the wild hazels are a soft, creamy yellow.

I suspect the cold snap can take a bow for turning the Nandina nitida these fiery shades for the first time in its life.

Grasses have colored up too.

The black mondo grass has managed to hold on to its delightfully sinister berries.

Everywhere, there is the promise of things to come.

The bottle bed sparkles in the woodland no matter what the weather Gods throw at us. With little competition, this is their time to dazzle.

May Dreams Gardens is the place to go to see gardeners from all over the world chronicling December in their gardens.

If it weren’t for Carol, over at May Dreams Gardens, I’m not sure I would be out there between cloudbursts looking for lingering signs of life. Lo and behold, a few hardy souls are still pumping out flowers

Like this sedum.

The blossoms on Persicaria ‘Purple Shield’ go unnoticed most of their long blooming season. Now their “last man standing” status casts them in a new light.

While ‘Percy’s Pride’ outperforms all of the other kniphs. It manages to look fresh even while the downpours have taken the starch out of most of the remaining flowers in the garden.

It pays to look elsewhere for the late season drama:

The smoke tree turns many shades of red, russet and bronze.

A close-up reveals the modulation in a single leaf (love that thin line of bright red edging on a maroon leaf)

Spent blossoms leave behind these bracts (anyone know the exact terminology for them?) on the Hepatacodium miconoides.

Plain old barberry has a brilliant final act, paired with the skeletons of globe thistles

The same barberry bursts with bright red berries (or are they drupes?).

As does the beautyberry.

Rosa ‘Dortmund’ produces a nice crop of hips. If they weren’t so pretty, I might try making jelly…perhaps when there are more of them.

Out along the front fence, where we are encouraging a mixed hedgerow, several of these unidentified shrubs have volunteered.

Nice leaf form and pretty berries make them more than welcome.

If you are frustrated by winter scarcity, links over on Carol’s site can take you to tropical climes, or anywhere anyone gardens.

Fuchsia ‘President’ comes along late. Our food writer in Homes and Gardens did a story on fuchsia jam made from the flowers and the berries left behind once the petals drop. I would need a whole lot more fuchsias before I could tackle such a task. At the beach, the fuchsia outside the door had produced quite a crop of the dangling, deep purple berries. They have a very delicate flavor…kind of interesting, but probably not worth the trouble.

Asters look so pretty in some people’s gardens, and floppy and scraggly in others. These grow out along the fence line where I put anything I’m not quite ready to commit to.

This white aster does light up a shady spot, and does a good job of extending the season.

Shizostylus comes along at a good time, too.

The dahlias are unstoppable right up until the first hard frost.

And so are the coleus.

But my favorites of the season are the grasses. Some of mine have begun to seed around, so I moved them to the woodland’s edge, where I love the way they catch the light against the dark background.

Are you new to this? If so, here’s the deal: on the 15th of every month Carol of May Dreams Gardens hosts a forum where gardeners from all over the world share pictures of what is blooming in their gardens. Sound like fun? It is! So come along with me for a tour of my garden, then skip on over to my blogroll and click on May Dreams Gardens to be taken to the portal of all things blooming.

Can you see the bumblebees in there? I counted seven in a single blossom. They seem to sort of drowse in the cardoon, which is way smaller than last year, but more floriferous.

Whenever something blooms for the first time, it is cause for celebration, even if the show is less than stellar. Campsis tagliabuana falls into that category for me. I brought several from my former garden and placed them at five consecutive fence-posts. You know the feeling. This gives me hope that my vision of a fence line covered with vines is not a mere pipe dream.

I bought my Clerodendrum trichotomen specifically for the steely blue balls that form after the blossoms fade. So far, no luck…but the fairly inconspicuous blossoms do have a heavenly fragrance that kicks in just as the lilies breathe their last. Here it hovers above the Hydrangea ‘Limelight’.

And here is a close-up of ‘Limelight’.

The dangling pagodas of Leycesteria formosa combine fruit and flower over a long season. I hear that the fruit can be used in jams and such, but have never tried it.

I remember ‘Red Hot Pokers’ from my grandmother’s garden. The newer varieties emerge sporting a single color, like this ‘Primrose Beauty’, which, as you can see, fades to bicolor as it ages.

But ‘Percy’s Pride’ holds on to its monochromatic pale yellow, making it my favorite of all the kniph’s.

See the deep colored dahlia in back of the paler one? That is the most vigorous of all the dahlias I have ever planted. The paler one in the foreground seems to be a sport, as it is springing from the same tuber…ain’t horticulture grand?

August seems like an odd time to be buying plants, but I couldn’t resist this Rudbeckia ‘Henry Eilers’ at the farmers’ market. It is said to reach a height of 5′, so it fits into my plan for the fence line between us and our nearest neighbors.

This Rosa rugosa ‘Buffalo Gals’ is another introduction along the fence line.

Our extremes of weather have made August feel a bit strange…not so much interest in getting out there to sniff, cut and snap pictures. Thanks to ‘Bloom Day’ there is a little extra motivation, and look what we found…

This year is a head-scratcher. Some things are early, some are late. Whatever. Plenty in bloom, so come with me:

The day lilies are in full stride. This one came as a reward for volunteering at the HPSO plant sale.

And the plain old orange variety has as much charm as the fancy hybrids.

I took any number of shots of Verbena bonariensis, and this is as close as I got to capturing the see-through quality that makes it welcome as it seeds itself all over the place.

Borage is another prolific self-seeder. It has a cucumber-y flavor and pretty pale blue flowers, so I will just try to keep ahead of it and hope for the best.

The Hydrangeas are coming on. This one is ‘Preziosa’.

This sedum has lovely bronze foliage, now completely obscured by the flush of almost-red blossom. Can you see the eggplant developing on the plant in front?

Another sedum dressed in pink.

Rosa ‘Dortmund’ is finally making her presence known climbing up a fence post. The deer can no longer keep up with her…or maybe they have lost interest.

The Calmagrottis at the pond’s edge captures the light.

Wild field daisies crop up wherever allowed.

I thought Bloom Day might get a little boring, with the same things blooming year after year. Just as if to prove me wrong, this butterfly found the lavender walk irresistible and spent a good part of a morning working it over. To see what is blooming all over the world, go to my blogroll and click on May Dreams Gardens.

After a slow start, things are really picking up…just in time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. This post contains a few questions that I am hoping will turn up some answers as comments (always appreciated).

Sambucus negra ‘Eva’ anchors an entry berm that is just starting to come together. It is blooming for the first time this year. Here you see it nestled up to Hydrangea quercifolia, which is just budding up (also a first timer).

Looking at it from the other side of the berm, Allium caesium is just pushing through the dark foliage and beginning to unfurl its sky blue balls.

An unknown Euphorbia is crowding in (can anyone identify it?). I seem to have fallen into the old trap of over-planting, but right now it is perfect…and isn’t that what shovels are for?

After having been moved several times, I hope the Eremurus has found a happy home. These are in the very early stage of blooming, but by next Bloom Day they will have passed their peak. They will be a vibrant shade of pale orange. I planted ‘Cleopatra’, which should be a deeper orange, almost red, but it shows no signs of putting up flower spikes this year. I am willing to baby Eremurus and do whatever it takes to see her thrive.

So here’s my next question: when a friend gave me this red lily three years ago, there were two blooming stems. It has grown into an ever larger clump. Should I be digging up and dividing the bulbs? It seems to be doing a fine job without intervention, but I would hate to lose these fireworks through neglect.

In my last garden, I allowed Nigella to get out of hand. It’s obvious, from the heavenly blue petals and feathery foliage, how it was able to insinuate itself into this one. I just must keep repeating to myself, over and over, “I will not allow ‘Love-in-a-mist’ to set seed.” The seeds are actually quite a nice alternative to poppyseed, with a peppery crunch; the seedpods themselves have a whimsical, alien life-form appearance…making the aforementioned oath harder to carry out than one might think.

Another prolific self-seeder is Lychnis coronaria. I took the above picture in early spring, when the foliage formed a velvety, dense carpet.

Now it is stretching out and putting forth the first of a summer’s worth of blooms. And now the fun begins: deadhead, deadhead, deadhead.

The shallots have formed these drumsticks, about to shed their papery casing and unfurl like their allium cousins. So…am I supposed to let this happen if big, pungent shallots are the goal? I read that digging should wait until the leaves begin to wither and die. These escaped last year’s dig, when the resulting shallots were disappointingly small. Those are Marion berries along the back wall. They mostly fall prey to the bears every year. The yellow flowers on the left are kale.

Two flats of Blue Star Creeper, or Laurentia fluviatilis, plugs purchased from Home Depot went into the east berm early on. Now they form an ever expanding carpet of green, spangled with tiny pale blue blossoms throughout the summer.

Has anyone seen a foxglove do this before? They volunteer all over the place here, sometimes surprising in their choices of where to put down roots. Several of them have done this thing, where the uppermost blossom on the stalk blooms out to form an up-facing cup. The rest of the stalk sports the customary drooping gloves for foxes. I have never seen this before this year. Anyone know what’s up with that?

Last, this exotic bloom graces what is essentially a houseplant. I have no name to go with it. Help me if you can.

I should have taken my pictures yesterday, when it was overcast, but I used up all of my gardening chops digging, weeding and hauling rocks in the cool weather. Not that I reject the beautiful sunshine of today, but I might have gotten some overall shots of the berms as they are developing. Ah, well…we may end the day exhausted and sated, but never quite ‘finished’. Georgia O’Keefe said something about never being quite ‘there’ with the recently completed painting. It was always the next painting that drew her along her life’s path.

I seem to be running hot and cold about posting…kind of like our weather. We go for a stretch where the nights barely sneak above freezing, the rain comes barreling down, and then we’ll get a few days where the temperature zooms up to 86. Not to complain, mind you. The cool days are great for planting, and for photographing (more about that later). Today is Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, so take a virtual stroll with me, then go to my blog roll and click on May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming in the rest of the world.

Everything is late this year, so the lilac is just a smidgen past its peak. Normally it would be finished by the first few days of May.

You may have noticed little dots of pink at the feet of the lilac in the last picture. It’s Bistorta ‘Superbum’ (don’t ya love that moniker?).

At the woodland’s edge, the Soloman’s Seal is looking stately, backed by native ferns. All of my woodland plants lag slightly behind the wild versions seen on daily walks.

Epimedium ‘Lilafree’ has dainty purple flowers right now, but it is the heart-shaped foliage that gained my admiration. I think I will be on the lookout for one with creamy pale yellow flowers, the better to see them in their dark woodland setting.

Volunteer forget-me-not’s create a haze of blue around the base of an ancient cherry tree. I have to force myself to yank some out, or they will overwhelm the shy Ipheon ‘Wisley Blue’ I put there on purpose.

The drooping clusters of blossoms on the Enkianthus are so dainty and subtle that I like to keep it in a pot close to the house…both for up-close enjoyment and because the deer are not bold enough to venture so close…at least so far.

The Euphorbia population grows steadily, but with so many available it will probably never attain the status of a “collection”. ‘Tasmanian Tiger’ sports pale, variegated foliage year-round, but right now it is topped off with a cloud of even paler blossoms.

The newest arrival is ‘Blackbird’. Unlike its sprawling cousins, it remains a compact clump of dark foliage until it erupts with a cap of acid green cups (officially bracts, I think)

I have shown this little ‘Lipstick’ strawberry before, but this is what I mean by taking pictures on dark days. The pink of the flowers always came out pale…not at all the vibrant hue that earned the name. Nothing like trial and error(s) to drive home advice previously ignored. I stuck one of these in last year and it seems happy, so more will be added…one day…ground cover.

These are the highlights this mid-May (or at least the pictures that turned out best). I counted 41 different blooming plants as I made my rounds. Thanks again to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for dreaming up a format that keeps us alert to what’s going on out there.

Even with our rainy reputation, the downpours of early November were extreme. It brings its own kind of beauty, though, as evidenced by the raindrops caught in the remains of the plume poppies and beading up on the last of their leaves out my studio window.

Stepping outside, more sparkle is gathered by the Euphorbia wulfenii.

The grasses do their part as time marches on. This is the first year that this one has tasseled up.

Don’t know the botanical name for what I call Japanese Lantern. Maybe someone can set me straight. As the season wears on, the orange tissue wears away, leaving a delicate tracery of veins surrounding a bright red-orange fruit.

A few bloomers are still hanging on, and even putting out new buds…at least until a hard frost hits. Among them are dahlias, agastache, hellenium, lavender and lychnis (testimonial to the effectiveness of deadheading). Limping along is more like it, but the nasturtiums are still going strong in the bed where tomatoes gave up the ghost weeks ago.

And one last intrepid torch lily thinks it can beat the odds.

‘China Girl’ is proving her versatility by hanging on to her flaming raiment til the last.

I tried for red twig dogwood, but the deer keep them cropped close to the ground. Not so the ‘Excaliber’ Euphorbia, which leaves behind these glowing pink stems.

Another Euphorbia, ‘Tasmanian Tiger’, keeps its showy variegated foliage year-round, to stand in for missing blossoms.

Are you as surprised as I am to find November to be such a rich month in the garden? I wonder what we will find in December and January. Thanks again to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for inspiring us to focus, observe and share.