This Way to Freeway Park

Right in the middle of downtown Seattle, Freeway park is a jungle of plants within a jungle of concrete.  It was built in 1976 - and has dutifully reclaimed and reconnected the land that I-5 split apart when the freeway opened in 1967.
 

While walking to the NW Flower & Garden Show a couple weeks ago, some of the newer plantings in the park caught my attention and I stopped to snap a few photos.

The fragrant Sarcococca humilis enchants the winter air.

Especially in such a mass planting.

Ophiopogon japonicus

This dual-colored Camellia japonica wasn't actually in Freeway Park, but close enough.

Nice clumps of hellebores

Liriope muscari

Cornus mas

Arum italicum

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis sp.)

Edible Italian kale (Brassica oleracea 'Nero Di Toscana') looking primed for harvest

The next time you're in downtown Seattle, it's worth checking out!  Click here for directions.
 

Mingled With Grief

While the cold & wet winter weather might be completely miserable for us warm-blooded humans, there are plenty of plants that seem to take a real liking to the torment.  Even in the darkest and coldest of months, signs of life are everywhere.

Hellebore hybrid blooming on January 7th, 2013

Broccoli planted in late-July is now ready to start eating.  Come March, it will start producing delectably delicious new shoots which are about as exquisite as vegetables can get.

Broccoli

Raindrops on snowdrops...already!

Galanthus nivalis

Me and this Abutilon 'Tiger Eye' have been through a lot together.  I bought it as a tiny little fellow a couple of years ago.  Immediately after being planted it shot into rapid growth.  When I dug it up to transplant somewhere more appropriate, the whole thing split in half.  I essentially grafted it back together and found a nice spot for it under an empress tree.  The wound has now completely healed and it is starting to become almost tree-like.  While I'm not completely sure of its hardiness, I can say it sailed through a few freezing nights with lows down to 22 degrees and daytime highs not much above freezing.  Here is what the flowers look like when it is in bloom.

Abutilon 'Tiger Eye'

And finally, a word to the wise, never plant an echium right next to an agave.  The echium will eventually shade out the agave, and you're not going to have the heart to prune the echium or attempt to move the agave.

Agave parryi var. huachucensis being crowded out by Echium fastuosum

Plants Waking Up Right Now

I don't know why this Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem' has decided it's a good idea to fully leaf out with a good deal of winter still left, but I am grateful that it takes the risk.  The red-tinged, translucent new growth glows in the sunlight, making this time of year its high season in terms of interest.  By summertime it fades into just another old shrub.

Euphorbias are such weird plants.  This Euphorbia characias is starting to shoot its chartreuse suction cup stalks toward the sky.

There is no such thing as having too many hellebores - especially black ones.

The cold-hardy banana (Musa basjoo) has sailed through this cold season without any protection.  The pseudo-stems are currently about 10' tall, so I'm hoping they will reach their full height of about 20' this summer.

Artichokes (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) make a great edible landscaping plant for us in the Northwest.  They should be grown in the perennial border as opposed to the vegetable garden.  The flowering stalks completely die down in the fall, but new rosettes of foliage resume growing from the roots and if the winter is mild like it was this year, they can be almost considered evergreen.  Few things grow as rapidly in our miserable March weather as artichokes.

Here is my pea scaffolding.  It's a bit wobbly, but anything made of bamboo and zip ties has to be indestructible, right?  There are some radishes to the right of the stepping stones that have already sprouted.

Finally, a shot of the rapidly emerging leaves of Cardiocrinum giganteum (Giant Himalayan lily).  This will be its third year, meaning 3-5 more years before blooming.