Calm Before the Storm

We had a big windstorm last week that blew pretty much all the beautiful fall foliage to the ground.  Luckily I took some pictures of the garden in its fall color prime before the storm.

Brilliant blueberries.  If I remember correctly (which isn't as likely as I would like it to be), these are 'Jersey' blueberries.

This is about as ripe as the bananas are going to get!

Musa basjoo

Had I watered this Himalayan raspberry over the summer, it would be looking a bit more presentable.  Yes, the berries are edible.  They are pretty good - they taste like apples.

Rubus lineatus

Maybe I should make some figgy pudding?

Ficus carica

Hydrophobia at work on the leaves of Melianthus major.

Melianthus major

Melianthus major

A Red-foliaged Castor bean plant (Ricinus communis) extends the season up until the first hard frost.  This one is 10' tall and still looking fantastic heading into mid-November.  I order the seeds online and plant them directly in the ground in a sunny spot with good soil in mid-April.

Ricinus communis 'Carmencita'

The greenhouse is filled to the brim.  The white flower on the left is a brugmansia (Angel's trumpet).  The pink-flowered (actually pink-bracted) plant on the right is Bougainvillea glabra.

Here's hoping my next post is not of me wrapping Christmas lights and blankets around all the borderline-subtropical plants before an impending arctic freeze!!!

Getting Ready...

Today I picked up the fliers I'll be mailing out to our neighbors inviting them to the big garden festival on Sat. July 6th.  Now begins the labeling, stuffing, sealing, stamping, and sending... 

The garden is looking better than ever and I can't wait to show it off.  I've been worried these stargazer lilies, which I'll be selling, would be past their prime by the time of the festival comes around.  Now that I've moved them to the shade though they're growing slowly and should be looking and smelling incredible at the festival!

When the Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island Date Palm) I had for the past two years rotted out in the middle, I decided to replace it with something very similar but much better: Jubaea chilensis (Chilean Wine Palm).  This palm is less susceptible to disease and will eventually become a 100-foot monster.  When I saw this at Jungle Fever in Tacoma, I knew we were meant for each other.  I also picked up a Musa sikkimensis and a Cornus capitata (Evergreen dogwood).

Jubaea chilensis getting settled in its new home

Although the veggie garden exists primarily to produce food, I am trying to get it to look picture perfect for the festival.  Hopefully the peas will hang in there!

Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas, planted on Feb 15th.

Of the several varieties of peas I grew this year, by far the best were the Oregon Sugar Pod II peas from Ed Hume seeds.  Their pods are sweet, succulent and crunchy and don't seem to get the least bit stringy.  The package said they climb to 3' but mine are 7' (those packages are hardly ever right).  After the festival I'll be ripping them out and planting broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.

My first year growing fava beans is turning out to be a success.  I can't wait to try them!

One of the best things about June is the abundance of strawberries.  If you don't grow them you're missing out.  I potted up about a dozen starts of these June-bearing strawberries and will be selling them at the festival.

Two bananas flowering at the same time!

Musa basjoo

Be sure to check out our garden festival on Sat. July 6th - it is going to be a lot of fun!  Click here for more details.

Does This Have Something To Do With The Mayan Calendar?

Nothing spreads a bit of Christmas cheer like seeing hardy bananas still halfway in-tact this far into December.

Musa basjoo

Since October 1st, it has only dipped below freezing once (to 30F/-1C) on November 10th.  The mild weather has some interesting influences on a few plants.  Some plants think it's late summer...

Rose

Others think it's early spring.

Primula vulgaris

August?

Rubus idaeus 'Caroline'

Plants all over the place are in the wrong season!

Lilium longiflorum

Lewisia cotyledon

Polygala chamaebuxus 'Kamniski'

Speaking of the wrong season, I stuck this bromeliad under these palms for the summer and when I went to go pull it out a month ago, it wouldn't budge!  If it doesn't want to move into the greenhouse, I won't interfere.  Maybe it will survive the winter out here...

Neoregelia princeps

August Haiku

The sun's glowing rays

 

Solanum aviculare

Cynara cardunculus var. scolymusin (aka Artichoke) in full bloom

Shining through ocean breezes

 

The fish are always begging for food

Musa basjoo, approximately 20 feet tall now

Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' dwarfing Gunnera manicata

Splash colors freely

 

Just Add Monkeys

After finding out that the plant below is a banana plant, the next question people usually ask is "Does it produce bananas?"  After hearing the affirmative, the next question is usually "Are they edible?"  Yes, they are edible seeing that I have eaten one and haven't died.  But if you want one that tastes good, that's a different story.  Even though they don't produce the kind of bananas you think of when you hear the word banana, the fact that we can even grow a real banana plant in this climate is incredible.  Now if only I could grow a durian...

Musa basjoo (Hardy banana) in flower

Big Leaf Central

We've had a little over an inch of rain over the past couple days in Seattle.  That's more than 12,000 gallons of water falling across the half acre of the garden.  After two weeks of dry and warm weather, I have to admit the rain is a welcome change.  It also gives me an opportunity to blog, since I would otherwise be doing something outside right now.

Magnolia macrophylla

And, yes, lots of rain is required when growing lots of big leaves.  Mid to late-May is generally the time when the big-leaved plants really start to shine.

Hosta 'T-Rex'

Hosta 'Sum and Substance'

Astilboides tabularis

Gunnera manicata

Although these hardy bananas (Musa basjoo) reach their peak in October, they are at least out of their ugly stage for the season.

Musa basjoo

Ligularia x hessei 'Gregynog Gold'

For those who don't suffer from the allergic reaction associated with this plant, Tetrapanax papyrifer is one of the coolest plants there are and everyone else should definitely grow it.  It does sort of spread so put it in an area where it can run and do its thing.  If you're lucky you'll soon have a Tetrapanax forest.

Tetrapanax papyrifer

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.