Cool Combos

Green, yellow and black can make for a pretty ugly American flag, but these three colors play really well off each other in this section the garden.  It started out as a Japanese area with no regard to color, but I soon took notice and quickly moved some plants around to enhance the continuity of this color scheme.

Hues ranging from bright yellow to dark green are represented, as is the year-round black provided by black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens').  One of my favorite Japanese maples, Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream', has reddish orange tips on its leaves but is mostly bright yellow.  There is also a tiny bit brown and white in this area, but in the same way skyscrapers are prohibited within the city limits of Paris, red, pink, blue, purple and silver are not allowed (mostly).

Another great combo: The upright racemes of the Empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa) coupled with the slightly darker purple pendulous racemes of Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis).  Both plants bloom at the same time, just as their leaves are starting to emerge, their verticality connecting the sky with the earth.

An edible combo that grows incredibly well in our cool & wet springs: Peas, spinach & dill. 

And finally, mixing the living with the non-living: Stones & Soleirolia soleirolii (Baby's tears)

At least something likes the rain.

I guess one redeeming thing about this cold and wet spring is it is paradise for cool season crops like lettuce, spinach, peas, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower & carrots. Even though they are growing fairly slowly in this cool & cloudy weather, they will be at their healthiest and most flavorful when they're ready to start harvesting in 3-6 weeks from now.

Below in the still-under-construction raised bed section of the garden, I've got growing (closest to farthest) some Adriondack blue potatoes (Solanum tuberosum 'adirondack blue'), spinach, cauliflower, & Brussels sprouts. I also have some snow peas sprouting up in the bed to the right (not in the picture).


Two weeks ago (in mid-March), I started the seedlings below in the greenhouse. They include: nasturtium (on the left), sweet corn (top center), lupin (center), lots & lots of basil (front center), carrots (under the plastic lid) and mesculin (right).