tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53021393333477537792024-03-21T18:20:57.218-07:00Garden MuseBarbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-90594075521420269002014-02-07T08:12:00.002-08:002014-02-07T08:12:58.018-08:00Winter Angst
Huddled under a blanket of snow the winter garden rests. After yesterday’s fierce wind that blew trees and shrubs sideways as snowflakes swirled in white tornadoes, today the garden is perfectly still. The sedges’ slender blades look like brown hair against the white snow while the green, gold and blue conifers stand stiff and stark, dusted with snow.
Grateful for a warm house and hot water, for the comfort of cats and tea, I do what I can while the garden sleeps. I bring in the frozen hummingbird feeders, thaw them out and refill them. This is a day when I’ll be in and out in the snow only as far as the posts where the feeders hang.
I do not love winter. I look out and long for the garden, even after only one day of absence. Winter is a waiting time, and I’m not good at waiting. But along with the plants, and the hummingbirds, I must wait for the return of sun and warmth.
Today will be a luxuriously restful day for thumbing through garden books, reading Anna Quindlen’s latest novel, and cooking soup. But I’d trade it all in for a day in the garden. Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-73062265379995813822013-12-24T12:04:00.002-08:002013-12-24T12:14:28.794-08:00Winter's Pleasures"Hummingbird alert!" I cried, and Tom looked up. Out the window a redheaded hummer was probing the frozen feeder. It was actually kitty Webster’s clacking jaws that tipped me off to the hummingbird’s presence.
"I think he’s licking the feeder like a popsicle,” Tom said. And considering how many times the tiny bird returned to dip into the feeder, I think Tom was exactly right.
The one feeder that hangs in view of the dining room window is visited often by the tiny birds, and the pleasure of seeing their iridescent feathers and their whirring wings is worth the effort of keeping the feeder from freezing. Most nights I remember to bring it inside to stay warm, and take it back out in the morning, but sometimes, in the flurry of activities, I forget.
So soon after the popsicle incident, I purchased one more feeder so that I can more easily rotate them when the temperatures plummet. It’s the least I can do for these brave little birds who stay here through our iffy winters.
Aside from the feeder, the hummingbirds are in love with Mahonia ‘Arthur Menzies,’ which is loaded with upright spikes of yellow flowers. It’s about the only nectar source in this December’s garden and if I’d known what a cold winter we’d be facing I’d have planted two more. No matter, this plant is at least ten years old and stands eight feet tall and five feet wide with enough blossoms for a hundred hummers.
This year the evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) produced a bumper crop, and fortunately for the foraging sparrows, most of the tiny, tart berries are still on the branches in December. Like the hummingbird feeder, the huckleberry bush stands right in front of the dining room window, a perfect place for Webster to ogle the birds and clack his jaws some more.
For His Majesty’s comfort (he is quite regal, with fur as soft as angora) I’ve placed a bench by the window, with pillows on it, where he can dream of hunting without doing any damage.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-38286946170904253822013-11-07T09:31:00.000-08:002013-11-07T09:31:00.141-08:00November's Chyrsanthemum Display and Talk at Lan Su Chinese GardenOver 500 chrysanthemums light up Lan Su Chinese Garden (corner of NW 3rd and Everett) this month. On Saturday November 9, at 11 a.m., expert Ray Gray of King’s Mums in Oregon City will speak about his favorite flowers. Even if you don’t grow them yourself, the scent and beauty of chrysanthemums will bring you autumn cheer. I recently visited his nursery and plan to order mums this spring!
www.lansugarden.org/mumvember for details.
Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-76997655620290142382013-10-30T09:59:00.003-07:002013-10-30T10:11:17.757-07:00Fall's PleasuresAs the first frost hits I say a sorry goodbye to the blackened dahlias and look around for the next wave of beauty. I don’t have to look far—Acer palmatum ‘Osakazuki’ has turned brilliant red and Ginkgo ‘Autumn Gold’ is true to its name. Viburnum xanthocarpum is filled with orange berries that gleam in autumn’s light, while long chains of burgundy fruit dangle from the branches of Leycesteria formosana. What fun to see trees and shrubs that have been standing quietly by, suddenly shouting, “Look at me!”
I love the slower pace of autumn, when very little is urgent. That’s when I take a leisurely look at the garden. What do I still love, and what no longer pleases me in my little kingdom? What will live and what will die is totally up to me and my faithful spade.
Lately I’ve been digging up masses of redtwig dogwood. Once a lifesaving filler on this acre of wetland, it’s colonized way too far, and is now occupying what my gardening buddy Doug calls “prime real estate.” Over the winter I’ll build up the soil by composting on site, and this spring there will be fertile ground ready for containers of Viburnum, Physocarpus and Loropetalum waiting to put their feet in the ground. Always looking forward to the next season, to the next new plants, to the next pleasures—a gardener’s life is a year-round delight. Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-12950093167876332322013-01-28T10:21:00.002-08:002013-01-28T10:21:36.692-08:00Winter Pleasures
Hummingbirds perch on the metal gridded arbor, waiting their turn to sip from the yellow flowers of Mahonia ‘Arthur Menzies.’ One little guy sits patiently at the top of the cutleaf alder, flashing his red head as the sun glints off his tiny feathers.
This winter the flowers on ‘Arthur Menzies’ are more splendid and full than ever before. I count a dozen spikes of yellow flowers at the ends of one stem, and at least as many flowering stems, so that the whole shrub, standing eight feet tall, is a brilliant beacon. Never mind that the leaves are leathery and spiny, so that pruning this shrub is as dangerous as handling agaves, the winter bloom that begins in December when the buds swell and begin to show color and continues for weeks and weeks, is worth the occasional pain.
Had I known how spectacular this plant would become I would certainly have bought half a dozen and plunked them all around the garden for more winter color. Right now in January I want to rip out the mock orange that looks like a bundle of twigs and replace it with another Mahonia—I still don’t have ‘Charity,’ ‘Lionel Fortescue,’ ‘Winter Sun,’ or ‘Underway.’ Hmmm. Come to think of it, there are several mock oranges that only bloom for a short period of time, and have ho hum leaves, while Mahonias with their jagged leaves and long-blooming flowers would be much more interesting, for so much longer. Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-61604833106500972032012-02-29T09:50:00.000-08:002012-02-29T09:50:37.798-08:00The Catalogs are ComingThe Catalogs are Coming<br />
Even though it’s snowing on and off, my office looks like a garden. Yellow lilies and lavender mums still bloom in a bouquet of flowers from dearest Tom. A red and orange canna flower blazes at me from the Georgia O’Keefe wall calendar. A watercolor scroll painted by friend Sue Berge’s mother in China shows a cascade of pink peonies, while irises, magnolias and alstroemeria, and crocosmias bloom in numerous prints push-pinned to the walls. Two hummingbirds even flit amid these offerings.<br />
Even more exciting are the arrival of this year’s enticing catalogs. For the first time ever, a full color catalog arrived from Midnight Gardens in the mail. Sixteen of Bob Anderson’s vivid new introductions jump off the page, including ‘Midnight Call Me Al,’ a butter yellow daylily with a bold black-purple eye, named in honor of Al Rogers, Bob’s mentor. I’m thrilled to see ‘Midnight Barbara Blossom’ among the bright array. An unbelievable offer is included: “Your first plant is free in 2012.” You can visit the website at www.midnight-gardens.com or call 503-889-6819.<br />
Today my order will go out to Digging Dog Nursery in Albion, California (www.DiggingDog.com or 707-937-1130). Their selection of geums, kniphofias and sanguisorbas were irresistible so I succumbed. For years I’ve had the birchleaf spiraea on my wish list after seeing it overseas, and voilà, there it was for me to order! Reading the plant descriptions and enjoying their charming illustrations were enough to chase the winter blues away. <br />
Each day a trip to the mailbox brings more delightful surprises. A big thank you to the wonderful growers who bring these treasures our way.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-79528729480516905822011-11-11T11:12:00.000-08:002011-11-21T08:13:36.257-08:00Food Served with Love Tastes BestI’m delighted that my story, Food Served with Love Tastes Best, has been published in the new Chicken Soup for the Soul: Food and Love.<br />
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The story commemorates my Aunt Libby, a beloved relative who embodied the joy of life. A woman ahead of her times, she had a meaningful career, never married or had children, and showered me with love and acceptance. I wish she were still alive to read the story. Her spirit is alive in my heart, and on the pages of Chicken Soup.<br />
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After reading Food Served with Love Tastes Best, one fan e-mailed “Everyone should have an Aunt Libby.” Especially when we’re young and vulnerable, a relative or friend who’s in our corner, who doesn’t have preconceived ideas of who we should become, helps us discover and honor our true nature. I will always remember Aunt Libby’s giving me permission to make mistakes—essential if we are to take risks and try new things. She said, “That’s why they make erasers!”Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-39010328310798256102011-10-15T13:30:00.000-07:002011-10-15T13:30:49.897-07:00A Visit to Portland's Best Kept Secret GardenOn an overcast October morning, my friend Diane and I took a stroll through Leach Botanical Garden, guided by Head Gardener Scott Hoelscher, Executive Director David Porter, and Board President Gay Greger. The 16-acre garden is located at 6704 SE 122nd Avenue, just a little south of Foster Road. <br />
Gravel crunched underfoot as we navigated paths winding up and down the hillsides. Shaded by the canopy of enormous conifers, unusual shrubs and lush ferns flourished in the the understory. A pool of delicate Himalayan maidenhair ferns made a big swathe of lacy green, arching like a green cascade, while a colony of robust male ferns spread spread their wide, feathery fronds. <br />
Climbing the gentle slope, we inhaled the aroma of cotton candy wafting from a stately katsura tree in its full autumn glory, golden leaves shimmering in the misty morning air. Scott pointed out several shrubs that will bloom later on in winter, especially evergreen Mahonia confusa, with blue-green foliage and yellow flowers, and Mahonia gracilipes, with red flowers. Sweet box (Sarcococca) had already set buds for fragrant winter blossoms. An bold-leaved paper bush (Edgworthia) will bear silky buds and yellow flowers in just a few months.<br />
We continued to a recently expanded addition to the Rock Garden, where numerous new plants were marked with white flags. A tapestry of low-growing perennials covered the more established part of the Rock Garden. A silver-leaved California fuchsia (Epilobium canum), smothered with bright orange flowers, warmed up the picture. <br />
As in most gardens tended by passionate gardeners, change is constant. A large sweep of Aucuba had recently been recycled to make room for more interesting species Rhododendrons.<br />
“We’re trying to get rid of over-represented plants,” Scott explained. “We’re also getting rid of all the ivy.” The original garden owners, John and Lilla Leach, had collected over thirty varieties of ivy.<br />
We came upon colonies of broad-leaved hart’s tongue ferns growing happily in the crevices of old, moss-covered retaining walls built of recycled concrete. On the slopes, newly planted chain ferns (Woodwardia) were settling in along with tree ferns (Dicksonia).<br />
As we descended the stairs to the riparian area, David and I talked about the continuous process of change and refinement that creative gardeners undertake. He summed it up well.<br />
“Since the mind never rests, the garden never rests,” he said. “Our gardens never stop changing because they really are the product of our minds, which are constantly imagining and creating.”<br />
Approaching its 30th anniversary, Leach Botanical Garden is in the midst of many creative changes. A Master Plan will address development of the Upper Garden’s landscape, where two meadows await the imagination of a design group. This past summer’s oversize tent became the venue for Leach Garden Arts, attracting many new visitors. New classes will be dreamt up, and more collaboration with local artists is in the works. <br />
Coming soon is the fabulous Holiday Bazaar, where wreaths, swags, table centerpieces and greens will be available for modest prices. Volunteers are needed to help create these goodies, during the week after Thanksgiving. To learn more, or volunteer, contact 503-823-1671 or info@LeachGarden.org. Close to 100 volunteers help maintain this public garden, and many more are needed.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-43734223342204860322011-08-30T19:22:00.000-07:002011-08-30T19:22:07.614-07:00'Midnight Barbara Blossom' daylilyBob Anderson of Midnight Gardens has given me the greatest gift: a daylily he’s named ‘Midnight Barbara Blossom!’ Here’s how Bob describes it:<br />
“I think this flower is especially notable for the saturated red base color, metallic finish, black-red veining and chevron eye.” YES!<br />
It all began when I visited his nursery on a sunny morning in July, with my friend Donna. This was my second year in a row to check out the beds, sparkling with pink, red, orange, yellow, purple and lavender daylilies. <br />
Bob took us on a tour, pointing out some of the latest hybrids, like ‘Emerald Starburst,’ with green and wine flowers. <br />
“It’s a cutting edge color,” he said. “Bigger blooms and intense colors are what people are drawn to.”<br />
We took a close look at ‘Midnight Velvet Touch,” a rich black red, with good branching and high bud count. Then Bob showed us ‘Lemon Lollypop.’ <br />
“It’s the first daylily to bloom, and repeats, with three flushes of bloom, and good blue-green foliage,” he said. I scribbled a note to myself to buy it. A little voice inside whispered You don’t need any more daylilies. I replied, Yes I do!<br />
While we strolled along, Bob’s friend Loraine, was steadily deadheading and weeding. <br />
“I’m a weed killer,” she declared, demonstrating her mission with a hand-held mattock. “I help Bobby out—it’s fun to watch it all grow.” Loraine likes to be known as the “Weed Wolf.” <br />
Now some growers are great with plants, yet shy away from people, but Bob has a wonderful way with plants and humans. So before long Donna, Bob, Loraine, and I were chatting away like old friends. That morning visit had turned into a plant lovers’ party.<br />
At one point Bob asked me to choose a favorite seedling. As a hybridizer, he crosses many daylilies to create new cultivars, but keeps only about 20% of his seedlings, those which are clearly better than similar ones already on the market. One dark wine daylily with a spidery shape kept calling to me. A yellow throat and streaks of white along the petals in a starburst pattern made the burgundy-red pop. To me, the texture looked like satin, and the petals recurved at the edges. “That one!” I said, pointing to the dark beauty.<br />
Pretty soon Bob got busy with other visitors. Donna and I placed our orders for daylilies, waved goodbye to Bob and Loraine, and slipped away. We would pick our plants up later in the summer when it was the right time for Bob to divide and dig the daylilies for his customers. <br />
A week or so later I received a beautiful handwritten card from Bob in the mail, asking if he could name the burgundy daylily for me. The new plant, ‘Midnight Barbara Blossom,’ will be introduced in 2012. But Bob went even further. Last Saturday he dug divisions of the daylily for Donna and me to plant in our gardens right now! I can hardly wait until next summer to see it bloom again. Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-69546520160803772902011-08-23T10:27:00.000-07:002011-08-23T10:27:36.991-07:00Two Cafes with Gardens to EnjoyWhat greater pleasure than to eat in a garden on a summer afternoon or evening? Lately I’ve discovered two destinations worth traveling to. DiPrima Dolce <www.diprimadolci.com> at 1936 N. Killingsworth is open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily, and for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays in the summer. I’ve been there twice, once for breakfast and once for lunch. The frittatas are out of this world. Served with home made bread and well seasoned potatoes, this is a meal to savor. Eating in DiPrima Dolce’s perfectly groomed garden, surrounded by ferns, hydrangeas, flowering perennials and fragrant herbs completes the experience. What’s best is that it’s not my own garden, with deadheads crying out to be snipped and weeds hollering to be yanked. I sat there peacefully, enjoying quiet conversation with a friend, the mild air, the buzz of hummingbirds, the drone of bees, and the taste of delicious home made food. <br />
Singer Hill Cafe <www.singerhill.com> at 7th and John Adams Street in Oregon City is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday, with live music on Friday and Saturday evenings. The menu offers freshly made sandwiches, salads, wraps and Stumptown Coffee. On a rainy day the spacious interior is pleasant, with art on the walls. But the gardens are the highlight of a visit to Singer Hill Cafe. Inspired by vertical gardens in Madrid, the outdoor patio is an amazing sight with walls transformed into blankets of flourishing plants, and columns dripping with greenery. A tapestry of heucheras, hostas, ferns, hydrangeas, sedums and more have turned a long alley into a sumptuous garden. Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-35396373674201036872011-08-04T08:53:00.001-07:002011-08-04T08:53:32.967-07:00Perfect Partners for SummerPerfect Pairs<br />
When perfectly matched plants bloom together in the garden, I feel thoroughly satisfied. Sometimes I’ve planned a winning combination, but just as often, purely by chance, a stray seedling pops up right beside the ideal partner. Either way, here are some terrific pairings for midsummer.<br />
I’ve always adored ‘Strutter’s Ball’ daylily. The wine flowers have the texture of velvet—I would love to have a jacket just like this. ‘Xenon’ sedum, with thick, waxy leaves of an even deeper burgundy, is a great companion, and sets buds just about when the daylily finishes blooming. Soft pink flowers arrive in late summer, lasting into fall. To cap off this combination,‘‘Madame Julia Correvon’ clematis scrambles through ‘Winter Fire’ cistus, an evergreen shrub which anchors the bed. ‘Madame Julia’ is a lively red-pink, echoing the central wine blotch in the heart of the cistus flowers, as well as the daylily flowers, and the sedum foliage. <br />
Just when everything was coming together so well, ‘Lucifer’ crocosmia seeded itself into the composition for a hideous color clash. I guess I was feeling too cocky, so this blast of in-your-face orangey-red came along to humble me. If it weren’t for the hummingbirds that sip from Lucifer’s flowers, I would yank him out. But mercifully, the hummingbirds have saved him from shovel pruning. <br />
In another bed, even after removing every shred of ‘Lucifer’ from a bed near the side path where colonies leaned and sprawled every summer, dozens of seedlings sprouted right cross the path, defying me. At first I was plenty mad, thinking, How could they, but this morning when I spent a good five minutes watching a very happy hummingbird drink her ‘Lucifer’ lunch, I changed my mind and decided it was all for a good purpose. Sometimes it’s OK to give up control and let the plants have their way. The garden is not just about my will. Please remind me of this resolution the next time I go on a mission to hunt and destroy.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-12749997376602002062011-06-07T11:30:00.000-07:002011-06-07T11:30:17.742-07:00Reflections on June 4th Open GardenMy June 4th open garden for the Raleigh Park Garden Tour was full of joy. When three little girls came around the side of the garden and went "oooh!" and “ah,” my heart sang! It was wonderful to greet old friends, neighbors, make new friends. The wheelbarrows filled with souvenir plants were empty by noon, as early visitors quickly took advantage of the freebies. Later in the afternoon I dug up divisions of Phlomis and calla lilies for some admirers who had that desperate look of craving in their eyes.<br />
For a while I sat on one of the pink chairs underneath the apple tree and watched and listened to people, soaking in their enjoyment and appreciation. Every so often someone would plop down on the other chair and we’d chat. Several friends from my Golden Gardeners group arrived, and we sat under the grape arbor, enjoying the shade. A young woman stopped to ask us how to prune clematis, and all four of us gave her more advice than she could absorb. Finally I said, “You can’t go wrong, clematis are very forgiving,” and she smiled with relief.<br />
Opening my garden is a peak experience, starting with weeks of refining the garden in preparation—planting, editing, pruning, weeding, grooming. The day arrives faster than I can imagine, and then it’s over in a flash. Pretty soon I’m planning the next one. Stay tuned for an open garden in honor of the roses, late to bloom this year, but deserving our full admiration.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-27141504260774782712011-05-30T10:37:00.000-07:002011-05-30T10:37:31.324-07:00White at Night: Summer Blooming ClematisIf you love to linger in the garden on the long summer evenings, try some floral moonlight. Full of large white blossoms, Clematis henryi is like a beacon, whether it’s climbing an obelisk or scrambling through shrubbery. <br />
My friend Gail Austin, who has an entire wall of clematis in her Southwest Portland garden, plus many more climbing posts and trellises, says Henryi is the most outstanding white clematis.<br />
“The flowers are huge and the contrast with its deep green foliage makes it stand out from across the garden. It also reliably reblooms in late summer. This is a very special clematis for me because it was my late husband Ken's favorite. When Henryi blossomed for the first time each spring, he would come and find me, take my hand and hurry me over to the plant so we could "ooh" and "aah" together at its pristine beauty. Then he would measure the blossom, and like a proud new papa after the birth of his first child, announce its size. One year it was almost ten inches across, and he could hardly contain himself!”<br />
Clematis ‘Huldine’ and ‘Alba Luxurians’ are more modest in size, but just as luminous. ‘Huldine’ originates from France, and is stylishly cup-shaped, with six overlapping petals with the texture of satin. ‘Alba Luxurians’ is more papery, with distinctive green markings at the tips of the petals. I’ve grown both on my grape arbor where their white flowers drape over the edges like froth of lace below the large grape leaves. <br />
I first saw ‘Alba Luxurians’ on an autumn visit to an English garden designed by Graham Stuart Thomas (the venerable author of my favorite books on roses, perennials and ornamental shrubs). The white flowers wove their way up a large Rosa glauca, mingling beautifully with the rose’s gray-green leaves and red fall hips. <br />
The combination was deceptively simple, and all the more riveting because it was repeated throughout the same border. For me, who has to have one plant of every kind, dedicating so much space to the several of the same plants was almost sacrilegious. But it was a great lesson in restraint. Although I do admire this quality, I haven’t yet embraced it. <br />
I haven’t yet grown ‘Guernsey Cream,’ but a recent photo of it is so enticing I’m putting it on my wish list. Both Gail Austin and Clematis Queen Linda Beutler praise it, so it’s gotta be great.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-17445828261239233082011-03-13T09:23:00.000-07:002011-03-13T09:23:00.575-07:00A visit to Edelweiss PerennialsA rainy day was perfect for a drive down to Canby for Edelweiss Perennials’ first open house of the season. The aroma of chocolate chip cookies filled the greenhouse as I entered, and it was tough to decide whether to go for the cookies or the stands of plants marked 1/2 off. The plants won. I’d already e-mailed owner Urs Baltensperger with my list of plants, selected from his website (plants pulled in advance get a 10% discount) and a box was waiting for me behind the cash register, but it wouldn’t hurt at all to add to the stash.<br />
Once I pulled a few of the plants on clearance, I went to the tables loaded with treasures. Small pots as well as husky gallons brimmed over with vigorous hellebores, epimediums, as well as bright pink cyclamen in full bloom. By now I didn’t need that cookie; I was in plant heaven. <br />
Friends greeted each other as they landed in the greenhouse, then got busy studying the plants and making their selections. When the serious work was done, and we loaded our cars up, a few of us drove off to Starbucks to celebrate and schmooze.<br />
It wasn’t til I got home that I realized what treasure I had scored. Several small pots were so stuffed with healthy plants that I had to cut the pots away to get the plants out. One epimedium was so well grown I was able to divide into four parts, then repot each division. Every plant will continue to grow in my cool greenhouse until I figure out where to plant them. That will keep me daydreaming for the next few weeks. <br />
Edelweiss will have more open houses and will also sell at future events (check the website for dates). Don’t miss a chance to enjoy some fabulous, healthy and unusual plants!Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-18034216411938093492011-02-23T11:08:00.000-08:002011-02-23T11:09:34.598-08:00A Few of Our Favorite PlantsAt February’s Yard Garden & Patio Show the most fun I had was sharing the stage with Oregonian columnist Dulcy Mahar, and Maurice Horn, co-owner of Joy Creek Nursery, as well as Lori Volmer, co-owner of Garden Fever. Each of us had been asked to come up with a list of three favorite trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. <br /> Since this was an impossible task, we all cheated and made much longer lists, then talked as fast as we could to make sure all of our plants got their share of praise. Moderator Nancy Goldman kept us in line, mostly. It was hard for us plant nerds to behave ourselves when we get excited. <br /> Since our combined lists were too long to mention, I’ll start with our overlaps. Dulcy and I both loved ‘Grace’ smokebush and Japanese snowbell tree. Most of us agreed that ‘Westerland’ rose is a must for the color, a blend of orange and pink, and the fragrance, and for its versatility—you can grow it as a shrub or a climber. Hydrangeas were praised repeatedly—‘Blue Billows,’ Hydrangea aspera, Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pinky Winky,’ and Hydrangea serrata ‘Miyama Yae-Murasaki.’ <br /> Lots of wine-leaved plants got high marks, including several ninebarks—‘Coppertina,’ ‘Center Glow,’ and ‘Summer Wine—as well as ‘Wine and Roses’ weigela. Gold foliage was popular all around: the golden form of mock orange, golden forest grass, and ‘Golden Ghost’ pine were among the chosen.<br /> When pressed to pick just one favorite plant—after we finished agonizing about how truly impossible this was—Dulcy and I both chimed in, “Hellebore!” No doubt that was the seasonal effect of answering this question in February. By June we would likely have come up with a rose.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-85707654197842531462011-01-05T13:23:00.001-08:002011-01-05T13:24:36.028-08:00Falling in Love with 'Josephine' ClematisI always keep a wish list of plants on a handy large sticky note tucked into my weekly pocket calendar. This year’s list has ‘Josephine’ clematis at the top. My first impression, when I came face to face with this flower at Cindy Fairbrook’s garden in Olympia, Washington, was that it was too flamboyant. I might have even heard myself thinking, “Oh too garish, just too over the top!”<br /> Then I saw it again at a few gardens in Portland—at Diana Lamb’s, growing up a post, and again at Gail Austin’s garden, scrambling over the top of an antique plow. ‘Josephine’ was beginning to look beautiful to me, adorably feminine. The central bud of her double flower stood up like a cream-colored topknot, surrounded by a ring of fluffy pink petals like a crinoline. A final layer of outer petals were like a frame around a beautiful painting. The flower was a delicious confection that I now simply have to find for my own garden.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-54145769811584941432010-08-30T09:50:00.000-07:002010-08-30T09:53:10.980-07:00Getting Old GratefullyI just got great news—my essay Getting Old Gratefully was accepted for Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive! It will be in bookstores Sept 28. I'm pretty excited, a first Chicken Soup for me. I see it's already at Amazon.com.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-28531529871947522042010-06-01T10:21:00.000-07:002010-06-01T10:22:12.818-07:00Women ReinventedI’m thrilled to announce that my essay True Nature has just been published in Women Reinvented: True Stories of Empowerment and Change. It will officially be available in bookstores in July, but Amazon already has it! <br /><br /> I felt moved to tears by these honest personal stories told by women of many ages and diverse cultures, each facing a tough situation and moving through it into renewal. It’s a great book to read if you’re going through a transition (and who isn’t?), or to give to a friend facing a challenging change.<br /> <br /> The profits from the sale of the book are donated to The Healing Project, which you can read about at www.TheHealingProject.org.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-1084015380747094732010-02-15T08:55:00.000-08:002010-02-15T09:28:38.669-08:00The Blooper Panel at the Yard Garden & Patio ShowThe room was packed to overflowing with gardeners eager to hear all about our mistakes. Unlike the usual Yard Garden & Patio Show seminars, with glorious slide shows that inspire and educate the audience, our Blooper Panel of three garden columnists—Dulcy Mahar, Robb Rosser and myself—was a series of true confessions. Each of us told about our worst downfalls in the garden. Our misadventures along the perilous journey down the garden path were abundant.<br /> Many of our first attempts were total disasters. Dulcy confessed that when she first began gardening, her flower borders “looked like two graves. Nobody told me about adding compost, and the plants did not prosper.” Later she learned about Kosher’s compost.<br /> “It wasn’t blessed by rabbis—the gentleman’s name is Kosher,” she added. Soon the plants grew robust and all was well. Until she discovered that an entire bed of perennials was too flat. A trip to England shed light on that problem. She observed that borders included trees and shrubs, and she went home and inserted them into her borders. “Now there’s too much foliage and I need more perennials,” she added. It’s always something. <br /> Dulcy’s first pond is legendary, the topic of many of her columns. The first pond was constructed in shade<br /> “I’d forgotten that leaves fall off of trees into ponds,” she reminisced. Not only that, but since Dulcy, her husband Ted, and her three dogs all had short legs, she made the pond shallow to prevent drowning.<br /> “But raccoons can wade. They decimated the pond liner,” she said. <br /> Robb recounted his disaster with Coast of Maine fish fertilizer that he sprayed on the roses right before an open garden. <br /> It can’t be that bad, he thought. But it was.<br /> “It was ripe and pungent, like a salmon baking in the hot sun. People went up to sniff the roses and went, ‘Oh, my!’”<br /> Gifts from well-meaning friends can become a gardener’s nightmare, like the two alpine goats, Harley and Davidson, that friends gave Robb for his birthday.<br /> “Harley was the first animal I gave the heimlich maneuver to—he was a pig,” Robb recounted. Before the goats devoured his entire garden, he found a home for them with two teenagers. But the heartwarming moment was when he heard the goats crying out to him from the back of the truck, “Ddddddad!”<br /> I received a gift of a dozen old rose bushes from an elderly woman who was dismantling her garden. Thrilled to get free scented roses, like ‘Madame Hardy’ I planted them enthusiastically in a big bed along the driveway, without a clue about how big they would get. Years later I fought my way inside the bed to dig out a five-foot-tall weed that had risen through the jungle of rose canes. Even with long sleeves, I could hardly get inside the thorny thicket, and nearly got stuck inside. <br /> After a hard look at the situation, I hired a landscaper to dig out the roses, and brought in a truckload of composted manure. I planted my first low-maintenance border, layering Idesia trees, shrubs like Viburnum and Osmanthus, and drifts of hellebores, ferns and epimediums. It’s now my favorite bed in the garden. <br /> Not to worry. Mistakes are great, they’re how we learn. It takes guts to risk failure. Gardeners are a brave and courageous tribe who keep on blundering, learning and laughing. If anything, we’re gardening more passionately than ever, possibly with a smidgeon more wisdom, but definitely with lots of gusto. Resisting is out of the question.<br /> Dulcy’s final words of advice were “Don’t overly follow the rules,” and “Don’t be afraid to get just one of a kind (instead of groups of 3 or 5).” <br />She says she will continue to be “over the top.” Me too. A huge order of dahlias is coming soon. Smitten by the dahlias blooming in Swan Island’s fields last summer, I ordered dozens to take advantage of free shipping and bonus plants. Where the heck will I plant them?<br /> But as Dulcy put it so well, about her decision to give up growing roses, and then ordering more (but only very disease resistant varieties), “I can’t help myself.”Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-22973868974739324382009-03-23T16:13:00.000-07:002009-03-23T16:15:32.528-07:00The Garden Saved My LifeWhat I enjoy writing about most of all is what happens to us when we garden—how gardening changes us, shapes us, teaches us, gives us gifts we could never have imagined. In “Garden Retreats” I wrote about creating an outdoor sanctuary; in “Married to My Garden” I wrote about my love affair with gardening; and in “Garden Muse,” my weekly column for the Portland Tribune, I often reflect on how the garden is a source of great joy and inspiration.<br /><br /> So I’m thrilled that my personal essay, “The Garden Saved My Life” was just published in a new anthology, “The Ultimate Gardener,” in the section aptly titled Garden Transformations. For it’s the transformative aspect of gardening that I’m especially interested in these days—how the garden heals us, comforts us, and takes us out of our small everyday selves into the bigger soulful part of our nature. <br /><br /> The stories inside The Ultimate Gardener will inspire you, make you laugh and cry, and bring you new ideas about gardening. You can order the book on line and find it in many bookstores. I’ll be signing personalized copies at upcoming events this spring and summer. If you’d like to receive notices about dates and places, just let me know and I’ll e-mail you directly. The book makes a perfect Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Birthday or Anniversary present.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-21631356974920241762009-03-09T17:00:00.000-07:002009-03-09T17:01:32.734-07:00Kiss the GroundI just returned from a visit to the east coast and now I want to kneel down and kiss the ground here. First of all, our gardens are green with grass and OK, maybe weeds too, but still green is everywhere—Doug Fir, pines, spruce, hemlock, Japanese incense cedar, eucalyptus, evergreen viburnums, daphne, sweet box, boxwood, box honeysuckle, Senecio greyii, Phlomis fruticosa. The lawns on the east coast are brown, and yes, there are evergreens, but nowhere near the variety that we can grow.<br /><br /> Hellebores are blooming here and we take them for granted every winter, along with snowdrops, lungwort (Pulmonaria), early daffodils, witch hazel (Hamamelis), winter hazel (Corylopsis) and winter aconites (Eranthis). We can actually design a garden with winter as the backbone, an easy way to guarantee happiness in the quiet season. Make sure to include a witch hazel or ‘Dawn’ viburnum for flowers and scent; sweet box (Sarcococca) for fragrant evergreen understory in the shade; Mahonia x Charity for yellow flowers that draw the earliest hummingbirds; and winter cyclamen for a splash of hot pink flowers and marbled leaves.<br /> <br /> It may hail and snow in March, but the robins are still out there singing their hearts out and searching for worms. Rose canes are breaking new growth and every day I go out and prune a few of the dozens and dozens that wait patiently for their annual haircut. This is the time to spot the early weedy grasses and dig them out while the ground is soft, to find the baby cresses and yank them before they bloom and go to seed, to detect the buttercups sneaking in between the irises and geraniums and trowel them out. So don’t be a sissy. Throw on some hooded fleece and get out in the garden. Sooner is better to get going on the spring garden and greet your plant friends as they emerge from winter dormancy.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-16546274692543524402009-02-16T14:56:00.000-08:002009-02-16T14:57:37.918-08:00Early CutiesThere’s something so endearing about the earliest flowers. Yesterday out in my garden, while I was kneeling down to clean up some leaf litter, I came across a little clump of snowdrops that had seeded themselves into the gravel near the greenhouse. Nose to nose with their tiny white flowers marked with green, a thrill coursed through me. Life is back in the garden!<br /><br /> Then I got an e-mail from my friend Michele who wrote, “The snowdrops in my front garden are tugging at my heartstrings.” All over Portland, no doubt, gardeners are exulting in the first flowers. <br /><br /> It’s the same when red peony shoots push through the soil and announce that they’re back for another season of sumptuous flowering. Even those first stems hinting at what’s coming in another few months is enough to make our hearts beat faster. It’s the eternal Yes! that we want to hear whispered, over and over, telling us that the plants lying dormant beneath the earth have only been waiting to reappear and delight us with their marvelous colors and scents.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-47571986793362077202009-02-06T08:17:00.000-08:002009-02-06T08:21:03.698-08:00The Thrill of False SpringIt's early February and these last two days have been our "false spring" with temperatures in the 60s, sunny and glorious. I'm in heaven. I know it will rain again, but not yet! Birds are very active too, exulting in the warmth, and the suet feeder is covered with little bush tits every day. <br /><br /> Cutting off last year’s hellebore leaves is so satisfying—while I’m doing this I’m face to face with the newly opening flowers. I tip the pendant blossoms upward with one finger and look right inside them—some white, some pink, some burgundy, some freckled with darker splashes of color. So many hundreds of tiny hellebore seedlings sprout at the feet of the mother plants, it’s hard to find safe places to tread. <br /><br /> Now is the time to cut back the big stands of ornamental switch grasses too—Panicum ‘Shenandoah’ and ‘Dallas Blues.’ I whack them back with long-handled loppers and pitch the spent tan stalks onto a big tarp, to be dragged to the compost pile. In my mind’s eye I see them rising up again, ‘Shenandoah’ with red tinted slender blades and ‘Dallas Blues’ with broader blue-green foliage. <br /><br /> Sedums too are ready to cut back, ‘Matrona’ and ‘Vera Jameson’ are already pushing up little succulent rosettes. I snip off the old stems and marvel at the signs of new life already arising in February. Everywhere I look the garden’s pulse is quickening.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-12135693813040289302009-01-19T08:32:00.001-08:002009-01-19T08:34:58.749-08:00Why I GardenFor me, the garden is the best home I’ve ever made for myself. It’s where I relish the refreshing scent of rosemary and the smoky tints of ‘Hot Cocoa’ roses, that remind me of taffeta skirts. I love to listen to the bush tits whistle, to the chickadees and song sparrows belting out their arias. <br /> <br /> Maybe because I grew up in a home where cleaning and cooking were accompanied by heavy sighs, I never took pleasure in housework. But out in the garden, most every job, except for mowing, is fun for me. My first garden teacher, Frank Curtis, radiated so much love for gardening that I caught the bug. He did everything with tender loving care, from settling his baby tomato plants into the soil, to nipping out the suckers, from building a compost pile to turning the soil. He taught me everything he knew—how and when to sow seeds, how to wield a mattock, which plants were weeds—with so much joy! His enthusiasm was contagious.<br /><br /> From the beginning, gardening connected me with a big world of emerging life—woody stems swelling with buds, tiny hellebore seedlings sprouting beneath the mother plants, iridescent black beetles climbing out from a pile of damp leaves. Sometimes I even stop to marvel at the persistence of weeds, at the temerity of slugs and aphids. <br /> If I help out, the wetland I live on becomes a better garden. The native clay soil, for example, is a perfect medium for growing plants—once I amend it with pumice or crushed rock for better drainage, and with compost for more fertility and tilth. The garden needs me to bring it to fruition—we become partners in creation. What a miracle that is!<br /><br /> It’s still work, but in the spirit of joy and play. I take a brain vacation while I’m digging, raking or weeding. A writer’s mind, always busy with words and phrases and punctuation, needs a break from all that mental activity. And I’m guessing that most all of our minds are overloaded with blather and can use a good airing out in the garden. <br /><br /> Even in winter, there’s plenty to do. This week I cut back all the old leaves on the hellebores. There, peeking out from underneath, are the new buds, almost ready to open. One dark purple hellebore is already showing its beautiful face. And here and there, small grey slugs lounge beneath the leaves, growing fatter each day. It’s an easy choice between the flowers and the slugs—slugs gotta go!<br /><br /> Soon it will be time to prune the grape arbor and the roses, but not quite yet. Jumping the gun now could mean exposing the newly pruned plants to the next cold front. I can wait. Meanwhile, I can safely cut back all the deadened stems of totally hardy perennials like turtleflowers, asters, and gooseneck loosestrife. The compost piles grow tall and hefty with leaves, kitchen peelings and old potting soil, waiting for the next rain to pack them down.Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5302139333347753779.post-58333771776605257152009-01-10T17:34:00.000-08:002009-01-10T17:37:52.808-08:00Here Come the CatalogsI love the avalanche of catalogs that floods my mailbox in January. Thanks goodness it’s an oversize mailbox or it would have collapsed under the tonnage. The covers alone thrill me—images of pink lilies and and illustrations of golden beets vie for my attention.<br /> <a href="http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com">Nichols Garden Nursery</a> (www.NicholsGardenNursery.com), celebrating its 60th year, has a beautiful cover that takes me back to slower times. Framed by a pear tree, a young woman gathers sunflowers, accompanied by her adorable dog. <br /> I e-mailed artist <a href="http://www.marciehawthorne.com">Marcie Hawthorne</a> (www.marciehawthorne.com) to let her know how much I love her work, and to request permission to post the cover on my blog. In her reply, she told me more about the illustration.<br /> “This year the artwork depicts my daughter, Sierra, when she was younger, and our beloved (and now departed) female Ridgeback, Teneya, who also was a constant companion in the<br />garden,” she wrote.<br /> Inside the catalog, vegetable, flower and herb seeds for sale are accompanied by mouthwatering descriptions. Supplies for making cheese, home brewing and wine making will also give you new ideas for 2009.<br /> Rose Marie Nichols McGee and her husband Keane McGee carry on the business that her parents began in 1948. And together with Maggie Stuckey, Rose Marie wrote “The Bountiful Container,” now in its fourth printing. It shows you how to create container gardens of veggies, herbs, fruits and edible flowers. <br /> “People don’t have enough room to do these big gardens. They want a small garden that can yield twelve months a year,” she says. For example, Survivor Parsley can be harvested longer than any other variety. <br /> “It has more sugars in the leaves, and sugars help the plant survive,” Nichols says.<br /> I have a soft spot in my heart for <a href="http://www.bluestoneperennials.com">Bluestone Perennials</a>—it was the first mail order catalog I used back in the days when I couldn’t find enough selection in local nurseries (hard to believe now). Their offerings remain tempting and their 15% early discount helps offset the shipping charge. I’m smitten by Agastache ‘Raspberry Summer,’ Sedum ‘Picolette,’ and Kolkwitzia ‘Dream Catcher,’ to name just a few enticements. You can request a free color catalog at their website (www.bluestoneperennials.com) and also check out their tempting half price on-line-only specials.<br /> Leafing through the <a href="http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com">White Flower Farm</a> catalog is like walking through a spring and summer garden. The lush color photos practically jump off the page, especially the dazzling dahlia display. Most of all I love the container collections, which make me want to plant more annuals next summer. The way to offset the shipping is to order a $50 (or more) gift certificate and get a 10% discount on your order.<br /> Some of my most unusual plants have come from <a href="http://www.forestfarm.com">forestfarm</a> (www.forestfarm.com), a major source of woody and herbaceous ornamentals, located in Williams, Oregon. At the website you can see color photos of the plants, and order a free print copy of the catalog which will serve as a terrific reference book. I usually order the more economical tubes (which have always been thick with well-formed roots) and then grow them on in larger pots. You’ll be amazed at their offerings of viburnum, hydrangea, eucalyptus, pine, crape myrtle, willow....Barbara Blossomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05892031690470834129noreply@blogger.com0