Plant Talk

Now In Bloom - Magnolia x 'Elizabeth'

Pink, purple and white deciduous magnolias are blooming all over the city, but none sizzle against a dark spring sky like one of the yellow-blooming varieties. The butter yellow M. x 'Elizabeth', the later blooming 'Yellow Bird' and more finely cut 'Butterflies' are a reminder of how few trees have yellow flowers.

Magnolia x 'Elizabeth' (below) is in full and glorious bloom this week in Seattle; its a cross between M. acuminata and M. denudata discovered at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Its flowers sit upright on the branches like fat, glossy cups, then open wide to show a flush of rich yellow, spidery stamens.The fragrant, silky petals are a visceral contrast to the furry gray buds and bare, spreading branches, which will soon enough be covered with large, soft green leaves. 

Give magnolias regular water and little or no pruning; these iconic Southern beauties are the most brazenly showy of spring-bloomers, yet tough enough to hold their own as urban street trees. 

Spring Promenade

For at least a century, Seattleites have been celebrating spring with a promenade along Highland Drive on  Queen Anne Hill. With Kerry Park viewpoint at one end, and the lovely little hellebore-filled Parsons Garden at the other, with dozens of mature cherries in bloom in-between, this historic street is at its peak of beauty. The top of Queen Anne, with its many street trees, wide parking strips and older houses and gardens offers great gardening lessons and inspirations.

Set against the pale froth of cherries and plums, saturated colors warm up a spring morning; Dark purple hyacinths ('Kronos') golden daffodils with orange centers, rusty-red wallflowers (Erysimum ssp.) and the intense chartreuse of euphorbia are perfect foils to all the sweetness of spring. This shade of scented wallflower was used by Vita Sackville-West in her Sunset Garden at Sissinghurst Caste.

 

 

And from the sublime to the just plain wrong: An entire city block of rat-trap, aggressively spreading English ivy, sure to infest nearby parks. There are many old gardens plagued with ivy, but this is a brand new house, the "garden" planted a year or so ago...

 

And in the spirit of Plant Amnesty asking "What the.......???" Just because an older house, like so many on Queen Anne, is formal doesn't mean the garden needs to be sterile, trees tortured, or flowers lined up as if by a drill sergeant. What's with the alternating red-and-white, let alone those colors with the rusty brick?  The tree trunk you see tied up here is an unfortunate lollipop of a magnolia. It's like the homeowners set out to strip nature of any possible naturalness...

 

And here's formality done right - a cherry tree allowed to claim its magnificence, its full, glorious shape enhanced by the hedging.

Re-stored Terrariums

Exteriorscapes and ReStore have teamed up to teach a workshop on how to make creative terrariums out of recycled materials. On Saturday, March 20, from 10 a.m. until noon, come learn how to turn salvage into mini-gardens.

The class will be held at ReStore in Ballard, 1440 NW 52nd St, 206-297-9119. Check out their website for more information, and to register; Cost is $15.00. Even if you can't attend this one (as I can't, darn!) call them up and get on the waiting list. If enough of us want another class, these kind terrarium innovators will schedule one for us.

These terrariums are made in a repurposed/recycled light fixture, kitchen canister, and vase.

                                                                   
 

A Luxuriance of Bulbs

On March 23 you have a chance to hear a famous British writer talk about her most favorite flowers,  right here in Seattle. Come see Anna Pavord speak on the luxuriance of bulbs and support the Center for Urban Horticulture at the same time.

If Anna Pavord's name sounds familiar, it's because she writes for that beautiful British Broadcasting mag Gardens Illustrated and she wrote the best-selling book "The Tulip: The Story of a Flower That Has Made Men Mad."

“Of all the different plants in the world,” says Pavord, “bulbs intrigue me the most... Bulbs are not just a spring thing. In this talk I introduce some of my favourites and suggest how they might be used in a garden.”

Pavord lives and gardens in Dorset, England. At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23 she'll be speaking at CUH, 3501 N.E. 41st Street. Admission is $15. You can pay at the door or register in advance to save your seat. To sign up or seek more information, contact Jean Robins at 206-685-8033 or jrobins@u.washington.edu.

        
 
 

Now In Bloom - Native Flowering Currant

March is the month when our native flowering currant bursts into hot pink, pale pink or frosty white bloom. These big gangley shrubs are drenched in delicate blossoms with a slightly musky odor. Their summer leaves are maple-like, in winter they're not much more than bundles of bare sticks. But plant these shrubs for early spring color, uniquely pretty flowers, and for the fact that they're an early and vital source of nectar for our native Anna's hummingbirds. There are few more stirring early spring scenes than grateful hummingbirds swarming a flowering currant in your back garden.

Plant Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle' in a little grove of at least three plants to give its ethereal, pure white blooms a real presence in the garden. I once saw a thick band of 'White Icicle' planted along an entry walkway, and the pale, shimmery haze of the blossoms was spectacular. The more vivid watermelon pink kinds like 'King Edward VII' are stand alone plants that show up all the way across the garden. R. sanguineum glutinosum 'Claremont' (below) has soft pink and white blossoms that are particularly pretty.

These Northwest natives prefer full sun but will take partial shade, need well-drained soil, and are drought tolerant after a few years. When first planted, water them during droughty periods; flowering currants do best with little or no fertilizer and they don't need pruning unless you want to control their size.

 

Bouquets: Chatreuse and Orange

Pastels for spring are overrated - warmer, brighter colors look so good in the garden and in the vase on chilly, gray days. Or even on days like this, when the sun is slanting weakly across the garden as more pearlescent promise than a source of heat.

So instead of sweet bleeding heart pink or daffodil yellow, this bouquet is made of just three warmly colored elements. Orange tulips from Trader Joe's are a good deal at $5.99 for a big, fat, fresh bunch. The chartreuse flower heads from Euphorbia characias wulfenii and ferny foliage of golden bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Goldheart') are cut from my garden. The glass block vase will fill out more when the tulips fully open, hopefully just in time for Museo Gallery's opening party tonight (you're invited!).

 

A couple of tips: Tulips leaves are flat and droopy, so I stripped them all off to emphasize the flowers. I rid the bleeding heart of its blooms, for its flowers are too delicate for the bolder shapes in this bouquet, let alone being pink. Be sure and wear gloves when you cut euphorbia, as its sticky, white sap bleeds freely and can irritate your skin.  It can also turn the water a murky white, which in a glass vase like this looks nasty. So I always sear the bottom of the euphorbia stems with a lighter or match before sticking them into the cool water. 

This is my last iPhone photo on the blog, as I'm breaking down and buying a real camera!

New and Improved "Annabelles'

Just as I was installing a wire cage around 'Annabelle' the other day, I got an email about a new version of this favorite old hydrangea. I adore  'Annabelle' for her creamy, near-basketball-sized flower heads, which dry to a lovely soft chartreuse. The flowers cut and dry beautifully, the plant has great presence all summer long - until we have a hard rain, which splays open the spindly branches so that they droop their fluffy flowers into the mud. Really, it's hard-breaking, hence the wire cage to keep 'Annabelle' upright through summer rainstorms.

New in nurseries this spring are "dramatically improved" Hydrangea aborescens 'Annabelle'. The one that appeals is 'Incrediball' (well, the name doesn't appeal...) which has sturdier stems, even larger flowers, and four times as many of them... Really....four times the flowers? Where would they fit on the plant? Here's my 'Annabelle' last July...these hydrangeas are pretty prolific already..

But if 'Invinciball' has stems sturdy enough to hold up wet flower heads it'd be a great improvement. 'Incrediball' is being advertised as "Annabelle on steroids" so if you want an even beefier 'Annabelle', this might be worth a try.

The second new Annabelle is 'Invincibelle Spirit', the first ever pink version. It supposedly more compact, growing 3-4 feet high, and has a hundred flower heads per plant, although they're a little smaller than the traditional 'Annabelle'. It has the same charming round flowers, and I bet they dry to a lovely shade of dusky mauve. Like its parent, this pink version is easy to grow and blooms continuously from June through frost.

 

 
 

 

Spring in Langley

Spring has heartrendingly beautiful moments everywhere, but especially in the country. My daughter and I took a long walk last weekend in Langley, and between the lambs, flowering trees, and near 60 degree weather, we were smitten with spring fever. Here, take a look - the lambs alone are enough to get us through the 3 weeks until the spring equinox...

Fruit tree in full bloom, its white blossoms matching the trim on the house

Daffodils in a garden on Al Anderson road

The convoluted architecture of an old Camperdown Elm in the cemetery

Mama sheep and a pile of lambs in the pasture along Park Avenue

Two adorable black and white babies born a couple of weeks ago

First ever white Japanese forest grass

Briggs Nursery has come out with a new, paler version of silky Japanese forest grass. Hakonechloa 'Fubuki', (which means "snow storm" in Japanese)  is aptly named, for its soft, shimmery foliage is creamy white striped in pale green and tinged with pink. I love the original Japanese forest grass which is yellow striped in green; Hakonechloa 'All Gold' is a brighter, solid yellow....'Fubuki' should be perfect to light up shady areas of the garden, or to contrast with dark-foliaged plants like dusky heucheras or the chocolate-colored Ligularia 'Britt Marie Crawford'.  Plant it in masses to get the rippling, watery effect this beautiful grass is known for....

A contrast in shape, color & texture: Hakonechloa 'Fubuki' nestled into the foliage of Actaea 'Black Negligee'