Plant Talk

Rain Garden Presentation at South Seattle Community College - Learn To Build Them Right

With all the problems going on in Ballard with the rain gardens installed last year, we're well cautioned to build them correctly the first time. This Friday evening, May 4th, SSCC's Landscape Horticulture and Continuing Education program is sponsoring a free presentation aimed at the do-it-yourselfer, called "Creating Rain Gardens: Capturing the Rain for Your Own Water-Efficient Garden."

The speaker, Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, is the author of a Timber Press book on rain gardens, and an avid gardener himself.  He co-founded the Greywater Guerrillas, and has led dozens of community-based workshops on rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse across North America. His book (same title as the talk) covers everything from rain barrels to simple living roofs, permeable patios, and other low-tech affordable ways to save water in the garden.

Details: Friday, May 4, 7:00 p.m.
At the Chan Education Center, South Seattle Community College (located at the north end of campus between the Arboretum and the Garden Center), 6000 16th Avenue SW, Seattle. Free of charge. (http://www.southseattle.edu/campus/map.htm). For more information, contact: Van Bobbitt.

August Update...

We have not much more than a month until the autumn equinox (Sept. 22 this year), and my garden is seriously flagging. Parts are overgrown, the broccolli and cilantro long since bolted; everything would have benefited from more trimming and editing than I've provided in this hot, dry summer.

But there are signs of hope - the raspberries are coming on deliciously, my dwarf blueberries and ever-bearing strawberries continue to produce. Apples and pumpkins are coloring up, a third sowing of lettuce is kicking in, hydrangeas are plumped up, and the agastache is luring hordes of feisty hummingbirds. Here's a selective look at what's happening out there on a mid-August afternoon:

A slug-riddled ligularia just coming into bloom next to a mop-head hydrangea- how come slugs are so huge and plentiful in such a droughty summer, anyway?

Pumpkins turning orange two months before Halloween...

Sweet peas persist alongside a mystery dahlia I found at a farmers' market here on Whidbey.

Echinacea 'Sunset' and orange hummingbird mint (Agastache aurantiaca 'Just Peachy')

I've bought artichokes to eat at farmers' markets, and left mine in the garden to develop purple fuzz. This is an Italian purple artichoke, growing here with Rudbeckia 'goldsturm'