Plant Talk

Bamboo and Peonies - Twin Treasures of Chinese Horticulture Celebrated in This Weekend's Festival at the Seattle Chinese Garden

The Seattle Bamboo Festival and Seattle Luoyang Peony Festival join forces to bring you the ancient, leafy beauty of bamboo and some of the most striking flowers on the planet...peonies and more peonies at their peak. Admission is free. Celebrate these twin treasures of Chinese horticulture this weekend (May 18-19, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.) at the Seattle Chinese Garden.

You'll not only be able to check out progress on the newest pavilion at the garden, but view the first blossoms on more than 200 tree peonies donated to our Chinese garden by the city of Luoyang, considered the peony capitol of China. We're lucky to have more than 19 different varieties of Luoyang peonies, one of the most diverse collections of on the West Coast.

There's be a raffle for peonies, plant displays, a bamboo sale, artist demonstrations, as well as horticultural
talks and tips. Learn how to divide and prune bamboo. Riz Reyes of Landwave Gardens will give an illustrated talk on Sunday on the culture of peonies.   Check out the Seattle Chinese garden website for a complete schedule of all the talks, demonstrations, and festivities...

The Seattle Chinese Garden is located on the South Seattle Community College campus in West Seattle at 6000 16th Avenue S.W. Parking is free, admission to the festival is free. Questions? Call the garden office at 206-934-5219, or email info@seattlechinesegarden.org

 

Circle of Life

When I told a friend about my new piece of re-purposed garden art, she exclaimed "The circle of life in the garden!" What better place to celebrate the cyclical nature of life, seasonal change and renewal than out in the garden?

Perhaps the best thing about this four foot diameter rusty wheel, bought at a farm auction and mounted onto a stand by Langley artist John Alsip, is that I thinned out and cleaned up my bamboo hedge to make room for it. For the first time in two years, the canes of Fargesia robusta (a hardy, clumper from Boo-Shoot Gardens, a wholesaler near Anacortes) are revealed. Not only do the culms beat a lovely rhythm against the fence, but I never would have seen this thumbnail-sized frog hanging out on the fence before the bamboo thicket was thinned...I love the simple zen of the circle, almost like a shadow, and how it appears to magnify the bamboo canes contained within its orbit...