Plant Talk

Kopper Kettle Peony Outdazzles Allium in the May Garden

Most peonies are awe-inspiring, but 'Kopper Kettle' always amazes me with its drop-dead gorgeousness.  Unfortunately, it tends to photograph more pink than it really is - there's more auburn copperiness in the complexly colored petals than shows here. Still - look at that fluff of stamen centering fragrant, hand-sized blossoms. 'Kopper Kettle' is an Itoh peony, a cross between a tree and herbaceous peony. The first year it bloomed weakly, but this year it has come into its own....

A single peony with leaf is an impossible-to-be-improved upon arrangement in the right vase...I'm loving this new aqua one from Good Cheer Thrift Shop...

And here's 'Kopper Kettle' growing with the airy flowers of Carex elata 'Aurea' and Ligularia 'Othello'

This is the first May (last spring the peony was too young to bloom much) that anything in my garden has ever outshone the allium. Not that A. 'Globemaster' and A. 'Purple Sensation' aren't as fetching as always, but there's a new star on the scene...

But it's not like A. 'Purple Sensation is giving up here....growing with Spirea 'Magic Carpet'

 

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

 

Exquisite, Ephemeral Peonies Bloom Just In Time for Mother's Day

Happy Mothers Day - what's more celebratory than a peony in full and glorious flower? Their brief bloom span makes these flowers so precious....just like a Mother.

Thanks to Nancy Heckler for these photos of peonies flowering in her Indianola garden...Above is a Paeonia rockii seedling, and below is a fragrant seedling cross from the classic 'Joseph Rock' peony.

The Biomass and Bloom of Early June...From Peonies to Artichokes

Do you feel like you're running in place just to keep up with the fertilizing, clipping, watering, planting, and sheer sensual fabulousness of your garden right now?

No matter how long we've been gardening, the biomass and bloom of early June still hits us like a wave..which might be a tidal wave if we didn't keep up with earlier spring chores. Yet we may as well relax and give in to the undertow (to string the metaphor along), because this is just the first wave of summer....with sweet peas, strawberries agapanthus, dahlias, raspberries, blueberries and tomatoes (hopefully) to follow....

But let's enjoy this fresh time of year in the garden, when foliage is new and at its very best.... take a break, sit outside and enjoy the garden.

I've heard complaints, I think right here on this blog, about 'Kopper Kettle' Itoh peony - that it's more pink than copper-colored, among other things. But even if it tends toward pink, could anything be more beautiful? The leaves are wide, dissected and dark, and look at that luxuriant fluff of anthers in the center, and the shading on the petals...

Isn't it too early for artichokes to be forming? Not that I'm complaining, but it surprised me. I was admiring the silvery sheen of the foliage, looked inside the plant....and there they are...

This is one of my favorite scenes in the garden at the moment - the stands of lilies developing & the froth of bronze fennel behind the resting lion...along with the chive hedge in bloom and the yellow foliage of Geranium 'Anne Folkard' which soon enough will be draping its violet flowers around the lion's neck. The little pots hold some of my collection of scented leafed geraniums...

You can layer even the smallest garden if you choose various textures and sizes of plants, especially tall skinny ones like the starry Allium 'Purple Sensation'. The layering effect is heightened by dramatically different shapes and textures - the background of Spirea 'Magic Carpet' is frothy and golden, the lily stems are slim and dark, the euphorbia is round, globular and vivid chartreuse, with the dark shadow of purple sedum growing up in the midst of it all...

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Returning to the Garden - Leaves, Buds, Allium and Too Many Snails...

Returning to the garden after nearly a week away is always a surprise, and at this time of year even a revelation. I miss being out in the garden every day when so much is happening, and long to be on the island when I'm in Seattle....and yet, being away for awhile gives me fresh eyes to marvel at the miracle of spring.

The Japanese maples, and even the golden locust are fully leafed out (finally), and the wisteria and lilacs are sadly fading, although still sweetly fragrant. The snails and slugs had been busy during the wet week...but I tried not to look too closely at the hostas or the ligularia.

This bud on the 'Kopper Kettle' peony was a beautiful distration from the slime trails around the garden...

The lettuces, some planted from starts and others seeded in, filled in last week. That's a dwarf persimmon in the center of the feed trough, and hopefully dwarf pea pods growing behind the lettuces...

The rodgersia is blooming happily in its pot - love those slug resistant leaves...

The pots are (mostly) planted and filling in....the little upright hedge are golden yews, the purple pot holds a golden barberry, the fancy-leafed, tricolor geraniums are my favorite 'Mrs. Pollock". The mosaic paver is by Vashon artist Clare Dohna...

And the allium are blooming along with the peonies this year....more than I could have hoped to happen, as you can never plan such things. I grow them up through a Daphne odora and  Spirea japonica 'Magic Carpet', spreading little shrubs whose branches help to hold the allium upright on rainy days...

Peony Love - Henry Mitchell Suggested It's Time To Pull Up a Chair and Contemplate Peony Splendor

This ethereal beauty is 'Bartzella', one of the new Itoh peonies. I just picked it out of the garden this morning, where its dark, dissected foliage shows off the papery, ruffled blossoms to perfection. 'Kopper Kettle' is in bud, but not open yet.....can't wait for it to bloom....

There's a wonderful riff by Henry Mitchell - I think it's in his book"The Essential Earthman" - about how he's sick and tired of hearing people complain that peonies don't bloom long enough. Mitchell explains that all you need to do is make the most of the time they do bloom; forget about work, bring a chair out into the garden, sit around and contemplate peonies in all their glory. They bloom plenty long enough (let alone their fabulous, durable foliage) if you do your part in celebrating their flowering...I'm afraid I've done the modern day equivalent, and made this photo the desktop image on my computer....

Gardens Into Art - a Fiber Artist's Take on My Garden

It's pretty amazing to see your garden transformed into a landscape quilt. A couple of weeks ago a fiber artist from Georgia emailed me and asked if she could use a photo I'd posted here on Plant Talk for a piece she was making for a class. The photo is of Japanese forest grass flowing around an old wooden Buddha, set off by a white peony blooming amid the blades of grass - an ephemeral scene in one corner of the garden.

The artist is Jane Broaddus, who started out as a traditional quilter and has gone on to creating items both useful and beautiful out of various fabrics. She has her own Etsy shop with weird, felted creatures and unique purses.

Here's how Jane describes the progression of the piece:

"Last summer I took a class on landscape quilts, and the teacher requested that we bring a photograph to class. Normally I work from my own photos, but being pressed for time, I snagged a picture off a blog posting about peonies (June 15, 2009) written by Valerie Easton (www.valeaston.com). I initially took that picture to class figuring I would just use it to learn new techniques. But then I fell in love both with the photograph and the project. So next I thought it prudent to ask Ms. Easton’s permission to use her photograph before I proceeded to completion. I offered to give her full credit for the photograph that was the inspiration for my work if I displayed the piece anywhere. She graciously gave me permission for its use."

I had no idea Jane's work, in cotton, silk, paper and paint, would be so evocative of living plants and a scene so dear to my heart. She's captured the serenity of the Buddha, the liquid, flowing nature of the grasses and the overblown explosion of peony with fabric and thread. The piece is 18.5 x 25 inches....Here's the original photo and Jane's interpretation:

 

The Stars of the May Garden - Itoh Peonies

I never thought anything would replace allium as the showiest flower in my May-into-June garden. But the Itoh peony 'Bartzella' (what an unattractive name for such a magnificent flower) has finally gotten mature enough to bloom like crazy, and it's definitely the star right now. Each exquisite blossom must be 5-6 inches across, with feathery anthers and subtle gradations of color on its petals as if it's had the priciest of highlighting jobs. No dull, flat, uniform color for this beauty.

In this new little garden in Langley I didn't have room to grow the yellow tree peony Lutea that I'd loved in my old garden. So I subbed in the smaller, sturdier yellow Itoh version, with lovely, divided foliage and these intensely ruffled, softly fragrant, butter-colored flowers.

Itoh peonies are a cross between the herbaceous garden peonies that die down in the winter, and tree peonies which are imposing woody plants that take up more room than you'd ever believe a peony would need. The result is a hybrid with the exotic looks of a tree peony, but the stature and growing cycle of a herbaceous peony. This is one of those truly successful horticultural efforts where the sum is more than the parts....and the parts were pretty impressive to start with in the case of peonies.

Itoh peonies grow vigorously, are disease resistent, and put forth such a mind-boggling number of big, double flowers  that it seems like they bloom much longer than the older versions of peonies.

  There are two new kinds this year in the nurseries from Monrovia, including the bright pink 'Takara' and the uniquely colored 'Misaka'(left), a warm, blushing cream centered with dabs of coral on the inner petals.

But I've never yet seen any peony as absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous as 'Kopper Kettle' which is just coming into bloom in my garden this year for the first time...the foliage is strong, spreading and tinted with purple and the blossoms are more coppery orange (less pink-tinted) than in the official portrait below....really, have you ever seen anything prettier?  I'm torn between cutting one to bring inside and leaving the flowers outside in the hopes they'll bloom longer....

Photos courtesy of Monrovia....

 

 

 

Plant Porn

 I got my new fall '09 White Flower Farm catalog today and sat right down and leafed through it longingly. Even though I rarely buy anything from them because they're in Connecticut and shockingly expensive, I still love it as both reference and for a shot of plant porn. Really, this catalog is gorgeous, all lush, voluptuous flowers in full-blown closeups. The colors are luscious, the descriptions tantalizing. I keep reminding myself we have such great nurseries you can find  just about any of these plants locally and save the shipping charges....still....the variety of pale, fragrant narcissus is tempting, and the assortment of Oriental poppies and tree peonies (like the yellow 'High Noon' in the photo) let alone ferns and hellebores.....well, don't say I didn't warn you.

White Flower Farm, 1-800-503-9624; You can go to the catalog on line and even turn the pages on the screen, but it's not the same as having the paper version in hand.

Why We Garden

Sure, we garden to cover the ground, to grow food and flowers, to enhance the value of our homes....but none of that explains why so many of us garden exhaustively, spend way more money and time than makes any sense, and most of all, why we love it so. It's not that the beauty, the fragrance, and the joy of nurturing living things aren't reason enough, but doesn't it feel like the obsession runs deeper than anything we can rationally explain?

 I asked my sister, farmer and impassioned flower-grower (you've never seen sweet peas as glorious as the ones she used to grow on her Clatskanie farm) what kept her gardening all these years... for her the draw is  simply being outdoors, hearing the birds, digging in the dirt, messing about with plants. All lovely, elemental reasons, which led me to this quote from D.H. Lawrence that perhaps explains the compulsion to garden, and its greatest satisfactions, at the deepest level.....

"A vast old religion, which once swayed the earth, lingers in our senses: a religion in which the whole life-effort was to get our lives into direct contact with the elemental life of the cosmos - mountain-life, cloud-life, thunder-life, air-life, earth-life, sun-life - to come into the immediate felt contact, and so derive energy, power, and joy."  D.H. Lawrence

Perhaps this ancient religion lingers in the senses of gardeners a little more strongly that that of other folk....I love his phrase "immediate felt contact" which is how I felt when the surprise of a peony I'd never planted peeked out through the Japanese forest grass in my little Buddha garden this weekend....