Plant Talk

Really and Truly Dead

I'm still discovering, and being surprised by, which plants didn't survive the December deep freeze. Still in the wait-and-see category is Viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet' - sure, part of the shrub is alive and blooming, but most is so brown and wilted I'm afraid I'm going to have to chop it down to a nubbins. And how about all those brown carexes and pheasant grasses (Anemanthele lessoniana)? I don't remember them looking quite so sorry most springs....but I'm hopeful I'll see signs of life any day now. I'm holding off on yanking them....and I've cut out a good part of my prostrate rosemary, but the remaining skeleton seems to be holding on to its leaves and even blooming anemically.  

But I can't ignore the sad fact that my little hedges of Spanish, or rabbit's ear lavender (Lavender stoechas) are truly dead and have to go. These bi-color, early-blooming lavenders with their appealing rabbit-eared blossoms are my favorites, and I'll replace them, one more time anyway....

On a happier note, if you're in Langley or up for a jaunt to Whidbey Island tomorrow morning, I'm giving a talk about how to be an artist in your own garden, and answering questions about gardening, at Museo Gallery on First Street at 11:30 a.m. Join us to see the gallery's garden art show, meander across the street to the charming Chocolate Flower Farm shop (The Garden Shed), visit a couple of the island's great nurseries (Bayview Farm and Garden and Cultus Bay) and join in the celebration to welcome the whales to Langley, which includes a parade down First Street.

Here's a photo of Bridget in the garden, looking a little sad herself about the dead little lavender hedges edging the raised beds behind her - by this afternoon they'll be history...

 

Coming Back to the Garden

There are  drawbacks to living elsewhere than in your own garden half the time. I commute between Seattle and my Langley garden, and many days I so want to duck outdoors and pick a bouquet, check on what's budding, or pull a few weeds.

Arriving in Langley on a sunny Wednesday afternoon made up for many moments of garden deprivation.  When your garden is right outside your windows every day, it's easy for your senses to dull a bit...to lose track of spring's slow unfolding. But when you're away for more than a week, springtime hits you over the head with its magic.

When I last left Langley, it was like winter - cold and wet, the garden bleak and nearly dormant. What a difference a few warm days in April makes...it was a great joy to find drifts of bright daffodils, 'Princess Irene' tulips opening to the sun, and ruffled Crown Imperial fritillaria finally bursting into bloom when I arrived back in Langley this afternoon. The peas are growing, the lettuces plumping up nicely. Well, see for yourself - the daffodils are mostly the orange-cupped Narcissus 'Serola'; the tulips 'Princess Irene' surrounding a little trellis of 'Sugar Snap' peas in the feed trough. The bottom photo is of the peacock-like Crown Imperial frittilaria just opening its orange bells.