garden pics: you MAY see this in MAY....#4

Pesky or not, I can't resist letting the forget-me-nots bloom in quite a few areas this time of the year.

A new addition last year that I am just thrilled with.... Sorbaria Sorbifolia

This little pink calla lily was bent over for a good shot of her lovely color.

Lovely maple Bea. I love my pasque flower, not even necessarily for the blooms, but it's fuzzy foilage.

This is a new garden planting area that Mother Nature provided me with the fall before last. Used to be a large hemlock, which smashed my big pond bridge in half when it fell. One of it's friends next to it feel the year before. I had always wished for a large root/stump to use as a planting backdrop. Good example of being careful of what you wish for. This is the first year I am going to work on this one...started with my new climbing hydrangea and a montana clematis (Redchic, couldn't resist a chocolate smelling bloom...especially if I may be able to smell it from my bedroom...talk about sweet dreams!)

RJ.. the Sorbaria Sorbifolia has such pretty colors in its leaves. Pretty patch of FMN's. I had to pull tons of them this weekend as they were taking over my paths. If I had a larger yard I would just let them go!



Future blueberries.

OK, one last one...I FINALLY have some rhodies that are starting to show color. Lem's Cameo is getting really close, and looks fabulous with my JM.

Bea, nice calla too! Is it a new one this year, or have you had success with the colored ones coming back? My common callas go crazy, but the others just seem to fade away here. I love the FMN, but spend quite a bit of time weeding them myself. I keep trying to get them to go crazy in my woods, but they much prefer the rose garden! Most of these will be weeded soon to make way for annuals, but I have several patches that I let go until then just because the color brightens up the day...especially when it is yucky like today is!

Can't wait to see your rhodie in bloom. My calla is new this year as I forgot to bring the last ones indoors for the winter. They got as far as the porch . Will try again this year to overwinter them . I also got a yellow and lavender one. They add early color to the pond. If you ever dived you common calla... I would love to get some started here. We had them in the home I grew up in and they were so beautiful most of the spring and summer. They lived under a huge pine and I have fond memories with calla's.


I am so darn upset with bugs and slugs. Look what someone had for dinner last night! I have been waiting for these renuculas ( to photograph!!) ... and now they are ruined. 2 like this one . I wish they would eat the weeds and leave the rest of the garden alone. Then bugs, slugs and people could live peacefully together!

Rj.... your creek garden is lovely!! I like your new planting area too. I think that you'll be very happy with your vine choices!!!

Bea... I love the color of that calla. I don't bring my calla's in for the winter. I plant them surrounded by mostly sand (for good winter drainage) with a layer of soil on top, and the majority of them overwinter ok. They don't start to bloom as early as those that people bring in in the winter, but they get to it eventually.
Is this your maple? http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58335/
(acer shirasawanum aureum)

DBower, glad to see you here. I also have a California lilac, different variety than RJ's and I have to keep clipping it way back so that it doesn't block the way to the toy barn. Unfortunately it is not currently photogenic because of the hard winter frost. New growth is coming now, though, thank goodness. Maybe when I get home I will snap a shot of it anyway, dead leaves and all. Haven't had time to clean it up yet this spring!!!!

red. the maple came with the house so uncertian if it is a acer shirasawanum aureum. The leaves look very much like the one on the link. It is about 8ft tall so far . The picture I posted yesterday of the goldfinches was taken under it.

My Mom sent this pic to me. I was thinking about replacing my lawn with something else. This would keep me busy!

I should say so!!! WOW! That is stunning. So vibrant!

Okay. Somebody had too much time on their hands. LOL

That's astounding. And the architecture around it is astounding, too.

I second that!

PNW….those are beautiful tulips, love the color.

Bea…Feisty sounds just like Fluffy. A cat with an attitude! Backside issues can be hilarious if you don’t get clawed.

DBower…beautiful color on the lilac. And Welcome!

RJ…I so envy you having a place for a garden like that, you have to post again when it’s in it’s glory. I never saw a pasque flower either, very pretty. Love yor gazing ball.
That rhody will be lovely.

Bea….another new one for me, never saw a JM with flowers like that. that little calla lily is pretty, nice of her to bend over for you. I had to put sluggo out last night, they even found my new plants! WOW…I’ve seen carpets of flowers but nothing that big. Beautiful!! Thank your mom for sharing. It couldn’t have a better setting.

RJ….must admit I have a soft spot for forget-me-nots, they’re just so pretty. That is a lovely fern. And what a backdrop for a new area!

Awesome flower carpet. WOW! I can't imagine doing that.

RJ, all your garden spots are very nice. Love the Lem's, I have one also. Think I would be tempted to wash the dirt out of those roots. They are amazing. What fun

I just got to know the pasque flower last year and got one. I really like them. Pretty colors.

Bea, I am a detail person, but that garden makes my head want to explode! How in the world would you come up with something like that, more less execute it? Wow!!!

Thanks all for comments on my root. It is a love/hate relationship right now...long sad story, but one of the biggest reasons that I didn't start working with it last year. I am starting to accept it as a part of my world this year, and am planning on starting to plant it. I have been letting nature wash it because I want to see which pockets will retain soil naturally. I have some perennial geraniums that will be my first attempts at using the root crevices to plant. Will share pics with the results later this summer.

I imagine it would all have to scaled to a grid and each grid into a grid,the flowers placed and a lot of pruning. Thats what makes it so wonderful. So much planning!

Here's my root. When we cut up the tree I should say "had the tree cut up") the ball fell back down. Now I have a tangle of two fences mixed up in it . . .

And the other side . . .

Kathy, Amazing what force they have, isn't it? My first one that went down I was actually excited about, as it didn't do too much damage, and it was kind of cool that it raised up the rose and other plants that were planted at it's base with it (kind of like your fence, but a little less dramatic). I had never had a rose that was planted over my head before, so thought it was kind of neat (it was nice enough to take the soaker hose up with it, so the rose is still watered).

The second one chopped in half the bridge that my dad and I had built together...our very last major project together. It was the main feature at the big pond that you can see from the road between my folks house and mine. We had planned on rebuilding it together last spring when it dried up enough to get the trackhoe in that area to re-set new logs. He passed away unexpectedly shortly after that. Needless to say, every time I walked past that crushed bridge it tore my heart out and I cursed that tree for all I was worth. It is a sad story, but has the happiest ending possible. My DH, who had never really worked in the yard in his life other than clearing our property for our home and shop, was aware of how much it affected me every time I saw it. He took it upon himself, along with a good friend of ours and a good friend of my folks, to surprise me one day and clear the tree and re-build the bridge while I was at work. They weren't able to finish it all in one day (was easily a week's project), but they had the main portion done by that evening. I stopped at my house briefly to say hello to him, and then was planning to walk up to Mom's. He and our friend were sitting in the shop, looking like nothing was out of the ordinary. They let me walk up on my own, and I only made it to the top of my driveway before I saw the partially reconstructed bridge and started crying my eyes out. I don't think that there has been anything in the 20+ years I have known him that has cemented in my mind how much my DH loves me. After a year, I have made peace with the tree/stump, and am willing to make it a part of my yard.

This is the new bridge.

Okay, that has me crying. What a neat story. So your dad was saying that it's okay, because your DH loves you. Crazy what messages life has for us.

Kathy, My DH had promised Dad that if anything ever happened, he would take care of their "girls on the hill". He has gone over and above his duty in accomplishing this task, and I know that he has Dad's help and guidance in so many things he has done for Mom and I in this last year. Life's messages don't always come in easy to swallow packages, but you are right...it is amazing what you learn as you wade your way through it. You have to find the bright spots or it will run you flat. Now my bridge symbolizes the two most important men in my life, and I will never be able to look at my stump without thinking sweetly of both of them as well.

Ok...lighter note... my euphorbia with it's forget me not backdrop.

And a verigated sedum with a forget me not background. Do you get the idea that forget me nots are pervasive in my yard this time of year?

I love the painted ferns.

That's a great story RJ. It does just about bring a tear to ones eye. I love the painted fern!

Katie.... what a mess your tree made with the fences. That's no fun. Big wire cutters I guess.

A tear to one's eye...I'm blubbering here. What a wonderful story. And a beautiful bridge! The euphorbia is stunning, I love yellow, so cheery. I've just gotten started on painted ferns, love them too.

Kathy, what an awful mess. But again, it could have been worse.

a few pics from yesterday.

a spent anemone

for some reason when I look at this picture, the song "all by myself" runs through my head.

and the last.

Oh, yes - blubbering here as well. Awesome story.

Love the pics.

Kathy, that root is SOME challenge! Mother Nature certainly does change our plans some times and not always for the better.

I just put up a temporary third fence. I'll need to dig the Salmonberry out before I can tackle any more of the fence. I couldn't find wire cutters big enough to cut through the chain link. I'll try to find an after picture tonight.

Julie, just plain looking forward to meeting your DH. What a nice man.

RC, what's in 7826?

Beautiful love story and perfect bridge. Love the blue and yellow photo. I use the FMN's as you do. My sis just brought me a painted fern a week age. Lost the first one.

RC, Is that a spider on the back of that purple blossom?

Katie, your stump made me cry. You mean to say it is not like that now? Hope not.

So, the morning after the big storm I took the dogs out and we were walking around the yard looking at the limbs, etc. I was checking the other side of the yard to see which of the trees had fallen on the fence there. When we came back around the other side, the first thing I saw was the fence. I thought to myself, "is that an illusion or is the fencing really sticking up in the air like that?" You could already hear all the chain saws going. At that point, I saw my neighbor next door on her driveway (there is no foliage in winter) and we started to talk.

The night before the wind was so loud and scary and everywhere there was the sound of snapping trees everywhere when I took the dogs out at about 3:00 a.m. I think the tree was still upright. I hadn't watched the news (odd, because I'm a weather junkie, really), so I didn't know this storm was coming. I had lost power earlier, so I hunkered down with the battery-powered radio turned way up and just hoped for the best. I think the tree went down so slowly and the wind and radio were so loud that's why I didn't hear it go - even thought it was no more than 30 feet from the house.

Anyway, the root ball was up for the summer. My neighbors and I (it fell right along their driveway and took out another tree) spent a good portion of the summer cutting off and burning the limbs and cutting it back to point at which the chainsaw couldn't handle the size of the base. Then, when the neighbors had a couple other hanging trees removed and some trees windsailed (that company made a lot of money in our neighborhood) in the fall, they also cut the rest of the tree into rounds. It was early November. I was out while they were working on the trees and when I came, home, the rootball had fallen back down.

So now it doesn't look too bad, but that's mostly because the Salmon Berry and Blackberry own that spot right now. It's a prime place for runoff from the back of my property and I'm sure that's why the tree just couldn't hang on. One of these days I'll get back around to cleaning that area up . . .

For anyone who's interested, here are pictures of the aftermath in my neighborhood and on Woodinville-Duvall road.

http://picasaweb.google.com/katiegirl2u/WindstormOfWinter20062007?feat=directlink

Kathy

Julie, I have been reading the threads but not responding because I have been really sick with the flu and have not had the energy. However, your bridge story is so touching that I just had to tell you how it made me cry! What a nice husband you have and it sounds like you are perfect for each other!

Hope you are better soon Judi. Do you have someone to look in on you?

It is a sunny, windy day here with a shower every once in awhile. I went out and took some pictures.

This is a plant like christmas cactus but a little different. I've have it for over five years and it never bloomed before.