danger garden

Friday, December 6, 2024

The Story of Seeds, Unit Study Book No 152

I discovered this little booklet at a used bookstore in North Hollywood, CA. It's a shop Andrew always enjoys visiting, and they have a decent garden section.

I'm a sucker for vintage garden books and love ones with drawings, this one ticked both those boxes.

Have you ever seen a plant sprout in a bird's nest? I have not, but now I'll be paying extra attention.

I had a datura in a container on the patio at my house in Spokane, one of its big seed pods burst and I watched ants carrying the seeds away, down into the cracks of the patio. I'd hoped maybe they'd manage to store one or two of them in a place where they'd burst and grow in the spring. I don't know if it ever happened because I moved to Portland.

A sign in the woods that says "Do Not Pick"?

I hope you enjoyed some of the pages from this little booklet as much as I did. It's now been passed on to its next owner, my friend Ann, lover of seeds.

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Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Six rocks, three agaves, two palms...

Six rocks, three agaves, two palms, white gravel, lawn and some flat stone. Simplicity, symmetry. Low maintenance.

Those palms, they're the only thing in alive in this planting. The agaves are plastic.

So is the lawn.

I saw this installation in a semi-rural location in the greater Portland area. It certainly stood out. I felt a little awkward about stopping to take pictures. But I had to, you know it was the agaves. I wasn't even certain the lawn was plastic until I got closer.

I thought about this a long while before posting. Here's the thing I kept coming back to, these folks have done something with the front of their property that must make them happy. That's better than not doing anything, isn't it? Do I hate fake lawn? YES! It's plastic for Gods sake, we do NOT need more plastic. Those agaves? Well, I appreciate they're agaves, but real live plants instead of plastic ones is always the better answer.

Would it be better if the whole thing was an asphalt parking area? No really. I'm curious. If that was the alternative would it be better? We're not all blessed with the time to tend a garden. We're not all in love with watching plants grow and change and bloom and die. It doesn't look like these people are up for tending the real thing (although those palms are healthy and well cared for). They've made their statement, what's yours?

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Monday, December 2, 2024

My garden, now

We had our first frost early this morning with a brief low of 27F, it really is winter now (meteorological winter begins on December 1). I'm still trying to be better about embracing the garden in all seasons, so, to that end, here are a few photos taken at the end of November/beginning of December. We start in the front garden...

The always sexy bark of Arctostaphylos x densiflora 'Harmony', this is the most coppery in color of all my manzanitas...

Mahonia x media ‘Charity’ takes its job of feeding the hummingbirds very seriously.

Mahonia nervosa wins for fabulous cool-weather foliage color. That's another shot of A. x densiflora 'Harmony' in the background.

The Fuchsia procumbens has lost nearly all it's leaves, but there are many colorful berries left behind, I wonder how easy this plant is from seed?

Both Trachelospermum asiaticum ‘Red Top’ in my garden have colored up as never before.

Myriopteris tomentosa / Cheilanthes tomentosa (I think? I get these dryland ferns mixed up). The texture of these fronds is like a million tiny pebbles glued in place.

The driveway plantings feel so bare to my eyes.

I was the lucky recipient of a bag of black mondo grass a neighbor had dug from her garden, so it's hanging out in the stock tank until next spring, when I'll plant it out around the garden.

Winter color of Schefflera (Heptapleurum) delavayi.

The upper back garden, as you walk past the schefflera.

Looking to the left, Arachniodes simplicior 'Variegata'.

Rhododendron 'Ebony Pearl'

Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart', winter color.

This area along the back of the house has really benefitted from increased light after last winter took out parts of the Callistemon viridiflorus and knocked the Callistemon 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' back to the ground.

Athyrium niponicum ‘Godzilla’

That color!

Another painted fern, one whose specific name I lost track of a long time ago.

Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’. The rest of those leaves (last year's) will soon fall but the blooms won't open until March.

The potted pseudopanax/carnivorous plants that filled the bench in the summertime have moved to protected spots, now it's all about the pyrrosia.

Behind the bench, Polygonatum kingianum.

Those little curly hooks send me, how cute are they?

There's fruit too!

Hakonechloa macra

Close-up of the previously mentioned pyrrosia...

Fantastic pyrrosia variegation.

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) blooms, another hummingbird favorite.

Looking over to the shade pavilion in it's greenhouse form.

The leathery leaves of podophyllum in their autumn colors.

The stems that held the flowers, and then the fruit, almost look like they might start moving about, like under-sea creatures.

Mahonia eurybracteata 'Indianola Silver' backed by small M. eurybracteata 'Cistus Silvers' and M. x media 'Marvel'.

And the golden fronds of Osmunda regalis wrap up this post.

If you happened to notice I didn't do my full "garden tour" posts this fall (it's an annual tradition), I just wanted to mention they're coming! I took lots of photos but haven't gotten around to editing them down. I think maybe January will be the time to look back at the garden that was.

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