danger garden

Friday, October 4, 2024

A Philly Garden Fling threefer

Regular readers are going to be spending time in Pennsylvania over the next few weeks. I've decided since the Philly Fling took place over a year ago, I really need to concentrate on powering through my remaining 2023 Fling garden visits. This post includes three of those gardens, the first one, Boulder Haven, belongs to Carol Verhake and we visited on Friday, when it was still dry. The rest of the weekend was very very wet.

There was a patio off the back of the home, with focal-point containers on the low wall.

A very photogenic moon gate marked the entrance into the woodland garden.

The name of the garden made reference to the many boulders peeking up out of the ground.

I think we all took turns sitting in the woven love shack (see the sign at the lower right hand corner).

Maybe Acorus gramineus ‘Minimus Aureus’?

Whatever it is, it's fabulous!

Out front by the street I spotted a couple ferns tucked into the rock wall.

Always a good thing in my book.

The next garden, John Lonsdale's Edgewood, was an early Saturday morning stop. We were all getting acclimated to garden touring in a downpour.

This whiskey barrel of mangaves was a surprise!

And cholla too!

Yucca rostrata backed by sarracenia.

Believe it or not I didn't make it inside the greenhouses.

I would have liked to, but others were vying to do so and as I recall they were filled with the owners cyclamen breeding efforts which wasn't a big draw for me.

Wait, what? More mangaves! These must go into the greenhouses over the winter.

A tropical corner...

And this, which was really attractive in person and had many of us scratching our heads as to exactly what it was.

I believe it was Heather who finally identified it, Pollia japonica.

Wayne Guymon’s WynEden in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania rounds out this chapter of the Philly Fling. At 9.5 acres and boasting 15,000 hostas, 7,000 rhododendrons, 3 ponds, 3 streams and 5 acres of edited woodland I knew there was no way I was going to see it all...

Instead of trying, I just wandered and pointed my camera at what I found interesting.

The bamboo was all well trenched, to help keep it in check.

Fungus of all sorts was easy to find on this Fling.

Amaranthus tricolour

I did not make it over to the covered bridge, other Flingers did.

I think that pathway in the distance is the one I took down into the garden.

Looking back at the house (and some of the hostas) across the large pond.

Tricyrtis hirta, perhaps 'Lightning Strike'.

More wet garden tours to come!

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Bellevue Botanical Garden, 2024 visit

Time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was at Bellevue Botanical Garden, but it's been over two weeks now, I visited on Monday Sept 16th. One of my favorite things about this garden is that admission is free to everyone and it's open dawn to dusk everyday of the year. How's that for community access?

As I walked around the garden I was remembering my last visit, October 2020, the first time I was away from home in that year of COVID. I remember having such an amazing sense of openness and freedom.

Love the schefflera and banana combo, not so much the bright pink business.

I saw so many flawless Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress' in the garden (and in the Seattle/Bellevue area in general), they escaped the winter nasty that befell our 'Soft Caress' here in Portland.

Of course I visited the Daphniphyllum teijsmannii 'Mountain Dove'.

And then strolled out into the rock garden.

Here's a flashback photo from the day before, when I was at the garden to give my talk for the NPA. This was going on out in the rock garden! The sumo wrestler fellow struck many different poses for the camera, it was quite entertaining, if distracting.

My digitalis didn't bloom this year. I hope that means there will be a spectacular show next year.

I do enjoy the foliage rosettes, so all is not lost without the flowers.

This garden seems to be slug central. I never see this many slugs anywhere else.

Ugh.

Thankfully there were ferns to take my eyes away from the slugs.

Asplenium trichomanes, maidenhair spleenwort.

Perhaps Dryas drummondii.

The rill is a favorite feature that I'm always sure to walk by, I think that filled in space is new...

Probably to make it easier for wheels to roll over? It's well done.

Since I was there early on a Monday morning I almost had the place to myself.

More interesting paving...

Alchemiila mollis collects moisture so beautifully.

Members of the NPA were there working on their border, from the BBG website: Renowned for year-round dramatic displays, the perennial border is an example of a distinctively American-style mixed border and is a living demonstration of what works best in Northwest gardens. Revel in thousands of perennials, shrubs, bulbs, evergreens and trees that provide color and beauty year-round. This is one of the largest public perennial gardens in the U.S. maintained entirely by volunteers. The Northwest Perennial Alliance created and maintains this award-winning garden. It is a source of education and hands-on learning opportunities for NPA members, horticulture students and gardeners throughout the Puget Sound area.

Ah my old friend Nolina 'La Siberica', I wonder why the tips are cut off?

People!

Lagerstroemia fauriei 'Fantasy'

Datisca cannabina (false hemp)

I'm not a fan of the stacked rock sculptures, but I did like how the moss was growing on them.

My ginger (Hedychium coccineum) has gotten shaded out, which is a shame because those orange flowers are fantastic.

There were a few of this 'Color Guard' Yucca filamentosa planted in a sea of black mondo grass, I love the look, it doesn't translate well to a photo.