I shared the photo below in
a blog post from early June. The subject was the new pedestal for the dish planter on the bottom left, but when scrolling through the post my eyes immediately went to the fluted planter next to it. How pathetic. What was once a robust planting was now looking rather tired.
There are ferns in the mix that are late to emerge, and over the next few weeks it should have filled out. But why wait? Time for a makeover!
I decided this little Hosta (H. 'Cameo') would make the transition to the new planting.
And divided the Lepisorus bicolor I'd picked up at
Secret Garden Growers. It was filling the 4" pot I bought it in, why not make two plants for this project?
A couple tiny Begonia grandis hitched a ride with the fern. I hope I don't regret not pulling them out.
I knew I wanted to make this more than just a flat planting, so I worked in a piece of driftwood to help build up the soil in places. Since I had three metal cylinders, but only planned to use two of them for plants, I added one to the end of the wood to help visually tie it in to the rusty metal. Dorky? Maybe, but it worked for me.
The Hosta peeking through leaves of Bergenia ciliata var. ciliata, also from Secret Garden Growers.
I worked in one other plant from the old scheme, this Begonia aff asperifolia. Seed-grown, it was gift from
Maggie Soderstrom.
This planter gets tucked under cover over the winter months because it doesn't have drainage, but it does stay outside. Thus things planted here need to be winter hardy.
Rooted babies of my Androsace sempervivoides fill the two metal cylinders. I'm not sure how they'll do in the shade this area gets, we shall see.
Heather kindly divided her
Lepisorus pseudoussuriensis 'Taoshan' (on the left) from
Windcliff and shared a piece with me. I hope it will be happy here.
I'd sat down on the ground to take these photographs and realized there was a sort of Begonia grandis echo happening.
To my right is the
wire basket planter with its Begonia grandis.
Oh and remember the
cool cement piece I brought home from Clinton Bamboo Nursery? This may not be its final purpose, but for now it's acting as a nice base to elevate the fluted planter.
From above...
From the side...
Bonus update! I'm sneaking in one more project. If you look at the chair you'll see a small planting next to it.
When I was in Seattle in early June for
FernFest I stopped at
Bellevue Nursery and crushed on their Begonia 'Cracklin' Rosie'...
I didn't think it was a lasting infatuation, and left it behind. But I couldn't shake it. I looked but hadn't been able to find one in Portland, so grabbed one when I saw it at
McClendon's in Tacoma.
I blame
this image from
hortandpott on Instagram for stoking my obsession. I couldn't stop looking at it. It's not the same Begonia and my implementation is certainly not the same as theirs, but it's what sent me down the path. Isn't it dreamy?
Here's how mine turned out.
At the front is Pyrrosia lingua 'Undulata'.
At the back, yes that's the Pyrrosia lingua 'Tachiba Koryu' I purchased at
Dancing Oaks. I thought it and the begonia made a fine pairing.
The end.
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