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Once you prop you just can't stop
I am, of course, referring to plant propagation. I had planned another post for this week, but just in selecting photos it turned into a rather unwieldy beast that needs to be trimmed down a bit and I...
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Spring Planting Fever
Spring is in full swing and, like any good gardener, I've been amassing a stockpile of plants to add to the garden. I prefer to plant things soon after I bring them home, but sometimes things have to...
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Garden Blogger's Bloom Day May 2018
It's been awhile since I did a Garden Blogger's Bloom Day post, and I may have chosen the worst month to jump back in. The garden is just exploding with blooms and it's turned into a monster of a GBBD...
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Gardening with Verticillium Wilt
A branch from a Magnolia globosa showing dead cambium and dark staining in the wood, a common sign of verticillium wilt. The stain in magnolias shows a little differently than in other trees like...
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HPSO/Garden Conservancy Pre-Tour
Last Sunday, I was lucky enough to take part in a preview of the garden tour held jointly by the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon and the Garden Conservancy. You can find the details on the main event,...
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The summer of my discontent...
Summer is not my season. Let me just get that out in the open right now. My eyes don't like the harsh summer sun. The brown, sear grass and other crispy plants depress me. Heat waves usually throw me...
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The summer of my discontent (sequel)
Warning, this is a long, rambling post. Ok, you've been warned. Now read on!If you read my last post and were wondering why I'm complaining so much about how bad the garden looks, this post should...
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More Summer Evaluations
Planted in fall of 2016, the newest garden areas have had time to begin showing what works and what doesn't. As I cast a critical eye over everything to evaluate its performance, I'm also planning...
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Garden Bloggers Bloom Day September 2018
Though not exactly few, the blooms in the garden this month are a bit far between. So here are my September blooms, gathered deceptively into one post. In real life, they are much more diffuse, with...
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Appreciating what went right
I've done several posts this summer on the plants and garden areas that haven't worked out, and while I firmly believe in showing the uglier side of gardening, it's important to look at what is...
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Indoor Gardening: DIY Humidity/Drip Trays
The Pacific Northwest has had an abnormally sunny and dry autumn, allowing gardeners to be more active in their outdoor gardens, but this is normally a dark, rainy time in the PNW. It's a time when the...
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Musings on Inspiration and Direction
Recently, I watched the first episode of Monty Don's American Gardens. First off, I love that he's come to this side of the pond to see the great diversity of gardens across the United States. We have...
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Working with what you've got
One of the best things about gardening is that everyone enjoys it for different reasons. Some love the precision of clipped hedges and perfect roses, others may delight in bringing the wild to them and...
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Sprinter
Arctostaphylos silvicola 'Ghostly', against the warm south end of the house.No, I'm not talking about someone who runs quickly over short distances. I'm talking about that peculiar intergrade between...
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Bamboo
Verdant green leaves flutter in the breeze on gracefully swaying stems, uttering a million soft whispers that build together into waves on a shoreline. Sound, motion, and color combine in almost...
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Speaking of the trees
I've always loved trees. As a child, I spent hours and hours climbing vine maples, beaked hazelnuts, bigleaf maples, cedars, and any other tree I could climb. Walking through forests, even to this day,...
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Bamboo: pruning clumping bamboos
If running bamboos are too aggressive or intimidating, clumping types may be a good way to bring the beauty and utility of bamboo into your garden. Thanks to the structure of their rhizomes, they...
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Fargesia scabrida
Fargesiascabrida'Silver Dragon' is a selection found at Bamboo Garden Nursery in Oregon. with lightly variegated foliage, most apparent in spring and fading in summer. Photo taken at Bamboo Garden...
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Doing the Garden Shuffle
Brace yourselves for a tangled look into the thought processes of a gardener. I'm sure it will look familiar to many of you, no matter what kinds of plants you grow. We all shuffle things around,...
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New boos on the block
Time for a new plant parade! I acquired quite a few new bamboo species in trade last week and am so excited, it motived me to finally write a post! I got these in trade with Ian Barclay at The Desert...
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Bamboo Identity Crisis
 A friend gave me a bamboo to test, sold under the name Yushania confusa. This modestly sized plant is said to reach a maximum height of 6 feet, growing from a base only 2-3 feet wide, and arching up...
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Where did the new boos go?
At the beginning of last month, I wrote about seven new bamboos I had just acquired. After several weeks in quarantine and a couple rounds of neem oil and miticide (just to be sure they were free of...
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The trials of dry shade
Gaultheriamucronata and Luzulasylvatica, 2 plants that are actually succeeding in this tough area.I have a long border at one edge of the garden, sitting between the lush shade garden area where the...
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My Garden is in a Book!
 Ehem. Testing. One two, one two. This thing still work? Oh, hi. As you might have guessed from the title, I have some rather exciting news. I've been keeping a lid on this for about 2 years now, but...
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Wide shots
It's been quite some time since I shared wide views of the garden, or much of anything, really, so I thought I'd finally rectify that. Before I get into recent photos, here's a link to a post I did in...
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