Garden: Pre-Spring, 2016

On February 19th, this became the wettest Winter on record for the Seattle area and we still have another week or so to go before the recording period closes.  Not particularly surprising, as this Winter seemed to be even wetter and drearier than usual.  I've been pretty satisfied, this year, with my garden design decision to forgo "Winter interest".   Nope.  I'm not going to traipse around the garden--with rain dripping off my nose or down my neck, compacting already sodden soil--to inspect early bloomers and colored sticks.  I built my garden to use while the weather is nice and I can enjoy gardening activities.  Duh!  

I'm satisfied to ignore the garden completely for three or four months until Spring Fever starts bubbling.  I'm not yet feeling it, but I guess that the garden IS.  So today I had to get out there and spend a few hours cleaning up and cutting back. My efforts came a bit too late for some of the plants.  Among the grasses, Calamagrostis brachytricha and Melica uniflora were already well-sprouted and I was unable to trim out all of the spent foliage.  Well, I guess I could have if I were patient enough, but I am not.  And the (many) Anemones were already producing new growth, making it a little more tedious to selectively prune out the old stems.  I pruned down a large Nandina, so we'll see how that re-sprouts.  And I pruned the hardy fuchsias and the grapes.  I've got more to do, but the yard waste bin is full, plus one more large bag, and it started to rain so I called it quits.  

Here are some photos from the day...

Pre-Spring view of the front garden.  I tidied-up and sprinkled on some new compost/mulch.

The sweet and diminutive Melica may be trying for world domination, I don't know...

These must be Allium nigrum?  I've never before had alliums come back strongly or multiply like this.

Around back, I think this planting combo has performed well--tricyrtis, western sword ferns, and alpine strawberries.  The grassy plant is Carex tumulicola.

On the opposite side of our back door, we have Nandina, Triceyrtis, a yellow Hellebore, and Saxifraga primuloides.

Eeewwww.  The back yard still needs to be tidied.  Isn't that nasty?  The Brunnera have recently put out some new growth--I'll have to be careful when I am tidying around them.  Next year, I think I'll tidy in Fall.  I've been trying to garden "more naturally", but this is just gross and unnecessary.

Something pretty (or at least interesting) to purge the last picture from our minds--these are lichen (Cladonia) fruiting bodies.

Garden: First of the New Year

Despite the ongoing non-Winter which has confounded our gardening calendar here in the Pacific Northwest, I still feel like it is too early to declare that Spring is on its way.  Sure, a few early risers are beginning to stir and that necessitates getting out there to clear last year's sodden and rotting foliage, but I'm not yet feeling the burbling and bubbling of Spring Fever.  We've had a couple of sunny days here and there with temperatures approaching 60 degrees, but we've also had a lot of cold grey drizzle.  So far, the sum total of my time spent outside is the amount of time it takes to scurry from my front door to my car and back.

Nevertheless, this Sunday (right before the Big Game), I ventured out to Swanson's Nursery.  A visit there is always rewarding--they keep the nursery well-stocked year 'round and they always feature dynamic and interesting container plantings.  A few things caught my eye, and I thought I'd share them here:

The first is this large pot.  It's one of those newer, fiber-cement style pots.  I worry about the longevity of these because I have two in my garden that showed serious wear and tear over the course of just one year.  (The cement wore off with exposure to the elements and the fibers inside are quite visible.)  I'm attracted to the pattern, which reminds me of aggregate or scored/textured concrete.  Remember Cleve West's Chelsea Garden 2011 with the big, textured columns?  I guess I like that kind of texture/pattern.

Big pot.

There was also this very sweet Hellebore, Helleborus niger "HGC Jacob", which seemed unusually delicate and pretty--reminiscent of Anemone coronaria, or a Wood Anemone.  See how they have it styled--with a colorful Heuchera and black mondo grass?--very Pacific Northwest.

Helleborus niger "HGC Jacob".

And, finally, this huge (for retail, anyway) Edgeworthia chrysantha which seemed to be a bargain at $135.00.  Maybe they grow a lot faster than I think they do?  It was full of blooms and smelled very sweet.

Edgeworthia chrysantha

In fact, there were a lot of scented plants available.  My son and I went 'round the nursery sniffing various daphnes, sarcococca, witch hazels, and Viburnum bodnantense.  I'd like to include more of these scented late-winter bloomers in my garden.  And I will...once it warms up a bit and I declare that Spring has "sprung".