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Sometimes when I am busy, I forget to be creative when I photograph my favorite subject, flowers. It’s the result of being in the illustrate mode for too long. Yes illustrating is creative too; however, sometimes you have to put in too much information Today I changed all that, went out, and played with the camera. Here are the results.
There were times in my life when people did exceptionally kind things for me. A few were from 
people I didn’t know, such as when a person handed me a dollar bill when I was short on cash at a checkout line. Some kindness came from people I knew; for instance, when a friend brought me a box of groceries when I was in college after a string of bad luck left me short on cash. These actions always brought back my faith in our species,
that we aren’t just war-mongering, greedy or selfish people, but caring and kind human beings. This was years before the movie “Pay It Forward” debuted. I particularly remember a discussion with a bunch of gardeners after seeing that movie. One person talked about buying a bunch of flower bulbs and planting them in her neighbor’s garden. She never took credit as the perpetrator of the unexpected gift, but she did remark how fun it was to give anonymously.
Today while running errands in town, I thought it would be fun to give a small act of kindness to someone I didn’t know. My spontaneous thought came just as I pulled up to my favorite drive-through latte stand and ordered my usual drink. When it was time to pay, I decided to buy a latte for the next person who came through the stand. Since no one was behind me at the time, I have no idea who received it; which made the action even better that the recipient wouldn’t know who gave the gift. I hope it was a pleasant surprise and their day made better because of it.
Possibly because it’s days away from the beginning of May, the thought came up. May Day is the holiday with a tradition of using flowers to commit acts of kindness. As a child, I enjoyed picking flowers or making a posy during class at school. We would leave them on a neighbor’s porch, and ring the doorbell. Quickly we ran away and hid before they could reach their door, since it was traditional not to let your neighbors know it was you that bestowed the gift.
In Hawaii, May Day is called lei day; one of my fondest memories of that date comes from the year a friend, and I picked grocery bags full of plumeria blossoms that grew in our gardens. We strung the flowers onto string, fashioning them into leis. When we finished we put the many leis around our necks and ran around the neighborhood hanging one of them on each of the doorknobs. And, just as I did as a child, we rang their doorbells and ran quickly away, giggling like young schoolgirls.
All of us can practice random acts of kindness from time to time. I would like to do it more often. I don’t think it needs to be a huge act; but sometimes something simple like being aware that a person is struggling and helping them is all that’s necessary. We can open doors for a person laden down with packages, or give someone a smile without expecting one in return. Its fun to do and I believe we all benefit, as not only receivers but also givers. It’s heartfelt, especially during a time when we’re bombarded with a large amount of negative news of the horrific things we do to one another.
If you like variegated foliage and lacecap hydrangeas, you will no doubt enjoy this new introduction called Light-O-Day Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla 'Bailday') from Bailey Nurseries. The foliage adorns itself in beautiful pure white and green variegation. The lacecap’s outer ring of sterile flowers is white, while the inner fertile flowers are blue, here in the Northwest. In less acidic soils, the inner flowers will be pink. It is hardy to USDA Zone 5 and being trialed in Zone 4 for hardiness.
Even if you have a small garden, this compact shrub will fit in, growing three to five feet high and wide. Here in the cool climate of the Northwest which tends to super-size our plants, it wouldn’t surprise me if they grow larger.
In between intermittent snow showers, I went outside to photograph the daffodils in my garden. I needed something to remind me that it is one month into spring season. Nothing says spring like this narcissus with its exceptional, frilly, apricot-pink cups set off by white petals.
Last fall, I planted 50 bulbs in this shallow container and placed it on a pedestal. It sits by my front door, greeting everyone with its cheery blossoms. Some of the plants ended up horizontal with the rain, sleet, snow, and hail that fell from the sky the last few days.
This spring is one for the record books; however, the daffodils keep me grounded in the knowledge that this too shall pass. Garden season will be here soon enough and in full force, and I can quit whining about the inclement weather. As typical Northwesterners often do, I will move on to complaining it is too hot.
Word on the street is we aren’t experiencing the lowest average temperature on record for April. Meteorologist, Scott Sistek says April 1970 was colder; fortunately, the heat wave on Saturday messed up all chances of breaking the record. Nineteen-seventy can keep its cold record; I will take more heat waves.
I know it’s early, but come on this is winter weather, still! I think I need to ask Sistek to call for an intervention, or I’m going to start making plant sacrifices to the heat gods. I wonder if they would prefer spinach to tomatoes. It’s definitely cool season crop weather and if they don’t start kicking up the heat there will be no tomatoes to sacrifice!
Come on Spring; spring already!
I thought I would place these beauties on the blog for everyone. This is one of our beautiful rhododendron natives. I photographed this at the Rhododendron Sp
ecies Foundation Garden in Federal Way. It is one of the loveliest rhododendrons on the planet in my opinion, and it grows in the Northwest. I say that with complete lack of bias. (Never mind my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.)
I give you Rhododendron occidentale. Click on images to view larger.
Difficult to grow outside the Pacific Northwest and California, Rhododendron occidentale is a choice native plant for a Northwest garden. It is found in thickets around moist areas, seepages and creek sides in the mountains and foothills along the Pacific coast of southwest Oregon to southern California. Kruckeberg recommends planting our native azalea “in massed plantings, interspersed with evergreens.” What a delight that is to view; in addition, the fragrance of a massed planting—intoxicating.
The western azalea is used extensively, in breeding programs, as a parent plant for many highly sought after hybrids, especially for adding fragrance. Some of its offspring include ‘Delicatissimum’, ‘Exquisitum’ and ‘Irene Koster’. All won the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 1993. Although its progeny grows easily outside our region, R. occidentale itself is not easy to maintain outside the maritime Pacific Northwest and California, especially in areas where the weather is hot and humid.
We Northwesterners recognize that the month of April is typically chilly and damp; however, this year is noticeably 
colder. In exchange for this unusually cold season, we ought to receive a long, warm summer that extends halfway into fall. The weather owes us a pleasant summer, don’t you think? Everyone I chat with is complaining about the cold; yet the new season is showing signs that springtime is here, in the face of our crabbiness.
I toured Berry Botanic Garden in Portland on Sunday. Balls of primula flowers were dancing on cool breezes, pink or white blossoms covered bare branches of early flowering trees and the rhododendrons were popping color into opening trusses. Even with the wind and rainsqualls passing through, it was pleasant to visit again.
The garden is a gathering of Rae Berry’s (known internationally as a serious plantswoman in the 1920s) plant collections, rhododendron forest and alpine rock gardens. Trails take you through the rhododendron forest and native plants. The most important aspect of the garden is that it houses a seed bank of rare and endangered native plants, plus programs that help with recovery projects.
If you are in the Portland area and haven’t visited this garden, I encourage you to do so. A five-dollar donation is well worth the cost to stroll the grounds surrounding the Berry house.
