Muck About

Mama’s Day—Big Day for Flowers

Mother’s Day almost rivals Valentine’s Day for giving flowers to a favorite lady.  Only instead of your sweetheart, mama receives the bouquets and living plants.

Traditionally, my child and husband usually give me a hanging basket of flowers.  Sometimes fuchsias, other times New Guinea impatiens.  Both baskets are perfect for our east-facing porch.  The plants receive morning light and afternoon shade, ideal conditions for these plant choices.

This year my gift was an Anthurium for inside the house, although its beautiful foliage will be welcome outdoors for the summer once it is acclimated.  Unfortunately, the tag doesn’t tell me which cultivar it is.  A member of the Arum family, they originally came from Central and South America.  I grew these in Hawaii where they are a popular plant for the cut flower trade.  I won’t be cutting mine though; I will enjoy the long lasting flowers on the plant.  When our unseasonably cold spring ends, it will live outside for the summer; the large, heart-shaped foliage is lovely in the garden.

What we normally think of as the flower is actually a rich-hued, modified leaf, referred to as the spathe.  Both male and female flowers grow on a tapered spike that rises out of the spathe.  A sterile band of flowers separates the females from the males. 

A Primrose by Any Other Name

I didn’t imagine it; this plant has bloomed nonstop since February.  On top of the rock wall in my entry garden, the tiny flowers are still hanging on stems well above the foliage where it grows under a wide spreading plum tree.  The silver-laced primrose, Primula polyanthus ‘Penumbra’ has tricolored flowers edged in white, gold centers, and a dark maroon red that is so dark it almost appears black.  Whoever named this perennial ‘Penumbra’, looked at the flower and imagined an eclipse of the moon.  I can see that…sort of.  No matter what inspired the name, I am enamored with this sweet primrose.

A New Variegated Lacecap Hydrangea

If you like variegated foliage and lacecap hydrangeas, you will likely enjoy this new introduction called Light-O-Day Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla 'Bailday') from Bailey Nurseries.  The foliage of this hydrangea 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.  Although here in the cool climate of the Northwest that tends to super-size our plants, it wouldn’t surprise me if they grow larger.

Narcissus ‘Mon Cherie’

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.

Western Azalea

I thought I would place these beauties on the blog for everyone to enjoy one of our rhododendron natives. I photographed this at the Rhododendron Species Foundation garden in Federal Way. It is one of the most beautiful 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. This 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 easily grow outside our region, R. occidentale is not easy to grow outside the maritime Pacific Northwest and California, especially in areas where the weather is hot and humid.

Pieris japonica the lily-of-the-valley bush

I am preparing an entry in the plant gallery and thought I would post my notes here on the blog as I continue filling out the cultural advice for the growing guide on RSG. This is one of my favorite shrubs species from Japan and other Asian countries for growing in the NW.

As with most shrubs in the Ericaceae family, Pieris japonica grows best in low ph soil, making this carefree shrub a perfect choice for our native soils that are typically acidic.  The shrub is a late winter bloomer here in the maritime Pacific Northwest.  Its new foliage in spring is red, much like photinia; however, unlike the fast moving photinias, pieris growth is slow.  I’m grateful we planted these shrubs when we first arrived at our new property, since my ten-year-old plants reach only about six feet tall.  Even though they grow slowly, they are handsome year round, with their evergreen leaves held in whorls. The six-inch long panicles filled with sweet-smelling, small white flowers on red stems cover the shrub in late winter.  When I park in my driveway and see them, the flowers are a welcome sight, signaling the end of the dark, cold days of the season.

In full sun, the shrub flowers prolifically, but grows slower.  The shrub grows faster in shade, but has fewer flowers.  I grow mine as large shrubs, but they are just as handsome limbed up to look like small trees, providing more real estate underneath for planting ferns, perennials or ground covers.  Pieris tolerates salt spray, and thus is a good candidate for planting along the coast.  These shrubs are poisonous.

Echeveria ‘Topsy Turvey’

This Mexican hens and chicks plant, Echeveria runyonii ‘Topsy Turvey,’ (pronounced ech-eh-VER-ee-a  run-YON-ee-eye)  is a fun little succulent to grow. The leaves look as if they are turned inside out. But it’s not hardy in the Pacific Northwest, so I grow mine in the greenhouse during winter. However, you can winter it over inside the house. Slowly acclimate it to the climate inside the house when you bring it in and cut back on the water. In spring slowly acclimate it back outside. When it flowers, I often see the hummingbirds poking around in the bright apricot and pink blossoms.

Click on images to enlarge.

Pre-spring in Only a Few Words

Today I photographed a few pre-spring scenes in the garden. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I will let them speak to you on their own. If only I could convince a certain editor...

(As with most images on this blog, click on photo to see a larger version.)

The catkins hanging down on the contorted filbert, Harry Lauder's walking stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') looked exceptional in the afternoon sun.

The seven son's tree (Heptacodium miconoides) bark is beautiful and I finally photographed an example of it to share.

The hellebores are in their glory right now and this fairly new cultivar, Helleborus x nigersmithii 'Ivory Prince' is downright lovely.

Seven Sons Tree

The seven sons tree (Heptacodium miconioides) was named a Great Plant Pick for 2008.  I heartily agree this is a choice plant for the Pacific Northwest.  It certainly is one of my favorite large shrubs.  I first bought mine over 10 years ago and couldn’t find any cultural advice on how to grow it.  It is easy to grow and is one of my favorites in my garden.  Unfortunately, this shrub isn’t drought tolerant so it needs supplemental watering during our annual drought period.

I pruned my plant to a single trunk so it appears to be a small tree, instead of a large shrub.  At its base, I planted Clematis ‘The President’; the vine climbs into the branches and flowers in spring and again in summer giving the shrub another season of interest.

The genus was first collected in 1907 by by E.H. Wilson in Hupei Province, China. Alfred Rehder from the Arnold Arboretum described the new genus in 1916. Rehder named the collected specimens–Hepta, which means seven, and codium, which refers to the flower head.. It then was forgotten, until1980 when it was rediscovered by the Sino-American Botanic Expedition.

Recently introduced to this country by the Arnold Arboretum and U.S. National Arboretum, this beautiful multi-stemmed shrub or small tree is not bothered by pests or diseases! H. miconioides is rare in China with few if any to be found growing in the wild anymore.

The shrub has tan bark that exfoliates to reveal an attractive brown inner bark underneath. In August, the white buds form, and in September, the flowers open with a fragrance of jasmine. In fall, the calyx turns bright red until the first hard frost. In a good year, the shrub turns red from numerous calyxes. The leaves turn a decorous purple-bronze hue in fall. This is a great shrub for late summer, fall and winter interest. Another plus for this shrub is its salt tolerance so it possibly can be used near the seashore. It also attracts butterflies.

Who’s Dissin’ the Sweet Peas?

I adore sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus). As a child, I buried my nose into a bouquet of the highly scented flowers and breathed in their sweet fragrance.  I don’t remember the vines growing in my family’s garden, but when I became an adult and cultivated my own garden, I grew them often. The vines are easy to grow in our mild climate, the flowers come in an assortment of colors, and their fragrance is divine.  I assumed everybody loved them.  So when plantsman, Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006) came to town on a lecture train, I was surprised when he spoke with disdain about my favorite, fragrant annual.  He’s dissin’ my little beauties, I thought, as I sat listening to him speak to an enthralled audience.  He definitely was an opinionated man, who didn’t appear to hold back voicing any of them.

I don’t remember why he disliked them.  It’s possible I blocked out his reasons by silently chanting, La la la I can’t hear you, under my breath.  Since he’s from England , where they have competitions growing exhibition quality sweet peas, perhaps they are so commonly grown that they regard them the same as I do petunias.  Later in Lloyd’s talk, he spoke fondly of the marigolds he grew at Great Dexter. He doesn’t like sweet peas, but adores marigolds? They are at the bottom of the pile of plants I dislike; I regard them as nothing more than slug food with a funny odor. 

I realize that just because I admire or respect a gardener doesn’t mean I agree with all his/her opinions or even like the same plants they tout as the best to grow. Besides, plants fall in and out of favor all the time. Like fashion, in one era they are everybody’s favorite and plant breeders irrupt into a hybridizing frenzy; the next era they’re unfashionable.

We gardeners can be a fickle lot; nevertheless, I refuse to despise the sweet peas, no matter if they are fashionable or not.  Now I grow selected hybrids, changing year to year as I strive to grow every single one that captures my fancy. Many of the exhibition quality cultivars have nice long stems that make them the best choices for cutting. Even though the flowers last only three days in a vase, they are worth it when their fresh sweet scent fills a room. Obviously, with the great selection of seed available, I am not the only one who finds them irresistible.