Middle of July in my garden

Here are some photos I took in the middle of the month. The main activities are deadheading and adjusting stakes. Dahlias need regular deadheading, so they will continue to bloom. Alstromeria need to have the stems that are nearly finished pulled out, as that will generally stimulate development of new flower stems.

The sugar snap peas are producing plenty for us to enjoy. It's fun to watch the pumpkins grow - my first time growing them! The scarlet runner beans are just beginning to produce beans.

There is not much weeding to do, as there is not much bare ground.

Alstroemeria

I have a variety of Alstroemeria in my perennial beds. I'm going to write an essay about growing them, but for now I will post photos of some of them as they look now. They are an underused plant in gardens, as they are lovely in the garden and long lasting as cut flowers.

Spring garden photos taken April 15

Here are some photos that show the progression of the garden just a little later in April.

Early April in the garden

I came back from a vacation to see most of the tulips blooming and many shrubs leafed out. The garden is all tidied up, so I had to look for work! I brought out the plants from my potting shed to enjoy the sun and warmth.

My little Japanese-inspired garden

Clematis 'Jackmanii' & 'Jackmanii Superba' climb high, so we added string from top deck - they will grow 20+ feet

Gunnera along my little stream

The Clematis 'Romantique' planted last year has already climbed to the top of arbor.

Gunneras have emerged: Gunnera tinctoria and Gunnera manicata

It is fun to watch the Gunnera plants emerge and grow throughout the spring and summer.
Here is a photo of one of my plants. They are all next the my little stream, so I don't have to worry about watering them. I might toss a little fertilizer on them once during the spring, but that's all that is needed.
The beginning of November, we cut the leaves off and covered the crowns of the plants to provide winter protections. It probably was not needed during our warm winter, and it was the first time I'd done this. It is a good idea though.

This is Gunnera tinctoria. I also have Gunnera manicata a bit further down the stream. They produced "babies" last year, so I was able to separate them into a few additional plants.

March 12 garden photos

I had my Burien/Des Moines Master Gardener clinic group over this morning for a continuing education session. We discussed mason bees and put out the remaining bees. We observed several of the bees that I had put out earlier at work, buzzing around and mating. We had a wonderful break in the weather and toured the garden, with an emphasis on native plants and right plant, right place.

Here are a few garden photos I took today.

Frittilaria

Gunnera emerging by the stream

native flowering currant

great color combination

Early bulbs are blooming

I've been getting lots of late winter and early spring garden clean-up done in the last couple weeks. Here are a couple photos showing some of the early bulbs in my garden:

no bulbs in this garden, but it looks nice in the late winter rain