Bulbs are coming up

After more than two months of no garden activity, I've spent the last couple weeks doing a lot of garden clean-up. It's amazing how tidying things up can enhance the garden.

The Sarcococca have been flowering and extremely fragrant since January, and the Daphne is blooming now. I planted about 1200 bulbs this fall, and they are coming up. Here are some photos showing the promise of many early spring flowers.

Miniature Dutch Iris

Daffodils in bed near entry

King Alfred Daffodils lower hillside

The Pre-Winter Garden

I've been busy "winterizing" the garden. Here are a few photos to illustrate:

This shows the Camellia sansanqua in bloom, a little earlier than usual, probably due to unusual weather this year. You can also see behind it the pruned stems of my Clematis Jackmanii and Jackmanii Superba. These grow 20 - 25 feet each year and give spectacular show of purple flowers.
As I was looking at the Nandina (Heavenly Bamboo), I'm inspired to include some cuttings in an autumn flower arrangement.

 I spread 21 bags of compost on my lower garden beds. Here are some of them. I cut back many of the perennials, leaving some coneflowers for the birds. The Irish Yew, Choisya ternata (Mexican Orange), and some of the blueberries stay green all winter, so the bed is not too bare.

 Here it is November 12 and the bananas, the alstroemeria, some of the cannas, and even the elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta) are still looking good. So I couldn't bear to cut them back yet.
The Angel's Fishing Rod (Dierama pulcherrimum) had gotten quite large, so I managed to divide it. I planted two sections in other spots in beds around the lawn, and potted up more for friends. It was a big job - I hope they all do well.

 My lovely shade bed is so bare. The hostas, ferns, and astilbes are all cut down. Only a little patch of Himalayan maidenhair fern and a heuchera are left showing. I top dressed this with compost too.

 Here is my wonderful potting room. I've brought in Angel's Trumpets, bananas in pots, Colocasia esculenta  (Elephant Ear), fancy-leafed geraniums, cannas, asparagus ferns, and more. I've also got begonias stored in vermiculite and perlite.

 I planted about 1200 spring bulbs! Some of them are in pots. I planted a lot of daffodils and tulips, plus some hyacinths and frittilarias. I look forward to a fabulous spring show!

July flowers with hummingbirds and bees

Just a few photos of garden flowers in the July garden, most with hummingbirds and bees:

 Hot lips Salvia continues to be a hummingbird favorite.

This last flower is a Tigridia, a bulb.

July 1 garden photos of tropical memory garden

Garden photos taken June 22

shade garden

Clematis 'Jackmanii' and 'Jackmanii superba'

growing some carrots, tomatoes, peppers & lettuce with wax begonias & zinnias

Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon) blooming already!

Gunnera by the stream is happy - I wonder how big it will be in August?

The Mason Bees are Active!

I put out my bees (from refrigeration) in mid-March. I added more tubes/reeds, since I have more bees this year. They have been very active in the last two weeks. Here is a photo of my "houses":

Here is a photo of a couple of the flowering currant bushes in my yard. These are some of the many plants the mason bees are getting pollen from:

 They are also visiting blueberries and several other flowering bushes and trees, such as these Choiysa ternata 'Aztec Pearl':

Red Admiral Butterfly

I took some pictures of a Red Admiral butterfly who was attracted to the water spray from the hose I was using to clean my garden tools. He landed on the retaining wall next to me and stayed for quite awhile, basking in the sun.

Trees for the small landscape

Most of us don’t have sprawling estates that can handle a variety of large shrubs and trees. For the smaller landscape areas, what are some good choices of trees that will fit nicely and enhance the area? I will share some of my favorites, most of which are thriving in my Puget Sound area garden.

Lace leaf Maples are lovely in most Washington State gardens. Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Red Dragon’ is a particularly lovely variety that is happy in the sun (with adequate water) or in the shade. Its scarlet leaves in the spring change to deep burgundy in summer, then to blazing crimson in the fall. To minimize pruning, allow space for it to grow to 7 feet wide.

The chestnut-brown peeling bark and fall foliage of Acer griseum make the Paperbark Maple a desirable 18 foot tree for almost any environment – sun to shade and in a variety of soils. Growing a little larger, to about 25 feet, the Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku’ (Coral bark Japanese Maple) is another useful small maple tree.

Korean dogwood (Cornus kousa) trees are much less prone to dogwood anthracnose than Cornus florida. ‘Miss Satomi’ is an outstanding pink-flowering choice and thrives in sun to light shade. Light pink June flowers mature into rose-pink, lasting almost two months. Minimize pruning of this 15 foot tree’s beautiful branching pattern.

A tree on my wish list is Parrotia persica ‘Vanessa’. With height of 15 feet and width of 10 feet, this variety of Persian ironwood is not as wide as the species. It’s colorful foliage, irregular branch structure and exfoliating bark  make it a four season tree.

The Stewartia is a must-have small tree. Both the Japanese Stewartia pseudocamellia and the Orangebark Stewartia Monadelpha  are great in light to open shade in well-drained soil. Its features include delicate saucer-shaped white flowers, beautiful cinnamon-brown bark and bright orange-red fall leaf color. This disease-resistant tree wants little to no pruning.

Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Fastigiata', the Japanese Plum Yew, is an evergreen that can provide some year-round structure to the perennial garden. It is columnar, slightly vase-shaped, for a nice contrast. Slow growing, it will take a long time to get to 10 feet tall. Deer don’t like it – perhaps it’s the two-inch long needles. The Plum Yew can tolerate low light condition, as well as full sun.

Finally, the readily available Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma Goldcrest' is great for outdoor containers. When it has grown too large, its yellow-green needles will brighten up the garden, where it will grow slowly to 6 feet (eventually 15).

These small trees are just a sampling of many fine trees for the modest landscape. By selecting samll and disease-resistant trees, you will have minimal maintenance and more leisure to enjoy your garden.

Japanese Plum Yew

Wilma cypress

Japanese Stewartia

Coral bark Maple in fall

Coral bark maple in winter

Red Dragon Lace Leaf Maple

Korean Dogwood

Harvesting Mason Bee Cocoons

Last weekend, I harvested my mason bee cocoons. I bought 10 cocoons (6 male and 4 female) last winter and refrigerated them until March. Then I put them out in an assortment of cardboard tubes and reeds in a little house. They woke up in the later part of March and were busy until around mid May. Since I harvested more than 160 healthy cocoons, I'm sure that quite a few native mason bees found my house and decided to lay their eggs there. I have a great location for mason bees (Blue Orchard Bees, or BOBs), since I have my little stream where they can get the mud needed to separate the egg chambers.

Here are photos I took during the harvest process. It was a little more difficult than I expected to get the tubes open. The reeds are much easier, so I went to Crown Bees in Woodinville and exchanged about 120 of my excess bees for a bunch more reeds for the spring.

It took me about 90 minutes to harvest the cocoons. This was my first time, so I think it will take less than half the time next year.

This photo shows the assortment of tubes I used and the first few cocoons I harvested:

 This shows some of the opened cardboard tubes:

 This is an opened reed. They are quite easy to open up. You can see the cocoons separated by plugs of mud. The black specks are bee feces.
The orange "dust" is pollen mite feces, which I found in a few of the tubes/reeds. I discarded the orange dust and the cocoons that were next to it.

 Here are my harvested cocoons. I brushed off most of the black specks (feces), but it doesn't hurt to leave some, so I didn't bother with any unnecessary work.

I kept about 30 cocoons and took the rest to Crown Bees for them to distribute to others who want to raise mason bees. They are working on getting more farmers (such as almond and cherry growers) to use bees as an additional type of bee.

The bees I kept are stored in the refrigerator until March. I put them in a little yogurt container, which rests in a larger container with some water in the bottom so they won't get dehydrated in the refrigerator. Then a poked holes in the plastic lid of the container, so they will get air. A no-cost way to safely store the bees while hey hibernate.

Harvesting bees will increase the numbers of healthy bees that survive.

Fall in the garden

Spiders are everywhere! I have to remember they are beneficial, especially when I'm walking into webs, and getting the occasional bite.

The double-file viburnum are changing to a lovely burgundy color. And they have a small second bloom. The white flowers really contrast with the dark leaves.

The bright golden-chartreuse of Ginkgo biloba "Mariken" (dwarf ginkgo) provide a bright pop of color.

The Beautyberry is giving a hint of the spectacular purple berries that will stand out when the leaves drop. In the meantime, the leaf color is nice. I have three plants, but they are still small. They will grow to about 6 feet.

Here is a photo of John taking out the Scarlet runner bean plants. The hummingbirds are still finding plenty in the garden, with the hardy fuchsias and salvias.