Pacific Tree Frog

This is a good year for frogs. I've seen the Pacific Tree Frog all around my yard. Today they've returned to the window ledge by my shade garden bed.

Sum and substance hosta

I planted a new hosta that I admired on the campus of Seattle Pacific University.

cleaning out the creek

I spent the morning yesterday clearing the weeks out of the creek. I pulled out masses of what our Vietnamese neighbors and friends call watercress. Also some buttercups and shotweed. What a messy job! I was mud from head to toe - threw out my clothes afterwards!
The birds are so happy to have easy access to the water.

Staking plants

My favorite stakes are the English Y stakes. They are flexible to bend around plants as needed and quick to use -  nothing to tie. I've been staking plants, such as iris, astilbe, bellflowers, and lilies. Here is a picture of the stakes with some iris.
You can also see some lady's mantle in the front of the bed and weigelia in the back. I've planted hot lips salvia amongst the iris, so they will be blooming when the iris finish and for the rest of the summer.

red-tailed hawk on my front porch

We came home from a walk to find a hawk on the front porch. It might have been injured. Perhaps by the crows who go after the hawks and eagles and pull out their tail feathers.John took it to PAWS in Lynnwood.

Iris

The iris are just starting to bloom in my yard. Here are photos of three different types. What a glorious time of the year!

Frog/fern garden bed

My shady bed has progressed quickly this spring! We used to call it my fern grotto, but with the pacific tree frogs enjoying it, John is calling it my frog garden.

Plantings:

• Astilbes in the back - two varieties. The white flowers bloom first, then the pink ones.
• Hosta 'Gold Standard' in middle (about six plants).
• A variety of ferns throughout, placed according to height. They include Autumn fern, Ostrich fern, Hart's-tongue fern, Tatting fern, Maidenhair fern, Japanese painted fern, Button fern, and Bird's nest fern.
• Impatiens 'Dazzler White' in front.

hoeing weeds

Yesterday I used my favorite tool, the stirrup hoe, to hoe throughout my garden and landscape beds. It doesn't take long to walk through the garden with the hoe to get the weeds while tiny.

I also took a scrub brush, Simple Green, and buckets up the hill to clean up the plastic adirondack chairs and the big sitting stones by the fire pit. I discovered the coyotes had chewed up one of the chairs!

brought out the tender annuals

I finished planting all my pots and planted zinnias in the front sunny flower bed. I planted 1/2 flat of white impatiens in my shade garden. I think the white will pop in the shade. I planted 1/2 flat of the little begonias (pink with bronze leaves) in my "semi-shade" garden. It gets late afternoon sun, and they did well there last year.
The godietia I planted from seed came up nicely in front sunny bed. I was able to separate and replant a few crowded ones. These are a great annual easily grown from seed. 

Doublefile viburnum and Golden Lawson Cypress

I entered branches from these plants in the district garden club flower show (horticulture) and got a blue ribbon for each.

I've become exceedingly fond of viburnums as a landscape plant, as they thrive in clay soil and do well on a hillside. My favorite viburnum is the doublefile viburnum  - just look at the fabulous branching. Mine is the variety tomentosum 'Mariesii'.

High winds today wiped out the tulips

The wind blew off most of the tulip flowers, so I guess I will go trim the stalks but keep the leaves to feed the bulbs. At least I have my red geraniums planted to make up for the loss of the tulip flowers!

I'm going to begin acclimating (hardening off) some of the tender plants (tomatoes, ipomea, impatiens, begonias)  by bringing them outside for the day. In a few days, they will be ready to stay outside.

Master Garden Foundation resources

I added the link to the Master Gardener Foundation King County web site. It has great resources for useful gardening information.

Composting

John went to Oriental Gardens and got a big compost bin and a worm bin. See the City of Federal Way composting information. They have information for great discounts on compost and worm bins. Stay tuned for our story of setting these up.

Scarlet runner beans

I planted scarlet runner beans for the first time. They are great tasting green beans, but it is important to harvest before the beans get too big. We eat these a lot in England, and they are gaining in popularity here. They make a beautiful ornamental vine, so I have double reason to be excited to add them to my garden.

I planted 4 beans around each tall stake, mostly positioned into teepees. See photo for two of the teepees. I had several 6 foot stakes, so I used these. In the future, I'd like to use taller stakes. Since they are nitrogen fixers, I will look for other spots to plant them next year to enrich the soil in multiple places.