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