Close up photos of flowers

I had fun today taking close-ups of a lot of flowers. I will create a photo album on my Facebook page. Here are a few:

Oriental Lily

Tigridia

Double Delight Tea Rose

White coneflower

Liatris visited by a bee

Clematis Jackmanii

Agapanthus

Alstroemeria

Right plant in the right place

I scouted around my yard for plants in the wrong places, a I found a couple that were not getting covered by irrigation system, who were not going to survive without supplemental watering. I'd like to reduce my maintenance activities, so I am limiting my hand watering to pots. So I moved the plants to irrigated areas.

I had too many liatris in my perennial beds, so I dug a few plants out. Now I need to find new homes for them.

What else? Well, there continues to be lots of deadheading to do. And I need to get back on the hillside, berms, and streamside to hoe weeds.

Weeds!

The weeds grow so fast this time of year. We really have to be diligent in going through the garden to pull weeds. I hosted my Master Gardener group last night for our monthly potluck meeting. The Burien group is the best! We made flower arrangements with flowers and greenery everyone brought. What a fun evening. The weather was nice enough for us to be outside until after sunset.

We started the evening by touring my garden. I was teased by a couple members when they found a giant weed in the middle of my perennial bed!

The Federal Way Symphony Garden Tour is tomorrow. I am one of the featured gardens, so I need to do some last minute weeding and trimming. but it is raining. I'm glad I've been working on getting ready for the last few weeks.

Flower arrangements from the garden

You can't get much fresher than from the garden! I've found my arrangements last at least a week when I pick the flowers in the morning and put right in water. Then I trim the stems and strip any leaves that would be below water in the vase. I like to start with greenery to establish the framework for the arrangement, then add the flowers. These arrangements were for a baby shower.

Updated garden photos

Here are some pictures of some garden areas taken over the weekend. Lately I've been focusing on tidying up garden beds -  trimming, deadheading, staking, and weeding. One day last week, I did a lot of hoeing to remove tiny trees and other weeds from the entire hillside and berm areas.

Today I am going to deadhead my rose bushes, which needs to be done every couple days. And I remove all diseased leaves (black spot) and any branches with powdery mildew.

Later this week, I will pull horsetail and other weeds around the stream. I'm getting ready for a baby shower this weekend and the Federal Way Symphony Garden Tour on the 21st.

Flower arrangment from the garden

I wish I had taken a better picture of this arrangement I made, but I only have a partial cropped from a photo taken at a rehearsal dinner hosted at our house. The framework for the arrangement was branches of viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet' and of mock orange. Flowers included hydrangea, hardy fuchsia 'Pat's Dream', liatrus, zinnia, white astilbe,and alstroemeria.

Awards

On Wednesday, June 20, I attended the awards luncheon for Chinook District of Garden Clubs. From the Washington State Federation of Garden Clubs, I received a 1st place award for this garden blog and a 1st place award for my essay on hardy fuchsias. From the Washington Consultant Council, I received 1st place for Landscape Design for my Japanese-inspired garden. From the district, I received an award for the individual who planted the most trees.

Staking Siberian Iris & other perennials

It's time to pull out all those wonderful Y-stakes to prop up Siberian Iris, Delphinium, and other perennials that are falling down. Here is a picture of my lower hillside area that shows my staked iris. I added three Penstemon heterophyllus 'Margarita BOP' plants to fill in with some summer color. I see some of the summer-blooming perennials I added last summer are coming up and looking good - hooray!

The slugs completely devoured the flat of annual dahlias I planted here in May. I've learned my lesson and am not planting them again. I think this area will look just fine with the current combination of spring and summer blooming perennials.

Mom's memory garden

Mom's memory garden area is looking nice. The Alstroemeria are beginning to bloom and there is a nice variety of foliage.

Removed Lady's Mantle

The six Lady's Mantle plants had gotten too large for the border, so I dug them out. I did a little other plant rearranging, but didn't need to do much for this section of the border to look fine.

Here is a photo of the border area to the left.

Weeding - an ongoing effort

I went around my entire yard yesterday with my trusty action hoe. Everything is weeded, but if I look today, I'm sure I will see more weeds! This is a time of growth for everything.

I took a couple photos to show how much new growth in just two weeks.

 The hostas, astilbe, and ferns have really opened up.

 The Dutch Iris are on the right side of this photo. You can also see some snapdragons I added in the front.

 A few of my lupine plants have nice big bloom stalks. I have a flat of snapdragons planted in front of the smoke tree. The clematis has started to bloom. It is only a couple years old, but is growing nicely.

Plant List

I had a great rainy day activity for yesterday and today. I created a plant list for the different areas of my yard. I listed the latin and common names for more than 200 plants by section or landscape bed. I managed to fit the list onto two pages that I can copy two-sided onto one sheet for printing.The plant list will be a useful handout for visitors to my garden during the Federal Way Symphony Garden Tour and other events at my house this summer and later.

Fertilizing

Since it is raining all week, I spread rose and flower fertilizer on roses, annuals, and some of my perennial flowering plants. I also spread soil acidifier on my blueberries and hydrangeas.

I went to The Bloedel Reserve yesterday with nine members of the Marine Hills Garden Club. We also went to the Bainbridge Gardens nursery for lunch and to shop for plants. I bought and planted a Black Lace Elderberry (Sambucus Nigra) on the hillside and Gunnera manicata by the upper section of stream.

Planting snapdragons

I planted a flat of tall snapdragons in and around the lupine garden area. I'm hoping they are striking to view as one comes up the driveway, followed by the Clematis 'Jackmanii' and the long bed of red geraniums with Crystal Palace lobelia.

In this photo, you can see the Phormium (New Zealand flax) that I recently separated into three plants. Since I lost two of these in the winter two years ago, these get me back to my grouping of three.

Doublefile Viburnum

I have 7 of these Doublefile Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum tomentosum 'Mariesii') on my hillside. They are looking spectacular now. The nice thing about them is that they look great for most of the year. I like how they change to a bronze color in the summer.

This is a great shrub to add to your landscape if you have room for a plant that grows to about 8 - 10 feet wide. Since Viburnums thrive on a clay hillside, I have several varieties. "The right plant for the right place!"

Color and texture in the garden

I especially enjoyed a class on color at a Landscape Design course I attended in April. I took a few photos in my garden showing some color and texture combinations. These photos show opposites on the color wheel: purple shades contrasted with yellow-green shades. They also show varying textures and sizes of foliage.

Ferns, astilbe, and hosta in shade garden

Here is a photo of my shade/frog garden that shows some fern fronds and astilbe and hosta opening up. Ah, the promise of spring!

Clearing brush and weeds from stream area

I have been doing a lot of heavy work in the yard - and having fun. On several occasions, I was splattered with mud from head to toe after a lot of clearing ivy and weeds from around the stream. One day as I was walking up the bank after another session of clearing brush, I thought to myself how much I enjoyed myself. It reminded me of using driftwood to build forts on the beach when I was growing up. Making something from nothing.
Here is a section of the stream area that I cleared and planted with mostly native plants, such as ninebark, red-twig dogwood, currant, and assorted ferns (also assorted hosta).

More spring garden work - planting annuals and dividing perennials

I divided creeping phlox from my front lawn perennial bed, as it was creeping vigorously in the wrong direction (actually in all directions). That left me with enough to plant in my hillside rock garden and give to my neighbor. Then I added a flat of small annual dahlias to the rock garden for some summer color.

I look forward to seeing the dahlia blooms along with other perennials that are coming along in this area.

A flurry of spring activities

I've been planting my pots. Every year I tell myself I will have fewer, and then I get carried away again. I've got more than 40 pots planted this year. Some of them only have a single plant (such as begonias and abutilon), but it will still be quite a few to water this summer. I will probably set up a little drip system in one area to handle nine pots, so that will help. These photos show a few of my pots.

Free Natural Yard Care Workshops in Federal Way

Register for free workshops in Federal Way by calling 253-835-2700

Thursday, May 3
Managing Stormwater in the Landscape

Rain Gardens and More: the Puget Sound region is struggling with increased flooding and other storm water problems, and your landscape can be part of the solution! Learn about installing a mini rain garden, rock-filled troughs, rain chains, and other garden features that are beautiful & functional.

Wednesday, May 9
Do-it-Yourself Rain Barrels

Come learn about water conservation, how to prevent polluted runoff, and the benefits of rain barrels. Water stored in your rain barrel can be used around the home and garden, it will absorb slowly into the ground replenishing groundwater supplies. A limited number of rain barrels will be available for purchase for $25 (cash only).

Thursday, May 17
Organic Weed & Pest Control

Natural Pest, Weed, and Disease Control: ways to create a healthy, beautiful garden that is resistant to the most common Pacific NW pests and disease problems. Learn ways to successfully manage any problem that arises without the use of pesticides. Learn steps to take when making the transition towards a natural approach to pest management.

All classes held at
Federal Way City Hall
33325 8th Ave. S.
Federal Way, WA 98003
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Register by calling 253-835-2700

Red-flowering currant

Here is a photo of one of my flowering currant plants. This one produces larger flower clusters than my other currant plants.

Pruning Berberis thunbergii "Rose Glow" (Japanese Barberry) bushes

I pruned the barberry plants in the parking strip. This is not a fun task because of the thorns, but I managed without too many scratches by using long-handled loppers to cut and to pick up pruned branch and place directly into the yard waste bin. I pruned the oldest cane-like branches to about one inch from the ground (as low as I could get). Many of these were in the center of the bush, so it eliminated crowding. I also pruned some branches that were getting too close to the sidewalk. I didn't want dense shrubs, so I only pruned branches to the ground. (Cutting part way would cause branching.)

Other cane-like plants I prune in a similar manner are Nandinas (Heavenly Bamboo) and Hydrangeas. Cutting branches (canes) to the ground will encourage strong new canes to come up from the base of the plant.

Native plants

Whew! I planted 10 Noble Fir, 10 Grand Fir, 5 Black Hawthorn, 20 Red Flowering Currant, 5 Red Osier Dogwood, and 5 Bunchberry plants this weekend. They were small, procured through Pierce Conservation Society, but it still was a lot to plant over the weekend. Here are a few of the plants:

Also, here are photos of early spring bulbs - Tête-à-Tête Daffodil and Dwarf Iris. They are planted in a highly visible spot by the walkway to my front door.

 

Added some bark to new Japanese-inspired area

Now I'm eager to see how it looks when the dwarf ginkgo and pomegranate leaf out, and the tatting ferns send up new fronds.