It seems like a good idea, putting down an impermeable layer to suppress weeds and then covering it with mulch but it’s not. Really, don’t do it. I’m sure there are occasions and places where it works but more often than not, you end up with weeds anyway AND ugly bits showing through AND crappy bits of plastic/landscape fabric that you have to try and get out of the soil – so just don’t do it. Read more »
Pine candles, 4/14/2013
These pine candles are about as long as they will get but still soft enough to perform candling. Check out how much they lengthened in a month. Interested in the art of pine pruning via candling? Go here for more info. Read more »
Alright, I’m having a mental block. All my attempts to come up with a pithy yet evocative description of these plants falls short so today, I’ll just let the pic explain itself.
Veronica peduncularis ‘Georgia Blue’
Blue flowers still wow me. I’ve been gardening in Seattle for 20+ years and every spring I still marvel at the Lithodora diffusa. I can’t believe I live in a place where a common rockery plant can have such jaw-dropping electric blue flowers – and it’s not alone. Less common but with blue flowers that are just as wowsome isVeronica peduncularis ‘Georgia Blue.’ Read more »
Koelreuteria paniculata showing the salmon-pink of new leaves. It would be easy to walk right past this tree without noticing anything, the leaves at the moment show up only as the slightest of hazes from a distance. Up close the intricate salmon-pink leaves are beautiful, although I have to say the leaves are stupendously photogenic. The reality definitely was cool, but not so striking as it seems in the photos. Read more »
Pine candies?
It’s easy to get caught up in the glory of big. blowsy flowers, especially this time of year when everything is blooming, but don’t forget some of the small delights that are out there. Sara Malone and Janice LeCocq of the Form and Foliage blog have some photos of glorious treats left by the Easter Bunny up on their website. Read more »
Pieris japonica 3/21/2013
I meant to write about Pieris japonica weeks ago, but never got around to it. Now there are the Daphnes, Viburnums, Osmanthus and Ribes in bloom not to mention the flowering cherries running amuck – the flowers filling the sightlines on every block – so why write about a plant that is just about done? Read more »
It must be mating season
I was just at the Point Defiance Zoo where this fellow was holding down one side of the stairs, turning in a slow circle so all could admire his magnificence while another guy did the same on the other side of the stairs. Poor fellows, all that competitive displaying going on and not a peahen in sight. Read more »
FRAGRANCE IN APRIL
Fritillaria meleagris
Fritillaria meleagris has more aliases than any criminal: snake’s head fritillary, checkered daffodil, chess flower, frog-cup, guineahen flower, leper lily (really want one of those), lazurus bell and checkered lily. By whatever name you want to use, Fritillary meleagris is a little sweetie of a springtime bulb, 8-10″ high dangly bells in purple and white tweed. or less appealingly to me, all white. Read more »
