I can’t help it. Hiking a lush mountain trail, I look at the splendid scene of the rolling Blue Ridge, but then am distracted by fern bordered, mossy boulders, or a clump of Clintonia (Clintonia borealis, below). My wife agreeably stops to view False Solomon’s Seals and trilliums, and any number of ferns that I…
I am not disturbed in the least that dead branches frequently fall from the Goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata) that borders the driveway. If this is a symptom of some greater problem (doubtful), all the better since the tree is the cause of many hours of labor as many thousands of seeds germinate. Yes, the tree…
I think I’ve stumbled upon the formula for keeping my wife from meddling in the garden. Certainly, I don’t mind her roaming about, enjoying, so long as she leaves her pruners behind. Considerable damage has been done with her indiscriminate chopping, but there’s no need to make any bigger deal of this than it is….
There is some slight disadvantage to planting abundant quantities of trees in a space that should more properly contain half the number. Flowers of the Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) are barely seen as lower branches have been shaded, and the green and white variegated leaf Chinese dogwood ‘Samaritan’ (Cornus kousa ‘Samaritan’) flowers sparsely, too shaded…
This week, I traveled across country for business, but two days early to visit gardens on Washington state’s Bainbridge Island and to hike in the Olympic National Forest. The weather on arrival was sunny and sixty-two, ideal for both leisurely garden strolls and strenuous climbs, fortunate timing since it turned hot a day later. Sunday’s…
My wife requests that I add a sitting area at the crook in the stream that is my favorite spot in the garden (below). She offers many suggestions, most that are diregarded with no consideration. This, however, has merit, I grudgingly admit, but where, and how? And, what would have to come out to accommodate…
Only one of four sweetferns (Comptonia peregrina) planted this spring has survived. Initially, two were delivered in very questionable condition, and one of the two replacements on the follow up delivery was a bit shaky (now dead, so very shaky). Sweetfern is reputed to be difficult to transplant, so I’m overjoyed with the one that…
Two thick clumps of Indian pinks (Spigelia marilandica) did not return this year, undoubtedly due to overly damp ground in the rear garden. It is likely I’ll replant some day when this area is not so wet, but three smaller clumps partially hidden along the driveway beneath a low branched ‘Jane’ magnolia are doing fine,…
In spring, partially submerged boulders bordering the koi pond disappear beneath a dense planting of irises (yellow flag and various Japanese irises, below), sweetflags (Acorus calamus variegatus), and variegated cattails. A wide spreading Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia, below) sprawls at the water’s edge with exceptional vigor and unusually large leaves, with roots cooled by the…
Only a single branch of the Bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla, below) hangs low enough for flowers to be seen. Of course, the huge, fragrant flowers were enjoyed nearer eye level for twenty years or more, so my regret is only that visitors will miss leaves that stretch to twenty-three inches and blooms to a foot…