Goddesses..teach me how to be so beautiful!

The goddesses of my autumn garden. Mophead Hydrangeas. I couldn't be happier with them.

East Eden

The East garden at the front of the house. I plan to add a lot of spring bulbs to this garden, growing up through sedums that are there year round. They will bloom about the same time as the pink flowering dogwood tree. This young tree may take a few years to bloom though. I will also have Fairie's Wands planted up near the front door. I already planted the dark red peonies to the left of the rock in the photo...they look pretty sad but I don't doubt them for a second. They will be the stars of this garden come June!

Delicious Diablos

Two new robust black shrubs have been added to my garden! These are ninebarks, named Diablo...yum. A housewarming gift from my mom. More like a "thank god this move is over" gift. I'm excited to see how these will work with what is already planted. They look delicous to me, and will provide a good backdrop to anything that blooms pink!

A greenhouse, of sorts.

The indoor greenhouse...the thing in here I most want to live is the Daphne Odora. I discovered this amazing smelling plant at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It drew me from 1/2 mile away until I found it & took a tiny flower to find out what it is. I was lucky to have one planted at my last house & took 2 cuttings in hopes of keeping it in my garden. So far, they seem to be doing pretty good. I have a mock orange tree in here too, I am hoping it will live because it has a really neat fountain shape as an adult shrub that I love & will put next to the back corner of the shed or greehouse. It's a fun one to duck around when walking around the garden.
As I type here in Jon's office, my cat Coco has a cute little habit of getting closer to me. She secretly wants control...but I still think it's pretty adorable.
It was a cool dewy morning today & the overcast grey sky is promising to make it a good day for the new plantings.
Autumn Crocus in full boom. I planted these with some spring Narcissis & Tall elegant deep pink tulips, they can all trade off blooming through the spring & fall.
Our garden wheel...the moss probably wont make it, since it is planted now in full hot sun. This will function as a stepping stone at the start of the herb garden. I saw a green tree frog hanging out in the bottom of the hole the other day-cool!! I was going to plant a ground cover in there, but maybe I will leave it to the froggy.
A hot pink geranium I inherited when my grandad passed away this year. He and my grandmother would winter over geraniums every year, bringing them out in the spring from under their house. They just seemed huge back then. The smell of the geranium leaf as well as the smell of marigold flowers are some of my first memories in their garden. They had a lovely garden in the Yakima Valley and I used to play there each summer. I remember smelling the geraniums and marigolds on my hands for hours afterwards. I thought it was pretty neat to get these plants from him. I want to plant marigolds in my new garden, probably in the rose garden this year. It will be a first for me. I can already smell them.
Sweet woodruff transplant that looks to be thriving! Hurray!
This rock has a lot of green in it when wet...I love it.
The hot red stem of this Fireglow euphorbia just doesn't show up well enough on film. I am really happy to have this plant in my garden...it makes a bright cheery statement at the back of the herb garden against the fence.
My cape blanco sedum...hope it will root down here...I can't get enough of the pink & dusty blue green chalkyness of it's coloring. Truly a gem.
Pork and beans with sempervivums. go babies go!

RIP

As things are settling down from our move, I started going through some old notes that were lost in the shuffle. I found my list of plants to transplant, root or propagate from the old garden and started remembering what I left behind...I hope they will be tended by someone new. I'm probably most sad about the golden rod, because it was a gift from a friend's garden & I simply forgot to grab the pot of it on moving day.

A quick list of those left behind...and then I promise to let them go forever & move on!
Hardy fuchsia
Japanese Anemone
Leeks
Lambs ear
Parsley seed
Primroses hardy
Pink Oriental Poppy
Clematis Armandii
Clematis A Purple four leaf variety
Fireworks golden rod

The ones I got, but ended up kicking the bucket anyway...
Cat mint (at least the cats got some pleasure from this before it died.)
Chartreuse box wood
A number of Rose cuttings
Grape vine starts

The jury is still out on these plants that I tried to propagate & bring to the new house: I have an indoor & outdoor nursery where they are fighting for their lives.
Akebia Vine
Honeysuckle
Daphne Odora
Lavender
Mock Orange tree
green boxwood
Sarcacoa

A few plants in the shade of the house/north path, in the outdoor nursery.

I also have some starts that seemed successful enough to put into the landscape already. These may not make it & I am keeping an eye on them.
Pink Clematis
Wire Vine
Sage
Maidenhair Ferns
Peonies
Calla Lilies
Sedum

The list of plants I managed to propagate successfully is a truly fabulous list! I will have to gather data & photos of that endeavor to see how I did & reflect upon the wonder of nature! It amazes me.

Rapunzel

I let Jenny's hair down yesterday. Once she takes root in this spot I will cut her hair and set her in another spot where I want her to grow & let her root down again. I wonder how long I can get away with propagating this way. Too easy.

My Admirers

Coco & Babs...they have been giving me the tiniest meows lately when I am walking through the garden & past their door. Begging me for their freedom..

The Moon bed

The Moon bed, named for it's crecent shape, hugs the edge of lawn furthest from the house. A neon purple Russian Sage is going to be beautiful backdrop for the lawn. I also have a neat box leaf Hebe (my garden book says it can grow to 6 feet!) and a rock with a very pretty grass I have not yet identified. At each tip of the moon I planted lavenders. I also planted lavenders on the other bed that hugs the grass. I'd like to say I hope they'll be pretty, but right now I just hope they will stay alive. They're telling me I can't cure their transplant blues with water...so leaving it alone to help it live is a hard one...I'm watching them carefully. In fact, I'm doing a test, watering two (probably a bit too much) and the other two I am leaving alone but still watering occassionally. I'll see who does better & take it from there.

Autumn plantings

Angels fishing rods, corkscrew willow and pacific Irises.

Russian Sage, moss and Bronze grass.

A red maple leaf.

Pink Weigela from Tita.

Our first garden spider.

Autumn Crocus.

Diablo Ninebark, grass & russian sage.

Pacific Iris & Red hot pokers.

Baby tears.

And as Jon likes to call them, baby's teeth.

Hosta, autumn joy sedum and some kind of boggy reed grass.

The beginings of a shade garden

An autumn moon bed.

Rosemary, Iris, grasses and euphorbia.

Maidenhair Fern.

Hydrangea bloom.

Sedums from Tita. Looking good girls. I promise I will plant you soon, just let me figure out what needs your happy apple green faces. Tulips would surely love to grow up through your carpet. Mini pink tulips I think. Now, where....

Euphorbia monster

A Euphorbia I picked up on a garden tour in West Seattle a month ago. Although looking pretty and modest with only 2 limbs at the moment, I know this one is going to be bold. A sea monster reaching for a dainty coral skinned girl. One of the gardeners gave me two small maple trees, red hot pokers, and this beauty. I love how blue green it is...and I think this bed is going to have a coral and blue thing happening. I am planning on moving a Coral Bark Maple to this bed from the front yard landscape that the builder planted. One too many trees up front I think...and this bed could really use such a pretty addition of structure. The blue and coral is promising me it will look good with the rocks, the blue oat grass, the blue creeping juniper and the burgany tipped semperviviums. AH! I'm definitely excited about this area. It will eventually have the garden shed against it's back, to be painted the color of our house (light grey).

Jason in the house

My adorable & energetic nephew Jason getting worn out walking the edges of the new path over and over and over...

The Herb Garden

Looks pretty magical to me, with the sun rays coming down to greet the freshly made herb garden planting beds (along the right side of the grass). I created a dirt path that starts at the old mill wheel and snakes through this bed...creating three raised burms for planting herbs, roses and a few perennials. Mint, Sage and a mysterious grass have planted their roots in the part closest the lawn so far. Behind are two rose bushes with a mass of orange daylilies between them. The third section (straight back) has Rosemary and Fireglow Euphorbia. It's going to be gorgeous! =) This morning I planted Narcissis, tall pink Tulips and Magic/Surprise lilies next to the rocks that guard the path behind the grass. Thyme is planted throughout all three areas, here and there. Everything wants to put on roots before winter arrives, so I am feeling some urgency to get everything in...but I am trying to plan it out a bit too, so for now the rest will have to wait.

Plant me!

Other plants awaiting their new spots.