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The First Peony - 'Shima-Nishiki'

The Tree Peony 'Shima-Nishiki' is the first to bloom. The name means "fire flame" in Japanese, an apt title to describe the red blooms striped with white. Occasionally, there are solid red blooms. Every year this peony gets better and seemingly overnight, the puny-looking bare branches are suddenly fleshed out with a tremendous profusion of leaves. The bush is dense, forming a 4 ft. mound. Our plant resides at the top of one of the terrace beds in back where it gets some morning sun and dappled sun (mostly shade) for the remainder of the day.  We have many peonies in the garden and they all came from Adelman Peony Gardens in Salem, Oregon. It is worth a drive just to see their beautiful display garden in May. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Mt Hood weather comes to our house!

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Another round of snow came yesterday. I am not sure exactly how much we got but I am estimating around 2". It is beautiful and reminds me of my recent trip to Mt. Hood. 

 I really dodged a bullet yesterday when I got home from work around 3pm. This was right at the time traffic started to bog down and by the time I got home, the news stations were showing tangled traffic on the interstates. I think if I had left work thirty minutes later, it would have taken me much longer to travel those 5 miles. It was a traffic nightmare last night with some people taking up to 6 hours to get home. 

 Today is a day to stay inside - maybe do some baking or catching up on my reading (the new biography of Bram Stoker is quite good!). I am happy to be at home. I took a brief stroll around the garden. It is cold and the hummingbird feeders froze last night. "Van" (Michael named our hummer) was probably mighty miffed this morning but I took the feeders in and de-thawed them.


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This bamboo is normally about 6 feet tall but it is weighted down by the snow. This happened last week when we got some snow and ice but it quickly rebounded after the thaw.


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Euphorbia in the snow


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Blue Spanish Fir (Abies pinsapo 'Glauca')



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Rose 'Kardinal Kolorscape' was still blooming just a few days ago.


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The view down the street.


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The English Laurel hedge


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Lavender and Barberry


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Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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Comments

  1. Jane StrongDecember 15, 2016 at 1:26 PM

    Wow! Great photos making memories to keep, it may never snow like that for the next ten years! I like how the snow piled up on top of things especially on the tree in pix #4 leaving the bottom side clean and bare and the furry burr-y cloak on the statue.

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  2. EveDecember 15, 2016 at 1:48 PM

    Poor little Van!! Hope it warms up quickly!!!

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  3. AlisonDecember 15, 2016 at 2:32 PM

    I don't know how close to your house you have your hummingbird feeder hung, but if there's an electrical outlet near by, I've heard that if you wrap the feeder in LED Christmas lights that might supply enough heat to keep the syrup from freezing. Or a lot of people just bring it in at night and put it out again in the morning.

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  4. Phillip OliverDecember 15, 2016 at 2:38 PM

    That is a good idea and worth trying.. Our feeders are just out on the patio. I am going to start bringing them in for now.

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  5. Lisa at GreenbowDecember 15, 2016 at 5:36 PM

    Your garden looks pretty with a heavy dusting of snow. Van is a lucky bird having his own chef. :)

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  6. Hoover BooDecember 15, 2016 at 7:12 PM

    Holy Moly! Snow brightens up the whole outdoors--nice in grey (almost) winter. That last photo of the statue wearing a snow turban is a fun one.

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  7. AaronDecember 16, 2016 at 10:53 AM

    Nice pics, Phillip!

    I particularly the last one with the statue wearing its stone 'hat' :)

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  8. UnknownDecember 16, 2016 at 5:25 PM

    Glad you are enjoying the transformation wrought by the snow.

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  9. ShoalandaDecember 17, 2016 at 6:03 AM

    Only cold here. News reports said UNA cheerleaders stuck on icy interstate on way to Kansas City. Hoping we avoid the icy mix this go-round. You guys stay safe!

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