Dirt Therapy

Five of my favorite plants in the garden this week - #1  Lagerstroemia 'Lunar Magic'  Having lived in Crape Myrtle country (it was the city tree of Florence, Alabama), it has been fun seeing this heat-loving tree gain popularity here in Washington state. I don't see that many growing in the neighborhood but I'm sure that will begin to change as more and more folks are asking for them at the nursery. I first added 'Dynamite' and 'Catawba' crape myrtles to our garden a few years ago. 'Catawba' blooms the earliest with beautiful lavender blooms. I wanted that particular color and studied the options closely before choosing it. 'Dynamite' with blood-red color blooms later, sometimes not until September, but this year it is loaded with flowers that have been blooming for weeks now. I'm sure our recent heat waves gave it a boost.  I had been seeing many of the dark colored leafed varieties at the nursery but wasn't particularly drawn to...

  'Seafoam' rose with Clematis x durandii The roses are displaying their second flush of blooms and basking in the languid hot temperatures. I fertilized them with fish emulsion about a month ago. The second bloom is usually much lighter than the heavy spring displays but some of them can be quite profuse. On the lighter side, 'Seafoam' (above) has actually been a very shy bloomer this year, even on its initial display. I don't know why this is.  Also, much sparser in blooming this go-around is 'Radway Sunrise'. This is a rose that just keeps blooming as long as the spend blooms are deadheaded. Amazing color on this one - 'Radway Sunrise' When I look at the photos, 'Playboy' (below) looks a lot like 'Radway Sunrise'. 'Playboy' is more orange although the color now has a more pronounced pink effect. Maybe the weather or the camera - Another in the orange color is 'Coral Cove'. I'm still impressed with this one. It i...

August, how I hate thee. At least there are a lot of pretty blooms to look at, if you can tolerate the heat. Here's a look at some of the heat lovers along our southern facing back wall. The large crape myrtle is 'Catawba' and the smaller white one in the pot is 'Lunar Magic'. Also in the photo - Lantana 'Miss Huff', Brugmansia, Guara, Lobelia and the rose 'Gold Medal'.  The big tropical looking leaves in front of 'Catawba' is Honey Bush ( Melianthus major ). Other blooms in the August garden - This is exciting! Acanthus mollis (Bear's breeches) is blooming for the first time. Allium 'Millenium' Geranium 'Rozanne' and Aster 'Monch' with oregano. A bee-lover's paradise.   Cleome (Spider Flower) Coreopsis 'Leading Lady Sophia' Rose 'Cornelia' Crocosmia 'Twilight Fairy' Datura Echinacea 'White Swan' Rose 'Eden' Pineapple Lily (Eucomia 'Sparkling Burgundy') Fuchsia ...

Well, it is happening again. Today the temperature reached 100, tomorrow's high is 104-107 depending on who you listen to and Friday will be over 100 as well. This isn't quite the historical 112 degrees that we received earlier (Portland was even higher) but it is enough to be distressed about. I opted to be cautious so I've covered my plants that suffered the most the last time this happened. The garden looks like ghostly ghouls are visiting. The Stewartia pseudocamellia tree (top photo) was the most difficult to cover because of its height. I should have given this tree a shadier location. If this kind of thing continues, I might consider moving it or replacing it altogether. Another biggie is the Spanish Fir ( Abies pinsapo ) in the northeast corner of the front garden. It had some tip damage from the last inferno. The smaller plants around it are both barberries. Berberis calliantha on the left was hit particularly hard and is slowly recovering. The Wheel Tree ( Troch...