Dirt Therapy

A look back at 2023 and one image from every month of the year - January    It can be a challenge to find worthy garden subjects to photograph in January but 'Chief Joseph' Lodgepole Pine is at its most glorious time of the year. (Photo taken January 11, 2023) February Snowdrops are usually the first blooms of the season (Photo taken February 9, Michael's b-day) March The Boxleaf Azara put on the biggest show yet this year.  The tiny yellow flowers are hardly noticeable except for the vanilla/chocolate scent that perfumes the entire garden. (March 27) April The pathway in the front garden - things are beginning to look a little greener. (April 11) May Taken on the last day of May, roses on the pergola and arches (May 31) June The front pathway again, seen from the opposite side (June 10) July The gravel garden in front of the pergola (July 17) August By the time August comes around, the borders begin to take on that overgrown look. (Aug. 9) September      F...

I seem to be back on the reading bandwagon after spending the last decade not reading that much except for books I was having to review. This year I was constantly with a book and according to Goodreads, I've read 89 books this year. Not bad considering that my goal was 60 books. I enjoy reading year-end lists and always interested in what people are reading. Let me know what you read this year in the comments. Here were some of my favorites and least favorites - BIOGRAPHY I read a lot of biographies, especially those related to film and the entertainment world. The one I enjoyed the most was an old one - AS I AM by Patricia Neal , published in 1989. She experienced a long string of misfortunes in her life but she endured and kept going. After a promising start in Hollywood, her career and reputation was tarnished by an affair with the married Gary Cooper. She later married British writer Roald Dahl. They had several children together, a daughter died from measles and their son al...

We Made A Garden,  published in 1956, is a classic in gardening literature. It has been on my shelf for 25 years and I've just now got around to reading it. I had finished Barbra Streisand's mammoth 1,000 page biography (good but wore out its welcome around page 700) and was looking for something lighter to read next. This fit the bill nicely and it is a gem. Margery Fish was not a trained horticulturalist, and she would be in her forties before she started gardening. She attended secretarial college and following that, she worked for twenty years for magazines and newspapers under British publishing magnate Lord Northcliffe. She would serve as secretary to six editors of the Daily Mail and she would marry the last one, Walter Fish, in 1933. Margery was 40 and Walter was 18 years her senior. Walter and Margery on their wedding day, March 2, 1933 In 1937, with war imminent on the horizon, Walter decided that they should get out of London and move to the country.  After months o...

For the past month, Spirea thunbergii 'Ogon' has been the most beautiful plant in the garden. A blaze of burnt yellow and orange shades that remains unfazed by freezing nights and a deluge of rain. It has been particularly stunning during the recent long stretch of gray days. It is what I see from the window when I'm sitting at the computer and it brings much pleasure. This particular spirea is commonly known as the "Baby's Breath Spirea" due to the tiny white blossoms that cover it in very early spring, before the leaves appear. It is the first blooming shrub and a sure sign that spring is on the way. The structure (upright and twiggy) and narrow leaves are reminiscent of a willow.  Needless to say, spring is not the only time that it is beautiful.

Mahonia repens (Creeping Mahonia) I can never over-emphasize the importance of evergreen shrubs in the garden. Otherwise, you have nothing to look at during the winter months. Here are a few of my favorites. Talk about a carefree plant! The PNW native  Mahonia repens (Creeping Mahonia or Creeping Oregon Grape) requires nothing special and will even tolerate drought after it is established. I tend to think of this plant more as a groundcover but after many years (six to be exact - it was planted in April of 2017) it is beginning to look more like a low-growing shrub. The height is less than 2 feet tall. Growth tends to be more horizontal and it has spread 3-4 feet. Not a fast grower. Sun or part-shade. The leaves are an attractive blue-green and they become tinged with red and purple when the weather is cooler.  Flowers have been sporadic but every year they increase. It usually blooms around April - The flowers are then followed (around July) by the berries or "grapes" - Os...

I think this was the fifth morning in a row that we've had a heavy frost. The lows have been getting down around 25, much lower than the local forecasters have been predicting.  'Dublin Bay' (above and below) has a few blooms lingering... And so has 'Tequila Sunrise'... It has been a dry week but rain returns tonight. Pennisetum 'Karley Rose' Beauty Berry ( Callicarpa 'Profusion') Coralberry ( Symphoricarpos x doorenbosii 'Kolmcan' 'Candy') Ferns Lydia Broom ( Genista lydia ) A Japanese Maple 'Bloodgood' leaf on the Hebe Juniper 'Daub's Frosted', Barberry 'Rose Glow' and Clematis montana 'Freda' Phlomis ‘Quilted Leaf’ (Jerusalem Sage) Phormium ' Rainbow Queen' Silver Lotus Clover (Hairy Canary Lotus Shrub) ( Dorycnium hirsutum) Euphorbia 'Miner's Merlot' Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy