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Spring Beauties

Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' We are experiencing a rare day for June - drizzle and cool temps. But oh, things will change this weekend with 93 predicted for Sunday. I'm not looking forward to that.  We decided to take a break from the garden today because of the weather and the fact that we've been working our butts off. Our garden will be on the HPSO Study Weekend tour at the end of the month so there is much to get done. I would normally schedule tours of our garden now in early June  because I feel that it the peak time ( (and you can make individual appointments). For the Study Weekend tour, thank goodness for hydrangeas to give them something to look at! I've been filling holes and pots, Michael has been pruning and dead-heading. A few days ago, we completely redid a rock retaining wall which just about did us in.  The weather has been lovely and I do hope the heat spell is a short-lived one.  Here are some highlights in the garden now. Peony 'White Cap' Ros...
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Strawberry Tree


Since moving to Washington, I have discovered a great number of new trees. One of my favorites is the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo). It is a four-season tree with semi-glossy evergreen leaves and lovely mahogany bark. In autumn, clusters of white flowers appear, bearing a resemblance to Lily-of-the-Valley flowers. And then there are the little fruits, which resemble strawberries that appear at the same time as the flowers. I am not sure why, but I have only seen a few fruits on ours. I don't know if birds are getting them before I see them or what happens. The fruits are said to be edible but not very tasty (to humans).

This year, our tree is loaded with flowers, the most I've ever seen. Bees absolutely love it and so do the hummingbirds. The flowers usually continue to appear straight through winter, and it can be blooming even during the coldest periods of winter.

Aside from the fact that I have not seen much of the colorful fruits, the major negative note is the fact that the limbs seem to break easily. We have had breakage during two big snowfalls, the worst happening last winter and resulting in a big chunk of the middle of the tree leaving an ugly hole. I pruned the damaged branches back and it is slowly filling back in.

This is a Mediterranean-climate loving tree and it does well in dry summers. It doesn't mind water either and ours get regular watering. 



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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  1. Kris PetersonOctober 30, 2024 at 7:24 PM

    Mine are loaded with blooms this year too but I assumed that was because I delayed my annual tree pruning exercise. Maybe not as you're having the same experience. I don't think even the birds like the fruit ;)

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  2. Hoover BooNovember 6, 2024 at 7:12 PM

    Agree, it is a beautiful tree, the bark, the flowers, everything. Fruit just doesn't taste like anything at all, really. Bland. Once thought to be native to Ireland as well as the Mediterranean, now some think it was introduced to Ireland from the Iberian peninsula as long ago as the Neolithic--4000 years ago.

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