Spring at Windmill Nursery

After visiting so many beautiful gardens over the last few weeks and feeling totally inferior, I was delighted to find this combination at Windmill Gardens  that I could maybe pull off in my garden!  Cardamine oligosperma, Taraxacum officianale,  foliage of old tulips that won't bloom and a few grape hyacinths.  These people sure know how to make a guy feel at home!   This winning combination was in a little bed near the back of the parking lot that hasn't been spruced up yet, just like my whole garden! 

 Alison, her husband Nigel and I enjoyed a nice lunch at the cafe and then strolled through the garden that wends through the little shops on the grounds of the nursery (pond shop, tea shop, etc.)  You may remember my earlier visit to this place earlier in the year where I poked my head into the greenhouses where they were keeping plants for various Seattle Flower and Garden Show  garden makers.

 

 This NOID Camellia japonica was so delicate and sweet!

Someone likes pink!  Lots to see...  Hey, wait, where did Alison go?

Oh, she's off flirting with Ciscoe in the greenhouse!  And with Nigel just a few yards away in the parking lot!   You really do have to keep an eye on the quiet ones.   

Somehow, Alison was able to pull herself away to look at more plants.  I do love sempervivums!

 

 They look like little  stemless flowers growing on the surface of the ground.

Everblooming powder blue dahlia anyone?   Echeveria 'Topsy Turvy' fits the bill!  Are these sweet or what.  Fortunately mine weren't among the dead Echiverias in the glass room this winter so I wasn't tempted by these.

Both Ricki and Louis love this plant and right now this one looks like Audrey two from Little Shop of Horrors.  I couldn't resist.

Alison  couldn't resist the charms of Colocasia 'Mojito.' When the mojitos start rolling out, summer can't be far off!

 

 Speaking of summer...

Lots of temptations that scream warm weather!  Don't have space for any of these inside so I'll have to come back later.  (See how I've made an excuse to visit this nursery again?  It's a skill.)

I tend to forget the names of Coleus from year to year as the trade often changes the varieties that they offer each season.  Why not avoid the disappointment of not finding what you want?

 The first coleus that I remember was a large houseplant that my eldest sister kept by a large picture window in her dining room in Alaska.  Imagine my surprise when moving here that they could be grown in the ground in the summer.  Wow!

No shot of our cart but I snapped this one of another shopper's  treasures.  What is that interesting fluffy plant in the black pot with the pink stripe? 

And now some gratuitous playing around with Picasa photo editing:

 

Osteospermum 'Spider Pink' looks lavender, maybe mauve to me but what do I know?  This flower form has delighted me since growing O. 'Whirligig' in my misspent youth. 

Silly-looking thing was begging to be played with!

Our next stop was a place that I'd visited once many years ago and thought no longer existed.  Alison re-introduced me to it and Wow!  I'll be back!  To see the surprise, you'll have to tune in tomorrow.