Winter Visiting

 

A couple of  weekends  ago (before the fog took over) I decided to take the advice of many of blog pals and go visit a nursery (like I need any urging) to enjoy the many green offerings and see what's blooming this time of the year.

 

So, did we go to Holland?  No goofball, we just visited Windmill Nursery in Sumner.

 

There are a few interesting shops housed in the block of homes that the nursery bought and incorporated into their space and a cafe in a newly constructed building. I'd never wandered all the way to the back of the garden but was glad I did for there was this interesting green-roofed garden shed.  I can almost hear Miracle Max and Valerie (Princess Bride) arguing inside. 

 

       "Ever since Prince Humperdinck fired him, his confidence has been shattered." 

       "Why'd you say that name? You promised me you would never say that name!"
       "What, Humperdinck?"
       "Aahaahh!"
       "Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!"
       "I'm not listening!"

The garden is only MOSTLY dead. Besides, spring is a miracle and you rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.

Acer griseum is beautiful but I'm always tempted to try and clean it up.  

 You never know who you might meet in the bushes.  Geeze, put a coat on man, it's cold outside!

Windmill often has a nice collection of pots at fairly reasonable prices.

What treasures did I see?  Well quite a few and this Grevillia juniperina 'Lava Cascade' from Xera would have come home with me if it hadn't been in a huge section of the nursery filled with plants that weren't for sale.  Maybe these will be part of Windmill's display at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show?

Although Hellebores are everywhere this time of year, they still catch my attention.

 

 

This agave has grown considerably since last I visited it but I really don't need another big plant to haul inside in the winter.  Sigh.

 Echiveria 'Topsy Turvy' is a favorite.  This one is quite nice but I already have a few wintering inside my little glass room. 

This opuntia santa rita 'Tubac' is one of two that were at the nursery in June.  One came home with me and I'm leaving it outside as an experiment.  Mine looked fine until the latest few days in the mid 20's.  We'll see what happens.

Staghorn ferns look awsome in other people's collections.  They never call out to me to give them a ride to my garden though.

 There was another area  behind closed doors (unlocked though) with NFS plants.  It's always a good, if frustrating, thing when the lens of your camera gets foggy from the warmth and moisture of the greenhouse.

 Through another set of doors is an area, usually filled with vegetable and herb starts, which now contained quite a collection labeled "Wholesale Only."  gorgeous Aeonium 'Cyclops' had me wondering how to get a wholesale account.

 This Schefflera  grove from Monrovia gave me hope that there would be wider planting of these gems in our area.  By the way, all three of my Scheffleras have survived our week and a half of mid 20's weather without a blemish (so far, knock on wood.)

 

 

 

 

Hooray, I'm not the only one who doesn't vacuum the leaves from his plants as often as he should.

The part of Windmill that I always visit during the winter is the houseplant section.  This little water feature, surrounded by large specemins of tropical plants, always makes spring seem not so far away.  And on the bright side, there are no huge snakes hanging from the branches in this mini tropics.

 

Oh well, out into the cold.  This is an interesting sphere planting.  Topiary without the nearly constant trimming.  Hmmm.

This lion table base (I'm imagining) made me smile.  It was almost as if the cats were stretching to reach the sun.

 

Spring is only 54 days away!

Winter Color - If it isn't Covered with Snow

Lots of my friends in colder winter climates have mentioned that they have beautiful evergreens that, if they shoveled the snow away, they would be able to see.  I love snow because it reminds me of growing up in Vermont and Alaska.  I also love it because here it rarely lasts longer than a few days before it melts away which allows us to enjoy our smaller evergreen plants in the winter.  A quick trip to a nursery to visit a few plants always puts me in a good mood.  This day, I was passing by Watsons on my way to something else and the car mysteriously pulled into the parking lot and stopped.  What could I do? 

These cool combination pots always look great in other people's gardnes and are perfect beside a door.

 

'Scarlet Curls'  Willow or Salix x 'Scarcuzam' looking quite lovely.  Are those leaf buds?

 Cornus 'Midwinter Fire'

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' (Coral Bark Maple) Why does mine only have coral bark on the new growth and grey bark on the trunk and larger branches?  I'm tempted to cut it down but I've had it for nearly 20 years...

 

 

Spring (o.k. midwinter) is in the air.  It's that time of year when we're thrilled by just about anything in bloom.  Modest blooms that in the height of summer might be overlooked are now treasured. Witch Hazel 'Diane' in bloom with some buds in the background.

 Helleborus looking fresh  and sweet.  Also has many buds.

 

Iris and crocus ready to take home and plop in the ground. 

 Pieris japonica budded up.  For those of you playing the bud game*, you know what to do.

Berberis berries  adding a bright red note.

There are so many beautiful evergreen euphorbias - sigh.  So many plants, so little space.

Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' is one that I treasure as its foliage always looks so good that I'm tempted to cut the blooms off.

 

Inside is this huge jade tree that was started from a small cutting over 20 years ago.  I'd never seen it in bloom before- quite a treat!

 

 These are outside with only a little roof over the top for protection.  Hope springs eternal.

*Bud day was an idea on  the Danger Garden blog. Here's how to play the bud game: make a large pitcher or thermos of your favorite beverage (Bud is o.k. but on a cold day something warm like mulled wine or hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps sounds good. For purists, straight shots of any distilled beverage may be substituted.) Go out into your garden and whenever you see a bud, you must take a drink. If you don't have any actual budded plants where you live, you can drink whenever you see a plant that you consider a special friend or bud dy. If you live where everything is so covered in snow that you can't see any plants, just stay inside and drink every time you think of a plant. In just a few sightings, you'll be feeling spring's warmth. It's an amazing thing. When this feeling makes you start to wobble a little, it's a good idea to go back inside so that the neighbors don't think you're completely insane.