Discovering DeCoursey Park

After visiting Alison and Windmill Nursery, I decided to come home by way of the sweet town of Puyallup. Much more pleasant than the freeway at rush hour!  Puyallup, the old part of town in the valley, is home to some cool old homes including a victioran mansion that is open to the public.   Anyway, there are lots of neatly kept gardens like this one.

Enough  taking pictures from the moving car.  Time to get to this park that my pal Vicki told me about.   Although I'd been to the much larger Clark's Creek Park  nearby, Decoursey was a new experience for me.  Nice parking lot, lawns, picnic areas, sports courts, big toy, park  stuff.  Rhododendrons still look exotic and wonderful to me no matter how common and gaudy they may be here.

Spring brings out some of the brightest colors in the paint box!

And some more subtle ones as well. 

One of the nicest features of the park, in my opinion, is the trail around a little lake and traveling by part of a creek. 

How wonderful it would be to live across the creek from the park!

Hard choice, enclosure of your back garden for privacy or view of the creek and park beyond. 

Having a watch cow must be a compromise that works for these folks. 

Catching my nose before my eye was the scent of this Rosa rugosa. 

One of the few roses that would grow in my Alaska garden, we called them Sitka roses for some reason.  Perhaps they were brought to Sitka, the former capital of Russian America, by the Russian people and were propagated from those original bushes.  It's a fun theory.  (You'll recall that the U.S. bought Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867  for 7.2 million dollars.)

There were some duck doing fun duck things on the lake.  Something was jumping out of the water repeatedly and I didn't know if the fish were jumping or frogs were dancing around.

Part of the lake was covered with downy white fluff courtesy of the cottonwood trees and the maturing willow blossoms.  It makes it hard to see momma duck and all of her ducklings which were adorable.  This drake was very protective and chased off other ducks that came too close to the brood.

Spring is in full swing now and the unusual warmth (85 F) felt wonderful.  Glad I took some time to soak it in before the cold rains started again just a couple days later.

As the sun got lower in the sky, it was time to head home for the night.  

What a fun place for a family picnic or a solitary stroll around the lake.  Hope you enjoyed coming along!

A Quick Run through Windmill Nursery

The other day after work I got to drive over to Alison's House to collect a plant (Erythrina crista-galli) that our pal Loree sent  from the Portland area bloggers' plant exchange for me.  Alison's garden is looking especially gorgeous right now  and I got to see her new greenhouse and "Alison's Folly" with my own eyes.  Her whole new front yard is fab!  It would be a shame to be so close to Windmill Nursery and not stop by for a visit even if there was less than an hour before they closed. Here's a quick spin through some  of the nursery.  (Visit many previous visits here.)

If I had a bigger garden, I'd grow Ekianthus  because they have such cool flowers.  This one, E. campanulatus, is sweet!

So nice to see Pernettya mucronata 'Rubra', one of my favorite shrubs for sale.  Beautiflul evergreen leaves, pretty pure white blossoms and truly beautiful big purple berries all winter long.  Mine is blooming now and still has berries and often hangs on to the old berries until new ones start coloring up.  This is a great small shrub with year round interest.  Every garden should have at least one!

The sight of a nursery overflowing with plants is one of those sights that makes gardeners very happy!

I rounded a corner and what to my wondering eyes should appear but this plant that Alison and I were so excited to find in Portland.  Maybe ten minutes from Alison's house, here sat several Alstromeria 'Rock n Rolls.'  Such nice foliage.  Sure hope it proves to be winter hardy here.

 Aren't Calceolaria calynopsis fowers fun?

 Cute animal plant pots!

Windmill has moved the arid plant section from an area further from their little indoor jungle  and along a weathered wood covered wall .  I like it back here and think that the plants go very well with the wood!

These huge Kalanchoe thyrsifloras from Monrovia are making an appearance at several nurseries recently.  So tempting.

So is this Opuntia microdasys which is Latin for looks really cute but will irritate the hell out of you if you get at all close to it.  I'm convinced that they can throw their glochids.  Once I dragged a hose by one and  it picked up a nice collection of glochids which my hands found.  Much as I like the way these look, I'm staying with Opuntias that are glochid free, well with the exception of the ones I already, ouch dammit, have.

I forgot the name of this but the rule is, "If it looks weird, it's probably a euphorbia."  so we'll go with that.

 Bright yellow variegated leaves and nearly magenta flowers.  Love this plant by Crayola!  Bougainvillea something like godthatsbrightiea

This little box of happiness just arrived.  Aren't these cute little Rex Begonias? 

Painted Paradise Impatiens.  What nice foliage.  

Speaking of foliage, these seasonal pots were very handsome without flowers.

there are some flowers and there will be more but they're not necessary for the success of the compositions.

On the way to the check out counter was this rather large fairy garden display with a poster advertising a make and take fairy garden workshop.  These things are so dang cute and a great reason for grown ups to buy doll house furniture.

From right to left, Birdhouse, UHO (unidentified hanging object) and possible addition to someone's hanging pot collection.  It wouldn't hold much soil but tillandsias would be happy to live there.

Obviously from a shop in Portlandia as someone put a bird on it. 

Made it to the front desk just in time for the "We'll be closing in 10 minutes, please bring your purchases to the counter at this time." announcement.  

In the display garden, the tulips were wondering what the heck was going on with the weather.  We had record breaking heat for that day in May (84 degrees F)

Still looking fresh and happy, they were real troopers!

Dig the cool red flame on the inside of the petals and the red line on the outside.  

 Getting a plant from a friend, a visit to another friend's garden, and a nursery visit was a pretty special way to end the day but, being greedy, I decided to drive home through Puyallup and check out a park that my pal, Vicki, told me about.  Tomorrow, we'll explore it together.

Clivia Minata is My Favorite Plant...This Week

I'm joining the phenominal gardener, tireless blogger, and champion of all plants spiky, Loree at Danger Garden in her favorite plant of the week meme.  Click over to her site to see other favorites this week.

I have two Clivias that I got from Wehop last spring or early summer one with solid green leaves and the other with variegated foliage.  I'd heard that they took neglect well and would tolerate pretty low light conditions outside so I threw them  in the bamboo grove and largely ignored them except to give them a spritz of water every now and then.  The variegated leaf form bloomed last fall and the flowers were nice but a little blah color wise. Bless it's little heart, it bloomed again this winter but I still preferred the foliage.

 The plain-leafed variety continued to put on bulk but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I noticed a flash of orange while I was watering the plants overwintering in the glass room.  The sweet thing was budding!  When I was out the other day working on the plant migration back outside, the blooms knocked my socks off with their brilliant color.  I decided to bring it to the dining room table where we'll see it much more frequently.

A few times a week, I pass this house with the huge pot of Clivias on the porch.  They don't like freezing temperatures much so they come inside before the first frost but reappear on the porch fairly early.  I've thought of knocking on their door to say hello but am not sure what the response to "Hi, I'm a Clivia stalker." would be.

I didn't get out my super duper telephoto lens as it might be looked upon as rude to have something akin to a telescope pointed at someone's window but you get the idea, big pot, lots of  handsome foliage and blooms.

Lifted directly from Missouri Botanical Garden's site is this information:

Common Name: natal lily
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Native Range: Southern Africa
Zone: 9 to 11
Height: 1.50 to 2.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Bloom Time: Seasonal bloomer
Bloom Description: Yellow to orange to nearly red
Sun: Part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy
Leaf: Evergreen
Fruit: Showy

Culture

When grown in their native range, Clivia tolerates only light frosts, but otherwise is easily grown. Outdoors they are best suited to dappled shade; water them well during the warmer months and allow to dry for winter. Indoors, they give clear signals when they need care. Yellow spots on the leaves indicate either too much water or water in the heart of the plant. If the leaves split vertically it needs more sun. Mature plants bloom from December to April. If no flower stem appears, it means that you have watered too freely from October on. The soil should be kept just moist until the flower stalk reaches 6 inches; then water normally. The plant may then be moved to a slightly warmer position. Clivia does well with crowded roots, but it should be repotted carefully every three to four years. Try to gently untangle the roots so as not to damage them. A warning: All parts of the plant may be toxic if ingested in large quantities.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Clump-forming plants with stocky rhizomes, they have long, bright green, strappy leaves and produce strong flower stems topped with heads of large funnel-shaped flowers in shades of yellow, orange and red. Red berries follow flowering. Clivia generally take three years to flower. The flowers are long lasting on the plant and can be used as cut flowers.

Problems

Pests to watch for are scale and mites. When placed outdoors, they are a favorite of snails which feed on the flowers.

Garden Uses

Clivia can be grown as a herbaceous perennial in warmer zones (9 to 11). It also makes a bold statement in the landscape when planted as a seasonal addition to a perennial/annual border in colder climates. The foliage gives a strong texture to a design. In the St. Louis area, clivias are grown primarily as an indoor plant and it thrives in this role. They make excellent low-maintenance pot plants that flower during the winter and early spring months giving color to an indoor garden.

For more information and great pictures, click here!  Happy weekend everyone!

Danger Gardenette Migration

You may recall a post about clearing out a new space for my collection of  spiky plants which I've affectionately named the danger gardenette after the blog of the agave evangelist who made me appreciate these plants even more.  Here we are on a very rainy day placing a few pots and plants to see where things might best fit.  Notice the fun metal agave that came from Dragonfly Farms.  I'm not sure that it's the best placement for it or any of the other plants but I'll keep playing.

Here are some plants that have just come out of their winter prison and in some cases have gotten their first watering since they were dragged inside.  These will stay in this area that only gets brief morning sun for a few days before traveling down to a the brighter area.

And some more.

And still more.  

Some already hardened off candidates pose for possible placement.  (Yes, the plastic pots will be gone when it's done and the conifer does not belong with this group;  it's also been moving around trying to find an appropriate place to live. 

Believe it or not, there are a few agaves not pictured that need to fit in here.  I could wrap the pots around the corner or maybe put some of the hardier plants in the ground.  Should be fun to see what happens!  Suggestions?