We Needed Something at a Hardware Store

Funny, I don't even remember what it was we needed but it was on this trip to our local McLendon Hardware that I found the stove pipe planter and a couple of 18 inch ceramic spheres with fire-engine red glaze sold under the Chelsea Gardener label.  All ceramic items were 50% off and these seemed to have been priced too low to begin with so they somehow jumped into my cart.   McLendon has a year round nursery section that carries a nice variety of plants.  Here are just a few.

The evergreen section is especially nice and features plants from the wonderful Iseli Nursery in Boring, Oregon which is responsible for introducing a large number of coniferous delights.

Hydrangeas blooming a bit early. 

Brunnera macrophylla 'Hadspen Cream'  is nice but I still love the silver  foliage of 'Jack Frost' on the left.

Yucca filamentosa 'Ivory Tower' 

Lots of potted rose bushes in bloom. 

Pinus contorta 'Taylor's Sunburst' has spectacular golden new growth.  

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana imbricata 'Waterfall' was a serious temptation as it would look spectacular cascading over a pot but I have too many plants already so it stayed.

The thready evergreens were looking good to me for some reason.  

And...There's always an agave.   Just this one left from last year when they got a whole slew of them along with other succulents. 

Love this but it wouldn't work in my garden.  Perhaps you need to stop by and pick it up.

There it is again, Petunia 'Starry Sky,' a relatively new introduction which is quite eye catching.

Don't know the name of this petunia but it was new a few years ago and still seems quite popular.

Interestingly, Petunia 'Pretty Much Picasso,' which was all the rage not so long ago is still around here and there but seems to be not so popular now.

Just when you thought that evergreen Lithodora covered with intense blue flowers couldn't be any more vibrant, they introduce one with gold foliage.  L. 'Gold 'N Sapphires'

Delphinium is a long time favorite of mine that used to grow very well for me in my garden in Alaska.  However, they've never liked any of my gardens here.

 Sorticulture Garden Arts Festival opens tomorrow in Everett.   If you're in Washington, do consider going as it's a great event that can fill an entire day with fun for everyone.  Click here for more information.

Wednesday Vignette - Almost and a Color Combination Not to Try.

Wednesday Vignette is hosted by Anna at Flutter and Hum.  Click here to see what's captured the attention of other bloggers this week. 

A succession of several chickadees flew down from the Contorted Filbert tree to this bird bath to get a drink and splash around in the water.  By the time I ran in and got my camera, attached the telephoto lens, and focused, the last one had just finished and was taking off.  Oh well, almost.

Last year, I was thrilled that the very scarlett blooms of Tropaeolum speciosum had finally made it to and climbed the very blue foliage of Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Pelt’s Blue.' The old pink rose nearby blooms in June and the Tropaeolum blooms after the rose is finished.  Except this year when they decided to bloom together.

Red on the orange side combined with pink with blue undertones is not a combination that I would have chosen.  Thank goodness I'm a master of averting my eyes...

which comes in handy while walking through this amorphous mess o' plants in which I live.

Surprises in the Greenhouse

Sometimes things get a bit busy and I don't see the inside of the greenhouse for a few days.  At this time of year, things are happening quickly and there are usually some surprises to be found after a brief absence.   Here are a few that greeted me this weekend.  The church choir is off for the summer so I actually had a two day weekend which I celebrated by not leaving the garden.

the buds that appeared on the Trevesia palmata are beginning to open.  What fun blooms!

Amorphophallus knojac is hardy to zone six but outside it emerges late in June by which time I would have forgotten it was there and planted something else in it's spot.  In the greenhouse, it comes up much earlier and it happens very quickly once it warms up.

Mine came from Cistus Nursery several years ago and now has produced several offsets.  the huge central leaf will be huge again this year.  Why not enjoy it a bit longer by keeping it inside?  It'll need a bigger pot soon. (This is a 5 gallon size.)

A big surprise was this bloom on an Echinopsis subdenudatum rescued from a box store last year.  It's rewarding me for pulling off those silly strawflowers that were glued to it. Looks like there'll be a few more blooms to follow and as if the little cactus to the right will be blooming as well.   Such big, pure, and delicate flowers from such a small and prickly character. 

What's been your favorite garden surprise this week? 

In a Vase on Monday - June Pruning

The contents of today's vase were all cut back to keep the stop sign at the corner visible or to keep paths passable. 

Sweet little very fragrant rose whose name has been lost. 

Weigela 'Rubies N' Gold'  and lots of Argyrocytisus battandieri (Pineapple Broom that really does smell like pineapple.)

That one-time blooming old climbing rose whose name I keep forgetting.  It's incredibly fragrant and although it only blooms once a year, those few weeks find the canes covered in pink. 

This vase hasn't been used to hold flowers for the thirty or s years it's been hanging around here. 

A mild day meant that I could make a mess outside  instead of in the kitchen. 

It's a little wide for the vase but the stems just didn't want to stand up and I was too lazy to take it apart and put it back together using wire, foam, or a frog so I'll just avert my eyes and enjoy the fragrance as I pass by this week.

Joining the vase this week is a ceramic leaf made by Jeff Pinto.

In a Vase on Monday  us hosted by the fabulous Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Click here to see what others have brought inside to enjoy this week.  Many thanks to Cathy for continuing to host our weekly party!

Willow Tree Gardens and Interiors

I always visit Willow Tree Gardens and Interiors' Christmas open house when the entire space is transformed into a wonderland of decorations.  Not far from home, this is a fun nursery to find both garden standards and unusual plants alike.  I'm drawn to the interior part of the business because it's in an old house and walking through feels more like visiting the home of a crazy collector (nirvana for me) than shopping in a retail space.

The truck garden is planted up for another season .

If grown in a pot, Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon' is perfectly well-behaved.   I love those colorful leaves!

It's that fabulously busy season when new  deliveries arrive frequently and shoppers can browse even before the newbies make it to the sales tables. 

Okay Gardenias, you're not fooling anyone with that sign.  We know who you are!

Betula 'Trost's Dwarf' 

Hosta 'Electrocution' 

Hosta 'Restless Sea'

Pennisetum setaceum rubrum is a common sight this time of year but there's something fabulous  about pink foliage.

Senecio candicans 'Angel Wings.'  I've seen this same photo tag calling this plant a temperennial. Annie's says it's hardy to zone 8 or 20 degrees as long as it's not too wet.  Mine made it through the winter in it's four-inch plastic nursery pot on the back steps without suffering any winter damage and has put on some nice growth already this year.  Perhaps I should find a place for it in the ground.

Colorful perennials making a splash.

From Little Prince of Oregon (Prince of Paradise, Tender perennials with a tropical flair)  comes this striking Begonia rex 'Royal Crown'

And Begonia rhizomatous 'Oregon Midnight' which appears much darker in person than it does in this picture.

Petunia 'Night Sky'  tugged at my heart last year when it first came out and so a couple came home with me. 

P. 'Johnny Flame' is pretty sweet too. 

Aren't they cute?

So many fun things to find inside the old house. 

I really dig the more is good decorating vibe.

It's considered poor form to simply take something that one admires in another's home but here  that sort of thing is encouraged.  There's the little matter of exchanging payment for items before leaving with them but still it's swell. 

It's the first day of June and Friday.  Hooray!  Only three more weeks of school.  Come on into the dining room and let's celebrate.