Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day June 2018

On the fifteenth day of the month, Carol at May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, a way to both share what's blooming in our gardens each month and to keep a journal from year to year.  Having participated in GBBD for six years now, I can now look back at previous year's posts when I think something is blooming earlier or later than usual.  Thanks, Carol for coming up with this great idea!  To see more Bloom Day posts from around the world, visit Carol's blog.

Here's some of what's blooming in my garden this month.

Tropaeolum speciosum

The first brugmansia bloom this season belongs to B. 'Snowbank.' 

Of course there are begonias.  I won't bore you with all of them. 

Pelargonium (Geranium)

Kalmia

Martagon  lilies

Cardiocrinum giganteum.  Who knew it would grow up into the leaves of the tree?

Meconopsis 'Lingholm'

A messy tangle of fuchsia, Rose 'Zephirine Drouhin', clematis and a couple of jasmines.  Some of this has got to go!

There are other roses blooming here and there. 

Deutzia

Magnolia macrophylla

Centranthus ruber.  Thirty years ago, his came from a crack in a paved parking area outside a big Victorian duplex in Seattle, the home of a friend.  The building and parking area are long gone, having been  replaced with s high-rise apartment building. 

Argyrocytisus battandieri (Pineapple Broom)

Volunteer perennial sweet peas. 

Carpenteria californica

Winter pansies were flopping out of their pots so they got stuck in the ground and they seem perfectly happy there. 

Cotinus coggygria 'Young Lady'   

                        

Senecio leucostachys

Salvia 'Amistad' and some annual red dianthus, a teacher appreciation gift last year.  Seems they decided to stick around. 

Clematis.

More hardy fuchsias.

Dogwood.  Taken from an upstairs window as one usually misses seeing this in the garden. 

Abutilon 'Red Tiger' will represent all of the Abutilons this month. 

Alstroemeria (let's call it Pink Mystery.)

Allium with fallen Kolkwitzia blooms.  Everything in this area gets covered with them. 

Dracunculus vulgaris not yet opened but will be gone by next GBBD.

Happy GBBD all and have a spectacular weekend!

The Smith Display Garden at Sunnyside Nursery

On Saturday, the day of getting lucky, I discovered Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville.  A separate post about the nursery will come later but today, let's take stroll through the Smith Display Garden which surrounds a  home  next to the nursery.  I'm imagining that the owners live here.  I'll definitely ask next time I visit the nursery. 

The garden is designed so that there are surprises around every corner, even in long expanses like the one below where one might imagine that everything was visible 

Fused glass flowers.  

So many stunning foliage combinations. 

Looking toward the back of the house. 

Clever use of Acorus between stepping stones. 

I'm in love with these ceramic, larger-than-life asparagus spears.  The excellent placement doesn't hurt, either.

There is also plenty of outdoor living space.  

Out in front a golden catalpa glows in the sun on one side of this bed while a coppiced  paulownia offers more huge foliage.  Was there a Magnolia macrophylla in there as well?    It was so exciting being in this garden that I've forgotten.

Musa basjoo waking up for the season.  The nursery sign is just beyond. 

What a treat to find this wonderful garden as well as the nursery1

Wednesday Vignette - Sometimes You Get Lucky

On Saturday, we drove up to Sorticulture in Everett.  We drove through several heavy rain showers and even thought of stopping on the way to buy a raincoat or umbrella. as Sorticulture is an outdoor festival.  In a surprising turn of events, (rain had been predicted.) the sun decided to shine and the day was warm and beautiful.  Lucky. (A post or two about Sorticulture will pop up one of these days.)  I could have spent the entire day at Sorticulture but after five hours,  the non-gardener deserved a change of scenery.  The plan was to go straight home but the lady in the phone said that Sunnyside Nursery wasn't far.  I'd never heard anything about that nursery but can only say wow!  What a fabulous place. Again, a post or two will follow.  A lucky find.

While wandering the spacious nursery, a Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) butterfly landed on a Buddleja and seemed very happy to totally ignore me as I snapped a few pictures of it.   Usually wildlife doesn't pose so nicely for me.  Sometimes you just get lucky!

From egg to butterfly - one month.  Life span of butterfly six -14 days.  How brief a life.  

Wednesday Vignette is hosted by Anna at Flutter and Hum.  Click here to get lucky by joining the fun!

A Few New Additions to the Hoard

Here are some of the more interesting plants that have made their way into the collection recently. 
I had the pleasure of visiting the Danger Garden in mid May and saw Loree's gorgeous specimens of Agave 'Sharkskin' and Agave utahensis eborispina.  Of course these aren't plants that pop up a lot at local nurseries but through the magic of the interweb, look at what arrived in the mail recently.

With wrapping like this, you know something special is inside.

A baby Agave utahensis eborispina

Agave 'Sharkskin'   Yes, it needs gravel top dressing.

In other mail-order fun - [surely you can't be] Cereus forbesii spiralis.  

 A little rinsing off, some soil and voila. 

Haworthias have been pretty happy in my greenhouse conditions, they stay small, and there is quite a nice variety of shapes and colorations.  Here's H. 'Ice Jade'

This bit of coolness is Haworthia cooperi var. truncata.  

That Portland garden is dangerous and so is surfing the net for plants.  The buttons on the keyboard  are so easy to push.  

Surprisingly, Aeonium 'Party Platter' was found in a flat of assorted succulents at a big box store.  It's a hybrid.  Do you think that Aeonium tabuliforme might be one of it's parents? 

In a Vase on Monday - Bamboozled

Ah, floriferous June with so many choices for a vase.  It's also prime bamboo shooting season and every stroll in the garden includes snapping, kicking. and cutting bamboo culms coming up where they're not wanted.  There also may be a bit of swearing involved followed by a vow to do more rhizome pruning.  Anyway, the new shoots are interesting and it always seems a shame to just throw them into the yard waste container.  The severed shoots usually sit around the garden for a while before they're thrown out.  On Sunday, I decided to put a few in a container.

These were meant to be the centerpiece  for lots of blooms but nothing looked really great with these giant lumps in the middle of the container. 

So more were thrown in and  tied together so they'd stand up and some bamboo leaves were added.  I can hear my mother's voice saying, "Well, isn't that different?"  

Joining the vase are this cloisonne koi in memory of my oldest and largest Koi, Remington  (He was a steely silver and black.  Do you remember Remington Steele?) who died on Friday. 

 In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. Click here to see her vase and to find links to those of other participating bloggers.

Another Mystery Garden

I've enjoyed passing this garden in Fife every day for the last 20 years. It's on a road that once ran through the middle of growing fields which are rapidly being replaced by apartment buildings and warehouses.  The sweet and modest old homes along the road keep vanishing but there are a few that remain.  There's always something interesting going on in these beds but I've never seen anyone working outside. 

You can't see it in this picture but behind the rose bushes at the back there is a large plot of tilled soil which I'd imagine is a vegetable garden.  Behind that there are quite a few Monkey Puzzle Trees (Araucaria araucana) in huge pots.  They're a mystery but may be progeny of the Monkey puzzle tree in the garden next door.

The street is very busy, the shoulder is tiny and there are no sidewalks so one has to pull into the driveway to investigate.  I didn't actually enter the garden but took snapshots from the side of the road.

I remember watching this project go in many years ago.  That Alberta spruce was tiny. 

Okay, so to knock on the door to hopefully meet the gardener, I did have to approach the house and may have taken a few pictures from there as well.  On the other side of these hedges is an orderly fence with a lovely gate and a walkway to what once was a neighbor's garden.  When the properties here go on sale, they're usually purchased by developers as the zoning has changed.  The homes are either demolished or just left to fall apart. 

A view just to the right of the back door.  I so wanted to walk in and explore.  On this warm afternoon, the fragrance of roses filled the air.  Impressive was the fact that they were very well grown with no black spot whatsoever, unusual in our climate.

There was no answer when I knocked. 

The neighbor on the other side of the house is obviously a plant person as well. Notice the pots of epiphyllum on the porch spending the summer outdoors. 

One day,  perhaps we'll learn more about these two gardening neighbors who've added joy to my commute for so long but for now, it's a mystery.

Have a great weekend all!