Siberian Wallflower

Not a fancy plant I know.

It is hardy enough to come back

year after year, it flowers in a somewhat

tough area and it does it in early spring,

Oh and it's fragrant.

I like it, I really like it.

Pasque Flower Revisited

Not too long ago I posted a photo of the

pasque flower (go here for that post),

it had just started to flower.
Here is another photo of it

covered in buds and blooms.

That is snow in summer creeping around the pasque flower.

In the next photo you can see the edge of the 

snow in summer, the rest of that bed I recently

cleaned up - you can see the weeds growing through

the snow in summer and pasque flower.

I've neglected this bed for a few years now and it was showing,

there weren't many plants left - the majority of them have moved

along. I think this is the perfect bed for roses but I also think

my tomatoes would like it here with the heat off of the house.

These photos were taken about a week ago, when we had

sunshine - we are back to rain for most of the

week although they say sun maybe for the weekend.

Oceanside Blooms

On one side the land with the most

beautiful greens and some blooms thrown

in for pure pleasure. Okay fine I am sure

those blooms serve plenty of reasons.

On the other side the Ocean,

all for the pleasure of it!

These look like an apple type of bloom. I don't ever remember 

seeing any fruits later on in the season, oh and many of these

bloomers have thorns. 

I love this view.

It Flowers

The Saskatoon Berry was planted a few years back

and this is it's first summer to flower.
I am excited!
~
As you can see it isn't very big yet, the

bird bath is about the same height.
The faucet in the photo is waiting to

be made into a fountain, in the mean time 

it looks cool here!

~

What's not to like?!

Pretty spring flowers ~ Check

Native plant ~ Check

Edible berries ~ Check

Pretty ~ Check

Wondering what the berries look like?
Head over to Dave's Garden  for some photos

Spring Wildflowers Yet Again

Honestly I was in awe when I saw all these flowers.

The photos of course don't do them justice.

Yellow Glacier Lily aka Erythronium grandiflorum
A most beautiful site.

I wonder what these fuzzy ear looking plants will turn out

to be, what flower will grace those leaves?!

Spring Wildflowers in Leavenworth WA part 2

This could be called the Blue Spring Wildflowers

I seem to be having a difficult time

with the identification so if you

know what they are do tell.

Spring Wildflowers in Leavenworth WA

I am late getting the post together and don't have the time

to find out what plants these are.

I love wildflowers and I love to know what

they are so I will have to find some time

to do my research.

These were taken in Leavenworth, WA

and there are more to show you

so come back tomorrow.

The Little Plants

These little plants grow on the side of rocks

in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

I don't know anything about these little plants

but they are looking happy with the spring rains 

and warming sunshine.

These are really quite small, I had to get really close up for this photo.

The Tumwater Pipeline Trail is on highway 2 in Washington

state, we did not cross over this bridge on this particular trip-

we were not dressed for the cold.

I have some wildflowers to show you tomorrow.

Leavenworth, WA has the most beautiful wildflowers

at this time of year.

A Tale of Two Yellows

One of the yellows smells wonderful while

the other not so much.

Which one do you think might smell better?
Honestly I wish you could smell how sweet one of these

is but the other smells. Yup it just smells.

~
The first photo is Mizuna that is flowering,

it is usually part of a salad blend and is considered

to be bitter. We don't love bitter so I let it do it's thing

and it rewards us with these beauties.

~

The second photo is Oregon Grape flowering,

I look forward to the flowers every year - so pretty.

Which beauty do you think smells amazing?

It is the Mizuna! 

Ah it is worth growing just for

the fragrant flowers, love that yellow also!

Garden Tools

There are 4 tools I need to garden;

Hand pruners, Shovel, Pitch Fork and a Hori Hori.

This happens often enough that we have a few shovel

heads in the yard. Maybe if they didn't stay outside

in the elements they'd last longer.

We have a taller pitch fork but one of the tines

is bent. This new little fork is perfect for

popping the soil loose along with any weeds

that get in my way. I've accomplished quite a bit

with my new shovel and fork.

The hori hori was a gift from one of my sons

a few years back, it is perfect for popping weeds

out by hand and I also use it to dig small holes

for seed planting.

I keep the hori hori with my gloves that way I always

know where they both are, together.
Normally there is a pruner with these but I haven't been

using one as much the last week so it's been stored away -

These are usually on the porch waiting for the next day.

This side also has a ruler built in! Helpful.

I didn't take a photo of the pruners, we have a few different 

ones and none are my favorite! 

Colorful Potatoes

A few weeks ago we were at a farmers

market and they had the most beautiful organic
potatoes for under $3.00 a pound.

There were quite a few varieties but we stuck to 3.

Purple, pink and yellow.

Did you know potato plants flower and that the flower color

will match the potato? It's a beautiful food don't you think!

 The next 2 photos are a bit blurry (operator error) but I wanted

you to see the sprouted eyes.

I cut the potatoes into chunks with each chunk having an eye or 3

then let the potatoes dry for a couple of days to allow a skin

to form and to help prevent rotting.

Chocolate Lily

One of my all time favorite plants that goes by a really cute name:

Chocolate lily, fritillaria, misson bells.

An edible native plant and it's beautiful, what more

can you want out of a plant.

I am not sure if this is fritillaria lanceolata or fritillaria affinis.

Camellias

This is my white camellia which is my favorite except that it's not

been a great bloomer. Many of the buds rot and fall off and what

flowers do bloom get ruined if we have any rain.

The flowers might get lucky this year as it's blooming late

which means the blooms might not get ruined by the rains!!!

This camellia normally flowers the first week of March, it's

the first week of April blooming this year.
It's pretty but I've been missing it's blooms during the

month of March.

An Extra Post Today - Making Paper Pots

Newspaper planter pots have been popular for sometime now and for good reasons; easy to make, inexpensive and the newspaper becomes one with the soil.

If you aren't sure about the safety of using
newspaper, please read this information regarding the composting of paper.

You will need painters tape - it's excellent for holding the pot together but also it's a place to write the label -
scissors, newspaper, school glue and cans of various sizes. The finished pot size is dependent on the size of the can, want smaller pots - use smaller cans, want bigger pots - use bigger cans.

All the instructions are with the photos which you can view here Slideshow or the Album.

Finished paper pots next to their cans.

Spring Blooms - Daffodils!

We've had really really really nice weather lately.

I am very thankful for the change in the weather, 

March was a cooler than normal month for us

and it was wearing on me.
Probably on everyone around me to! LOL

Here are 2 daffodils growing next to each other, what 

on earth happened to that first one? Slugs is my guess but

why do they eat one and no others? I think maybe the slugs 

don't really like daffodils but eat on the buds before they open?!

Love this sunny face.
This is a tall daffodil and I planted it near the front of the border.

I think my reasoning was that it's next to the front steps

and I wanted them right there. Great!

A Garden Bed Gets Into Shape

It really is messy but that's alright, the violets are adorable

and the dandelions are amazingly sunny, I don't mind them

most of the time because I know I can pull them out at any time.

The past few days have been beautiful but this little

pollinator didn't have much company, I think aside

from him I saw a huge bumble and that was about it.

Those little violas surrounding that dandelion are really pretty together.

Do you think dandelions are a good plant or a bad plant?
Check this page out for some healthy information 

regarding the dandelion.

Here is the finished bed planted with sugar snap peas, cabbage seeds

are in the center - I figure they can fill in that center space and

by the time they are getting bigger the peas should be done.

There is a trellis type thing here but I decided not 

to use it for the peas instead going with twigs for support.

These are not trellising peas so no need for it.

Did you notice the mulch? It's grass clippings, I love to use

it for mulch around my plants - it feeds the garden as it breaks down

but in the meantime it keeps weeds down and helps

keep the moisture in. 

Artichokes and some Boots

This artichoke is a few years old, actually these are 

offshoots of the parent plant that was

planted in this spot a few years ago.

Last year I started some artichoke seeds in

coconut pots, they overwintered just fine

and now I've got a new artichoke in the garden.

We don't get a lot of artichokes but some

is better than none.

I like how these look.

Pasque Flower is Glorious

The Pasque flower is native to North America  meadows and prairies

and I can pretend I have one of those going on here!

The snow in summer is taking over this section of the flower

bed so me thinks it is time for a clean up.
Oh you caught me I've been complaining about this flower

bed for years, it needs a major clean up.

How about a close up of the pasque flower to take your

mind off of my messy, weedy bed.

Hanging Basket Survivors

Last spring this basket was planted with a couple of things, the

bewitched pansy must be winter hardy because it has made 

it through the winter. I can hardly wait to see this in full bloom.

This little pansy hung out all winter in a little basket on the fence -

I didn't pay it any mind until I realized it was putting out some blooms.

Now this is not a hanging basket, instead it is a sedum
 growing in the potting bench. I think it's cute there

but not sure how long it will make it.