Fling 2013 - The Sunset Garden

I know it's been a while since I posted about the Garden Bloggers Fling...but fear not...they are still coming...just slowly! Today, we're going to take a look at our visit to the offices and trial gardens of Sunset Magazine.

I have to admit...even though it was only 11 (I think), it was HOT...and a lot of us were seeking refuge in the shade whenever possible! I made a point of walking around as much as possible, however...and look what I spotted on the right...


Yum! Bouteloua 'Blonde Ambition', looking fabulous!


Even closer up...love it!


Sunset was introducing a line of signature plants this year...and one of them really wowed me (and quite a few others). Salvia 'Amistad'...utterly gorgeous!


I just love those rich purple blooms emerging from the jet-black calyces...just stunning!


While wandering around their test garden, I was struck by this arch. I liked the form and size, not so much the bright, shiny color (I'm in the minority on that part)! Ironically, I saw a similar arch last weekend at Farwest that was rusty metal...which would sit much easier in my garden.

Even these bright flowers couldn't compete with the amazing textured bark of these old oaks!


I quite liked this stylized totem, standing sentinel in a swathe of Stipa gigantea.


I was surprised at the enormous lawn they had at the office...I can only imagine how much water and mowing that entails! Then again, they use this space often for events...which makes sense...I can't remember how many people they said they could fit there...but it was astounding (I want to say 20,000 or something crazy like that)!

There was much exploring all the corners of the gardens.


I spent quite a while wandering in their mini-meadow.


At the end, we all met up again at the entrance for one last look at the trial gardens. Thanks again to Sunset for opening their doors to us and letting us check out their digs!

I think it's gonna rain today...

This past weekend, and last night, we actually got rain here in Portland! After months without a drop of rain, it's always kind of astounding to see the sky open up and have this strange liquid pouring down to the earth. Of course, I decided last night to water the new plants...and just as I turned on the faucet, it starting raining...not that I'm complaining. It's so great to fall asleep to the sound of rain falling.


Of course, while the rain is always welcome in my garden...it can really do a number on the plants at this time of year. Everything is so tall and top-heavy, that a few things inevitably crumple under the sudden weight of all that water. Some plants, like the Deschampsia above, bow gracefully under the added weight.

Others, like this enormous Agastache 'Blue Blazes', succumb and topple over. I'm always annoyed when this happens...but am not surprised. I tried to lift the stems to shake off some of the excess moisture...and they weighed a TON! The same is true for the poor Eutrochium and Selinum stems on the right...I was amazed at just how heavy they were, weighed down with rain as they were.


Luckily, the stem on this Selinum wasn't snapped, so I propped it up with a bamboo stake.


Looking down the sidewalk through the north borders, it's getting a little close in there...I shook off as much moisture as I could to make it easier for pedestrians to get through...but if things aren't a little more upright when I go home at noon, I will probably have to trim things back...or undertake some creative staking!


The Eutrochium cannot keep its massive heads upright after rain...they are so heavy...they decided last night to lay on top of everything around them.


While most plants accommodated this from the Eutrochium, a few snapped stems are inevitable.


Still, there's a sort of romance in the lax companionship they've all formed.


One bonus of the leaning stems is that I can now see the Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' through the Eutrochium stems!


Luckily, the damage is minimal this time...and since it's fall, a little attrition in the garden is less traumatic. There is much beauty due to the rain. The lovely matte leaves of Macleaya cordata, allow the water to bead up beautifully.


The normally-upright stems of Pennisetum macrourum bend gracefully now...even more elegant under their burden.


The bristly blooms of Pennisetum 'Red Head' capture the rain in miniature jewels.


And their arching stems hold droplets.


Luckily, I had already staked the two Panicum 'Northwind' grasses a few weeks ago (go figure, one of the trio is perfectly upright, the other two are somewhat floppy). As a result of my prompt attention to brace them, however, they remain upright!


Another grass that looks amazing in the rain is Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'. I love how the blooms arch over, creating new combinations with plants that they previously towered over.


Even here, seen through the rain-laden stems of Molinia 'Skyracer', they are elegant...dramatic.


And of course, you can't forget the Panicums...not just for those lovely beaded blooming panicles of theirs, but for their red and purple-tinged foliage, which transforms raindrops in to rubies and amethysts.


One thing is certain, the recent rains have been such a relief after last year, when our summer drought stretched until almost October! I hope all you out there are having a good late summer/early fall. After last nights rain, the ground might even be soft enough to plant now!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - August 2013

Wow...it's the middle of August already! It's definitely high summer here in Portland, although our weather has been atypically overcast and muggy the past few days. While I always welcome cloud cover, the humidity is not especially pleasant!


Hands-down the pollinator favorite at the moment is Agatache 'Blue Blazes'. Bees, bumblebees, hummingbirds and butterflies all jostle for a spot at this beauty.


A summer classic, Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. It may be common, but I still love it...and few flowers say "summer" like those bright yellow discs of gold. Of course, add the tiny, bead-like blooms of Panicum 'Shenandoah' and you have summer magic!


Even though I ripped them out by the millions this spring, several Impatiens balfourii obviously escaped me...and are now in full bloom. I have to admit, they are wonderful at filling in gaps in the garden. I'm already dreading all the weeding I'm in for next spring.

Geranium 'Rozanne' is one of the hardest-working plants around. She's been blooming for at least 3 months without a break...and will go on like this until frost. She is constantly swarming with bees...as are the Knautia macedonica. I've discovered that while they will survive without supplemental summer water, the ones that DO get water flower all summer...while the ones in the parking strips that don't get water only bloom sporadically until the fall rains return.


One of the first plants I bought, years ago, Crocosmia 'Orangeade'. Sadly, the expanding Sumac above them is starting to crowd them out...and they'll have to be divided and moved this fall...if anyone local wants a division, let me know :-)


Probably THE defining plant in my garden from July onwards is Eutrochium 'Gateway'. It's size, structure, and now, blooms, make it an extremely versatile and invaluable plant...one of my top ten favorite plants EVER!


The Epilobium, which were so tall and upright for months, start to twirl and curve as summer heads into fall. The bees still love them...and they are swarming with Ladybug larvae...reason enough to keep them around, as the aphids are especially bad this year.

Without a doubt, the longest-blooming plant in my garden is Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve', which thrives on TOTAL neglect...I'm talking NO WATER ever. It's been blooming for 12 months straight! I always had trouble with my Helenium flopping, but the key seems to be to plant them and leave them be...don't water them and they stay much shorter and don't flop...yet they still bloom continuously for months.


The clumps of Agastache 'Black Adder' are much diminished this year...perhaps because I don't water them...some Agastaches DO seem to want some summer water. They still bloom, however, much to the delight of the bees.


Another classic late-summer/early-fall combination, Echinacea and Sedum, in this case, Echinacea 'Magnus' and Sedum 'Matrona'. I love how the colors compliment each other...they seem to smolder in the front parking strip. As wonderful as the fresh, bright blooms of Echinacea are, I like them as they start to fade even more...they take on warm, peachy tones that so gracefully usher us into autumn.


A new Echinacea I'm trying this year, to much success, is 'Showoff', which I love due to it's gracefully reflexed petals...and the delightful ombré coloring of its petals (I know, ombré is SO 2012...but who cares)!

While Macleaya cordata is grown mostly for it's lovely powdery-blue foliage, the frothy flowers are pretty cool too. Echinacea 'White Swan' adds a cool pop of white to the front border...I do love it's crispness.


The last of my Lilies to bloom, I believe this is 'Sarabande', which, happily, is nicely perfumed...and beautiful!

While the coloring of Agastache 'Purple Haze' isn't as intense as some of the newer varities, I really like how it contributes a soft, well, haze of cool color to a border. A bonus is that it's habit is reliably upright. Selinum wallichianum is just undeniably graceful in form and flower.


I can never get enough purple...and Lobelia gerardii delivers in that department!


While it's lush, golden foliage is the main attraction early on, the cerise, bottlebrush flowers add wonderful, airy strokes of color to the scene.

I'm a bad gardener, I almost never dead-head flowers anymore, mostly because I like the way they look as they fade on the plants...and also, because I never seem to get re-bloom anyway. One exception seems to be Astrantia 'Star of Fire', which I just planted last month. Echinops blooms are utterly fascinating to me...I love how they are perfect, pointy spheres...and bees go INSANE for them!


I was pretty excited last month when I realized that some Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carrota) had seeded into my garden. Time will tell whether I should have been afraid instead. Even more exciting are the colors of Panicum 'Cheyenne Sky'!


Salvia 'Amistad' still thrills me...those inky purple blooms are to die for!


This is the best year ever for Rudbeckia triloba in my garden...I have several that have seeded around and all of them are blooming...love their sprays of smaller golden blooms.


This Agastache ('Liquorice Candy') was a gift, and a wonderful gift it has turned out to be!


I transplanted these poor Vernonia missurica 3 times this spring...I couldn't decide whether I should give them away (they flopped badly in my shady garden last year) or move them to the sunniest spot possible. Well, I kind of just plopped them where I had room, and they are much happier...and starting to bloom with intensely red-purple umbels of flowers.

Verbena rigida 'Polaris' continues to add soothing light lavender flowers to the path leading into the backyard, and Agastache 'Blue Boa' still pumps out blooms, even though it's now dwarfed by the Panicum 'Northwind'.


While I almost never seem to have my camera at the ready when the hummingbirds are around, yesterday morning I lucked out! Here, it's feasting on Agastache 'Desert Sunrise'


Let's wrap up with the wide views...here we have the north border looking from west.


The same border looking east.


Looking over the north parking strip into the corner of the garden.


Here's the north border from above.


Here's the front garden looking north.


The front garden looking south.


Here's a view into the back yard coming up the driveway (shed on the left).


Here's the backyard looking north.


And the backyard looking south.


And we finish with a look of the whole shebang! Join Carol at May Dreams Garden for more Bloom Day posts...and I hope your summer is going well, as we look with anticipation toward autumn!