Seattle's Kubota Garden, in early October

I did it. I hit the road in early October, bound for Seattle. After months of being at home it was invigorating, and a little unnerving. I needed to visit a friend and decided to make a two-day affair out of the trip, leaving early on a Friday morning, spending the night, and heading back on Saturday. Since my hotel was just minutes from Kubota Garden I got up early-ish on Saturday morning and walked the garden.

This was only my second visit to the garden, the previous was in 2013 and a few weeks later in the season (see that post here, learn more about the garden's history here), so the fall colors were a little more vibrant then. Not that this visit wasn't lovely too...

Not being much of a conifer fan I was surprised how much I wanted to bring both of these home with me and replant them together in my garden. I think the green on the right is a Cryptomeria japonica 'Spiralis', but I have no idea what the blue is.

This is going to be a pretty photo-heavy post, so I'm going to try to keep the commentary to a minimum so you can just enjoy the photos...(note I said try, I'm not promising anything)

 

 

Anyone able to ID this cryptomeria?

 

 

I love this view of the pond, kind of behind the scenes and unexpected.

 

Freshly pruned

 

But still quite attractive.

 

The red bridge demands to have it's photo taken.

 

 

 

 

That's a second (larger) red bridge. A photographer was holding portrait sessions on the bridge which made it virtually impossible for anyone else to get near.

 

 

Quick! Snap that photo before the next person walks out and poses for their photo...

 

The hedge of several greens....

 

 

With a very flat top!

 

 

Signs of the times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope the two Blechnum chilense I planted this summer bulk up and look this amazing someday.
 

This is the end, of my visit. If you're up in the Seattle area I definitely recommend you stop by the garden. I have a few other stops to share from this trip. Gardens and nurseries made for a few COVID-safe stops.

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

'Tis the season: container change-up

As I mentioned in Monday's post, the time came to pull the trio of succulent dish planters indoors.

Rather than just have empty metal posts sticking out of the ground all winter I planted up a new trio of dishes with winter hardy plants.

 

Each dish has a nice big chunk of black mondo grass combined with a small pot of light green Scotch moss and a selection of carnivorous plants that were previously living in dish planters plunged into/above the stock tank pond.

 

Nothing terribly earth shattering, but it will be interesting to see how the carnivorous plants do in these dishes over the winter. 

In other container changes, since the shade pavilion is now enclosed as a green house for the winter, I moved the fern bowl over to this corner. It's hard to see, but there on one of the paver squares...

I do love this planting, it's one of my very favorite things in the garden.

The Dryopteris sieboldii are stunning.

Better than anywhere else in the garden.

The Pyrrosia sheareri are knock-outs as well.

There's the "greenhouse"—ready to keep its contents cozy over the winter months.

It seems like there's more room this year, but I'm sure that's just an illusion which will vanish once it gets really cold—and more things are moved in.

Shout-out to this Agave sisalana ‘Variegata’ pup my brother sent me in July, I pulled it from it's spot in one of the drive way stock tanks to pot it up and protect it in the greenhouse, of course I stopped to admire it's good looks.

 

The view of the patio is sadly empty...cause all the containers have moved elsewhere.

Here's the greenhouse view from the patio...

Since it's the season for such things, I also removed the ceramic hanging containers from the front of the garage and replaced them with the metal clamp-on "light shade" hanging containers. These have great drainage with the bonus of not breaking when there's a freeze. Thin ceramic containers don't do so well over the winter months.

These are going into (I think) their fourth winter. 

I also threw together this grouping by the back door. The bougainvillea had been in that tall container but was past it's prime, so I planted Erica arborea 'Estrella Gold' instead.

The two small black containers are filled with Calluna vulgaris 'Firefly'. I added a couple of pumpkins for my autumn-loving husband.

 

That Erica arborea is just so gorgeous!

Also in the group is a Fascicularia pitcairnifolia, I am wondering why some of the leaves are starting to color-up, that usually only happens when the plant is going to bloom, yet there's no sign of a bloom. Curious.

Black mondo and pumpkins seem like a natural pairing, don't you think?

Finally, I brought home a few of these large cones when I visited Secret Garden Growers in September, I thought they made a great combination with the leaves from my Quercus dentata 'Pinnatifida’ (Cutleaf Emperor Oak).

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.