Friday, November 13, 2020

Visiting the Bellevue Botanical Garden, Part Two

Today we pick back up with our visit to the Bellevue Botanical Garden as we're walking into the famed perennial border...

The Datisca cannabina (aka false hemp) is always a show-stopper for me. That's it above, in the distance, and again below.

And here, backed by a soft blue sky.

One of the many Cephalotaxus harringtonii (aka Japanese plum-yew) that caught my eye. Of course the variegated chestnut is no slacker in the foliage department either.

Semi-wide shot with nolina...

Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica' that is.

I seemed to be captivated by cryptomeria on this trip, stopping to take photos here and of several at the Kubota Garden the next day.

I'm always mesmerized by a fuzzy verbascum.

Crinum 'Cecil Houdyshel'

And again, masked by blooms of a nearby grass.

Verbena 

And a rodgersia looking fabulous so late in the year, it must get a lot of water.

These small, protective cages were all around the garden. They remind me of a project in Lorene Edwards-Forkner's A Handmade Garden, I wonder if she held a workshop at the garden?

I can be charmed by a dark, late-season hydrangea bloom.

Darnit! The Northwest Perennial Alliance has a propagation exhibit and there are usually plants for sale. It wasn't open when I was there, maybe a COVID thing? (this scene was behind a closed door, photo taken through the glass).

There are parts of the garden left natural and wild.

I found this old hebe to be quite a looker.

Lysimachia paridiformis var. stenophylla


And finally, the fern garden...

I was rather taken with this one, as it was forming a short trunk.

Online requests for ID resulted in the names Polystichum polyblepharum, Polystichum x dycei, and Dryopteris cycadina—with Polystichum polyblepharum emerging as the likely winner.

I bent to take a photo of the turkey tails, but then noticed there was a fern frond in shadow.

And now I'm looking for a hollow trunk in which to plant a few ferns.

Onoclea sensibilis, the sensitive fern.

Here's another plant whose ID I wondered about.

Perhaps a rhododendron?

And here's our last photo of the visit, definitely a rhododendron, but I couldn't tell you which one.

Weather Diary, Nov 12: Hi 49, Low 36/ Precip .16" 

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

16 comments:

  1. What a lovely way to start the day with a vicarious walk through the garden. The turkey tails and fern shot is definitely an art photo. Striking!

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  2. Re: The turkey tails photo with the fern leaf shadow

    BEAUTIFUL!

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  3. The small protective cages is much better looking than the chicken wire I've been using recently, when rabbits discovered my garden. The photo of the tail mushrooms and fern shadow is a beautiful accident.
    I've been hoping to score a hallowed trunk for a while now...

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    1. So far the bunny that has been hanging out in my front garden has stuck to snacking on the juniper, which there is plenty of. Should he discover other treats I may have to get cage creative.

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  4. Kendall McLean taught a class on the wire cages, aka "critter cloche/bunny barrier baskets" in February with the NPA. It was one of the few garden activities I managed to sneak in before covid.

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    1. Ah, good to know. Perhaps the bloggers group will need to talk you into teaching us!

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    2. I'd be happy to. I find that the cloche shape is much more resilient to dog collisions than the basic cylinder.

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  5. Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Prostrata' is a plant that NEEDS to be made more available.

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    1. I am so glad you agree! I remember discovering them during the DC Fling and being told by several folks the reason we can't find them here is because they're all shipped back east.

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  6. This is definitely on my list of places to visit whenever I manage to get up that way. I also appreciate your link to the review of Lorene Edwards Forkner's book - I apparently just grabbed the last copy Amazon had.

    BTW, are you having any problems with editing your Blogger posts? Since last night, something has changed and I can no longer see my photos or add captions to photos when in edit mode.

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    1. It's a good book, glad you got one! As for Blogger, no new problems such as you describe. (knock on wood)

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  7. I love the fern in what looks like an old eucalyptus trunk - I'm always tempted to plant things in stumps. Nearby, in the woods, is a spruce seedling in a rotted stump, perfect tale of death and renewal.

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  8. We're having a couple o trees taken down this winter and now I will have to decide if I should leave a chunk of trunk as a fern planter. What a great look that is.

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