Reason #397 why I love summer: dinner tastes better with fresh herbs

Take rosemary for instance…You’re cooking up some potatoes, and think “wouldn’t these taste even better with fresh rosemary?”…why yes they would! So you saunter out to the garden and cut a couple of sprigs. Maybe grab a little sage while you’re at it…

And when you decide to use your potatoes in a Mexi-scramble, well then you can go cut some cilantro too!

Absolutely nothing says summer for me like the smell of basil (notice I’ve already been pinching off a few leaves)…

Maybe I’ll eventually have a tomato or two to eat with the basil (if I’m lucky and the weather improves…sun! We need more sun!).

And in the (surprisingly frequent) event that a mojito party breaks out on the patio…no problem! Fresh mint is close at hand!

Summer is the best.

Paddles from heaven (or how I ended up with free Opuntia)

I walked by this scene a few times.(any especially eagle eyed dg readers out there may think this scene looks a little familiar, that's because these are the Opunita I blogged about last year, when they were all tied up). Finally a week went by and it was obvious that the owner wasn’t going to pick up this broken Opuntia paddle so I told my husband I was going to. “You can’t…it’s not yours” was his response. Ok. He has a point. It’s not. Just because I can see it’s not being loved doesn’t mean that the owner doesn’t have a higher and better use in mind, and just hasn’t gotten around to it yet. It would be very bad plant karma to just pick it up and take it. Still I wondered and wanted.

Finally I summoned all of my garden courage and walked up to the door.

Ignoring the no soliciting sign (because after all I wasn’t really soliciting) I knocked. And again. And rang the doorbell. And knocked (desire is a strong motivator). Finally the owner came to the door. I held up the broken paddle. “This has been lying in your parking strip for a week or so, and I wonder, if you don’t have anything in mind for it….might I take it?”
(ok I am feeling like a real jerk…)
Her response: “sure, would you like a bag?”
(really…? It was just that easy?)
And then she said… “if you want just break off another one too…they grow so quickly”

So here I am with not one but two (free) Prickly Pear paddles! Just because I asked! Ain’t life grand?

The one that was lying on the ground had already formed a callus on the bottom so I went ahead and stuck it in the ground right away.

Love those spikes!

The other one will wait. I’ve read that if you plant them too soon you risk them rotting at the base.

What would you think if someone knocked on your door and asked such a thing? Have you ever knocked on someones door and asked to take a cutting of a plant?

Agave love in PNW – a follow-up

Last September I exposed my love affair with Agaves, in lurid detail I delved into the different kinds I was growing and the conditions in which they were growing. I promised a follow up in the spring, for better or worse. Well… unfortunately back then I had no idea just how bad it was going to be. The month of December was not a happy one here in the danger garden. Most, if not all, of these deaths were from a 3 night period of record lows (13 degrees), not getting above freezing during the daytime (for about a week), combined with no insulating snow cover, intense drying wind, and the fact that this all came completely out of the blue. No hardening off for the plants, one day warm and raining the next day dry and bitterly cold.

Here is an update, following the same order of plants that I did in the original post. First from the High Country Gardens catalogue, these were purchased at the same time, from the same source, and planted within a couple feet of each other. They all received the same protection, burlap and leaves during the freeze…

Agave parryi – Parry’s Century Plant, Flagstaff form, hardy in Zones 4-10. Dead. It struggled…one day I touched it and its center fell over. That was the end.

Agave havardiana – Harvard’s Century Plant, hardy in Zones 5-10. Alive, with a baby! Agave toumeyana, hardy in Zones 7 4-10. This one didn’t even seem to be phased by the cold. It never even looked bad. I’ve since bought another…hopefully I’m on to something! Here it is in early March…

And the new one …

Next…my Agave montana 'Baccarat' this is a sad tale. This picture was taken before things got really ugly. She’s gone to agave heaven, and it wasn’t pretty.

Agave Gentryi ‘Jaws’ according to the San Marcos Growers website this is one of the most cold tolerant of the large agave, tolerating temperatures down to 5° F. I do believe if we had built up (or down rather) to the cold temps this one might have survived. It just all happened so fast. Here is a cold hard reality shot taken in February.

That is the underside of the plant. I had picked up the rotten mass and turned it over.

Agave Americana ‘variegata’ pups…there were 4 in the first picture on the original post. One is dead…and 3 live on, although they have suffered a few lost leaves.

Mr. Big. He had his own post back in December, when I was beginning to believe he just might make it. And he has. Thank god…he is my agave super star…I don’t know where the danger garden would be with out its biggest agave. What did he have that the others did not? Protection from the rain. He was covered and although he dealt with the same cold temps he didn’t have the rain to get his feet wet before the cold snap.

Next up was the pup that I thought might be a sacrifice to the winter gods. It actually lived! It’s smaller, but still alive. The pups on either side are new, gifts from my Arizona brother.

Last up was an Agave parryi that spent the winter in a terra cotta pot. Not a problem. Even when the pot was frozen solid to the garage floor for several days and I couldn’t pick it up to move it indoors. This agave survived without an issue. So what’s his reward? Now he’s in the ground. Nice digs for the summer months…we’ll see how he feels about it in the winter.

In addition to these in-ground agaves I have many (too many, some would say) agaves in containers that sailed through last winter under grow-lights in our basement. When the weather started to warm up and dry up in early May they were transitioned outside. Only to be hit with record setting rain and cool temperatures. Hopefully I won’t be posting about them anytime soon, other than to share pictures of how good they look. I don’t want to loose anymore agaves!

The Tulip Tree

Walking Lila the other day I spotted a few petals lying on the sidewalk. They looked like tulip petals… I looked all around but couldn’t see a single tulip. Not surprising since its June right? But I did spot this…

And so I looked a little more. But I still didn’t understand what I was looking for until I saw this…

Ah, the leaves! And that is when I realized the blooms were coming from that huge tree above me! A picture of the tree...

I eventually found an intact bloom which I brought home and enjoyed for a few days. Then the husband got involved and we looked it up in a couple of his books. Random House, Trees of North America (and Europe) published in 1978.
And The National Wildlife Federation, Field Guide to Trees of North America, 2008.

Interesting that they are such different listings. The older book was showing the tree and flower as we saw it. From the book: Liriodendron, The tulip tree is sometimes called "tulip poplar" or "yellow poplar", and the wood simply "poplar", although unrelated to the genus Populus. The tree is also called canoewood, saddle leaf tree and white wood.

And as you might imagine looking at the flower it is in the Magnolia family. Personally I am still awe struck by those green, orange and yellow striped petals.

The fine folks at Sunset Mag also recently blogged about the Tulip tree: http://freshdirt.sunset.com/2010/06/tulip-tree-the-best-flowering-tree-you-never-noticed.html

Front garden “makeover”

I’ve been putting off posting pictures of the latest incarnation of our front garden. I kept thinking it would be better ‘next week’ well, I’ve finally came to terms with the fact that I hate it. I loved it 2 years ago. That version was what I designed and loved, the plants were mature and looking fabulous. Then two back to back harsh winters killed plants that had previously been hardy in Portland for years. It was time to start over. For example the Phormium would not be replanted. Here are their remains, behind the blooming Euphorbia.

And they go bye-bye!

Likewise the remaining Cordylines would live or die but never again would I replant them. So what to go forward with? I’d been flirting with Manzanita and Ceanothus in others gardens. It was finally time to invite them into mine. But the plants I’ve purchased are small. I had gotten used to BIG, and now I am starting over. Another long term crush, Cotinus. I’ve loved the foliage on this dark stunner for years. Finally I’ve planted one in my garden. Please grow little Cotinus grow!
The plan…

Since the Euphorbia on the south-end are evergreen, and their chartreuse blooms in the spring last for weeks and weeks, that’s where the Cotinus was planted. The contrast between the dark burgundy leaves and the chartreuse blooms will be fabulous! And since the Cotinus is deciduous the Euphorbia will carry that end of the garden through the winter months.
Add Yucca 'bright star,' Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard,’ Eryngium Yuccifolium and Euphorbia rigida and there is (or will be) plenty of interest to carry the south end of the garden.

And as bonus the Yucca 'bright star' which has never looked particularly good since the day I planted it is having babies!
The Manzanita… Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Harmony' anchors the north end. Or hopefully it will, some day. Right now its just couple of perky little twigs that you can barely make out above the Tetrapanax leaves.
Here is a close up.
As you saw above in the northeast corner the Tetrapanax I planted last fall is coming on strong. Joining it are purple Yucca (left), a Ceanothus Pt. Reyes (right) and a surprise come back…a purple Cordyline that collapsed last winter. Proving sometimes it’s smart to leave the roots of a marginally hardy plant that appears dead in the ground to see what might happen. The northwest corner is now a mash up of two different Ceanothus (Ceanothus ‘Joyce Coulter’ and Ceanothus ‘I can’t remember’), a few Verbascum, another purple Yucca, Flax (sucker! Yes I bought just one more…it was cheap at Means Nursery…) and the surviving, still standing Cordy.And guess what! It’s got new leaves pushing out of the center and a sprout coming out of the side. This is a survivor.
In previous summers the center of the garden quite literally erupted in a display of tall colorful Canna Liliys, several different types. However these too fell to the nasty winter and only a few are struggling back this year. As previously revealed I planted three agaves here. And yes, I have corrected the horrible offense of the WWTT 3 post. Yhey still look a little dorky in this picture, 'real life' is better.

These agaves come from my in-laws home in New Mexico. They are cold hardy, but perhaps not rain hardy. We will find out. Since they had outgrown their containers it was time to experiment, a happy ending? Or a sad ending? Only time will tell. A few more images from the front garden…

The huge leaves of a Euphorbia stygiana.

Kniphophia and Hakonechloa.

And many Yucca blooms are on the way…

So…back to that ‘hate it’ sentiment. If I put on my magical future glasses (fast forward 3 years) then I love it! But right now…not so much. Everything is so small. I’ve stepped back years…no fun when its size (that only age can bring) which you want!