Wednesday Vignette, I don't know if I should be happy or sad

I've got to admit it's been awhile since I've spent any time in the shopping district of downtown Portland. Last week I was there, buying an anniversary gift for Andrew (#13 last Monday!), and I walked past this...

At first I was extremely sad. This poor Euphorbia pseudocactus (I think) looks so out of place, so abandoned and potentially doomed to death (some say it's hardy to USDA Zone 9, others say Zone 8).

Then I was happy thinking about the fact someone planted it here. This style of planter is used throughout the downtown core, but there's no way this was planted by a city employee. This was guerrilla gardened and I'm rooting for it!

Weather Diary, Dec 19: Hi 53, Low 41/ Precip .51"

Wednesday Vignettes are hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum. All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Agaves with rope fringe, that's something you don't see everyday

I've still got things to share from the Washington D.C. area Garden Bloggers Fling last June. I started editing my photos from the U.S. Botanic Garden, and realized these images from the Children's Garden (just outside the Conservatory) were so entertaining they deserved their own post.

I mean it's not everyday you see Agaves, in buckets, with rope fringe, on metal posts. Am I right?

I want to think the perforated metal might mean the posts are heaters? Then again we visited in the summertime, when there was no need for additional heat, and I read the Children's Garden is closed for the winter. Besides, that frayed rope would certainty be flammable.

Someone had a lot of fun designing this and I want to applaud them. Well done! (more photos from the Botanic Garden later in the week).

Weather Diary, Dec 18: Hi 53, Low 47/ Precip .02"

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

In a Vase on Monday: flowers and vases and blooms — this time of the year I can't get enough of it all...

The holiday season is all about abundance. Lights and ornaments and gifts and cookies and parties, and, and...and. I take this as my queue to indulge in flowers and foliage. More, more, more!

Ever since I discovered the magic of using Poinsettia as cut flowers (during the Poinsettia Challenge) I can't stop. They're so much more interesting tucked into a vase with other foliage, rather than just plopped down "as-is" in their paper-covered plastic pots.

This variegated foliage number gets to share it's "vase" (actually an old silver teapot) with some pepper-berries from the market.

A stem from another plant, along with pepper-berry foliage, adds a bit of festive to the bathroom shelf.

This mess was my attempt to bring some of my garden into the mix.

There are a few stems from the Cryptomeria japonica 'Rasen'...

Foliage cut from the Brachyglottis greyi (Senecio greyi).

Branches of Grevillea australis.

And a few flower stems — now with berries — from the Mahonia gracilipes.

The latter was an attempt to add Christmas color before I bought the pepper-berries from the market.

The table looked like this for a day or so.

Then I remembered that ceramic frog I bought a couple years ago, and dug out the silver champagne glass, it was a good fit. I foraged some rose hips nearby...

And went to work. Funny I'd never noticed I had Rob & Jean's cup, I wonder what they were celebrating when this cup was engraved? (I picked it up at a thrift shop)

I purchased this Stoke's Aster recently at Garden Fever, from their 40% off table (last summer's perennials that are in decline).

While it's a plant that I would never give a second glance in flower, I love LOVE these seed-heads (?). I hope the flowers aren't too irritating.

Since I wasn't getting to enjoy those seed-heads outside they were cut to go in the cup arrangement.

And were joined by the unknown foliage with little white flowers, which I cut from a nearby shrub (in an empty lot).

It's an odd combination of things, but I think it's festive.

I also added a few Leucadendron stems to the tall vase.

They were only $2.99 for five at Trader Joe's, so why not?

The abundance of the season, adding more and more layers, I love it!

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for links to other gardener's vases today.

Weather Diary, Dec 17: Hi 49, Low 41/ Precip .02"

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

December Bloomday, 2017

Here we are, the last Bloomday of the year. Even though this has been a very mild season here in Portland I find myself thinking of the things lost last winter — blooms I miss, and I'm sure the wildlife does too. But I can't complain too much, after all there are blooms in my garden in December, what more could a gardener ask for?

Abutilon Nuabyell hasn't missed a beat. Here it's being blown about and refusing to hold still for its photo. Yes it's been sunny, but the famous East Wind has been wicked.

Arctostaphylos x ‘Austin Griffiths' is on the verge of busting out.

Where as the orange flowering Bomarea sp. is hanging on despite a light frost.

As is the Cobaea scandens, aka Cup and Saucer Vine, which really should have turned to mush but must be protected by the fact it's growing up against the West facing side of the house. As much I love the foliage this one really is trying my patience since it didn't put out a single flower all season!

Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’ — still hanging on to it's foliage and yes, only hinting at flowers to come. Still I celebrate.

Ditto for the Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' — although it's lost its foliage.

Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' with Fatsia japonica.

The Fatsia japonica blooms keep the pollinators very happy.

Fatsia japonica 'Variegata' (Camouflage)

In a corner of the back garden.

Eriobotrya japonica aka Loquat. So simple, so beautiful, so fragrant.

I love this plant for its large pleated leaves, the fact it blooms is a bonus.

Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific', of which I have many. Yet this — the newest addition to the garden — is the only one that's ever produced those little cones.

What's up with that?

Mahonia x media 'Charity'

Being simply stunning.

Really.

Persicaria microcephala ‘Red Dragon’ — freeze, what freeze?

The Rosemary NOID also couldn't care less about the temperatures, which I love.

All those blooms!

I'll wrap up this garden bloggers Bloomday post (hosted by Carol, don't you know) with a look at the ever hopeful Tetrapanax papyrifer. It tries so hard to bloom, but there's just no way it's happening this year. Although those buds look promising they still need a few weeks of warmth, which even the hopeful know is not going to happen here, mid-December.

Weather Diary, Dec 14: Hi 44, Low 32/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.