One of the lovely things about the Lan Su Chinese Garden is the space outside the walls for passers by to enjoy. Like the garden inside, the mini-gardens bordering the block are full of plants that remind us that the garden is always changing. At the garden now, blooming Edgeworthias herald the approach of spring.
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Geez Louise, the first half of April has been a blur. Time flies when you’re spring planting.
The Portland forecast has temperatures in the 80s this week. Too soon!
The cooler, rainier days have been perfect for transplanting, weeding, and watering in new seedlings, but today’s our last day with rain, then the temperature climbs daily, from 51 today, to 82 on Monday.
I’ve got about 20 plants waiting to get into the ground, but hot sunny days ahead means it’s go time, before all those little nursery pots need a bunch of babysitting and watering. Can you hear the second hand ticking louder by the second?
As much as I’d love to spend the whole day gardening, there’s work to be done. We’ve been quite busy adding plants and nurseries to the site. We are slowly but surely sneaking up on 30,000 plants in our database. We’ll have to have a little celebration when we hit that number. Phew.
It’s fun to see what plants are topping the charts on plant lust searches, especially this time of year when people are shopping and planting like mad. I’m happy to see a lot of drought-tolerant plants in the mix, especially in California. I’m always surprised to read about how many lawns there still are in California, since they can grow such amazing drought tolerant stuff that’s way more interesting than turf.
Huge sigh of relief, we have arrived at spring. There will be plenty of time for celebrating the obvious beauty of the season headed our way. But now that winter is officially behind us, I want to take a moment to appreciate the plants that provided bright spots in winter’s final month. I love this garden-obsessed city. I’m so grateful to have neighbors with such showy winter plants in front yards were we can all enjoy them.
And now that planting season is upon us, don’t forget to think about the stuff that makes you happy in the grey months so you have plenty of eye candy next time winter rolls around.
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Showtime! Well, not quite yet, but it’s the time of the year I start thinking about them, the annual garden shows. How better to break the spell of winter?
I’m lucky to live in region that really does garden shows, not some “home improvement” show where a couple of landscape companies are stuck in the corner and they promise to install the latest in hi-tech outdoor kitchens, fire bowls and water features (but nary a plant is mentioned). (more…)
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