August’s Last Hurrah

August’s Last Hurrah

by | Aug 25, 2015 | Plants

I’ve been holding out for rain, garden on pause. Avoiding the temptation of nursery visits. Averting my eyes to avoid confronting the sight of plants unquenched from my unreliable hose offerings. The weeds, they’ll have to stay until the soil more willingly releases them.

Could it be, the wait is finally over? Do I fall for the meteorologists’s sweet lies this time? The promise of precipitation? The return of workable soil, hospitable to new nursery spoils? Even though there remains another week of our typically hot, dry August to endure enjoy? Might our hottest, driest summer ever be prepared to yield, even briefly, to warm rains?
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Don’t like this peony? Wait 5 minutes.

Don’t like this peony? Wait 5 minutes.

by | May 5, 2015 | Plants

I bought a peony at a plant sale where it was labeled “Woodland Peony.” That should mean it is Paeonia obovata, although I tend not to 100% trust plant labels that don’t include a latin name. I can’t speak for all P. obovata since I just have the one, but this plant reinvents itself more than any other plant I’ve ever known.

I chose P. obovata because it grows in a semi-shady woodland setting, and because it allegedly has single creamy flowers. An unassuming mild mannered plant that fits in nicely with the surrounding plants in shades of green, gold, and white. But this plant does not bloom whatever color The Man says it should bloom. It does whatever it pleases, and reserves the right to change its mind day to day.
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Goodbye, winter

Goodbye, winter

by | Mar 24, 2015 | Plants

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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