Flower or seed head: debating which I like more. As you can see, it's a tough choice. Right now I've got Cirsium occidentale planted next to Echium wildpretii, a happy accident, aka a place where I could still see dirt. I've got a feeling both plants will have seeded...
Ricinus ‘New Zealand Purple’: Articles from The Editorial Side
if you had to pick a favorite plant…
Do you ever play that game? I hope so, that I'm not just some nutty outlier. I'm going to guess you do, at least once in a while. Though I stand ready and willing to be corrected. Sometimes to make the game more manageable, I try narrowing to just one genus. That...
fall garden in the pacific northwest
I know they're numbered, but in these last decent days of fall, there are some fine looking plants in the garden. The shaded brick planter on the north side of our house has exceeded all expectations. It's under the eaves, and needs to be watered year round, but I'm...
Grasses Having a Moment
I've been lying. Many a time, I have said, "pppffffftttttt, flowers, they don't do much for me. I like leaves!" And what am I doing now? Screeching to a stop to go photograph and pet the blooms on the grasses. Nothing makes me lament my shady lot quite as much as...
a quick hello
Greetings gardeners. I'm giving the gray matter a wee rest this week, so I don't have a story for you. I know, hard to believe. Instead, I thought I'd share a few pictures of plants behaving themselves in the late summer garden. Have you noticed when you focus...
plants that go bang, for you buck
I can't tell you how many times people have gone gaga over the lowest priced plant in the garden. Isn't it funny, how you can moon over some rare and expensive plant. And then you finally add it--just to have peeps push past to rave about some inexpensive annual...
No, please don’t bloom!
Walking through the garden I noticed the new foliage on Lupinus albifrons (silver lupine) looked a little different. Larger, “greener,” less intensely silver. Darn! It’s going to bloom. But that silver foliage is why I love this plant and why it's growing in my...