Bloomtown

Mutant Hosta Sighting

Recently, I came upon this unique and attractive oddity as I was touring a client garden installed a couple of years ago. This was bought and installed as Hosta 'Sum and Substance', follow the link for photos. This is normally a bold large-leaved variety with solidly-colored chartreuse foliage. Solidly-colored foliage, I say. Not a lusciously mottled variegation of deep rich green and luminous chartreuse.

What will it look like next year? Will it be stable?  I'll definitely be keeping my eye on it. Where's this beauty located? I'll never tell.

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UPDATE: Conversation with@JoshSpece on Twitter confirms that this hosta is a victim of Hosta Virus X. I've seen hostas stricken with the virus before but they usually look weak, wilty and/or puckered. This one's foliage was quite smooth and, I dare say, very attractive. Be sure to follow to the link to Josh's excellent post on the topic.

In the meantime, it's off to the trash heap for this one. DO NOT compost infected plants as it will lead to risk of spreading the virus. Josh tells me via twitter that you may replant a new, uninfected hosta in the same position if you're absolutely certain that you've gotten the entire plant removed, roots and all. So it might be best to wait a year or so, so that any remaining roots have a chance to decompose.

Fall finale in Bloomtown kitchen garden

 

Even the kitchen garden seems to be getting into the act, offering up a late-season finale. There are some plants that seem to really get a second wind with the cooler days of fall; the rainbow Swiss chard is looking lush, full and colorful in a couple areas of my garden. Though I think some, like the lemons, kick into high gear because they sense that their time is running out, figuring they better get a move on if they're going to deliver anything for the season.

 
Now that the Meyer lemon is starting to color up their true identity is revealed. For months, garden visitors have been commenting on the limes that I was growing! The Cuban oregano shown in the foreground of this photo is one of my favorite ornamental edibles. Though I have to admit that I seem to be growing this strictly as an ornamental; I have yet to use it in my cooking. Guess I'm not sure how to use it. Any tips from readers on that?

 
I don't normally think of strawberries as a source of fall color, but this season they're sure adding a nice pop of red in these baskets hanging from my eaves. 

Acer japonicum ‘Aconitifolium’

Pictured below -- Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium' in all its fall glory.

I've been growing this beauty in a container in my garden for several years now and it'll likely be happy in my relatively large container for quite some time. This small tree grows quite slowly; according to the Great Plant Picks site, it's expected to reach only 8 to 10 feet tall by 6 to 8 feet wide in ten years.

Its deeply dissected leaves are green in summer and a bit larger and bolder than some of the other maples, lending nice textural contrast in my garden. But in my mind it really shines in fall; its electrifying color shining like a lantern as it illuminates a dark corner in my garden. It buoys my heart as we transition into the increasingly overcast days of autumn.

Winners -- Proven by a Summer's Work

This combo of Diascia 'Flirtation Orange' and Lobularia 'Snow Princess' has been blooming non-stop for me since I planted them as pint-sized starts presented to me as comps from the fine folks at Proven Winners earlier this season. All this without much intervention on my part. I'm not very disciplined in terms of applying fertilizer -- I probably doused them with liquid fish once, maybe twice this summer. Neither have been deadheaded, cut back, or been the recipient of any fussy maintenance since they were planted in this container.

Already a fan of diascia, I'm enjoying the rich orange tones of Flirtation Orange; vibrant but not overpowering. It's able to blend into garden combinations without overpowering.

This lobularia would easily pass for the standard and widely grown white-flowering sweet alyssum. However, it's bloomed longer and more profusely than that plant and I hope and presume that it won't self-seed as much. We'll have to wait and see on that point. 

As annuals go these are pretty commonplace. But I think this just goes to show that plants like these are widely grown for good reason and if they can be improved, all the better.

 

Diascia 'Flirtation Orange' and Lobularia 'Snow Princess'

Begonia grandis and Chasmanthium latifolium get in on the act.

Garden Design Workshop at Joy Creek Nursery

There's still time to register for the day-long garden design workshop that I'm giving at Joy Creek Nursery on Saturday, August 15th.  (Not much though, so you better hurry!)

Hope you'll consider joining me -- we'll have a great time, you'll learn lots, and the setting is spectacular. I took these photos today when I was visiting the nursery.

Here's the class description:

Garden & Planting Design for the Home Gardener -- A day-long workshop in two parts

In the morning session, Darcy will offer a thoughtful introduction to space planning that will infuse you with creative ideas for your own garden. She’ll provide tools, ideas and inspiration to help you to look at your garden from a fresh perspective. You’ll explore new possibilities for creating functional outdoor living spaces that also provide the peace, tranquility and connection with nature we all crave.

In the second half of the day, Darcy will share her approach to discriminating planting design. You’ll get concrete ideas for adding structure and all-season appeal to your garden, with an emphasis on using plants that are well-adapted to your site.

There will be a midday break.  Participants should bring a sack lunch to enjoy in the gardens at Joy Creek Nursery. 

Enrollment opens is limited to 20.  Fee for the event is $50 per person.

To register, you'll need to contact Joy Creek, but feel free to get in touch with me at 503-331-1783 if you have questions about the workshop content, format, etc.

 

 

Dwarf conifers: assessing rate of growth

Dwarf conifers can vary greatly in their eventual size and consequently can be tricky to site properly in gardens.

As I'm getting acquainted with a conifer that is new to me, one of the ways I try to assess how large it might get in the garden is to examine how much new growth it pushes each season.

This is easiest to see early in the season, like now, just after it has put on it's spring growth but before it has hardened off and the color has faded.

Pictured here is Picea sitchensis 'Papoose'. As the name implies and the photo supports, this is going to be pretty small. This plant can be used in the smallest of gardens without fear of it outgrowing is welcome.

Photos from Bloomtown

OK, so I've been busy and haven't been able to post in awhile. It is spring fer chrissakes! But I know what you're thinking ... the least I could do is post a few photos, right?

Along the path in the back garden. That's Heuchera 'Georgia Peach' in the mid-ground.

A tapestry of foliage and flowers; figuring prominently here is: Saxifraga x geum 'Dentata', Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' and Geranium c. 'Lawrence Flatman'.

That's Clematis 'John Warren' traipsing through a red, cut-leaf maple with Rhododendron 'Anah Kruschke' in the background.

 

This is taken in the front, parking strip garden. Cordyline australis 'Paradise', Sambucus 'Sutherland's Gold', Allium 'Globemaster' and Allium 'Mt Everest' are key players.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2009

Garden is starting to get rolling, finally! I hope you enjoy this collection of photos showing some of today's highlights.

Pulmonaria - an unknown variety that was a gift from a friend

Heuchera 'Georgia Peach' - loving the color, the leaves are quite large

Primula 'April Rose' - this has been happy in my garden for several years

Libertia peregrinans - strongly upright, wonderful foliage color

Beesia deltophylla - a wonderful foliage plant for shady spots, delicate white blooms are a bonus

Tulips - these hybrid tulips have been reliably returning for me for more years than I would expect; keep expecting them to fizzle out

Thalictrum aquilegifolium 'Thundercloud' - frothy purple blooms of this meadow rue are just getting going

Paeonia suffruticosa foliage - buds are just now forming on this tree peony; the real show is yet to come but I find the foliage very attractive

Polygala dalmaisiana - growing this Zone 9 shrub in a container so that I can protect it during coldest days of the year

Tiarella - this unknown variety of the foam flower is growing along a shady path on the north side of my house

Mustard greens - too beautiful to eat (almost)

Baby Bok Choy

Note to self: plant more of this beauty this fall so I can have plenty in my garden this time next year. These are almost too beautiful to eat!

Listen to Darcy Daniels on In the Garden with Mike Darcy this Saturday

I'll be on the radio with Mike Darcy tomorrow talking about vegetable gardening. His program, In the Garden with Mike Darcy, is aired on KXL at 750AM in the Portland area. I'm told that I'll be on at about 11 am. For those out of the listening area, the segment will be available as a podcast soon after airing. Hope you'll get a chance to tune in and/or check out the podcast!

Talking paths with Kay Balmer from the Oregonian's Homes & Gardens

I talked with Kay Balmer from the Oregonian a couple weeks ago about designing garden paths. She shares the results of our conversation in this post on the Oregonian's Home and Garden blog. Thanks Kay!

Urban farmer? Yup, I'm working three plots.

I've been doing more doing than blogging lately so I'd like to attempt to share a bit of what I've been working on.

Spring is a busy time in so many ways and this year is shaping up to be one of the busiest yet ... veg-garden-wise, that is. In this post, I want to set the stage a little bit for what I hope will be many posts chronicling my progress with growing more of our food. I've got several different gardens that I'm tending and want to give you an overview of the different sites so that there will be some additional context as I post through the season. I've set up photo albums for each garden and will be posting lots of photos as the season progresses.

My Kitchen Garden at Home: 2009 will be my fourth growing season in this garden which occupies our re-commissioned driveway, a narrow space less than 9 feet wide on the south side of my house. My goal was to create a beautiful, productive, and space-efficient kitchen garden. The fence was designed to be beautiful and functional. I grow "up" as much as possible, using the fence to support vining and trailing plants; maximizing vertical growing space in small gardens is essential. New this year: growing "down." I've added containers hanging from the eaves. Anything a cook would appreciate having right out the back door is a contender for including in this space. We're growing salad greens, peas, beans, a few tomatoes, berries and herbs for cooking such as basil, cilantro, mint, parsley and more.

The (Urban) Farm: I am co-farming with a friend on her property. We're doing production-oriented growing with an eye toward really making a dent in providing a fair amount of the food for our two households; both during the growing season but also with enough left over that we can preserve some of the harvest as well. This is not huge garden by some peoples standards, but it is by no means a small garden either; we have ten 4'  x 8' raised beds and we're adding about 60 feet of 2' wide in-ground rows this year. We started this venture last year, so 2009 will be our second growing season at this site. A photo album of this garden is here. Past post about this gardens development can be found here.

The Back 400: After being on the waiting list for a couple of years for a community garden plot, this year my name came up and I'm thrilled. Our garden is a 20 foot x 20 foot plot (20 x 20 = 400; the "back 400" ... get it?!) at the Cully Community Garden site in NE Portland. I'll be doing more production-oriented growing over there as well. 

Edibles ... the new Ornamental?: In addition to the "traditional" sites mentioned above, I'm going to be looking for ways to integrate ornamental edibles in creative and beautiful ways within the garden proper at home; anywhere and everywhere is fair game.

So why all this effort to grow our own? Most importantly, you can't beat homegrown for quality, freshness and flavor. But I'm also a strong believer in the environmental value of local food production and you can't get more local than growing your own. Plus, there's great satisfaction in knowing exactly what went into the food that we bring to our table especially with all the recent issues surrounding food safety. In my mind, it's definitely worth it and I'm having a blast doing it.

So, I hope you'll check back often to follow our progress. If you're also trying to grow more of your own food in your garden, leave a comment and let us all know what you're up to.