While i am at it!

 The perennial gardens at Lakewold are spectacular right now!

COME VISIT!

Friendly Ferns

i have this love affair with ferns.  it dates back to my childhood growing up in a valley northeast of gig harbor.  we had the "thousand acre woods" behind our house, where sword ferns grew magically tall compared with my childhood stature.  those woods were my home for horseback riding, hiking, adventuring, and even a scary moment or three.  i commented to a coworker today about the relationship between plants and people and that our deep connections to plants are borne from our physical relationships to them, often relating to childhood memories.  my love of nature is what brought me to horticulture.  as early as six i would venture out into my mom's garden and dig spanish blue bells and put them in wooden containers and decorate our court yard.  i still remember the sweet smell of alyssum and tight lawn from my grandma and grandpa burki's garden, the peach tree that grew at my other grandma and grandpa payne's beach house, and my father's italian plum and hazel nut trees. i would feed my horse apples that grew on the golden delicuous tree near his pasture.  i would swing from the big leaved maple's strong branches.  and i would sweep the floor of my playhouse with fir bows.  those plants, insignificant in variety and rarity, make me who i am today.    it is that sense of wonder and more importantly for me, a connection that seems second hand, and older than i.  so, here is my omage to ferns.  my first love.

and if you are interested, please join me at the Bellevue Demonstration garden this Saturday for my talk on Ferns for the Northwest Shade Garden!

my three b's

Magnolia sieboldii

alliums

Cornus kousa 'chinensis'

Cornus kousa 'Satomi'

Aquilegia 'Lime Frost'

my boys-the three B's-Brian-Blue-Bo!

we had to say goodbye to our Bo-Dog last week.  he almost made it to 15!  his poor little legs just couldn't make it any longer.  we enjoyed a nice little burial for him out at my brother in law's house, under a special maple tree.  all the other dogs got to say good-bye.  he was a pretty special guy.  

the wonderful thing about gardens is that they always offer some sort of therapy for life events like this.  it is a place to reflect; a place to watch rebirth; a place of refuge; a place to wonder; and a place to play .  maybe Bo will come back as a flower.  we will miss him very much.  

 

i enjoyed a nice walk around Lakewold and my own garden this afternoon.  both have some great show-offs.  the perennials are starting to peak: geraniums, alliums, and iris.  but this year the dogwoods are spectacular!  especially the 'Satomi'.  it is just loaded with blooms and with the heavy rain, they are practically touching the ground.  enjoy!

As Sweet As A Rose

'James Galoway'

roses and i have a love-hate relationship.  although i seem to be the only one getting hurt (as i am currently sporting a bandage on my left index finger from a run-in on Monday).  even though they hate me so, i really only use them for their beauty and  their lovely fragrance.  they must be fragrant!  a dozen non-fragrant roses--no thanks!  i would much rather lean down and take in their intoxicating aroma on my own.  am i seeing a tattoo in my future?  but what would i do if we broke up?  

rainy with a chance of sun

between frequent wardrobe changes, removing and replacing my rain jacket, the weather has afforded the best season, spring, a chance to slow down and not to rush into what is inevidable-wishing i could garden in a swim top! rain, showers, deluge. it is all the same...WET! I really do tolerate a lot. My dog will even forgo going potty in the morning to avoid it; and i choose to work in it. it is not much a choice as it is unavoidable. but i cannot complain. fortunate am i.

Chartreuse-the liqueur then the Color

it is the color of my bedroom, chartreuse.
i do not wear it, but i love it in all other things: early spring growth, dogwood bracts, lime fruit, granny smith apples, the fancy french liqueur which predates its use as the name of a color, but most of all for the energy it gives. It is fresh, youthful, and signifies the new and revived. All very good things!

it is a color that is halfway between yellow and green that was named for its resemblance to the french liqueur made by Carthusian monks beginning in the 1740's. It is composed of distilled alcohol aged with 103 herbal extracts. All very good things, too!

time standing still

i remember when time stood still when i was little.  summer vacations seemed like an eternity and being a grownup seemed so long out.  i have found that some places time seems to stand still, still: the ocean, the mountains, in the forest, and more recently i discovered, Orcas island.  I am definitely a country girl at heart, and living in the city, regardless of how small, is quite wearing.  everyone is buzzing around at a dizzying pace, uncourteous, and self absorbed.  I miss walking on the side of a road, rather than a sidewalk, i miss apple trees by the road, i miss horse noses, ferns, dogs that dont have to be leashed up and can run freely, i miss discoveries, i miss the smell of the sound from the purdy spit, i miss well water, campfire at the beach (where you stink like high heaven the next day from the driftwood, and shooting stars.  It has been 10 years in tacoma, and although i love the gritty city, it has been long enough.  so, part of my five year plan is to get the heck out of dodge, not far away, but just far enough to see a shooting star again.  I have this dream of having a small family farm and do garden designs and installations on the side.  i will have to really get down and dirty, but it excites me to think of where this goal will take me.  My mom said that it is never to late to reinvent your life.  her house on the island, where time stands still, is such a dream. I thought that she was taking such a risk buying property on the island.  I have discovered that I am not a risk taker and that I did not want to imagine the idea of my mom moving away.  but instead it taught me that i need to take some risks to find out what there is out there.  so when i visit her, I love to sit and read, take a walk on a beach, or a short walk to town for coffee, a trip to the exchange for a treasure and best of all there is not one traffic light and everyone seems to abide by some of the basic traffic laws (like not passing on the right on a two lane street)hmmmm.  i cannot wait until my next trip up.  i can dream of where i create my space where time will stand still.