The color of spring….

New plant , old plants….

If I had known about this fast growing evergreen , potentially growing to twenty feet tall and twenty feet wide ; Fremontodendron california  glory would have been covering the whole back width of my garden,  instead of all my pesky bamboo.  I'm not sure how hardy this one is , but I'm giving it a go... grow fast you Fredontodendron.

Another evergreen Pittosporum teauifolium 'purpureum' which I planted in 2009 . A deadly killing winter  ,  left this newly planted  half dead , literally half dead, I snipped off all one dead  side of it .  The rest slowly grew back to looking healthy again last summer.  But alas …another bad winter this year. Again one side of the plant…dead . I was pleased to see all this fresh green growth though…a fighter !

Poor old Pittosporum illiciodes 'Strappy' lost all it's evergreen leaves last winter , which wasn't that cold , never  recovered it's looks. Now it's been hit with another , worse winter, still it's alive ...

Those Lunaria again...

 I thought I'd moved all the Lunaria seedlings last year , but here one has popped up , just to confuse my already confused color palate ,  This was planned as a bronze , orange , yellow . I forgot about the early flowering pink dogwood and pink and red azalea ….

Here another Lunaria, this time jumping out of the early low planting. 

This  is where , when the rain stops , those Linaria will move, stashed in the far corner, between the self seeding  lychnis which are just as rampant , but will bloom a bit later.

And here with the others, which I like paired with the Forester grass…when the rain stops  that's what I'll do !

Welcoming back old friends….

It's that time of year , old friends are waking up. Every morning someone new to greet. This spring I'm especially pleased ; after a few deadly frosts  for us gardeners in the PNW. I know I've lost plenty of things.  So , welcome back all you sleeping perennials :

Kirengeshoma palmata and Anemonopsis macrophylla  behind,  have just poped up this last week , so far looking fresh and happy. Last year the Anemonopsis started out well , then looked a bit hang dog all summer . I've given it a top dressing of leaf mulch ….maybe keep the moisture better ?

Welcome back little clump of Cornus canadensis , I wasn't worried, you zone 2-8 plant, just pleased to see you again. 

Wecome back you tiny Noid plant that came in the pot of Pyrrosa that I planted a few years ago.  I think you could be an Epimedium 

Wecome back Lysimchia paridiformis var, stenophylla , I notice you have four new friends this spring. The plant tag says you are "quite well behaved" , we'll see...

A special welcome back to ,  not Rubus lineatus senior,  no… dead  ; but many juniors  , too many in fact.

Not an old friend , but a new one Mascari 'golden fragrance'