Poppy

A gathering...

Since the demise of  the Musella Lasiocarpa  this winter , I've had this huge empty planter .  So, rather than getting something new to plant in it ; why not gather all those super market succulents  together for the summer. A luxurious sunny pond side holiday accommodation. 

Garden in color...

How handy to have this editing option : going from color to B&W , back to color . So, here are the same photos in color . Not a lot of color , plenty of green with just a few dabs here and there. Since all the Agastache seem to have parished this winter , I'm left with mostly blues, pinks and yellow . 

Red poppies 

The black and white garden...

Yesterday in Portland I attended an HSPO lecture " Planting; A new perspective" by Noel Kingsbury . One of his suggestions was to examine our gardens in B&W photos …removing the color , suddenly…texture. Fortunatlly I never have much color in the garden , so I  was quite pleased not to see "porridge "  

A May bloom day from Far Reaches Farm….

I thought I'd do my bloom day post from Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend this month , as we've stopped on the way home today . Philip and  doggies patiently waited while I had a little  look round. 

I really wished I'd taken this lovely Astrantia 'Dark shiny eye's' but I was after things for  dry sunny positioning 

Most of the Iris's  were over , but this Iris 'big money' was still looking fresh.

This was not ready to bloom yet, Nomocharis pardanthina a lily relative , must remember to look for this bulb.

Chiastophyllum oppositifolium , so not blooming quite yet , but a very nice shade moisture lovely succulent  that I would have loved to bring home, but didn't.

Finally a bloomer, Soldanella alpina . A sweet primula like native to the Alps and Pyrenees.

This one I did take with me, Myrteola nummularifolia , because I can't resist teensy white flowers. 

Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum'

The star bloomer … Meconopsis'Lingholm'

And a simple species peony .

A whopping huge tree peony bloom … gorgeous. Then it was time to collect my , not that full tray of plants and get back on the road.
 Happy bloom day and for more lovely blooms visit   May Dreams Gardens.

The self seeding Aquilegia...

For years I have been pulling  out these  pale Mauve Aquilgea selfseeders . They never plant themselves in the right spots.

But this year I've left them ,  They seem to have got the message ; and made a neat  little colony surrounding the Honesty and Forester grass , which is looking so fresh this time of year.

With a few tall spikes of Verbascum , this won't last long.

This one has nestled next to the  Syneilesis , which I like …

And here decorating the gate. `Yes, I'm enjoying these pale little Aquilegia this year.

For the best...

When I planted Callistemon "Sieberi'  twelve  inchs  away from Juniperus 'daubs frosted' (which can speed out to six feet) I knew that it was stupid and I've never even liked the two textures together.  So after far too many years ,  I dug Sieberi up and she's now residing at the front of the house , which is south/east facing,  still warm , but a little more protected. She's looking a little winter tattered.

 The Daubs' can stretch out more comfortably now ; and I will look out for a new companion.

 Sieberi in her new home, which badly needed more occupants .

For-get-me-nots and Ladies Mantle

May in the garden.

A mini heat wave  last week , has got things springing upwards and outwards in the garden .   After  rushing around weeding , digging , splitting and everything else. It was a treat to just  sit  and enjoy, too hot  to plant anything out . I did have a few moments of inspiration , which I couldn't ignore ; and had to make a few tweaks , so a few sad wilted ones around for a few days.

Here we are at the end of March , Mickey enjoying all the open space.

My shady patch , which is looking much fuller than a few weeks ago. Most of the Platts black brass buttons ground cover that has taken years to cover the pathway, seems to have been killed this winter.  So , the stepping stones were put back in…thank you Philip. At least it's not such a wide path these days , I've been squeezing the planting in.

Here in March , no Brass buttons, so I threw the steps back in .  Than dug up the Black mondo grass clumps and planted them along the path.

This was last spring , a carpet of Brass buttons …oh well.