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Backyardnotes

~ All things botanical in photos and words—in my West Seattle garden and elsewhere; seeing and creating art and assorted musings.

Backyardnotes

Category Archives: Flowers

WHISPERS OF SPRING

16 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by backyardnotes in Blooming, Flowers, Gardening, Spring flowers, Winter flowers

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

double Narcissus, hellebores, Pink Cyclamen, plenty of sunshine, Spring, Spring flowers, WHISPERS, White Camelia, White Cyclamen, witch-hazel

FauxRoy

THERE ARE WHISPERS OF SPRING HERE EVERYWHERE I LOOK. While the eastern portion of the country is buried in snow, it definitely feels like spring here with 60 degree temperatures and plenty of sunshine. After unusually heavy rains a week or so ago, the ground is starting to dry out a bit.

Leaves, buds and flowers are bursting forth. Camelia, hellebores, crocus, cyclamen, witch hazel, pulmonaria, early tulips. Here is a little pictorial sampling of what’s happening in my little corner of the world.CorcicanHellbore_2

DoubleNarcissusWitch hazel_1WitchHazel_2CoriscanHellbore DarkHellbore DkPinkhellbore_1
MottlePinkHellbore PaleYelHellbore PinkCyclamen Pulmonaria_1 Pulmonaria_2 WhiteCamelia WhiteCyclamen_1 WhiteCyclamen_2 WhiteCyclamen_3 WhiteHellbore WhitePinkHellbore

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THE MUSE WENT ON VACATION

04 Saturday Oct 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in At the beach, Camping, Clouds, Ephemera, Flowers, Fun in the Garden, Growing, Photography, Vegetable garden

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Tags

blues festival, Garden seating, hiking, Ice Caves, Musings, vegetables, wildfires

A late summer afternoon walk on the beach.

A late summer afternoon walk on the beach.

IT HAS BEEN A GOOD LONG WHILE SINCE MY LAST POST.  At some point I felt like I had run out of topics to write about. The muse went on vacation. How many times can I write about the same plants in the same place in my garden with continued enthusiasm? If it is tiresome for me what about you, the reader? Best to take some time off and gather some new experiences, tackle some small projects, do some canning (a bumper crop of snap beans and apples), do a little local traveling and connect with the people and things I love. So here, is a short review in words and pictures.

Big Four Mountain and waterfalls

Big Four Mountain; waterfalls, and snowfield

In July I had a birthday and it was my wish to do the short hike to the Ice Caves at Big Four, about 90 minutes northeast of Seattle, with our grandchildren. The snow slides off of the shear, vertical face of Big Four mountain and piles up at the base over the winter. As summer comes along, the snow at the top of the mountain melts, water cascades down the faces creating numerous waterfalls that undermine the piles of snow. The snow mounds melt from the inside-out creating caves. They are cool to stand in front of on a hot summer day, but notoriously unstable and known to collapse, so going into them is a bad idea. IceCaves_v   IceCaves_1

One of many Winthrop area fires seen from the fesival grounds.

One of many Winthrop area fires seen from the fesival grounds.

A week later we were off to the Winthrop Blues Festival where we heard great muscic (Charlie Musslewhite; Shemekia Copeland, Homemade Jamz, Too Slim & the Taildraggers) and watched fires burning in the Methow Valley; that part was strange. For a couple of days the only route to and from the area was Hwy 20 through the North Cascades. Scores of people lost their homes and the fire burned up 300,000+ acres.

Fire and smoke influenced the sunsets.

Fire and smoke influenced the sunsets.

A member of Homemade Jamz playing his Muffler Guitar! (They were great.)

A member of Homemade Jamz playing his Muffler Guitar! (They were great.)

BACK ON THE HOME FRONT…

A quiet spot in the garden to sit and reflect

A quiet spot in the garden to sit and reflect

Back in April I shared a post about the redwood tree rounds that were saved from the cutting of our neighbor’s 60 year old redwood. In August I made a visit to my sister (RedClothespin) in Long Beach, WA and she sewed up the covers for the seat top cushions; she is a whiz with a sewing machine.

Weather resistant Sunbrella fabric. Only one drawback–they are under the canopy of a large pine and susceptible to pitch drips.

Weather resistant Sunbrella fabric. Only one drawback–they are under the canopy of a large pine and susceptible to pitch drips.

The view into the vegetable garden from the redwood seating.

The view into the vegetable garden from the redwood seating.

I finished the second of the Steelcase chairs. I haven’t quite decided where in the garden they will take up residence. For now they are mobile.

Steelcase chair #2

Steelcase chair #2

ChilipepperChair

Hibiscus hybrid "Cranberry Crush"

Hibiscus hybrid “Cranberry Crush”

Two years ago I purchased a new perennial, this Hibiscus/Rose Mallow. It bloomed in August for the first time. It was spectacular. I was SO excited, I ran into the house to get the groundskeeper!

Hibiscus_Cranberry

Too bad the flower lasts only one day. However, there were a total of five blooms. I am hoping for more next year. The plant should reach 3-4 feet in height at maturity; currently is it at about 24 inches.

The fall planting of snow and snap peas.

The fall planting of snow and snap peas.

A late blooming poppy.

A late blooming poppy.

Lady's Eardrops, hardy fucshia.

Lady’s Eardrops, hardy fucshia.

Dahlia "Awe Shucks"

Dahlia “Awe Shucks”

Akane apples.

Akane apples.

The muse is slowly returning. More later.

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A SCHOOL BUS & RADISH TOPS

20 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Cooking & Eating, Creative, EAT!, Flowers, Harvest, Inspriation, Vegetable garden

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Tags

Asparagus, pesto, Radish tops, Radishes, school bus, school bus planter, Sockeye salmon, toy school bus

LindaBus_4

A FRIEND OF OURS IS RETIRING FROM SCHOOL BUS DRIVING TODAY. I wanted to find a little toy school bus at Goodwill. What the groundskeeper found instead was a BIG school bus toy with an open top that I immediately saw as a planter! After a few holes were drilled in the bottom for drainage, I added window screen mesh on the inside to keep the soil in. I added a few homemade stickers and plants and here it is. I think it’s adorable and I think our friend will too.

LindaBus_5

 

Our friend is a dog lover who fosters dogs.

Our friend is a dog lover who fosters dogs.

ABOUT THE RADISH TOPS. I had intended to make this post yesterday after a prolonged hiatus of from the blog (too many other projects to deal with), but that bus planter was just too darn cute to leave out.

I picked some very nice radishes on Wednesday and the tops were too nice to toss into the compost. They had a slightly tart flavor and I thought they would make a nice ‘pesto’ type sauce.

grwingradishes

I combined the radish tops with some aspargus spears and four or five garlic scapes in the food processor.

Garlic scapes and aparagus

Garlic scapes and aparagus

Ready to purée

Ready to purée

radishpesto_1

Add some olive oil and a little salt, pepper, and purée until smooth. Taste for seasoning. At this point it can be put up in small jars, topped with a little  olive oil and frozen for later use or top with oil and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Cheese can be added just before using if you plan to use it on pasta in a more traditional pesto style.

I managed to fill a pint jar

I managed to fill a pint jar

We cooked a piece of Alaska sockeye salmon on the grill adding some of the sauce near the end of cooking.

Sockeye salmon with radish top pesto

Sockeye salmon with radish top pesto

Radish greens

Radish greens

Using radish tops was new for me. I knew they were not much different from most mustard greens other than the leaves being a bit fuzzy, so I thought: Why Not? It’s nice to figure out ways to get the maximum out of what I harvest from the garden. Maybe carrot tops will be next! How do you maximize your harvest?

 

 

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HOORAY FOR HELLEBORES

28 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Flowers, Hellebores, Winter flowers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

HEAD-TURNING, hellebores, Helleborus orientalis, Lenten Rose, winter flowers

Looking to the sun

Looking to the sun

HARDY. HALE. HALTING. HANDSOME. HAPPENING. HAPPY. HARMONIOUS. HEAVENLY. HEAD-TURNING. HELLEBORES. They brighten the mid-winter landscape with their lovely, sometimes nodding, sometimes up-facing flowers. Most of the ones (orientalis) in my garden are old varieties that have freely crossed with one and another. I love the striped and speckled petals that look as though they were air brushed with color. Since it takes a few years for seedlings to grow to the point of flowering, I can’t know until then what cross-pollinating has created and the color variation that may have resulted. Most of the helleborus orientalis in my garden originated from a couple of plants brought home from Grandma T’s garden. The availability of color ranges of hellebores has increased dramatically in the past ten years and newer cultivars range from white and palest pink to darkest maroon-red, yellow and green. Helleborus orientalis are also known as Lenten Rose since they usually begin their bloom time sometime near Lent. Helleborus niger, which is generally white begins its bloom cycle in December. The flower shape is different as are the leaves, which are smooth, and un-toothed. Then there is helleborus argutifolius, helleborus foetidus, helleborus lividus, and about fifteen other species within the genus.

Hellebores are incredibly hardy plants. The flowers are long lived and are attractive even as the seed capsules form. They are good cutting flowers; their leaves, deeply lobed with toothed edges, hold up nicely through the summer, finally looking bedraggled about the time the blooms, on sturdy stems, rise and unfurl from the soil. Below are some of the hellebores now in bloom around here. I hope you enjoy them too.

Hellebore_2 Hellebore_8 Hellebore_7 Hellebore_6 Hellebore_5 Hellebore_4 Hellebore_3 Hellebore_group Hellebore_13 Hellebore_12 Hellebore_11 Hellebore_10 Hellebore_9

 

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FROM SNOW TO TULIPS

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by backyardnotes in Flowers, Growing, Nature, SNOW! COLD!, Spring bulbs

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Tags

cold, hamamelis, snow, tulips, witch-hazel

snowcrowON SATURDAY NIGHT IT SNOWED HERE. Of course it was forecast to snow south of Seattle, but I kept wishing for a little snow and my wish came true. By Sunday afternoon it was beginning to melt away as the temperature climbed above 35°F. I have no complaints about our little cold-snap when I consider the deep-freeze everyone east of the Rockies is suffering through—repeatedly.

Hamamelis–Witch-hazel

Hamamelis–Witch-hazel

Monday it rained and the snow was gone. It rained like crazy last night and then the wind blew away all of the rain clouds and left us with brilliant sunshine, blue skies and…

The first tulips of the season and the earliest of the ones planted around here.

The first tulips of the season and the earliest of the ones planted around here.

Although it was cold enough all of last week to wilt most everything trying to sprout for spring, nature’s schedule will not be deterred and here we are with tulips are blooming just three days after snowfall.

 

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