RAIN, RAIN, HOW DO WE LOVE THEE?

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by backyardnotes in Flowers, Inspriation, Musings, Rain, Weather, Winter flowers

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blogging, clematis, Early tulips, hamamelis, pear & apple trees, rain, winter, winter flowers, winter gloom

TODAY A BIG RAIN STORM IS MOVING IN after some pretty fair days. But no complaints considering the weather everywhere east of here. We even managed to get some general maintenance and weeding done over the past week or so.

Witchhazel, Hamamelis x intermedia

SOMETIMES WE NEED A BREAK from our routines. I needed a break from this blog. Keeping up on a regular basis was becoming a drag and I no longer felt that inner voice to be engaging. So I gave it and myself a rest. The busyness of the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed like a good excuse to ignore the beast. I spent time painting and creating; baking with my granddaughter, hanging out with family; having dinner with neighbors and generally enjoying the hustle and warmth of the holidays. After the holidays were over it was time to take a break from the monotony of long, gray, days here in the Pacific Northwest by spending 14 days in Death Valley National Park. And now with winter flowers popping and some early spring ones too, I’m back to feeling like I still have some thoughts and pictures worth sharing.

A lovely winter blooming clematis on a clear day

This clematis cirrhosa blooms continuously from November to March when little else relieves winter gloom.

Nothing lightens the spirit like the first crocus on a sunny winter day.

A red blooming hamamelis in the warm glow of a setting sun.

The earliest tulip has just pushed up over the past week

Silhouette of pear and apple trees at sunset. Hooray! The sun is now setting closer to 6:00 p.m.

APRIL PHOTO A DAY: TULIPS

04 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in April flowers, Rain, tulips, Weather

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THE EARLY TULIPS ARE TAKING A BEATING with all of the rain we’ve had of late. This one, loaded with raindrops and not quite flopped to the ground caught my eye. Perhaps the mid and late season ones will fare better.

FROM SUMMER’S LAST FLING TO OCTOBER RAIN

10 Sunday Oct 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Rain, Tomatoes, Weather, West Seattle garden

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LAST WEEK WAS A LITTLE BONUS — SUNSHINE NEARLY EVERY DAY. The summer-like temperatures are helped to extend the tomato harvest that should have begun in August, but who can complain about fresh ripened tomatoes in October? The leaves from the tomato vines have now been removed to coax the fruit into ripening before the nights are repeatedly in the 40’s. I generally do this near the end of September; seems to help. The photo above was from mid-week, the photo below is today’s rain induced harvest — some ripe, some nearly ripe, and lots of splits, twenty pounds worth. Guess that maps out some of today’s endeavors.

I KNOW THAT FALL IS REALLY HERE because the spiders have been putting in overtime to construct webs of enormous proportions and a lot of them too.

Fall is here with the nodding heads of fading pink anemone japonica. Chrysanthemums, the colors of falling leaves, are blooming, as are fall cyclamen, nerine lilies, little pale purple asters, and fall crocus. Some of the few dahlias that I have seem to be in their prime now with intensifying color in fall sunlight. And yesterday some very real October rain to shock us back into reality. One blessing is the warm temperatures are continuing (Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. it was 57°, yesterday 58°!)

Despite of the dreariness of spirit that rain engenders, all things growing look lovely with the shimmer of raindrops. So I stood on the deck under cover and shot with the zoom to see what turned up.

Nerines and columbine.

The furry pink head of dwarf fountain grass, pennisetum setaceum and salvia.

The rose ‘Playboy’ (above and below).

And finally, raindrops clinging to the leaves of the armandii clematis at the roof edge above the deck.

PICK AND EAT! GREEN, GARDEN TREATS

18 Friday Jun 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Native plants, Rain, The beach, Travel, Weather

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beach glass, fava beans, Gardening, peas, rain

WHERE DID THE LAST MONTH GO? I can hardly believe it has been that long since the last post!

THE PEAS ARE IRRESISTIBLE, PLENTIFUL AND THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF PICKING AND EATING straight away–no cooking needed! The peas that I have growing are snow peas and snap peas. I have not cooked a single one yet as we have eaten them in the raw state in green salads and as a salad, in a slight variation of the pea and bacon salad found at deli counters over the last fifteen years. On Friday I picked nearly four pounds of peas and over nine pounds of fava beans! Bountiful!

Once the fava beans are shelled, the weight drops considerably. At this stage they are ready for blanching and then slipping off the bitter outer skins to reveal the sweet, tender, green bean inside.

The blanched and shelled beans make a tasty spread for bread when puréed with a touch of garlic, lemon and olive oil. Today I will finish picking the peas and favas so I can finally plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and squash plants. The weather has been so rainy and below normal temperatures for June. But, wishful thinking, summer is just a couple of days away! This might be the latest I’ve gotten the tomatoes into the ground.

Time for a little catch up on what has bloomed over the last few weeks!

Astrancia ‘Ruby Wedding’

Papaver somniferum in lavender

and a frilly red one.

An unknown mushroom that popped up last week after rain. It is eight inches across!

And speaking of rain, it beads up perfectly on the leaves of this hosta ‘Abiqua Gourd’.

LAST SATURDAY we took a trip north to Port Townsend to meet Erynn and a friend and walk to Glass Beach at the foot of McCurdy Point on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is a three mile walk each way and with a minus tide there is plenty of time to search for glass treasures and check out sea life that is hidden half of the day.

Beach glass, pottery shards and assorted treasures!

There were thousands of these little sand spirals and piles. Worms?

After walking the beach we checked in at Fort Worden State Park a late 19th and early 2oth century coastal artillery fort on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is one of three forts that guarded the entrance to Puget Sound. It is an interesting place to explore and has great views north to the San Juan Islands and Whidbey Island to the east. The old concrete batteries for gun emplacements make for great exploring and photographing,

Lots of dark places down stairs and behind big metal doors.

The lighthouse at Pt. Wilson, just a short walk from the campground.

The lovely, dainty Nootka rose.

Time now for gardening, the weather today is fair and looking good for at least acouple more. We may even have temperatures in the normal range of 70°! Some of the first lilies are in bloom and a pale blue delphinium too. So much to do!

WE FOLLOWED THE SUN

19 Wednesday May 2010

Posted by backyardnotes in Native plants, Rain, Spring flowers, Washington travels

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Tags

desert, Eastern Washington, fava beans, hiking, sun

I’VE GOT THE TRAVEL ITCH, so last Thursday we headed for the other side of the Cascades to explore the Potholes Reservoir, in the Columbia Basin and the national wildlife refuge. Just just three hours away from home the weather was near 80°. We camped at Potholes State Park, went looking for birds and did some short hikes in the refuge south of the reservoir.

Some fair bird watching although most of the spring migration is over. We did see quite a few yellowheaded black birds which we do not see on the west side of the mountains, so that was exciting for us. Also, at the north end of the reservoir is a very large rookery for Great Blue Herons, Great White Egrets, Black-crowned Night Herons, and Cormorants. The rookery area is closed at this time of the year and the birds can be viewed only with binoculars or a good scope.

This is rumex venosus, or winged dock and we spotted it growing in sand dunes and near the rookery. This was new to me and I was able to identify it and other flora spotted on this trip thanks to this website, a real find with beautiful photographs of wildflowers found in the Pacific Northwest. A common culinary variety of rumex is sorrel, a perennial, tart garden green.

Before we left I picked enough fava beans for a salad dressed with lemon juice, a fruity olive oil, and some shavings of pecorino cheese for our first night out. They were sweet, small and green…heaven! Today, I was scanning DigginFood and saw a way to use the green fava leaves—new to me—so I will give them a try since I have two long rows of plants.

Since I am interested in plants wherever we travel, this trip was no exception. The plant life in a shrub-steppe-desert environment is vastly different from the wet side of the Cascades. A lot of sagebrush, many types of grasses, and wildflowers. On Sunday we hiked up to the Goose Lakes Plateau for a splendid view of the seep lakes and channeled scablands. Vertical basalt walls rise about two hundred feet above the marshlands and lakes.

Salvia dorii. On the left the pre-bloom stage, on the right in bloom.

As we pulled up to trailhead parking on the Morgan Lakes road we saw these tumbleweeds piled up at the bottom of east facing cliffs. Where did they come from? We saw no evidence of tumbleweeds growing in the vicinity. It was a curious and oddly beautiful tableau.

Alas, the weather turned on Monday and we headed back west to Vantage for a side trip to the Ginkgo Petrified Forest, only to meet rain from Vantage to the east slope of Snoqualmie Pass, but found sunshine at home in West Seattle. More to see around the Potholes in another trip. Maybe some fishing next time too.

This afternoon we we’re back to spring rain. Good for the garden and indoor art projects.