Posts Tagged ‘Gardening’

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Garden Blogger Bloom Day – July 2010

Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Lobelia laxiflora - a Hummingbird Favorite!

Lobelia laxiflora - a Hummingbird Favorite!

Finally, summer is here. The garden is popping with color and food. The bees are buzzing like crazy. It’s a time when I get a little lazy in my own garden. That’s okay. The point isn’t to always be pulling weeds, seeding, mulching, pruning, watering, and so forth. Part of the point of having a garden is to enjoy it. With that said, here is a photo sampling of some of what’s going on in my garden this July.

This Lobelia laxiflora is a new addition to the garden this year, and I’m in love with it. It fits my current craving for hot reds, yellows and oranges. Plus, I managed to tuck it into a spot that worked from the get-go. Surrounding it (unseen here) is an invasive yellow Alstromeria that I’ve made peace with (and pull much of with a vengeance), Lemon Gem marigolds, red petunias and delicate Feverfew. I have a hard time believing I went for so long without this one in my garden. And, I think my hummingbirds feel the same way. Now, to pop in a last pineapple sage nearby and the hot, red DreamTeam bed will be complete! Need more blooms? View on!

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Greater Seattle Area Plant Sales in Spring 2010

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

(May 3, 2010 update): The sale announcements keep rolling in. Need a plan for mother’s day? How about a rare and native plant sale at a very special garden? Read on for details about the Kruckeberg sale and open house!

Plants for Sale!

Plants for Sale!

(April 24, 2010 update) Even more sale updates are being submitted! Read on for locations offering up sips of strawberry lemonade while you shop for your locally grown tomato starts.

(March 25, 2010 update) Plant sale updates keep rolling in, so it’s time to remind you to mark your calenders. Today, late breaking foodie plant news– it isn’t too late to get cool season crops from Seattle Tilth! If you missed the sale on March 20th, take heart! They’re doing it again on March 27th. Plus, we’ve been adding in other upcoming specialty sales coming up throughout the spring. Readers have contributed their submissions; if you have one to share, please send it in! Now, read on to find the hot horty sale spots for spring 2010!

If you haven’t already, it is time to mark your calender for all the great plant sales coming to the greater Seattle area this spring. Following is a list of some of my favorites. (Originally posted 3-14-2010)

If you have another plant sale you would like to see added to this list, let us know here.

If you aren’t in the greater Seattle area but would like to contribute plant sale information for your part of the world, let us know here.

Kruckeberg Gardens: Kruckeberg gardens is offering natives, spring bulbs, and unusual exotic plants for sale along with a free garden tour on May 8th. Too, expect family activities as well. Be sure to check their website for parking details. Local parking is limited, but satellite locations have been arranged. If you take the shuttle, you’ll get a $5 coupon!

  • May 7th & 8th from 10am-5pm
  • May 9th & 10th from 10am-5pm

Or, thinking of becoming a member? Members get in on the preview sale Thursday, May 6th from 10am-7pm. New members are welcome!

Fred Lind Manor and Jones Creek Farms are teaming up to offer our neighbors some old-fashioned hospitality. Sip on a complimentary glass of strawberry lemonade while you pick out the perfect tomato start from a local selection of organically grown, heirloom tomato plants. Fred Lind Manor, on the corner of 17th and Howell,  is a non-profit retirement community that has been serving Capitol Hill for 22 years. For more information, please call 206-774-5387 or just drop by the sale on Sunday, May 16, 2010

Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sales: Yes, this year there are several from Seattle to Issaquah!

  • Added in March: March 27, 2010: Second Chance Edible Plant Sale for 40-60% off on cool season crop leftovers from the March 20th sale. Plus bareroot fruiting shrubs, vines and trees!

Lake Washington Technical College Plant Sale: Plants propagated, grown, and sold by students. Proceeds support this fantastic program. And, the plants range from trees to tomatoes.

  • April 24-25 & May 1-2, 2010: In addition to all the fantastic plants grown by students, Wholesale Nursery Northwest Nursery will be offering unbeatable prices on trees, shrubs, perennials and more. Proceeds from Northwest Nursery sales will go toward nursery founder, Jim Colman Memorial Scholarship fund, also helping students in horticulture.

Seattle Arboretum Plant Sales: Specialty plants, bulbs and much, much more.

Seattle Bamboo Festival: Bamboo poles, plants products, seminars, crafts, plus rare plant gallery and attending bamboo experts. Information on the Seattle Chapter of the American Bamboo Society is available here.

  • May 1-2, 2010: At the Graham Visitor Center at the Seattle arboretum.

King County Master Gardener Plant Sale: Buy plants, diagnose issues from your own garden, attend “how-to” seminars all in one location!

Highline Seatac Botanical Garden: From all-round garden reliables to rare botanicals. Meet with various botanical interest groups and more.

Broadview Garden Club Plant Sale: Including Trillium and Galanthus selections from Dunn Gardens!

  • May 1, 2010 (10am-2pm): Broadview Thompson School at 132nd and Greenwood
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Grounding The Garden Mentor

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Yesterday ranked among the top ten worst days I can remember. And, it wasn’t just one thing that made it awful. All day, the bad news just kept rolling in. By evening, it got to the point that when Bob pointed out that our in-recovery Beta fish was laying on the bottom of his bowl, I shrugged and numbly replied, “If the poor guy dies today, I won’t be surprised.” If you know me, you know it takes a lot for me to reach a point where empathy is outside my reach. Yesterday, got me to that point.

Me and Isabella Enjoying Her Garden Over Breakfast

Me and Isabella Enjoying Her Garden Over Breakfast

Among other things, my darling, happiest-girl-in-the-world niece Isabella was bitten in the face by a dog. One of my best friend’s sweet cats was hit by a car and died. My friend moved to another state so fast we didn’t have a chance to say good-bye. Another friend’s mother had a severe stroke and was taken off life support. Shall I go on? I could; there’s more….

But, no. Odds are I’ve already shared enough for you to have likely named dubbed me “Debbie Downer” and clicked off the page. So, in case you’re still here, I just want to turn the mood around.

Today I got out in the field. I worked hand-in-hand with one of the most faithful Garden Mentors clients, Mrs. C.  And, it grounded me.

When I arrived, late and shaken off my usual A-game, she smiled and welcomed me, with a sniffle. Despite feeling under the weather, she was looking forward to working with me, her long-time Garden Mentor. For two hours we evaluated, dug, divided, discussed, trimmed, layered, photographed and chatted. Her appreciation. Her enthusiasm. Her general love of her ever-improving and always-evolving garden brought me back down to Earth. Our gardening session reminded me why I love being her Garden Mentor.

As the sign says, Garden Mentors provides encouragement, empowerment and joy in the garden — to people and to the planet. Who wouldn’t love doing that? Even during a time when the Universe or God or whatever-you-call-the-unknown is dishing out the ugliest of the hard stuffs of life, getting into the garden manages to literally bring me down to earth, grounding me in the truest sense, reminding why I love what I do. Sure, the ugly stuff is still ugly and the painful stuff still hurts. But, being out there in the wind and rain and sunshine and plants and death and bunny damage and new life and dirt and slugs and bugs building a garden with a gardening enthusiast like Mrs C. somehow makes all the bad news a little less sharp and painful. Sharing knowledge, success and even failure in the garden simply brightens the edges of every dark cloud not with a silver lining but instead with an unsurpassed, gorgeous, glistening flower bed springing forth in every joyful color of the rainbow.

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Every Gardening Failure is a Learning Tool

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Every successful gardener knows that if you haven’t killed something in the garden, you aren’t really gardening.

Mined Rainbow Chard Leaves

Mined Rainbow Chard Leaves

And, we all know that every gardening year is different. We strive to put the right plant in the right place, rotate our crops, test and amend our soil, prune properly, find balance managing our flora and fauna pests, yet among our victories come failures. From our failures, we learn and become better gardeners. Each year something in my garden inevitably goes wrong and becomes a learning experience. It may be the result of something I did (or didn’t do) or it may just be the result of nature being unpredictable. Regardless, failures are humbling and they help me grow. Admitting them isn’t always easy, but here goes. Maybe they’ll help you as well.

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Michelle Obama Reminds Us Gardening Can Improve Our Health

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

This year I’ve had a huge increase in requests for edible garden design and education programs relating to gardening with edibles. I know quite a few of these new clients are interested because of the vegetable garden the Obamas added to the White House earlier this year. Fortunately, my earliest gardening work was on our family farms raising our own food. Raising food is in my blood and in my soul, so I’m always thrilled to mentor others in the art and science of growing their own. It isn’t just about the health benefits that getting out in the dirt and doing the labor means. It isn’t just about enjoying the beauty of creating a veggie garden. It isn’t just about reducing our carbon footprint and petroleum consumption by growing foods as locally and organically as we can. It isn’t just about learning that real food doesn’t come out of a plastic bag or cardboard box. It isn’t just about correcting our health by reducing our consumption of processed foods. It is about all of these things and so much more.

In a recent interview with ABC News, Michelle Obama related her experiences and thoughts on health care reform. Gracefully, she connects the dots between diet, exercise and gardening to her family’s health as an example to all of us. I enourage you to watch the interview here for her own words.

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