Another what is it?

This is a very beautiful flower that blooms on a very ugly plant, and I cannot for the life of me remember the name. It came from the plant shop at the Volunteer Park Conservatory, and I lost the information sheet. It lives outside and gets ignored, except for once a year when it has these spectacular red flowers.

Ok, enough blathering about flowers for now. We're getting ready to have a vacation weekend in the Methow Valley. I'll look forward to writing some posts from the other side of the mountains-- we leave on Thursday morning.

Succulents and sedums

As Seattle summers seem to grow hotter and dryer, I like growing these plants in pots. And the sedum breeders are smart by creating all sorts of beautiful varieties, and then giving them cute names that appeal to impulse shoppers like me. Last summer I bought "Pork n' Beans" and "Frodo" at the West Seattle Nursery. "Frodo" barely escaped our harsh winter with his life, and was clinging by a thread when I re-potted him in March. After that he was almost finished off by a squirrel but made a remarkable comeback from a teeny, tiny nub. "Pork n' Beans" spent the winter in the kitchen greenhouse window and is outside again. I don't have an outdoor greenhouse so lose a few every winter, but most are surprising resilient. The pots look ratty and dead by February when I pull them apart and replant with fresh potting soil and a big dose of fertilizer. It is a day of dirty, cold work which puts me in a bad mood-- but after that they just take off for another year.

What I like best about succulents is their lovely quality of filling the shape of whatever you plant them in-- old pots, baskets, boots, whatever! I used to have a beautiful living wreath of succluents, but the squirrels ripped it apart don't ask me why.

And I'm not naming any names, but in my family I've heard "Hens n' Chicks" unkindly referred to as "old lady plants." But they are easy to propagate, and I love sharing them with other succulent lovers like Amanda.

Lilies in the sun

The morning in Seattle started out grey, damp and cold at the barn but turned into a beautiful afternoon at home. On Thursday we're headed to eastern Washington for the holiday weekend (more on that later) so I've been scrambling to get some last minute work done around the garden. Could use a little rain, but who's complaining? Thinking of everyone and hope you are having a wonderful sunny Sunday.

"Hole" Foods

This enormous hole is near the Junction and I drive by several times a week. This view has not changed in almost a year. All active work on the site stopped last fall, even though the developers repeatedly said the project was simply “between phases." Since then the declining economy and numerous lawsuits gave the situation a different slant.

A Whole Foods store was scheduled to be completed in a few months, but we know that isn't going to happen! Too bad because all cooks enjoy window shopping at Whole Foods. Sometimes I even buy things there, but I have to drive way across town, so it is out of temptation's way.
However, after years of dismal grocery store choices in our neighborhood (Safeway or Safeway) we now have the upscale Metropolitan Market and soon a new QFC (basically a fancy Krogers) will open just a block from here. So good luck to Whole Foods-- or I should say, "Hole" Foods! Frankly everyone in West Seattle hopes for a Trader Joes instead, and rumors continue to fly about that.

http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=17039

Certainly the look and feel of West Seattle has changed over the years and not all for the best. Dozens of identical (think tall and skinny) new condo and townhouse buildings lining the streets, with "for sale" signs out in front of each and every one.

Wine garden

John has worked in basically the same location at Boeing Field for over 30 years, and the building where he spends his 6 am to 2:30 pm shift has no external windows. (This makes him pretty much a saint in my eyes, since I would go completely bonkers without big gobs of natural light each and every day.) Add to that the frustration of working for an airplane company that can't seem to build airplanes anymore. So in the summer before dinner, he strolls around the garden with his wine glass to check out the flowers and hopefully build up some vitamin D stores for the dark months ahead.

Our afternoon sun is intense this time of year, with sunset still after 9 pm and light until after 10. It seems like an awful thing to complain about the long bright days, but it is hard to go to sleep when your neighbors are bouncing balls outside at 9 pm, and just as hard to stay asleep when the robins start in at 3:45. Everyone is sleep-deprived in June, and John tells me there is lots of dozing off in meetings at Boeing this time of year-- no wonder.

The plant towering over him is a magnificent weed called a mullein, and I have no idea where it came from. I did a little research and found out it actually has some medicinal properties. According to legend, it also wards off witches and does other useful things.

http://www.nps.gov/plants/ALIEN/fact/veth1.htm

The gardener's worst enemy

It isn't drought, weeds, aphids or squirrels. The worst enemy is our own impatience. How many times have I bought a fancy new dahlia tuber, planted it, and then 3 weeks later dug around to "check" if it sprouted and in doing so snapped off the new shoot. And do I learn from this experience? Nope! I'm just as likely to do it again next year. Fortunately the tuber usually forgives me.

The weather turned dry and cool this week . After the heat wave, more like our typical Seattle June. So it was a good morning to go out and deadhead and think about things like why I can't seem to grow anything from seed. I admire gardeners who throw a packet in the ground and soon have beautiful vegetables, zinnias or sunflowers. My seeds get eaten by bugs, lost, stepped on, dried up, cultivated out, accidentally pulled when I'm weeding-- or just plain given up on. That patience thing again.

But despite all that, things looked pretty this morning in the warm(ish) grey light, the roses at their peak and the lilies just starting. School is out across the street, and everything is quiet except for the crows chasing an eagle. (no kidding)

With a little sun, we'll have the blue clematis (that green lump in the center of the picture) which is covered with buds now.