Where does the time go?
Our heatwave blasted some leaves on a few plants, tree roots and deep shade have increasingly made certain garden beds a challenge for growing plants and rabbits are forever finding new plants to eat, but the garden is in reasonably good shape. If you’re thinking of a visit, this is a great time. Yesterday, as I stood in the shade of the garden shed, an Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna) flew down to investigate the red handles of my hedge sheers sitting on a shelf outside the door. My maroon shirt caught its attention and it made a series of short, forward advances punctuated by hovering in place. Inches away from my face it finally veered off and back into the brilliant sunlight. Garden creatures of all kinds are out and about, daring you to bear witness to their grace and beauty. Open the door, step outside, put down that phone and get to walking.
Ok, starting from spring into summer, here are some photos of the garden.
June-flowering Komarov’s bugbane (Cimicifuga heracleifolia) in section B.
The yellow is kidney vetch or wound wort (Anthyllis vulneraria), the pink is everlasting pea (Lathyrus latifolius). Both are vigorous European perennials but they are surrounded by a hardware cloth rabbit fence because they are favorite foods of the rabbits. Almost everything in the Fabaceae/Leguminosae now needs protection from rabbits.
Unopened flowers of udo (Aralia cordata) whose young, spring shoots and leaves are eaten in Japan.
Narrowleaf mule’s ears (Wyethia angustifolia) in section C has traditionally been used to treat respiratory conditions. Seeds and young leaves are edible. In some areas, mule’s ears and balsamroot grow near each other and a quick glance might confuse them.
The arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) in the xeriscape bed has finally flowered. They’re a dime a dozen on the east side of the Cascades but a garden oddity here. The plant resins have a variety of medicinal uses but it is also an edible plant, from roots and stems to seeds. There are many species of balsamroot in Washington state. How many? Let’s say at least nine with several naturally occurring hybrids where two species have overlapping ranges.
The bai bu (Stemona japonica) can be a bit needy when it gets outside after a winter in the greenhouse, but it seems to like its current home in section E. Roots of Stemona japonica and other species of Stemona have long been used in eastern Asia to treat respiratory disorders.
The prune plum trees (Prunus domestica) west of Cascara Circle were covered in aphids for a couple weeks but then the lady beetles, and shortly after, their offspring arrived (this looks like it could be a harlequin or Asian ladybug larva (Harmonia axyridis). They are aphid-eating machines. If you see them or the orange eggs of ladybugs on the undersides of leaves, please leave them in peace.
The Nanking cherries (Prunus tomentosa) were almost ripe on June 10 (and were gone shortly after. Someone has a taste for Nanking cherries). Behold the raindrops on the leaves. After a dry May, we got some gully washers the first couple weeks in June. Rain in June in Seattle is a very good thing.
Mexican tulip poppy (Hunnemannia fumariifolia) looking a bit film noirish
trapped in its rabbit protection cage. Though this is considered a perennial/subshrub in its home range in Mexico, it will likely be treated as an annual here…but who knows with plants.
It looks better before it fully opens. Though it resembles California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), Mexican tulip poppy is a monotypic genus, meaning there is only one species of Hunnemannia.
Mountain bistort (Polygonum bistorta) is a favorite of the rabbits. It should be covered in spikes of pink flowers right now but the flowers and leaves have been transformed into rabbit flesh. I finally had to fence it in.
The honey flower (Melianthus major) from South Africa in flower and thriving in its crowded but sheltered position in on the west edge of section D.
Flower spikes on the wild yam vines (Dioscorea villosa) in section F. Behind is the bombproof orchid, bai ji (Bletilla striata).
Together on the same tripod trellis, deodeok (Codonopsis lanceolata) and stauntonia (Stauntonia hexaphylla). So far, all is simpatico.
Flower spikes of weld or dyer’s rocket (Reseda luteola) in section C, one of the many dye plants in the Medicinal Herb Garden. The garden contains food, fiber, dye and ceremonial plants in addition to medicinal plants.
Western wallflower (Erysimum asperum) and nodding onion (Allium cernuum) surrounded by a rabbit fence in section C. It’s all about keeping the rabbits from eating the garden plants these days. Rabbits have plenty to eat on campus. They won’t starve.
In Cascara Circle, on the other side of the west tea hedge, the mock orange (Philadelphus lewisii) flowered and filled the air with its sweet fragrance. What a great drought-tolerant native shrub. It’s the state flower of Idaho.
Two leaves and a bud; that is the image you’re looking for when picking tea (Camellia sinensis). The bud is just another leaf that hasn’t fully opened. The Medicinal Herb Garden tea hedge is nearing the end of its prime picking season right now.
The Engelmann’s prickly pear or cactus apple (Opuntia engelmannii) in the xeriscape bed keeps expanding upward and outward but has so far not flowered, so no fruit yet. Those orange flowers are butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) which does well in a xeriscape. And those long, pale flower stalks angling up toward the left and down toward the right are white sage (Salvia apiana).
That heatwave was too much for the Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus). Some of the leaves got baked, but it is making a comeback.
Balloon plant flowers (Gomphocarpus physocarpus) from South Africa. The fruit look like spiky balloons, hence the name. I first saw this plant many years ago at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (be sure to visit if you go to Maine) and, shortly later I found seeds to grow it. It is marginally hardy in Seattle.
The flowers of the udo (Aralia cordata) are the place to be for some cool pollinators right now. This might be a grass-carrying wasp (Isodontia species).
And the ever-dependable great golden digger wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) can be seen here and, pretty soon, on the Mexican milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) in the nearby xeriscape bed. Feel free to observe them. They want nothing to do with you, just flower nectar.
Rose root, golden root or king’s crown (Rhodiola rosea) seen from above in section C. That crown is three feet across. This adaptogen grows from the arctic to the northern temperate regions of Eurasia and North America and has been used traditionally as both food and medicine. It is called rose root because its dried rhizome has a scent like roses.
The Australian tea trees (Melaleuca alternifolia) are getting taller, having survived a few winters. This one, next to the English yew (Taxus baccata) on the north edge of the border between sections A and B, finally started to flower.
Spiky flower on a milk thistle plant (Silybum marianum) in section B. A garden visitor asked if it was related to the…
…wild artichoke flower (Cynara syriaca) in section C. There is a resemblance. They are not in the same genus but they are in the same family, the Asteraceae or Compositae. Flowers of artichoke and closely related cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) have an addictive scent up close, a bit like privet (Ligustrum spp.) but more subtle.
Hardware cloth rabbit screen around the base of the bamboo tripod has allowed the vigorous but delicate vines of chuan dang (Codonopsis tangshen) to make it all the way to the top of the tripod in section B. Various Codonopsis species are also referred to as poor man’s ginseng for their adaptogenic, rejuvenating properties.
Black chokeberry bushes (Aronia melanocarpa) on the garden borders are dripping with fruit right now, fruit appreciated by robins (Turdus migratorius) and people with a tolerance for astringency. Superfood alert: some call the chokeberry fruit a superfood. Gack…maybe as a superfood jam.
The he shou wu or fo ti (Polygonum multiflorum) in section C was beginning to look like Cousin It from the Adams Family, so…
…it got a haircut. This is a prolific plant. I’ve seen pictures of he shou wu flowering but in its twenty years in the Medicinal Herb Garden it has remained flowerless. Considering how quickly it can cover the nearby landscape in a relatively small garden bed, that’s probably a good thing. No wonder it is promoted as a vitality, longevity, virility herb. So far it has stayed in its own bed…in abundance but confined to a small space. The same cannot be said for many other less vigorous plants like licorice (Glycyrrhiza spp.) in section B, and maypop (Passiflora incarnata) in section D which spread into nearby beds and pathways.
When I left work to go home one day recently, some young children, accompanied by their teachers/caregivers, were in section B, drawing pictures of garden plants using colored pencils. I wish I’d had a chance to see their finished pictures. At that age, the doors of perception are as open as they’ll ever be and imagination seems to know no bounds.
The next morning I found this chalk drawing on the sidewalk adjacent to section B. Well done! It would be a better and happier world if more children were set free to display their artwork (in chalk) on our sidewalks, the nearest thing most of us have to a true commons.
possible heralds
of a better year ahead
chalking floral dreams
See you in the garden.