Thursday, November 28, 2013

The Japanese Cornelian Cherry.


There are still lots of berries on our Cornus officinalis 'Kintoki', Native to Japan the bright red berries are about half the size of those of it's close relative from Eastern Europe Cornus mas.

Monday, November 25, 2013

The Dreaded garden Leaf Cleanup!


As much as we wish it wouldn't, it comes around every year like clockwork - The dreaded garden leaf cleanup! We spent all day Saturday slaving away on this but the finish line is still a long way off!

Friday, November 22, 2013

"D" day for the Banana!

An unhappy Musa basjoo

Last year our Musa basjoo made it all the way to December 31st before there was a frost hard enough to kill it. This year November 21st was D Day!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Lionel Fortesque, a hummingbird's delight!


We don't put any Hummingbird feeders out in our garden but we have a growing number of them that call the garden home all year round. Their favorite wintertime spot is a planting of Mahonia x media cultivars near the kitchen window. Now that they have begun flowering they will be hanging out here for the next few months, often chasing each other away from their perceived favorite spot on a plant! If they do get tired of Mahonia nectar they nip on over to the Grevillea victoriae.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Two Fothergilla


We have grown both of these Fothergilla in the garden for many years & put them back into production this year. The cultivar 'Jane Platt' is a dwarf originally selected from a plant growing at the Jane Platt garden in Portland Oregon. 'Blue Mist' was selected for its grey blue summer foliage but fell out of fashion when the better blue cultivar 'Blue Shadow' was introduced. 'Blue Shadow' has been found to suffer from a green reversion problem though so maybe 'Blue Mist' deserves another lease on life!

Just for Fun!


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Desfontainia spinosa


Now if we could reliably produce about 500 liners of this Chilean native with flowers on at this time of year we'd be very happy :^)..

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

First Flower!

Hamamelis virginiana var. mexicana.

We came across our first Hamamelis flower for the 2013 / 2014 season last weekend. The winner was the curious and very pale almost cream colored flowers of Hamamelis virginiana var. mexicanaSometimes listed as it's own species H. mexicana. This plants native range is between 4000' & 8500' in the Sierra Madre Orientale Mountains of Mexico. What it lacks in show stopping flowers it makes up for in botanical curiosity!

Monday, November 4, 2013

A Variegated Stewartia.

Stewartia pseudocamelia - Variegated Form

We have been playing around with the variegated Stewartia seedling for a few years now. We keep making cuttings of the most variegated shoots but still don't have it stable enough for release.