tall clover farm

Foxglove (digitalis purpurea) is the flower of the hour in my Pacific Northwest garden, towering three feet above my close-to six-foot frame. (That’s height not width, for clarification and the time being.) Their show began three weeks ago and will likely continue for another two before the plants brown into equally handsome and imposing seed stalks. Later in the summer, [...]

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Nature doles out some amazing colors. When my camellia Taylor’s Pink Perfection began to bloom for the first time, I found its blush exuberant, unapologetic and very reminiscent of a hue I’d come across before: the lipstick color of my fourth grade teacher Miss Wells. In my recollection, Miss Wells and Delta Burke are now the [...]

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In some cafe, perhaps in Amsterdam, maybe in Bruges sits a man whose interest in the works of Van Gogh and Rubens is only rivaled by his love of works in nature, in this case unusual plants. So Bart, fear not; while you’re enjoying a European holiday, your primula sits protected on my porch. The blossoms are exquisite, the [...]

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I’d have to say the periwinkle Vinca major saves me about a bazillion hours of weeding each summer, smothering out just about any weed bold enough to insist on staking a claim. If periwinkle can easily engulf a pot topping 30 inches (above), dandelions don’t stand a chance of permanent residency. While the individual  flowers are real lookers, like little blue polka dots floating [...]

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Deer proof is a designation that I usually find laughable. I suspect that given the chance, deer would dine on blue tarps and roof shingles. If these beasts had thumbs, my refrigerator door would have a lock on it. But there is one plant, one flower in the field that is unequivocally ignored by this antlered entourage: the daffodil.   The Daffodil is a spring-blooming [...]

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About this time every year, I look at my sickly menagerie of houseplants and wonder why I bother. The leaves of my streptocarpus have the crunch of a corn flake, the air roots on my orchids resemble cooked spaghetti and my brugmansia has become a retirement home for spider mites. The citrus trees know if they can hold out one more month, [...]

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Black locust trees anchor my house. They are a much a part of its history as the wavy glass windows and half-wrap porch. Even in a photo taken in 1900, they were relatively large trees.  Where three once stood, there are now two. A large weathered stump tells the tale of a sapling’s fate—its robust nature [...]

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 Pink oriental poppies capturing the first light of day I get up at the crack o’thirty to begin my commute into civilization from the island, an odyssey that cross-utilizes every form of transportation known to man (at least in King County): my beater truck (the shortest leg of the trip), a Metro bus, a Washington State Ferry, [...]

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If my garden was a theater, Pacific Coast Iris (Iris douglasiana) would be the overlooked understudy or supporting actor that unexpectedly steals the show. It’s presence is subtle if not negligible for most of the year, until a couple weeks in May when it pulls out all the stops and produces flowers that would make a watercolorist pant.  [...]

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Welcome this uncommon and fruitful tree into your garden. I first encountered the edible quince Cydonia oblonga at my friend Kurt’s farm, where it stood like a garden prop, perfectly shaped, petit and laden with fuzzy gold orbs the size of papayas. With fruits doing double time as well-placed ornaments, the tree was showy and productive. In [...]

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Tulips at the market: my favorite harbinger of spring I think the Dutch had it right in the seventeeth century; why not base your economy on the beauty of the tulip? It’s a most worthy form of currency. And no offense to other spring bloomers, but that’s a feat neither a daffodil nor a hyacinth could pull off. [...]

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Early spring has few players in the garden that awaken the spirit and the landscape like violets. I especially like how they seem to appear overnight through a rush of brittle leaves like petaled placards declaring winter is behind us. Botanically speaking, they’re viola odorata. Don’t let their meek presence fool you; they pack a [...]

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