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, I’ll toss the sand-fine seeds anywhere I’d like to see them sprout. The plant is tough as nails in the Northwest and does well in both sun and shade. Give them a cultivated garden bed and they will double in height.
Foxglove is a biennial, establishing foliage the first year and bursting in bloom the second. All parts of the plant are poisonous so kept them out of your salad spinner.
Sharing the stage, evergreen Western Sword Ferns ring my porch like a verdant fringe. They too are a low maintenance, deer-proof plant that’s easy to grow. Give them a little compost and they too will reach for the sky.
Super sweet sugar snap peas: a quick snack in hand or star of the saute pan 
Freshly-picked ice cubes: There’s nothing like the taste of homegrown.
I create a vertical plane that the toms can grow up for maximum sun exposure, air circulation and tidiness (a feature more prevalent in my garden than my house).
Slugs get a bad rap (justifiably so) around here. How can a slow-moving creature with the viscosity of a gumdrop manage to clear cut foliage like its wielding a chainsaw and machete? Just recently though, I noticed a more virtuous result from the intrusive invertebrates: artfulness. When not devouring dahlias or noshing on nasturtiums, my resident slugs slither along like little garden Gaugins, creating curious beauty in uncommon places. In this case, the Artistes De Slime made handiwork of an outdoor, algae-lined tub–each of their bites another brushstroke in the earthy masterwork. (The piece is titled: HJEF8V698XPN)
Tomatoes have a remarkable ability to create roots along their stems when placed in contact with soil. Do this with most other plants and the stem rots, and the plant dies. Tomatoes are much more forgiving. Follow the steps below and you can transform the willowy into the robust.
Above, I’ve formed basins to hold water as each plant gets established. One day, a row of resting toms; the next, the stars of my kitchen cutting board.
