A Grower Perspective

Several varieties of sweetly scented geraniums are available in our front greenhouse.  Come by and choose some for a porch or deck pot.  Bring them in during the winter and you’ll have them ready for next year when the time comes.  Along with their sculptured leaves and delicate flowers they are useful in cooking and in sachets or luxurious baths.

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Back in the day, as they say, when I was a kid, long ago but not that long ago, a typical homeowner was daring to even grow a tomato around here let alone get ripe fruit. A cherry tomato was a more reasonable way to go. My dad used to yank the whole plant out of the ground and hang it upside down in the garage so the cherry tomatoes would ripen after the first frost came. It feels like the weather of the late fifties and sixties again.It would be warm in late May and as soon as school let out it began to rain. So here we are again. For the first time in 28 years lilacs were blooming as late as May 21st. How do I know that? It is our wedding anniversary and I had a huge vase of them on our table this year. In 1983 there was not a blooming lilac to be found, they had all bloomed earlier.

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A few weeks ago I was in Portland and although it was a brisk day in February a bit of sun was shining through; a good day to wander into the Lan Su Chinese Garden, my first visit into this walled sanctuary in an urban setting.  Many of the plants were very familiar: the winter jasmine was so lovely flowing over the rocks above the pond, many camellias were blooming, and the Edgeworthia was filling the air with a sweet fragrance.  The tree that attracted my husband’s attention was a well shaped Japanese Black Pine. (You can see our example above, pruned to resemble an ostrich) He asked me if I knew that tree and I said yes it was a common landscape tree and we had lots at the nursery.  I will bring one home to him and we can have it in our garden.  It is not a tree I’d necessarily choose.  There is no comparison to the right plant in the right situation.  What is common in one case can be the most outstanding thing in another. 

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Erica carnea ‘Ruby Glow’ and honey bees, early spring at the nursery February 17, 2011, all is good in the world.

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As we are starting to see more spring blossoms pop out take note of this flowering cherry,  lovely blossoms, soft double pink fading to white, red shiny bark that peels away to give a unique texture and year round focal point to any landscape.  The size makes it suitable to a container, small or large garden.  Now blooming in front of the nursery.  Come look!

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