May Overload

 We may be in for a very hot summer. Though overnight showers brought a touch of rain, it has been fairly warm overall with a record high two weekends ago. Forecasts I follow back up my worry - we're getting hotter and this year we could be in for it. So, right now, even as the madness that May always brings for me, I thought it would behoove me to grab a bunch of spring flower pics before the show dwindles. 

Starting out this tour with an image of the Himalayan mounds, specifically Arctostaphylos pumila, now that it has been freed from a rather prickly Berberis darwinii at its base. Back when I planted these, I gave them plenty of space. Or so I thought. Always learning. It looks better to my eyes, a little cleaned up and able to show off the stars of the show, namely the agave and arctostaphylos.

Now for a few shade-lovers. This is Umbilicus oppositifolius 'Jim's Pride' (syn. Chiastophyllum oppositifolium 'Jim's Pride'), a shade-appreciating succulent happily living in a woodland table near our front door.

Vancouveria chrysantha is a pale yellow flowered form of our native inside-out flower. Mixed in with it are astrantia and Adiantum aleuticum, maidenhair fern.

In another shade garden we call the western woodland, Tellima grandiflora and Gaultheria shallon have colonized where blackberries once ruled. We have to regularly go through and pull blackberry starts but they seem to fizzle out a little more every year.

An oddity, Helwingia chinensis is a broadleaf evergreen shrub for shady locales. What's odd about it is that the flowers are borne along the leaf mid-rib. It's a little hard to see but if you look closely you'll see flowers coming out of the leaves. Kind of cool. This shrub wants regular moisture. For me that might mean that it could suffer this year, so we'll see.

Thalictrum aquilegifolium in bloom in the shade garden. This is a hardy re-seeder, I have to keep it in check just a little bit. Tall and elegant, though, it's nice to see it rise and fall in the shade areas.

A favorite heuchera, this is Heuchera micrantha, one of our natives. It is semi-evergreen and I had a lot more of it at one point. However, moles destroyed large portions of it. I've been actively moving it out of the way into safer spots and it's doing well.

Mossy log, Oxalis oregana, Deutzia 'Nikko', probably Fragaria vesca or virginiana (woodland strawberry) and Diphylleia cymosa, umbrella leaf. The Diphylleia probably wants more water than what I can give it but it comes back faithfully every spring. A semi-wild look where I let many plants wander where they will. It's taken some time to get the woodland garden to be mostly weed-free; the trick has been wood chips as a mulch. This also helps to keep this area's soil wetter longer into the year. The woodland strawberries are all over the shady areas of our property, we mostly let them go where they will.

Calycanthus 'Hartlage Wine' has the most charming flowers that bloom over a very long season. The way the flowers tumble off of the branches has the most charming effect. The shrub gets a little better every year.

Another in the unusual camp, Cornus sanguinea 'Compressa' has an extremely upright, narrow habit. This deciduous shrub is a fun addition to add some vertical punctuation to the garden, though it is very slow-growing.

Eriophyllum lanatum, Oregon sunshine, is doing its best to bring a little cheer. Here it meets up with Teucrium chamaedrys in what was formerly an area with dormant grass all summer. Both of these plants, the Oregon sunshine and Teucrium chamaedrys are very drought-adapted and will look great for months.

A fairly new addition to our garden, Leptospermum scoparium (Nanum group) 'Ruru' is, apparently, the hardiest of the pink flowering tea trees. This came from the wonderful plantsman Blair Haynes' nursery (Shinglehouse Nursery), I am happy to have it in my garden for it reminds me of him, rest in peace.

In my neighborhood, Camassia quamash is a plant scattered throughout. One of the best camas prairies left, Liberty Hill, is nearby and is unparalleled. Those have come and gone for the season, however camas I planted in my own garden are just getting started.

Geum 'Totally Tangerine' just keeps on being wonderful. I have had this plant probably 14 years and it hasn't grown to huge proportions, rather it's just right. Geums typically enjoy summer water, this will get a bit crunchy if I let it go a little dry.

Another camas I introduced to my garden is Camassia leichtlinii 'Semiplena', a rather tall, stately presence in the meadow garden. I started with several bulbs, each of which has grown from one to two flower stalks to four or five. They stand out particularly well in the evening light.

At the base of the deck, mostly summer drought adapted shrubs, perennials and sedum.

A sweet saxifrage in bloom near our front door.

Dorycnium hirsutum, hebes, grasses and Quercus hypoleucoides (far upper right) near the driveway. These all do very well in very hot, dry conditions and the soil here is rather heavy so holds moisture for a long time. I'm not too worried about this area getting fried this summer.

Fremontodendron 'San Gabriel' has never had so many flowers. As these prefer to be dry in summer, it too will be just fine if the summer heat forecast holds true.

The rather beautiful trunk of Arctostaphylos 'Saint Helena'. Arctostaphylos in general appreciate the heat and dry, they are totally adapted to survive in such conditions.

Sidalcea campestris, our native checker mallow. Such a wonderful perennial with a long season of interest. These may go a bit dormant after flowering if we do indeed have a very hot summer, but they are pretty tough and I'm sure will be fine.

This is special to me because it's a birdbath I rescued from my mom's house last summer. It is by far the most used of all 12 or so of our birdbaths, out in full sun where birds can scuttle and forage under the shrub layer in our sunny dry labyrinth garden. This is a dark eyed junco, but just after (s)he left, a chickadee arrived, though the photo is blurry so I used this instead. It's a joy to me to see so much life here.

Dianthus cruentus in full bloom. These carnations are from hot regions such as Greece and are very happy in full sun and dry conditions.

A wider shot at the edge of the labyrinth garden.

I (hopefully!) have a better handle on the veggie garden this year. Last year was rough, but this year I'm paying close attention. Here, some self-sown artichokes are clearly the stars of the show.

It's nice to see little things planted in there. It brings much joy (after the three-day marathon of putting it all into the ground). It's no small task and it often fails, but I'm determined.

Keeping it real. We have our plant challenges here at Chickadee Gardens. It's not all happy plants. Well, this is too happy. It's an English laurel hedge (Prunus laurocerasus) we inherited when we moved here. It's behind the red shed along the fence and road, so difficult to get to. FM has been hacking it back for years, hopefully someday we'll be rid of it for good. It seeds everywhere - I find seedlings on the other side of our property (though they could easily come from neighboring plants, not ours) and is problematic in our region. It is not on the noxious weed list, though I imagine it could be at some point.

My beautiful Thymus 'Pink Ripple' carpet, while alive, is rather brown and crunchy. It had a similar (though worse) episode several years ago and recovered completely. I don't really understand why it does this, especially as we had such a mild winter. Also, that white-ish circle in the center? That is where I removed a dead limb off of Arctostaphylos 'Sentinel' earlier this spring. Something is happening in the soil here, perhaps too wet in winter? It does not get summer irrigation.

A beloved plant to me, Penstemon cardwellii is an evergreen shubshrub at about 10 inches high and spreading. While it is indeed alive and actively growing, last year something happened to it and almost the entire plant died. It was as if something walked across it and broke its rather brittle branches. I am happy to see it recover after a really good prune.

One of what was three Cornus nuttallii, our native dogwood, on the property. All three are dead which, really, is no huge surprise. They are notoriously challenging to keep alive. I occasionally find seedlings and pot them up to give to folks. I have a rather large one growing next to my blue shed that I plan on relocating to another part of the property to give it a chance.

Eryngium giganteum determined to live in our driveway. These seed in every crack available and are impossible to remove. Be careful what you wish for. These tap-rooted plants are actually very well-visited by pollinators of all kinds and are very tolerant of drought due to their ability to dive deep into the soil to find it. Tap rooted plants are a great way to thwart hot days that are coming.

OK, a HUUUUGE thank you to everyone who came out to our little Dirty Diggers plant sale last weekend. It was so fun and such great vibes! Fabulous people, plants and community. Thank you to the neighborhood who tolerated hundreds of plant enthusiasts swarming about. We appreciate you all. Our autumn plant sale is scheduled for Saturday October 3rd, same time, same place. Mark your calendars. Hope to see you there.

As we enjoy the garden these days, there is a deadline of our upcoming open garden on the horizon to keep us on task. That is scheduled for Saturday June 6th. If you are a Hardy Plant Society of Oregon member, look us up. If you can't swing a membership and want to come, please get in touch as all are welcome. Let us hope the heat doesn't come on too quickly in the mean time!

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we love hearing from you! Happy gardening.