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2022 Gardening

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
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It's that time of year ... when I need adult supervision. No, more like house arrest.

Yesterday I happened upon some poor wave petunias that needed care. Bought them. That triggered me to go out shopping for annuals. Bought a couple more. OK, it was 7 more.

Today I went to buy mulch. Only mulch. Nothing but mulch. When the mulch arrived at the car, it was greeted by "a couple of" annuals.

Between the singles and the multi-packs, I have 51 individual plants. I still need salvia. And coleus. And ....
I have 31 planters. Total plants: 170.

As my husband said, $900 worth of compost. (Every fall it all goes in the massive compost bins.)
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Scruffy

Making fresh tracks
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A few more:

Mountain Laural in bud and about to open to full bloom:
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Flame Azalea:

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Irises:
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Scruffy

Making fresh tracks
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My wife had foot surgery today, so I had some down time from my projects, so I could play Ansel Adams for a bit.

Hostas
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Black Futsu squash:
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Bumble Bee on Comfrey:
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Clustered Bell Flower near Quince:
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Scruffy

Making fresh tracks
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Spinach and Arugula:
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Beets, Parsnips, Swiss Chard, and Peppers:
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Kohlrabi, Russian Kale, Dill, and Violet polyculture:
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Foxgloves:
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Dianthus and balloon flowers:
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Bee on Blue Indigo:
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David Chaus

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Here’s a few recent pics. It’s been raining every few days alternating with nicer weather, so things are growing like crazy and it’s hard to keep beds weeded and looking nice, not to mention finding opportunities to mow the lawn. I’ve got a lot of hedge trimming and string trimming to do, not to mention lots to run through the chipper. So not yet enough time to post many pics.

We’re also in a micro-climate that’s a couple weeks behind the Seattle metro area in term of when things bloom, and in general it’s still spring with frequent showers until after July 4th, when the weather starts acting like summer.

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Newest garden bed.
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We have quite a few rhododendrons, which bloom at different times. This one right next to our patio is at its peak
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David Chaus

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As I mentioned it has been more cool and rainy this June, though not really by much more than average. The weather is now getting warmer and drier, and I will finally get a chance to mow the lawn(s) without having the grass continue to keep growing, and maybe we can get a better handle on weeding.

Here are a few pics I took last night.

This is the front courtyard, the large Hosta is under an apple tree.
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Wish we could claim credit but the foxgloves seeded themselves. A few are more than a foot taller than I am.
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Nearby, a Bird’s Nest Spruce. It really took off when we cut back a Budlia (Butterfly Bush) that shaded it.
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This plum tree was split by a winter storm, and has been cut back several times but keep coming back. So we use it as a shaded bed and have experimented with different plants, finally putting a few in the ground. The palm stays indoors during the winter.
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Opposite side, this is a creeping coastal redwood that I acquired this March and you can see the new growth. It’s not in the ground yet, my hope is that is can spread like the spruce and act as ground cover because the weeds like to take over otherwise (mostly Buttercups).
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Like I said, grass has been growing. I’ll continue to mow a few paths and leave the tall stuff as meadow sections, though there don’t seem to be as many wildflowers as we had last year. When it starts to fall down later in the year I string trim and mow.
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Spiria lost in the tall grass. I’ll rescue it this weekend. The tree behind it has 3 small rhododendrons that also need rescuing.
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The Hosta garden under a Douglas Fir.
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David Chaus

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Part 2:

This Coastal Redwood managed to survive the unusually hot heat dome we had last year, and then we went through a long winter freeze in January, which caused the brown needles. We weren’t sure it would make it, but it is recovering nicely with new growth, and it is quickly growing taller as well. We have planted a number of conifers near the woodland part of the property, on a meadow that had previously been a cow grazing pasture and I’ll post more pics when I’ve neatened up the paths I’ve mowed around them.
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New garden bed in process. Once I have time to get busy with the wood chipper we’ll be able to mulch a lot more of this to smother the grass, and to highlight the ornamental grasses we’ve planted.
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A dogwood that bloomed nicely this year. Last year when we planted it we thought we might have made a mistake, but sometimes you just have to give things time. Nearby is a Big Leaf Magnolia, also planted last year. All of this on the far side of the orchard area.
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Here are some plants, many of which were acquired in the last couple of weeks, though a few have been here a few years. This will be a garden bed, though haven’t figured out which plants will stay here vs go elsewhere.
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David Chaus

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Part 3

This is a garden bed that didn’t really exist before we had the new septic system put in 4 years ago; it was all torn up, so we made it look nice.
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David Chaus

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Part 4

A number of other plants that we have figure where to put in the ground, in the meantime it’s nice to have lot of color and variety right outside the patio door.

This first one is a SinoGrande Rhododendron, which will have huge leaves, like 3’ long, and will get quite tall, up to 35’.
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Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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Is this light green thing some kind of (what we call) may apple, in the foreground?



Nearby, a Bird’s Nest Spruce. It really took off when we cut back a Budlia (Butterfly Bush) that shaded it.
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What happens to your butterfly bush in the winter? Ours just dies back to almost nothing. Best case, it has to more or less start over from scratch in the spring.
 

David Chaus

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Is this light green thing some kind of (what we call) may apple, in the foreground?




What happens to your butterfly bush in the winter? Ours just dies back to almost nothing. Best case, it has to more or less start over from scratch in the spring.
Podophylum? Maybe, I’ll have to ask Shamora. Might be a smaller variety of Gunnera.

The butterfly bushes tend to lose their foliage, then grow like weeds around here. I have hacked that thing back several times and it just kept coming back. This is the first year it hasn’t, so I may have killed it. We have others, and while they look pretty, they can choke off native plants and I’m no longer so fond of them.
 

Tom K.

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Mrs. K. does vegetable gardening like I collect skis and bikes. I built this facility, but my only subsequent involvement is annual tilling, and occasional "plumbing" assistance.

Not well-pictured are the large tomato plants in the back.

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David Chaus

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Is this light green thing some kind of (what we call) may apple, in the foreground?
OK, Shamora gave me the correct answer, it’s Petasites Frigidus or Coltsfoot, a PNW native.
 

David Chaus

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Is this light green thing some kind of (what we call) may apple, in the foreground?

OK, Shamora gave me the correct answer, it’s Petasites Frigidus or Coltsfoot, a PNW native.
An quick update as things have been growing.
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Note the Japanese Painted Fern growing in the middle of the Petasides (Coltsfoot).
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Here’s a Deutzia that now in full flower. It looks more spectacular in person than in the pic.
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The leaves of the Sinogrande have spread out, this will be spectacular when we get it in the ground. Have to find a spot where it’s at least partially shaded till it gets established.
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Dusty Miller and coral bells from the Heuchera.
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David Chaus

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This blue hydrangea was rescued from my sister’s, it had been in a large pot for years. We planted it in the spring.
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This gold-tipped Western Red Cedar is semi-hidden behind a walnut, it’s also a backdrop for some ornamental grasses. I like how the gold tips seem to glow depending on the light, this pic does not do it justice.
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