BLOOMTOWN

Planting Combo for Spring

Here's a planting combination for you to consider as you're deciding which plants to include in your garden. This scene was captured late May in one my client gardens. It features the blowsy blooms of the intersectional peony, Paeonia x 'Smith Opus' Misaka™ and the bronze foliage of the ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mindia' COPPERTINA™. 

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

INSPIRE • ORGANIZE • GROW

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2015

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, a monthly meme where garden bloggers across the country and around the world share what’s flowering in their gardens. It's a fun way to see lots of gardens and I try to participate when I can. 

Here’s a round up of what’s in bloom here at Bloomtown.

Heuchera 'Delta Dawn' mingling with Anemone blanda make a cute couple.

This is Kalmiopsis leachiana 'LePiniec', a very dwarf native shrub. It's the most uncommon plant I have to show today and I rarely see it for sale. I got mine years ago at our HPSO Plant Sale from one of the many speciality growers we have in this area. It has always looked good and blooms reliably every year. It's small and compact; no more that 18 inches wide and about 12 inches tall.

I think the multicolor blooms of this unknown variety of pulmonaria (lungwort) are sweet.

Coarse, apple green blooms of the Helleborus argutifolius are still looking good. In a couple of weeks when I see signs of strong emerging foliage at the base, I'll cut the blooming stalks off at ground level to allow the whole plant to refresh itself with new foliage.

This is Helleborus x sternii 'Hot Flash'. It used to be on offer at Xera Plants, but I believe they've moved on. So many plants so little time, I suppose. 

Euphorbia characias 'Glacier Blue' is in bloom though I prefer this plant before it flowers.  It's at its best when the foliage of the stems is emerging, prior to blooming.

This tiny little daffodil (Narcissus 'Minnow') has been happily multiplying in my garden for years. Its smaller stature and finer, less bulky foliage makes for a post-bloom dieback that's a bit less of a mess.

I don't know the variety of this chinese fringe flower (Loropetalum chinensis) but it's blooming quite early this year.

Delicate white blooms of Mukdenia rossii are lovely.

I'm on the fence about this evergreen perennial. The blooms of Iris japonica are quite lovely but it's showing signs of being an overly strong grower. In my small garden, I keep a close watch on plants with pushy behavior and take them out if they look like they'll cause trouble. Let me know in the comments if you have anything to say in defense for this one.

The blooms are a bonus, but I especially like Pieris japonica 'Little Heath' as its new bronzy foliage emerges. 

I posted about this species peony (Paeonia mascula ssp. russoi) the other day. You can see here how much it changes; the foliage is now fully emerged and has a bit of a bronzy cast. 

Veronica 'Georgia Blue' is common and a bit pedestrian but I think it's worth growing. Tough, dependable, reliable; these are good things in my book.
 

So, there you have it, a blooming tour of Bloomtown. Thanks for stopping by!

A species peony you must grow

Allow me introduce you to Paeonia mascula ssp. russoi, a lovely species peony that I got from Far Reaches Farm several spring ago. 

The emerging foliage is a sight to behold; very dark burgundy that emerges strong and unfurls over the course of a week or two, weather depending.  

The delicate blooms follow. It flowers generously even in my somewhat semi-shaded position. 

In late summer, early fall it has an unusual and attractive seed pod that develops. I'm fairly certain I took a photo of that last fall but for the life of me, I can't locate it at the moment. It's winter hardy to zone 6 and the nursery's site says it will get about 24" tall and wide, though mine is a bit smaller than that at this point.

This is definitely a plant worth seeking out from your local specialty grower, or you can order it from Far Reaches if you can't get it locally. You won't regret adding it to your garden!

 

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Stachyurus praecox

Stachyurus praecox

Stachyurus praecox is a wonderful shrub which deserves to be much more widely grown. It's blooming now in Portland so this is the season to check it out and also the season when you'll most likely be able to find it at the nurseries. It's a bit of a collector's plant so you'll need to get it from your local independent nursery vs. a big-box supplier.

One of its most wonderful qualities are these unique pendulous blooms that appear before the foliage in early spring. Situated in front of dark evergreens the creamy blooms are all the more striking. Reliable yellow fall color is an asset as well. 

This photo is taken in a client's front garden and this vignette looks great year-yound. The other prominent plants pictured are  Astelia 'Red Gem' in the lower right and the evergreen backdrop is Cryptomeria japonica 'Rein's Dense Jade'.

And I'm not the only one singing its praises, it's a Great Plant Pick. So keep your eyes out for this wonderful garden plant and snap it up if you're in the market for a medium to large-ish shrub for your garden.

 

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If you enjoyed this post, you'll definitely want to check out eGardenGo, a web app that's preloaded with luscious plant combo recipes and personalized tools to organize your notes, photos and plant preferences. You can even create your own recipes.

INSPIRE • ORGANIZE • GROW

Bloomtown Gardens on Houzz

I've been going through client project photos in order to add to and update my portfolio on Houzz so I thought I would share a few images. I'll likely post more here soon, but in the meantime feel free to browse on Houzz or I have bunch of client gardens posted here. 

 

 

 

 

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Fall visit to a client's front yard garden