The Interstitial Gardener

I have slowly but steadily chipped away at my small urban lot over the last twelve years, tearing out lawn, blackberries, and overgrown English laurels bit by bit to carve out new garden spaces. ...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-final-frontier.html

Each fall I gather up my many tender succulents from their scattered locations and bring them into the garden shed for winter protection. In my garden they need protection mostly from winter wet...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-gathering-of-succulents.html

Spring-like fall weather has brought a few surprise flowers, including a few blossoms on Clematis montana 'Freda,' Callistemon, and an unidentified Rhododendron:   Several other...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/09/bloom-day-september-2015.html

A belated roundup of a few things blooming in the garden: Salvia patens cv. with Agave parryi var. truncata in the background:    Lobelia tupa has been enjoying the heat with nary a...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/08/bloom-day-august-2015.html

I recently had an opportunity to visit an excellent private garden in Portland's history Irvington neighborhood. There were a lot of interesting plants, including several different hardy gardenia...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/08/private-garden-visit-in-historic.html

The hot, dry, early summer in Seattle has changed the bloom times for several plants this year. Normally I would have dahlias aplenty by now, but the dry conditions have stunted them. Other plant...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/07/bloom-day-july-2015.html

My third attempt at growing flame creeper or Scottish flame flower (Tropaeolum speciosum ) appears to be a success, with three buds about to open. I think the buds look like tiny pterodactyls...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/06/tiny-pterodactyls.html

I previously posted on trying to provide some privacy from my neighbors with various fencing strategies. Here's the final progression and update with planting, fence, and staining in place. ...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/06/project-update-privacy-fence.html

Just a few of the things blooming in the garden. I'm limited to what my camera phone can capture while I'm contemplating repairing my good camera or replacing it (the cost is nearly the same), af...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/06/bloom-day-june-2015.html

Last year I undertook a bamboo eradication effort after my clump of black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra ) escaped its small, isolated bed between the house and the alley, finding its way through 1...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/05/bamboo-triumphant.html

Slightly belated bloom day posting due to work and travel. A few noteworthy blooms appropriate to May, starting with a staple of Northwest gardens, the hybrid rhododendron. This is Rhododendron '...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/05/bloom-day-may-2015.html

Spring blooms! One of my favorite spring-flowering shrubs, Prostanthera rotundifolia , is just starting to come into bloom after teasing for months with developing buds:   Fairy ...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/04/bloom-day-april-15.html

Yesterday I spotted a rare plant in a common place: Cardiocrinum giganteum at my local big box hardware store. This was once a plant only found by mail order or at better specialty nurseries. I ...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/04/rare-plants-in-common-places.html

Some of my favorite plants are the hardy vines in the family Lardizabalaceae , which contains a handful of genera such as Akebia and Holboellia . The vines add a tropical feel to the temperate g...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/04/akebia-flowers.html

For the last three and a half years I have kept track of the blooming period of several different plants, including a quartet of Clematis montana var. rubens 'Freda'  planted along a chain lin...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/04/clematis-blooming-one-month-early.html

Two weeks ago the Daphniphyllum macropodum had barely started to open its new growth above emerging sprays of red floral buds: Two weeks makes a lot of difference. The new growth stands in...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/03/new-growth-on-daphniphyllum-macropodum.html

I seldom photograph foliage well, but a couple shots turned out reasonably well this week. First is loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) with pale new growth atop the course, dark green leaves, and a ba...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/03/foliage-follow-up-march-2015.html

Bloom day images are a bit delayed this week due to record setting rains, with nearly two inches falling in my area in a single day. Spring is the time of flowering shrubs in my yard: The swe...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/03/bloom-day-march-2015.html

The last six weeks of spring-like conditions caused several plants to bud out early, including my recently acquired Pseudopanax laetus 'Kiwi Gem.' This is a fairly recent Monrovia introduction ...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/03/frost-damange-on-pseudopanax-laetus.html

I have had a clump of black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) growing along my driveway. The foundation of the house and the hard-packed gravel of the driveway keep it in check for several years, but ...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/03/transplanting-bamboo-part-1.html

Loquats are fully hardy and evergreen in Seattle and impart a tropical look to the garden. Each late winter my loquat tree (Eriobotrya japonica ) sends out "candles" of new foliage. The new leave...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-lovely-loquat.html

I previously posted about hiding my uphill neighbors' yard by installing reed fencing over the neighbor's decrepit chain link and wire fence. Alas, it did not provide the visual or acoustic priv...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/02/project-update-privacy-fencing.html

Not a lot blooming yet, mostly just shrubs and a few small perennials which refused to be photographed, including Cymbalaria muralis and Vinca minor. Box leaf azara, Azara microphylla :  ...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/02/bloom-day-february-2015.html

The Northwest Flower & Garden Show currently occupies the Washington State Convention Center through the end of the weekend. Per my usual habit, I took the day off from work to attend the first...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/02/northwest-flower-garden-show.html

Today I stopped by Furney's Nursery in Des Moines to pick up a tree I had special ordered, a western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla . Somehow I managed to squeeze this 14' / 4.3m tall tree (plus 2...

http://interstitialgardener.blogspot.com/2015/01/super-powers-of-mighty-station-wagon.html