Garden Tour!

Above, is Dana’s portrait of Her Highness, taken at Nanoose Bay.

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Wednesday turned into quite a nice day. I watered gardens, did some dreaded crack weeding in the courtyard and—worst of all—dug dandelions out of the front lawn. Clouds rolled in but they were thin and so it was bright and, as is normal now, the air was coolish. But I got lots done, and it shows—at least to my eye.

Here are some shots of my work. When I came here, almost three years ago there were no lawns or gardens—just one Rhodo and some Ferns.

My Paulownia tree (above) thrills me. In the lower photo you can see the dark stem coming out of the soil. It's about four inches tall. That was last year’s growth; it was tiny when I got it. All the green that you can see in the top photo— about one-point-three meters—has grown this year and it'll continue to grow until the season ends. I’m thrilled. Eventually it will become a magnificent broad-leafed tree with striking blue blossoms that resemble the towers of Chestnut blossoms. It’ll be a magnificent addition to the landscape here, towering over my front yard, declaring to guests: A gardener lives here!

Above are photos of the Ocean Spray blooming around my yard. Last year we had an Ocean Spray super bloom, so this year’s display is more muted. It’s a gloriously fragrant shrub that beautifies the entire island forest at this time of year.

My edible garden is thriving! It’s Blueberry in the foreground, then Strawberries and Tomatoes in the next two rows (with herbs in the warming boxes) and then Garlic. You can see the Grapes getting going on the back fence.

Tonight: The National’s, The Deep Blue Sea, on YouTube. Hooray!

And here are more photos from around the yard that I took yesterday ….

In just two  years the Climbing Hydrangea is well on its way
up the sides of the trellis, and the Climbing Rose is already
covering the top.

The little garden in front of my Studio gets no rain and 
little light, so it's been hard to get it going but now it's
looking pretty great!

This garden is really coming along.

I planted the lawn last Fall. The entire yard was Fir needles,
Fir cones, weeds and vines—and it got very muddy in winter.

This garden under several Fir trees was planted where once only Salal and
Oregon Grape grew—but barely because the trees use all the water.

My first Apples ever!

That's my studio on the right.

My four legal Marijuana plants (of varying Genus).

Look at them Blueberries!