MySecretGarden

U.S.A., Washington State. USDA zone 8b. Sunset climate zone 5

Two Letters To Spring

One day in February, my garden sent an invitation letter to Spring. It was said in the letter that everything was ready for it. Primulas, hellebores and miniature daffodils were blooming:






Tulip leaves were gorgeously green:


Daylilies, bleeding hearts and lamb ears were enthusiastically alert:







For Your Majesty Spring arrival, even a special guest from outer space was invited:

Spring got excited and started to pack her suitcase when suddenly another letter was handed to her.
“Hello dear Spring! I heard that Tatyana’s garden is cordially inviting you to come over. I decided to join the party and made some lovely preparations for your arrival.

I sprinkled a white powder to freshen the air:

P1010152

P1010154
I covered the garden table with a clean white cloth and spread a white carpet underneath it for you:

P1010163

I decorated the plants for your pleasure:

P1010156
White is once again in style this season. Do you know that?

P1010157

P1010199

P1010198

I took care of fresh green chives and young garlic to give them additional flavor:

P1010158

I dressed the house and lawn for your arrival:

P1010181

The golf course behind the garden is also prepped up:

P1010179

It’ll meet you all clean and quiet. I made sure no noisy people with clubs and balls would disturb you!

P1010180

…Who walked on the white? Who left the tracks? OK, I’ll find the culprit later!

P1010183

P1010184

I took care of daffodils. They need to be more modest and don’t poke out so early!

P1010159

P1010160

P1010161

As you can see, everything is ready for you, Your Majesty!

P1010165

P1010171

P1010174

Even your drink is chilled!

P1010175

P1010176

P1010177

P1010189

P1010190

P1010192

P1010202

P1010193

So, what would you say, dear Spring? Would you rather wait a bit? It’s just February and you are not in a rush, are you? It would be wise to wait let's say until March! I always trusted in your wisdom. See you later, dear!"

The letter was signed:

Sincerely,

Your loyal friend WINTER

***

Copyright 2011 TatyanaS

February Field. Oregon


The picture was taken from a moving car
Or should I call it 'February Sky'?
This picture, taken on the 18th of February in Central Oregon, hypnotizes me. Time will come, and these wheels start turning, sprinklers will come to life and water will moisten dry soil. But, right now everything is still, quiet and sleepy. The sky is dramatic. I can imagine an alien spaceship appearing from it and landing here. Do you see what I mean?
***
Copyright 2011 TatyanaS

Pampas Grass - Little Observation

To cut or not to cut pampas grass? If to cut, how much? These are the questions many people ask. I see a lot of visitors on my blog who check my post Pampas Grass - A Bad Guy? after using key words 'cutting pampas grass' on the web.
I am in no way a person who can give advice on this matter. But, I can share a couple of little observations which I made.
1. Is there any connection between cutting back pampas grass and abandance of plumes?
I have one dwarf pampas grass plant. I compared it with several pampas grasses in one of our neighbors' gardens. They look like regular, not dwarf type, but I think I still can make comparisons.
Last spring, I cut my plant all the way down. All summer and fall I had a nice green plant.


Photo: September. My pampas grass that was cut in spring.
The neighbors' plants, which were not cut, looked, in my opinion, not so nice. You could see old yellow blades mixed with new green ones.


Photo: September. The neighbors' pampas grass which wasn't cut
Now, let's see how these grasses performed in term of blooms.
When the time came to bloom, my plant gave only TWO plumes:

Click on the pictures to enlarge themThe neighbors' plants gave MANY plumes:
February 2011.
Of course, the contrast in 'blooming power' could be explained by the difference in the plants' age. The neighbors' plants could be older, more mature. But, could there be a connection between cutting the plant down and number of blooms?
What if my grass didn't bloom profusely because I drastically cut it back? If I would want more plumes on my plant, I probably would not cut it back at least one year. But, I like the clump itself even without blooms, so I am not willing to sacrifice the plant's overall appearance for sake of getting more plumes. My dwarf pampas grass looked its best in 2007, the year after I bought it and before I started to cut it.
Do you think there is a connection between the number of plumes and whether we cut or don't cut the pampas grass?
2. Is there a connection betwen the severity of cutting and the pampas grass' appearance?
As I told in the previous pampas grass post, I cut it not very low one year and down to the very base another year (two pictures below).




I didn't notice any considerable difference in the size of the grass clumps. Both years, the plant grew the same size and had very few plumes. By the way, when should the cutting be done?
Everyone likes to leave the plants for winter interest. Not to damage any new growth, should it be done in late winter?
***
I need to ask the owners of this garden, in the picture below, whether they cut their pampas grass? This is how great it looked in early November:

*
What are your observations regarding pampas grass?
***
My last post 'Looking at My Pampas Grass' (May 2012) is HERE

***Copyright 2011 TatyanaS

My Picture of the Day. Reflection.


***
Copyright 2011 TatyanaS

Plant ID needed


I am almost sure you did it too: picked up seeds from a plant growing in a garden or park with the hope that a plant will grow in your own garden. This is what I did four years ago when we visited beautiful San Juan Island. The blooms were already gone so I couldn't see them. The seedpods were intact. It looks like the seeds were good since I have the plant! However, there are two problems. First, it doesn't bloom. I suppose it should bloom. If not, where would the seeds come from? Second, what is the name of the plant? Does anyone have any ideas?
*

The plant is perennial. Spreads naturally, and I have three plants already. Nothing more to say. Here are the pictures.
*
*

*
The size can be seen in the next picture. I traced the unknown plant with O.
*

*
This is the scan of a branch.

The foliage is pretty attractive, but I hope it is something that will bloom one day.
I hope it's not some poisonous plant. It grew in a garden visited by many people, so I guess it shouldn't be. I touched it many times in my garden and never had any skin problems.
Zone 7. Deciduous.
Please, help!
***
Copyright 2011 TatyanaS

Blog Archive

Search This Blog

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

I'M GLAD TO SEE YOU!

Labels

Abyssinian Banana (4) Actaea s. (1) Agapanthus (1) Agressive plants (1) Alaska (8) Amaryllis (5) Aquilegia (1) Aralia (4) Arizona (1) Arundel Castle Gardens (1) Autumn (47) Bainbridge Island Gardens (8) Before and After (8) Berry (4) Bird Houses (1) Bloedel Reserve (1) Blotanical (3) Blue Poppy (2) Book review (1) Botanical Gardens (3) Bouquets (9) Butchart Gardens (9) California (3) Calla (1) Canada (2) Chanticleer Garden (1) Clematis (4) Coleus (1) Colonial Gardens (7) Conifers (3) Containers (22) Corydalis (1) Dahlia (5) Dan Klennert (1) Desert Landscape (1) DIG (1) Dogs (14) Dry creek bed (1) Duris Cucumber Farm (1) Elandan Gardens (2) End of Month View (12) England (16) English Gardens (2) Euphorbia (1) Eze France Exotic garden (2) Fall garden (19) Far Reaches Farm (1) Favorite plants (52) Favorite plants. Tree Philodendron (1) Fences (2) Foliage (7) Formal gardens (1) Foxglove (14) France (4) Frankfurt Botanical Garden (1) Front Garden (5) Fuchsia (8) Garden decor (3) garden design (1) Garden elements (48) garden rooms (1) garden structure (1) Garden Tour (1) Garden works (15) Gardening Tips (4) Gardens of nature (11) Gardens to see (113) Gardens to see (tours) (25) Geraniums (2) Germany (5) GH Garden Tour (7) Giveaway (4) Giverny (2) Gossler Farms Nursery (1) Grasses (8) Great Dixter (3) Greenhouse (2) gunnera (4) Hampton Court (1) Hawaii Garden (1) Hellebores (8) Herbs and Vegetables (22) Heronswood (7) Hidcote (1) History of gardening (11) Holidays (25) Hops (1) Hosta (4) Hydrangea (7) Illumination (1) Italy (12) Japanese maple (14) Kew (4) Lakewold Gardens (22) Lavatera (1) Lavender (3) Leucosceptrum stellipilum ‘Ogon' (1) Little and Lewis Garden (1) Lobelia tupa (2) Meconopsis (2) Melianthus major (2) Minter Gardens (1) Missouri Botanical Garden (1) Mount Vernon (1) My Garden (150) My Open Garden (4) MY PICTURE OF THE DAY (80) Neighborhood (9) NPA Open Gardens (13) NWFGS (29) Old Goat Farm (3) Orchids (1) Oregon (4) PalmenGarten (2) Pampas grass (1) Peony (6) Perennials (59) Plant ID (9) Poppy (5) Problem areas (3) Recipes (2) Rhododendron (5) Rock garden (2) Romneya c. (2) Sarah P. Duke Gardens (2) Serre de la Madone (Lawrence Johnston) (1) Shade Garden (20) Shayne Chandler Garden (1) Shrubs (11) Sissinghurst (9) Sky Watch (1) Slope garden (6) Slugs (3) Spring/Summer garden (141) Stachys (1) Succulents (9) Summer/Fall garden (74) Texas Arboretum (1) The Garden of Great Depression (1) Tree Peony (2) Trees (36) Trips (81) Tulip Festival (16) Uncategorized (7) Vegetable garden (4) Vegetables (1) Villa Cimbrone (2) WA (114) Weigela (1) Wells Medina Nursery (1) White garden (3) Wild animals (21) Wild flowers (16) Windcliff (1) Wineries (1) Winter and winter garden (54) Wordless Wednesday (31) Yang's Garden and Nursery (6)
Copyright 2009-2022 TatyanaS, MySecretGarden Blog



*