Change in the weather

With November comes wet and cold (well, at least coolness) here in the Seattle area. Time to pull the last of the dead tomato plants and dahlias, put some collard green plants in, and watch the fava bean seedlings come up.

Garden photo of the week

Tomatoes
Originally uploaded by stiber.

We've had a pretty successful garden this year. Well, the fava beans didn't do that well this winter (probably due to competition from weeds that were a product of my sabbatical), but the tomatoes have done fantastically. This is a non-trivial matter, as anyone familiar with vegetable gardening in the Pacific Northwest will confirm. The big, red ones are Siletz; many are of respectable beefsteak size (I'm very particular about such things, having grown up eating New Jersey beefsteaks purchased at produce stands in Philadelphia). Soon, it will be time to put in the fava beans again, and maybe we'll try some collard greens.

Rosa 'Climbing Iceberg'

Rosa 'Climbing Iceberg'
Originally uploaded by stiber.

Here's a photo from this past spring. It reminds me that, now that the plant has mostly finished its first flush of flowering (yes, more than two months' worth), it's time to apply fertilizer. See the Pacific Northwest Gardening Calendar for more garden reminders.

Travel and garden photo of the week

Lotus blossom
Originally uploaded by stiber.

Outside Yang Shuo, near Guilin, China.

Garden photo of the week

Rosa 'Dublin Bay'
Originally uploaded by stiber.

After a week or so of cleaning up waist-high weeds, it's nice to be able to take a break and enjoy the fruits of one's labors.

Garden photo of the week

Clematis and Rose
Originally uploaded by stiber.

One of the best ideas I once read of is that of growing small-scale vines so they climb large-scale ones. This is especially useful for covering up the inevitable bare lower stems of the larger vine.

Garden photo of the week

Garden Path 1
Originally uploaded by stiber.

After a week of rain, sun and the warming spring days bring out flowers and luxuriant growth. This photo of our side garden includes a foreground of strawberries (used as an edging around the back lawn), heath (the large bush on the right), and a stellata magnolia (which I keep pruned to around 6 feet). The arbor is covered with Kolomikta kiwi (male and female, growing from either side). In the background, besides a number of shrubs such as blueberries, are Siberian iris and oakleaf hydrangea.

Spring!

Pollination
Originally uploaded by stiber.

The bees are doing their thing, ensuring in this case that we get a big crop of juicy plums in July.

Helleborus niger

Helleborus niger
Originally uploaded by stiber.

The sun and warmer temperatures have returned, as we now enter the period of sun mixed with rain in the Pacific Northwest (as opposed to the months of grey skies and drizzle that we've just passed through). This is the last of the winter garden photos for the year, as I (at least, mentally) move on to spring garden chores and spring flowers and foliage. I've started a public web gardening calendar (with dates for the Pacific Northwest) that has a web interface and can be subscribed to by iCal at iCal Exchange.

Clematis cirrhosa 'Freckles'

Clematis cirrhosa 'Freckles'
Originally uploaded by stiber.

Now that I got all excited about spring coming, we're experiencing record low temperatures that seem likely to kill some plants. We'll see if floating row covers can save the fava beans. Luckily, the fruit trees' flower buds have not opened yet, so hopefully we can still get some fruit. The clematis pictured here is winter-flowering, and would look good growing on an arbor or a pergola, as its small blooms hang downward.

Garden photo of the week

Bud break
Originally uploaded by stiber.

It's amazing what a week of sunshine can do for you. We even went to the Garden Show yesterday, despite the fact that I'm about 50% decided that these are wastes of money (paying to get in to buy stuff). But, once in five years...

After being away for a year, there's a lot of cleanup to do. I've been clearing weeds from a gravel path a foot at a time. I've also been looking at the garden with new eyes (and with more mature plants), seeing all of the understory and pathside locations that still await new acquisitions. And I was worrying that my plant-buying days were over.

All summer in a day

Unopened crocus
Originally uploaded by stiber.

A second day of sun today; it's hard to describe how it feels, after a winter of grey clouds and drizzle mixed with greyer clouds and steady rain. It's almost like Bradbury's short story, "All summer in a day," hence the title of this entry. Except this is a sign of better things to come.

Garden photo of the week

Hops
Originally uploaded by stiber.

We were away from our house for a year while I was on sabbatical at the University of Florida, and in that time, our golden hops plant (Humulus lupulus 'Aureus') took over a section of the garden. Luckily, there's not much to worry about there, as it dies back to the ground each year.