Larix kaempferi ‘Pendula’
PINACEAE, The Pine family
Normally, I’m not a huge weeping conifer fan. But this species is not just your usual random oddity that waggles in front of the golden arches. Growing about 6 feet tall and as wide, or taller with staking, it makes a subtle statement. The needles are held in bundles, like […]

A friend in Seattle just sent me this:
“Mulysa,
I have a question for you. I saw a ground cover plant from the bus, seemed like strawberry, but yellow flower, height is like 5-7″. do you recognize it? it’s so pretty, and looks really healthy.
If you know, let me know.”
This is a good question.
That sounds […]

Berberis darwinii
BERBERIACEAE, The Barberry family
They may be a bit spiny, but they are gorgeous when the orange flowers are backlit by late afternoon spring sunshine. Later it will have powdery blue berries that are good for attracting wildlife. And it’s drought tolerant.
Companion plant ideas: Phormium ‘Sundowner’, if you dare, Orange sedge, Euphorbia wulfenii, Eleagnus […]

CUCURBITACEAE, The Squash family
In tray packs, in my indoor mini-green house:
Zucchini ‘Fordhook’
Melon ‘Vedrantaise’
Pumpkin ‘Sugar Pie’
Pumpkin ‘Cinderella’ aka ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’
Also:
Basil ‘Lime’
Basil ‘Genovese’
Basil ‘Siam Queen’
Because melon + basil is the ultimate summer treat.
The lovely little Charentais-type melon ‘Vedrantaise’ takes 80 days to mature. It has blue-green skin with white webbing and orange flesh. I […]

Outside today, in freshly turned soil, seeds of:
Spinach ‘Red Trooper’
Turnips Greens ‘Seven Top’
Collards ‘Champion’
Broccoli ‘Calabrese’
Arugula ‘Mediterranean’
Salad mix - packet that came free with an issue of BBC Gardens Illustrated. It contains red Russian kale, rocket (arugula), chervil, mizuna and tatsoi.

I did some excellent nursery-going today, with my three fine colleagues, in the beautiful Columbia river basin. First we explored Cistus Nursery, then Joy Creek. We set out to get new plant ideas for our design work, see how the nurseries and display gardens looked after the bad winter and just generally have a change […]

Originally uploaded by mulysa_may

They are growing..

I got this great query from a colleague this week. The note on my desk also said “besides Yew.” Which makes it trickier. But here goes:
Western Hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla - It grows to be a big tree in time, but it beautiful nested in among other large trees. Did you know it can be pruned […]

fava

Originally uploaded by mulysa_may

Coming soon: fava cam!