A Garden Note -

Even though it's cold outside, I can't help but anticipate the joys of summer.  We planted this part of the garden right in the hottest part of summer - who plants in August?  It was fun to pick out these hot colors, knowing that they would stand up to the bright light of August.

We drove down the peninsula to the Vashon ferry, rode across, and went to Dig nursery.  It was worth the excursion.   I bought many of the plants in this picture there.  The entire venture took all day but the nursery was fantastic.  Everywhere I looked there was a great composition and plenty of ideas to bring home.  Susan and I had a grand time together, including a fabulous lunch at Sea Breeze Farm replete with a great glass (or two) of Sancerre.   

Can't wait to see the rudbeckia come back next summer.  The red lobelia is ridiculously red and unexpectedly robust.  It surprised me the first time that I saw it.  There's a lot packed in this small space - iris for the beginning of the summer and, off in a corner that I am hoping has enough shade, I tucked in some hakone.  There's a kiwi vine growing up one of the posts in the picture but you can't see its leaves.  That's where the shade is supposed to come from.  That, and the viburnum hedge that is thick but not too thick for the robins to build their nests.  I have to wait until they finish nesting to trim it. I threw in some orange carex at the front of the border.  I love the orange near a couple of burgundy heucheras, also tucked in under the viburnum in a nod their need for shade.

By the way, the wormwood that I was so fond of in '10?  Turns out it grows like a monster in the Pacific Northwest.  I had no idea.  So, the first thing I do in May when we get to the house is run out to the bed that it's in and whack it back to nubs.  Otherwise,  it crowds everything else out in that garden.  I'll probably yank it out this year and put it in the back of the garden where it belongs.