Scenes From My Garden - Five on Friday

We've had a lovely stretch of late spring 

sunshine recently, and it has been quite hot,
but now we are back to our normal cool and rainy weather,
here in the foothills of western Washington state.

I've been so busy trying to keep up with 

everything inside and out, so the rain

is a welcome relief from gardening and watering chores. 

I've taken a few photos of  my gardens

 to share with you, 

along with Five of my favorite gardening quotes
for Five on Friday.

So come along, dear friends, my flowers
want to meet you! 

I'll start by showing you my viburnum hedge along

the back garden. These are commonly called 

'snowball bush' and very aptly named, don't you think? 

My blackberry patch and the nearest

 neighbor's horse pasture lie beyond,

before the land drops steeply towards a 

river canyon below. 

The late afternoon sun has illuminated the hills, 

turning them to gold. 

My pink rugosa roses bloom in the foreground. 

These are large, rambling hedges, about 15 ft. tall, 

that have spread from 3 tiny plants, years ago. 

Here you can see how small Kai looks under 

these tall hedges. White petals

carpet the ground like confetti. 

They make lovely arrangements.. ...

And they dry beautifully, retaining their creamy color. 

"Love your neighbor, yet pull not down your hedge."

- George Herbert -

Outlandish Proverbs (1640)

The pink rugosa roses form an impenetrable hedge

near the back of the house, 

across the lawn from the viburnum. 

Rose-bay willow herb, (not yet in bloom), 

and sweet box grow alongside. 

Yellow arch-angel and forget-me-not

carpet the ground. 

 In between, the sloping lawn is

bordered by woodlands on each side. 

These pink rugosa roses are very tall and have spread

happily, forming an impenetrable hedge. 

There is a grassy alley between the hedge and the house, 

and then the land slopes down so that when you are standing here, 

it appears the hedge is taller than the house! 

An illusion...... 

These roses are highly fragrant and make a delightful

base for potpourri. 

I love to collect the petals on warm, dry mornings, 

when the scent is strongest. 

Ling-Ling is my little helper :)

I will share my potpourri recipe in a later post, 

when the ingredients are dry. 

 These fragrant roses are disease free, and 

virtually take care of themselves, but

be forewarned - they have vicious thorns. 

I always search for them at the garden center

and have several varieties in various colors

growing on the property. 

All of them are highly fragrant. 

These types of roses need lots of room. 

You can see that the leaves are different than

other roses and never get black-spot or mildew. 

Unfortunately, I do not know the name of this particular

rose, as I planted it so long ago. 

Here you can see white rugosa roses growing

over the arbor. 

This beautiful rose has a strong spicy scent. 

I planted it to commemorate my Dear Mother, 

in 2011, and it bloomed for the first time

on the day my Dear Father passed, in June of 2012. 

It is a very special rose to me......

The name is 'Sir Thomas Lipton'

"Roses do comfort the heart."
-William Langham-
The Garden of Health (1579)

At the edge of the rose hedge, alongside the path, 

I have foxglove and forget-me-not. 

There is something so magical about 

these long spires of speckle-throated bells. 

Foxglove is highly poisonous if ingested

and is used for the drug, digitalis,

which regulates heart rhythm.

Although this plant pops up as a wildflower

here in Western Washington State, 

it is not a native, but was carried 

along by early settlers to grow in 

herb gardens. 

I always gather seeds to propagate new colonies

here and there. Most are in various hues

of purple, but can also be white. 

These tall beauties are biennial, 

growing a rosette of large, slightly hairy leaves

the first year, and prefer dappled shade.

"Perhaps if we could penetrate Nature's secrets

we should find that what we call weeds

are more essential to the well-being of the world,

than the most precious fruit or grain."

-Nathaniel Hawthorne-

Our Old Home (1863) 

And then there are the columbine.....

These grow in the garden by Ramblin' Man's tool shed.

Remarkably, they were the result of throwing a pack
of wildflower seed into the soil, many years ago.

They have multiplied and each generation is
slightly different from the last.

I have these little beauties in another garden
near the rose arbor.

This one was a surprise :)

If only they could bloom longer....
but it is something to look forward to each spring.

Columbine are short-lived perennials that
readily re-seed if they are happy,
but generally will not come back 'true'.

They can live 3-4 years or longer, in
partial shade and well drained, moist soil.

Beware, the seeds and roots are highly
poisonous!

"Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made,
and forgot to put a soul into."
-Henry Beecher-
Life Thoughts (1858)

Ramblin' Man's toolshed garden is where
I also grow Tansy for moth repellent sachets.

Sweet William blooms among the ferny
foliage of Tansy, which blooms later.

These cheery little pinwheels were also started
from that packet of wildflower seeds
many years ago.

They have happily reseeded every year.

They've even spread to the edge of the woodlands.

These bright little flowers are biennials
that form happy colonies of solid and striped
pinwheel flowers in many shades of pink.

They are carefree and hardy, and like
partial shade and moist, well-draining soil.

They can be top-heavy, so grow them
among sturdier plants, or offer support,
such as low wire fencing.

Let them re-seed if you want to have
these charming cottage garden flowers forever.

They start blooming as soon as the columbine are done.
Bird's foot trefoil (yellow) is also happy here.

"A garden is never so good as it will be next year."
-Thomas Cooper-
Horticulture magazine (Jan. 1993)

The last garden I will share with you is the
forget-me-not rock garden.

The rocks are hidden this time of year!

This garden can be seen from the front gate.

The center of the garden has a new
colony of Tansy and the native
bulb Camassia.

Three large clumps of sedum anchor
the perimeter.

Ramblin' Man added wire to the gate
to keep Kai from jumping over :)

The view from the toolshed. 

Here you can see the blue spires of Camassia. 

(The tall, thin spires are the wildflower, 'fringe-cup'.) 

Camassia is a native, edible bulb that was highly prized

by indigenous peoples here in WA state as 

an important food source. 

Buttercup and Tansy grow nearby, 

along with first year rosettes of foxglove. 

The starry flowers open from the bottom up. 

These come in all shades of blue and also white. 

They prefer moist soil and grow wild in 

open mountain meadows on the sides 

of streams or where glacial melt keeps

the soil moist. 

I plan on planting more of these beauties in the fall. 

"I've noticed something about gardening. 

You set out to do one thing and pretty

soon you're doing something else, 

which leads to some other thing, and so on. 

By the end of the day, you look at 

the shovel stuck in the half-dug rose bed

and wonder what on earth you've been doing."

-Anne Raver-

Deep in the Garden (1995)

Thank you for coming along on my garden tour, 

dear friends!  

Your sweet visits mean so much! 

xoxo

Today I am joining Amy from the blog, 'Love Made My Home'

for Five on Friday

Won't you join the fun?