This Boulder Outcrop In The Latest Landscape Installation Was Quite A Labor Of Love. But It Turned Out

This boulder outcrop in the latest landscape installation was quite a labor of love. But it turned out pretty well! The “Big Rock” is 6x9x4. It was uncovered near the front of the homesite when the foundation was excavated. The had it shoved cross-country to the back of the property adjoining woods. Too big and heavy for the grading equipment to pick-up. The new homebuyers loved it! Asked that it be moved to the front of the lot. I selected the corner of the front berm, facing the Front Porch of the house. It would have looked odd all by itself, so two smaller flattish boulders were added on either side to create a “rock ledge”. The grading crew was a HUGE help. Then, I added smaller boulders and river rocks to create a couple “rockfalls”. The one on the left got covered up by mulch, but the new owners are gardeners. They will remove that when they add to the landscaping.

They are bringing a Japanese weeping maple from their old house.  I positioned the maple to cascade over the rocks. It will be planted where the white flag is located. Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Orangeola’ - which is a large grower - probably 10-12′ high and wide. Above the rocks I’ve created an ensemble of Hinoki cypresses - Chamaecyparis obtusa. These are small plants, but have been spaced for future growth and the growth of the maple. On the right is ‘Bronze Pygmy’ which will grow about 3-4′ tall and 6′ wide, and features foliage that emerges yellowish in the spring, and takes on bronze tones in fall and winter. It is located to grow out over the right boulder. The little guy right above the Big Rock is Chirimen, which features tiny-congested foliage on multiple upright stems. It will grow into a 4′ block of sculptural interest. Just off the left side of the photo above the white flag is a 6′ Gracilis, the standard upright, slender, moderate growing garden version of this Japanese forest tree. And, about where I stood to take this photo is a Wells Delight, another upright grower, a bit more broad-formed and not as tall. I’m planting more garden-sized conifers behind this ensemble on the corner of the adjoining lot. So, there will be a nice “Alpine” area as the plants grow up.

 In the foreground is a Carex testacea, the New Zealand orange sedge. There are several others included nearby and elsewhere in the design. This plant will easily occupy 3′ circle of space, so it looks a bit “lonely” right now.

Trying to post this from phone, since the photo loaded upside down when posted from downloads from Google Photo onto my laptop. Alas, didn’t get it cropped first.

Camellia x heimalis ‘Yuletide’ - also referred to as a straight Camellia sasanqua or x vernalis. However, this is a true winter bloomer. In bloom now, at Thanksgiving, and will continue through February. Brilliant red with big bosses of yellow stamens. Slight fragrance. Ciscoe Morris, the esteemed Seattle plant guru, reports that our over-wintering Anna’s hummingbirds eat the pollen of this flower! Good high protein and fat supplement.

This indispensable plant is hardy in Zones 7-9 and grows as a rather open large, vase-shaped shrub or small tree ~12 ft tall and 10 ft wide. However, it can also be kept quite compact and even shaped via judicious pruning. It needs sun to set flower buds, but as noted by Great Plant Picks website - NOT reflected sun - just open sun or high shade.  Photo above is from PlantingTree.com. I don’t have a good photo of my own.

This amazingly vibrant flower is a form of common primrose - Primula vulgaris 'Oakleaf Yellow Picotee'. Love how the flowers are in large clusters at the top of 6-8" stalks. The leaves are long and wavy edged, kind of fuzzy that gives the light sage green a silvery sheen. This has been in bloom for 2 months. As the weather gets warmer, thw picotee edges just get wider giving a strong bicolor effect. Earlier the flowera were mainly yellow with just a thin rim of red-orange. It's growing on a pot on the front porch. Hope it is perennial!

Kingston, Washington

Another form of Pacifc Coast Hybrid iris is in bloom - a lovely bicolor royal blue/purple and white with yellow throat. Wish I could share the name as well as that of the lovely large lavender blue form in background.

Cyclamen coum. The miniature, brightly colored flowers of this hardy cyclamen are a wonder to behold on this dreary January day. The variously marbled foliage appears first, on late fall, having disappeared during the warmest months of summer. Then the little shuttlecock flowers start popping up and unfurling during warmish spells in mid-winter. First one or two, then suddenly a whole flock! The center of the flower hangs downward on an upright curving stalk, with the petals flaring the opposite direction like small flames. The leaves and flowers all arise from a large round rhizome just below the surface of the ground.

The large fertilized seeds are dispersed laterally around the plant or are carried off by insects. The flower stalk coils into a corkscrew when the seeds are ready, but does not expell them outward like a catapault as it would appear they could. The seeds sprout readily and expand the colony. Similar but different leaf patterns appear on the seedlings. Note the small plant with nearly all silver leaves.

This is a groundcover for light shade. Frost and snow-hardy. Since it goes dormant in mid-summer, care must be taken not to cover them up with other plants.

Happy Thanksgiving! So very much to be Thankful for this year, both personally in my first year of retirement, and corporately for the future of our Democracy and role as a world leader. And Winter flowers are such a joy. Here are Delta and Penny series of Pansies and Violas in full bloom this morning on our front porch 1/4 mile from Puget Sound and 15 miles from Seattle across the water. They are planted with lovely Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima aka Nasella tenuissima) which provides a billowy counterpoint year round. The Pansies and Violas, if potted up by early October will bloom all through winter, then put out a burst of growth and beaucoup blooms in Spring. They wilt every time the temperature goes a couple degrees below freezing (32 F or 0 C), but bounce back up as the temperature returns to our normal wintwr daytime high 30s/low 40s F. The Puget Sound Region and all of the west-of-the-Cascades Mountains part of the Pacific Northwest, western British Columbia and SE Alaska are blessed by the warmish Japan current that curls up from the subtropics past Japan and across the north Pacific Ocean. Very similar to how the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic moderates the climate of Western Europe. BTW the evergreens in the background include small ferns and the lovely Little Flames dwarf cultivar of Leucothoe axiallaris, with Vinca minor Illumination cascading down. The leucothoe has brilliant reddish new foliage in Spring and then colors up distinctly for Winter.