The Bellingham Herald

Ahh, the season’s last blog post. It always comes too soon. I will end this year with my top three suggestions for roses. (And yes they are all glorious sunset colors.) The last couple of years I have really embraced having roses. Sure, they are a bit more work than a lot of other perennials. But they are surely worth it. Especially these…

‘Knock Out’ — a shrub rose. Nothing I’ve planted beats this rose for sheer number of flowers. The buds are a deep pink and the slightly fragrant flowers a bright fuchsia. It’s a compact, bushy rose and I find I have to keep it in check every couple weeks or it becomes a bit lopsided. It was the first of our roses to bloom in the spring and will continue on into fall.

‘Ingrid Bergman’ — a hybrid tea rose. Love the actress, love the flower. If you want the perfect crimson rose, this is it. Even our cat can’t stop putting his face in the blooms. They look velvets they are such a deep red. And the stems have few thorns on long stems, making them great for tall vase arrangements. Heavenly!

‘Candelabra’ — a grandiflora rose. I am in love with the truly unusual color of this glowing coral-orange rose. It makes me think of orange sherbet. I got mine as an afterthought on a discount table ($5!), nursed it to health and have now been moving plants around to find a place to show it off just right. This grandiflora has dark, evergreen leaves and more than 30 fragrant petals on each bloom. Delicious!

Thanks everyone for tuning in to the blog. Hope to see you next year!

Although blue as a color is often associated with feelings of calmness and serenity (it’s even been used to lower blood pressure), when I see blue flowers my heart surely races.

There’s something about the sweetness of forget-me-nots and the boldness of lithodora that excites me. Perhaps it is because there are so few truly blue flowers out there that they deserve a second glance.

In a garden situation, blue flowers — or even azure pots or gazing balls — can be a great asset to a garden that is full of warm colors (pinks and reds and yellows). Blue also looks great with the blue-green hostas and deep purple petunias (see gallery photo).

As a side note, color psychologists say that workers are more efficient in blue rooms and athletes are more capable in blue gym spaces. Perhaps a little blue in the garden helps make that weeding work whistle by!

In the gallery below:

Big leaf hydrangeas in acidic soil (so long as aluminum is present) will turn blue or blue-purple.

Purple petunias spill over a blue ceramic pot.

Delicate blue flax is best in large bunches so it doesn’t get overlooked.

A bold blue clematis.

You may know them as spittlebugs or froghoppers or maybe even soapbugs. Regardless, this little Hemipteran (a.k.a. true bug) is a minor pest on the whole. It’s more a nuisance than a high-priority pest issue most of the time. Although they suck plant juices, the damage is usually insignificant. Rather, the frothy white secretions from the early nymph stages are… let’s just say “distracting” on our early to mid-spring foliage and flowers.

The face of the spittlebug resembles a frog, hence its other name, froghopper. Here is an early stage nymph in mid-spring, frothy secretions removed.

The soap-like foam likely serves two purposes for the tiny sap-suckers: First, as you might imagine, a mouth full of froth deters most would-be predators. Second, the tiny air bubbles also serve as a kind of effervescent cocoon that insulates the nymphs from erratic spring temperatures.

In mid- to late summer these bugs have entered their adult stage and are beginning to lay eggs that will overwinter. To curb populations, prune damaged tissue and till the surrounding soil in the fall. Target the area around their favorite plants: Strawberries, junipers and legumes.

So we have this 5 foot shrub in our yard that I haven’t been able to put a name to. I’ve looked for it in books and in nurseries with no luck. It has a bit of a euonymus look to it, or maybe even a weird boxwood. Certainly not my favorite plant in the yard. (About the only thing it trumps are the invasive cherry laurels in the back.)

It has evergreen, leathery leaves and tiny green flowers with four sepals and four petals (picture shows spent flowers).

I would love to hear if anyone has ideas!

My newest ambition is to grow pineapples.

From the reading I have done so far, it’s not that hard to do. Mostly it just takes a lot of patience.

You start out with a store-bought pineapple. Or maybe two. Cut off the top (green foliage) and set aside. Gorge yourself on the sweet, tangy fruit. Siesta. Return to the top waiting patiently on the counter.

Now, you have a pineapple stalk with some fruit attached to it. Carefully, using a sharp knife, cut away all the fruit from the stalk. This prevents rotting. Next, peel off about a dozen of the sheath-like leaves. You will start to see tiny little “nubs” underneath where the leaves were. These are root primordia, so be gentle and try not to bump them off.

After you peel away the leaves you will see tiny nubs that are the root primordia.

Once you have peeled back a dozen or so leaves, prop the pineapple stalk in water. I have mine in a jam jar that keeps the leafy parts high and dry and the bare stalk submerged.

In a few weeks, long roots will emerge. When this happens, I will pot up my little pineapple plant in a fast-draining soil enriched with a lot of pearlite. (If I get lazy, I’ll just pick up a bromeliad mixture.)

It takes a few months for the pineapple to really get established once it is potted up. Place it in a sunny window. It can even hang out on a sunny porch until it gets cold and then bring it inside.

A few upcoming workshops you might want to know about:

Drought-tolerant plants.

Includes info on growing drought-tolerant trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals.

Saturday, July 31, 10 a.m. at Bakerview Nursery

Water-wise gardening.

How to conserve water in the yard using techniques and equipment.

Saturday, July 31, 2 p.m. at Bakerview Nursery

Mosaic stepping stone class.

Learn to make a mosaic stepping stone for the garden.

Saturday, July 31, 10 a.m. at Fairhaven Park.

Hypertufa class.

Make a hypertufa container at The Garden Spot on Saturday, Aug. 21. Register online HERE or call 676-5480.

Act quickly because spaces fill up.

Feel free to add other timely workshops and opportunities to the comments section below!

Our 10-year-old nephew came to visit for a couple days, sans passport, so we decided to at least let him step over the border for a few minutes by taking a visit up to Peace Arch Park.

Although I’ve been through the Blaine border crossing many times, I had never walked the park. I highly recommend it. If you can ignore the fact that border-patrol eyes are conscious of your every move, it is a great park to enjoy a nice stroll and take in a bit of history, not to mention all the plants.

According to the United States Canada Peace Anniversary Association (USCPAA), the park boasts 2,355 perennials, 1,629 shrubs and 401 trees.

In particular, take in the garden of giant rhubarb (Gunnera manicata). These ancient plants are more than 9 feet tall with leaves the size of blankets. You’ll feel like you landed in the Cretaceous for a few minutes.

Here’s a link to the Peace Arch website: LINK.

With all our “prime” yard real estate (read: sunny) taken up by vegetables, perennials and berries, I’m starting to look to the shadier parts of our yard. One thing I’d like to grow more of are herbs. I love using fresh herbs in my cooking and considering the grocery prices, there’s just no better way than to grow your own.

So I’ve been investigating some good herbs for shade. Here’s what I’ve come up with. Feel free to share your own success stories with other shade-grown herbs!

1. Dill. This one is good for salad and according to a couple sources, will provide leaves about 6 weeks after sowing seed.

2. Coriander. Hooray for plants you can eat every part of — leaf, stem and root! It takes a bit longer to mature in the shade, maybe 8 to 12 weeks. To keep leaves tasting yummy, remove flowering parts as soon as they appear.

3. Chervil. This is one I’ve been wanting to grow anyway, as I love the light licorice/anise taste. Leaves take about 6 to 8 weeks to mature after sowing.

Some others to consider…

*Chicory (leaves)

*Comfrey

*Lemon balm

*Wild garlic

*Mints

Butterfly bush is in bloom now and the floral displays are stunning. It’s no wonder this invasive plant is so well loved.

Although I always advise folks from buying the invasive plant, the next best thing to pulling it out of your yard is to be sure to cut the blooms before they set seed. And why not? Not only are you preventing the spread of this noxious invader, but you can bring the cheery purple blooms inside.

Ironically enough, butterfly bush that has run rampant in Whatcom County is actually replacing native willows on the Nooksack River — willows that are important food sources for native butterflies.

If you were thinking of popping a butterfly bush in your yard, you might take a peek at this list of invasive plants (including butterfly bush) and native replacements: LINK.

TRAVEL BLOG

I spent a couple days on Lopez Island this month and was delighted by a trend I saw in several gardens — driftwood art. Beautiful, ocean-sculpted wood in all shapes and sizes became handles or arches or just perfectly snuggled into perennial or vegetable beds.

Such “found” items are such a lovely addition to the garden — particularly, I think, because they mimic the natural landscape and bring a sense of place to the garden.

Here are a few photographs. Enjoy!