Dreaming of a cooler time--Pacific Northwest, Part III

It's officially hot. Temperatures have been in the mid-90s or higher for days now, and the heat index has gotten as high as 105. Both me and my poor plants feel like we're melting, so I figured now was as good a time as any to put up those final photos from my spring trip to the Pacific Northwest.

After we left Seattle, we were destined for Victoria, BC. We drove to Post Angeles and then took the ferry across the Straits of Juan de Fuca.



The weather was pretty amazing while we were in Victoria, BC -- not too hot and not too cold. We poked around the town area for a day or two, and then headed to our ultimate destination -- the world-famous Butchart Gardens. The place was pretty surreal -- kind of like Walt Disney World for gardeners.

Here's the shot that everyone takes when they visit Butchart -- the view from the staircase at the top of the sunken garden. There's a really cool story behind this garden.



It was a little overcast during part of the day, but the place was still non-stop, in-your-face texture and color.





See what I mean? Those tulips were insane! I swear that I didn't Photoshop these shots to enhance the color. And speaking of tulips, I couldn't believe how well our shirts matched the tulips in this shot. Crazy, eh?



It seemed like everything was bigger and better at Butchart. Get a load of this arborvitae hedge -- it has to be one of the hugest hedges I've ever seen. Jason is just barely visible at the base of the hedge, even though he's over 6 feet tall. If you're trying to create privacy in your yard, this is definitely the way to do it!



On a smaller scale, I thought this was a clever and inexpensive way to create a visual barrier between a path and a lawn area. I guess if you have close to a million visitors each year, it's important to keep them off of the lawn.



And I know this shot doesn't look like much, but I had to share it. Those little stumps in the right side of the frame are bananas! Yes! Bananas in Canada! My guess is that they have to cut them to the ground each fall and protect them with straw, but they might be left to fend on their own. I'm guessing they're Musa basjoo.



Well, that's about it for Butchart. I guess now it's time for me to brave the heat and turn over a new leaf, pulling out the melted plants in my yard. Ugh. Wish me luck!

Front garden progress

Earlier this week I blogged about the potentially sick ensete. I figured I might as well share some photos of the other beautiful things that have been going on in the front garden.

First off, the cannas and bananas have been going gangbusters. The 'Red Stripe' canna that I bought at Plant Delights Nursery last September is getting huge, and the 'Intrigue' canna is looking beautiful. The striped canna is 'Bengal Tiger'. It was a generous passalong plant from Tom, along with a dwarf Cavendish banana that's doing splendidly.

Speaking of what I bought at PDN, the chasmanthium seems to have died. Very sad. It turned brown over the winter and I cut it down in spring. It put out a half-inch or so of new growth but then never grew any more. In Southernese, I'd say it up and died.

But back to the pretty stuff. Here are some macro shots of the cannas and bananas for you to salivate over.

Canna indica 'Red Stripe'



Canna 'Bengal Tiger'



Canna 'Intrigue'



Musa acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish'



And one of the mystery cannas that we transplanted recently is about to bloom. I'm wondering if it might also be 'Red Stripe'.

What's old is new again

Banana in container at Chinese Garden in Portland
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Okay, so it's no secret that I've been a blogging slacker. The bottom line is that I've had a lot going on at the office (translation: other stuff that's more pressing than blogging) and I really haven't been doing much in the yard other than trying to keep the grass/weeds from growing into a jungle. It IS summer in Florida, after all!

Those things being said, I figured it was about time that I posted something on this blog, so here goes.

When I was at the Garden Writers Association conference last year in Portland I spotted this clever container. It's actually not a true container -- it's just a section of reed fence wrapped around a basic black pot. How easy is that? I always love it when something can be both good looking and affordable.

Fast forward a few months to the Friends of the Alachua County Library book sale. I was browsing the gardening section (naturally) and found this great book.



Once I got it home and started flipping through it I was amazed to see this project, which was essentially the same pot treatment that I had spotted in Portland. How funny is that?





In case you're interested, I'm posting a few other shots of the book. I think the mid-century interior shots are too cool not to share. As always, you can click on the photos to see them larger (via Flickr).

Crispy lemon

Crispy flowers
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Bummer. My variegated lemon got fried in this week's cold snap.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was out of town in Washington, D.C. When I watched the national weather on Tuesday morning I found out that the temperature in Tallhassee was 29 while it was 34 where I was in D.C. Gulp. I figured this was probably not good news for all the tender tropicals poking their heads up in my yard.

I spoke with a friend later in the afternoon who said that everything in his yard was fine. "Whew!" I thought to myself. I dodged that bullet.

But this morning proved me wrong. I was walking around the yard checking for damage. All the tender tropicals made it through, even though they're just tiny little plants trying to get established right now. Heck, even the Thailand Giant Colocasia that I planted just before I left town made it!

I discovered my little variegated lemon tree, which was a gift from a co-worker, all shrivelled up and crispy looking on my patio. Even the flowers were crunchy, which was double dissapointing since I had been looking forward to smelling them bloom and then to eating the fruit.

The interesting thing is that the lemon was right next to a pot of young banana plants, which made it through just fine. Maybe the orange was drier and thus more susceptible to frost/freeze damage? Maybe it got hit with the morning sun before the banana did and that's why it got crispy?

Oh well. The trunk seems to be okay, so I'm guessing the plant will drop its leaves and put out a new flush. In the long run, all will probably be fine.

And for those of you hankering for photos of traditional spring flowers (cherry blossoms, hyacinth, tulips, etc), stay tuned. I'll be posting some photos from my D.C. trip soon.
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Update: So upon further inspection, I think the lemon might have succumbed to drought, not freeze. I forgot to water it before I left for D.C. and my best guess is that it dried out. I'm watering it now to see if it might come back. We'll see.

Sad plants

Well, it finally happened. We got a freeze--the thing that tropical gardeners fear. Needless to say, many of my plants are looking pretty crispy right about now, including my coveted crinum lilies. I had read that they're cold hardy into the 20s, but that doesn't mean that their foliage can't get burned back. Chances are the plant itself is fine and will put out new growth in spring.

I'm guessing the crinums will recover, since this is what typically happens with my Dwarf Cavendish bananas. Each time we have a hard freeze--this time my indoor/outdoor thermometer registered a 29.8 degrees as a low--the leaves get fried. But time after time, the bananas put out new leaves and are back to their perky tropical selves by mid-summer.

Check back for updates on the crinum recovery process!

Tip: Always wait until after the last freeze before pruning back any freeze-damaged plants. If you prune earlier, you might encourage additional damage if another hard freeze comes along.