Garden Share Bristol

I had a visit from a young neighbor the other day, and as she was walking through this little side garden (bare legged, bare footed and all of 3 1/2 feet tall) she exclaimed, “This is messy!” Her mother started to soften the comment with, “Well . . .,” but I jumped right in and set things straight: “It’s not messy, it’s fluffy!”

Yellow is the signature color in my landscape. I use it to visually tie one garden to another throughout the entire yard. There are yellow flowering plants for every season and every micro-climate. The color is such a great complement to our blue, blue Colorado sky. I also find that clear, lemon yellow is a great mixer with almost any color palette. Although masses of yellow may be too vibrant to be considered “mellow”, a little bit is always “quite right.”

Here are just some of the yellow flowers blooming in my garden this week:

Photo above: Missouri evening primrose Oenothera macrocarpa
Giant silver mullein Verbascum bombiciferum
Yellow flowering pine-leaf penstemon Penstemon pinifolius 'Mersea Yellow'
Red-leaf honeysuckle vine Lonicera japonica 'Purpurea'
Rosa 'Topaz Jewel'

Wow, we have just finished a long week of rain here in Vancouver. It feels more like April than June but hopefully the weather is turning around.

Our snow peas taste wonderful!

Orange is the color in my garden now. This bright, vibrant hue screams “Ready or not, here comes summer!” All of these plants do well in my sunny, xeric garden.

Above: Bearded iris, Iris germanica

Atlantic poppy, Papaver atlanticum
Sun rose, Helianthemum nummularium
Horned poppy, Glaucium flavum

Orange flowers look their most vibrant when paired with blue flowers (complementary colors opposites on the color wheel). Many of the speedwells (Veronica spp.) are in bloom now too, and make wonderful companion plants.

After a hopeful planting a couple weeks ago, we have had one of the coldest springs in recent memory, but still the noble plants have held on -

above - our 2nd square foot plot after May 23 planting

In this plot - (along the back) cucumber, tomatillos
Marigold, Fennel, Onions, Onions
Eggplant, Cauliflower, Cauliflower, Eggplant
Beets, Pepper, Pepper, Radishes
Poppies, Pepper, Pepper, Nastursiums

We also planted nine varieties of tomatos, lots of basil, some winter squash and summer squash, and two kinds of beans, which have sprouted, and will soon be off and growing for the bean teepes.

Teomi beside the fava beans planted last fall - aren't they gorgeous?!


Over the next two Sundays we will harvest the lettuce (some greens are going to seed!), do some weeding that's overdue, and try to squeeze in a few more seeds.

Peashrub is the common name for the genus Caragana; tough, adaptable shrubs for home, commercial, or rural landscapes. They range in size from the very large (12-15’ tall) Siberian peashrub (Caragana arborescens), to the dwarf (3’x3’) pygmy peashrub (Caragana pygmaea). All prefer full sun, are quite drought tolerant, and feature yellow flowers in May. Leaf color and texture vary per species and variety.

I believe that the peashrub in my photographs is C. arborescens ‘Lorbergii’, purchased as lace-leaf peashrub. There are several planted along my property line and they create a gauzy, light green screen---just right for privacy but not wall like. And they are still blooming!

The first photo (above) was taken May 11th. This photo is from yesterday, May 31. The foliage now predominates, but if you look closely, you can see some yellow flowers.