Making Friends by Gardening

Gardeners are a friendly lot

My name is Angela O’Brien - Ruff , and I endure in Seattle , Zone 8b . I have been gardening for over 30 eld , 15 of those years at our current home on a small lot in a neck of the woods 20 minutes from downtown .

We get lot of foot traffic in front of our menage , and after I note people bending down to get a closer flavour at something , I decided to put out industrial plant labels . exploit in my garden yield me a windowpane onto my neighborhood , and my hubby is amazed that I roll in the hay so many people and their public figure . It ’s because I ’m outside horticulture , and the great unwashed stop to confabulate , ask questions , and share plants , and over meter they become familiar . I think most would agree that nurseryman are broadly speaking a friendly mountain and are optimistic by nature . “ Who would buy a stick in a smoke ? ” as a champion once allege .

So during this trying time of self - isolation due to the coronavirus , I feel very fortunate to be capable to work outside in my garden and would like to share some photos . And thank you to all the other gardener out there who take the time to partake as well .

reckon closely . An Anna ’s hummingbird adjudicate to build her nest in arhododendronin our front railway yard . It was so well camouflage that we almost missed it .

hemorrhage heart(Dicentra spectabilis‘Gold Heart ’ , Zones 3–9 ) goes dormant in recent summertime , but it ’s so pretty alongside the hellebores and Nipponese wood grass(Hakonechloamacra‘Aureola ’ , Zones 5–9 ) .

On a sunny twenty-four hour period in March the citrusy fragrance ofDaphneodora(Zones 7–9 ) can bar you in your tracks . I have several planted around my garden , and they make capital bouquets to fetch within . Another fragrant evergreen shrub isSarcococca hookeriana(sweetbox , Zones 6–8 ) , which is nice to plant near to nerve pathway . Its angelical vanilla fragrance fills the atmosphere in winter .

Star magnolia(Magnolia stellata , Zones 4–8 ) is a modest tree at the corner of our family and flush at the same prison term as theDaphne odora .

Branches of a purple lilac ‘ Ludwig Spaeth’(Syringavulgaris , zone 3–7 ) perfume the air near a basalt sit rock .

I saw this container combination ofAraliacordata‘Sun King ’ ( Zones 4–8 ) and Geranium ‘ Roseanne ’ ( zone 5–8 ) at one of our local greenhouse , so I ca n’t take credit for it . ‘ Otto Lukyn ’ laurel(Prunuslaurocerasus‘Otto Luyken ’ , Zones 6–8 ) shrubs are next to the basalt sitting rocks in the background .

The bees bang this‘Ann Folkard ’ geranium(Geranium × procurrens‘Ann Folkard ’ , Zones 5–10 ) , which cascades over the stone rockery . The bench looks out onto the back garden , and I often stop and remain there when I ’m gardening . My married man build the trellis .

In the summertime the shade garden provides cool relief from the sunny back garden . This is a group of livid wood anemone(Anemonenemorosa , Zones 5–8),Beesia , hellebore , Epimedium , brave reason orchid(Bletilla × yokohama , zone 6–9 ) , Japanese forest grass , and maidenhair and Himalayan fern . I ’m afraid I ’m guilty of the “ one of everything ” curse of gardening sometimes .

Strawberry plants by the hired man rails , ‘ Autumn Moon ’ Japanese maple(Acershirasawanum‘Autumn Moon ’ , Zones 5–7 ) , peony , sedumground cover , and sugared alyssum(Lobularia , one-year ) line the path to our back gate .

This bee was visit pollen - laden blooms on the ‘ Mutabilis ’ rose . The blossom modify people of colour as they maturate , from yellow to pink to orange , with all color on the plant at the same .

I could not believe a snail was crawling over this very barbed cumulus of hens and doll ! doubtless it was lost and had made a wrong turn . Snailsare my enemy in the garden . They can turnhostasinto lace in a issue of days . After drop a small luck on slug bait , I have finally give up on Hosta ( for the close terminus anyway)—until I am lured again by their resistless beauty .

Have picture to partake ? We ’d love to see your garden , a particular collection of plant life you love , or a wonderful garden you had the fortune to chaffer !

To relegate , send 5 - 10 photos to[email protected]along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos . We ’d have it off to find out where you are place , how long you ’ve been gardening , achiever you are majestic of , loser you learned from , hopes for the future , pet plants , or rummy write up from your garden .

If you want to send exposure in freestanding electronic mail to theGPOD email boxthat is just okay .

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