Seattle Japanese Garden

I happened to be in Seattle over Mother's Day weekend and visited a few local gardens. 

The Seattle Japanese Garden is located in the Washington Park Arboretum and is open to the public for a small fee. For the garden's complete history, please check out this link.

This Japanese Garden is much different than its counterpart I visited earlier in the day (Kubota Garden).

Early May was the perfect time to go as the Rhododendrons, Azaleas and the Wisteria were in full bloom. A truly spectacular sight. 

I was too busy snapping pictures of the scenery to worry about what the plants were, but a detailed plant list is available at the garden's website.

Be sure to get some fish food for $1 at the Admissions Counter. It's fun to feed the fish and turtles.

Enjoy my stroll through this garden.

Acer palmatum 'Dissectum'

 

Kubota Garden

I recently had a whirl-wind 2-day Seattle trip and had the chance to stop at the Kubota Garden, an American-Japanese Garden. The garden is free and open to the public.

I also went to the Seattle Japanese Garden and I will post about that separately. They are distinctly different gardens.

I won't go into too many historic details of the garden's history, but the garden was established by Fujitaro Kubota in 1927. (See www.kubotagarden.org for garden details.) He acquired the land and worked his entire life to clear it and establish this garden. He was 83 when the garden was completed.

Mid-May was the perfect time to see the garden, as the wisteria, rhododendrons and azaleas were blooming. 

There isn't any signage on the plants, so I didn't get any names of plants. 

 

A New Garden Pest

Now that the weather is warming up, there is a new pest I encounter while I garden. One of the most annoying pests to be found in a neighboring garden.

This new pest puts my Assistant Yvette into a tailspin (if she had a tail) whenever they are both outside.

Assistant Yvee upon hearing the neighboring pest, immediately freaks out and runs like a possessed maniac back and forth along the grass in front of the flowerbeds, occasionally plowing through the middle of a flower bed to show her disapproval.

'Roxy' (aka Roxicus Bark-a-lot-icus)

I might need to replace a few of the boards with knots at ground level? OR plant closer to the fence?  Perhaps it will help?!?

Do you have any special pests while you garden?

Hmmm... Something's Not Quite Right Here!?!

I've complained about plant tags before. Every once in a while you get a mis-marked plant, something you were not quite expecting or flat out the wrong plant.

It could be something as simple as the wrong name, incorrect growing height/size, or wrong color flower.

Sometimes it's a good surprise and sometimes it's a disappointment.

This happened recently with a tree peony I bought this spring. I found a healthy plant with a bud that looked good, so that was the plant I selected. It is so much more fun to get to see your plant flower the first year! 

The tag was large and showed a lovely dark flower, similar to another flower I already had and loved.

When it bloomed recently, the actual flower was very different than what the tag looked like.

Even though I was expecting something different, I was still very happy with the flower color.

Looks really dark red right?!?

Suspiciously different...

Paeonia suffruticosa 'Koukamon 皇嘉门'

What's Blooming in May?

We've had some cool, wet weather recently. Very unpleasant for gardening.

I planted my tomatoes Saturday, but I fear they felt a little cold. I know it's a tad early but they are in the ground later than other years.

The lawn was aerated last week. Aerating the lawn helps get air and water into the grass, so it's great to do once a year. But until the sod plugs get worked back into the soil it looks a bit unsightly, like a thousand Chihuahuas simultaneously took a dump on the lawn. I have my lawn service do this for me. It's worth the cost to not have to do it myself.

Sod plugs from lawn aeration.

When you have a real dog, you have to be extra careful stepping in the grass.




My spring plant buying splurge is in full swing. I've been to many nurseries buying plants here and there, mostly perennials and some 6-packs of annuals. There are lots of holes in the flower beds to fill. I just need a few sunny days to get everything situated.

Here's some of what's currently blooming...

Paeonia suffruticosa 'High Noon 海黄'

Tradescantia 'Unique Gold' (Golden Spiderwort)

Iris x pacifica 'Meadow Pastels' ?

Iris tenax (Oregon Iris)

Lewisia cotyledon 'Sunset Series' (Bitterroot)

Saxifraga crustata?

'Paeonia suffruticosa 'Koukamon 皇嘉门' - See the tag? The color looks pretty different.

Arenaria montana (Sandwort) sneaking through.

Dryopteris erythrosora (Autumn Fern) unfurling

Trillium recurvatum (Bloody Butcher)

A Foxglove that grew out of nowhere! Pretty good placement!

Melittis melissophyllum 'Royal Velvet Distinction' (Bastard Balm)

What to do with the Japanese Maples?!?

I have a few mystery Japanese Maples that were seedlings from another friend's garden. They were about 4" tall when I brought them over and planted them.They were the cutest little babies - how could I not bring them home?!?

2007

Like all things, they have grown with time. They are nearly 9 years old now and have grown quite a bit. I have mostly left them alone, only pruning out the squirrelly branches here and there to keep them looking nice and to keep them out of other plants.

Now they have grown up taller than the surrounding shrubs and are nearing the top of the fence.

This spring, I removed some of the bottom foliage to make them a bit more tree-like, but I think they need a little more guidance.

The green maples in particular really seem to be stretching out this year, sending long arching branches all over the place.

My intent was always that these maples would fill in under the limbed up walnut trees and perhaps take over as the shade eventually if I ever took the walnut trees out.

What do you think?  What's the best course of action? I don't want to wreck them!

The three maples in the back corner 2014. (The wine is for "medicinal" purposes.)

D'oh! Isn't it ironic? A fly in my Merlot.

Spring 2014 - Back by the English walnut

This one's getting pretty poofy

Front corner under the black walnut

This poor baby has had some setbacks. A disease turned the main trunk black and it died