A wonderfully wonderful tale .... Free agaves!!!

I feel as though my mood has been one of magical tales. And perhaps you will understand my belief in the magic momentarily. But like most of my tales, I believe this one requires a preface - or two. Part one of my preface is more a statement of fact. The fact being: there are very few agaves found in yards around Vancouver. You just don't see it. Preface part two being that my magic tale had a very happy beginning. I had been visiting my dear friend Becca in Vancouver. The mood and feel of the day was set by great company, delicious food, and a beautiful sunset along the beach at English Bay.

That is where my tale begins... Becca and I had just finished a wonderful walk and were headed back to her house to conclude what was already a fantastic evening. But something was off. Out of the corner of my eye, in the dark, driving at a decent speed, I spotted something poky. And by poky I mean agave like. Could it be? Did I just see a big agave in Vancouver? So I slammed on the breaks. Put the car in reverse (something you don't really do in Vancouver) and investigated. Was I dreaming? Crazy? No. Not one agave but three! And here's where things get even more exciting. Not only were there three agaves, but they had a FREE sign!!

Here's my caution: the pictures you are about to see are of incredibly poor cell phone quality and taken in the dark in the back seat of the car.

Here's the biggest and most impressive of the agave finds! Check out this beautiful agave americana variegata!!

Another angle shows how it completely fills out the seat of my car! EPIC! This one was to stay with Becca because she needs some big agave loving action in her life. And do you notice the other two?

Yes here are the other two baby agave americana variegata. I was very impressed with the legitimate 4inch nursery pots for these little guys. Whoever potted them up knew what they were doing. They were a little bit too wet but I figure they had just been put out and owners wanted to ensure they would be well taken care of for a little while.

Needless to say, I feel like there is hope for agave lovers in the PNW! What a random act of agave loving kindness! And better yet, all agave went to loving families that will love and care for them!!!

A wise woman once said ... schefflera lovin'

My tale for today started years ago reading gardening blogs from the UK and drooling over all the hardy scheffleras. Fast forward a couple of years where one Mrs. Danger visits Mark and Gaz and tells of all the beautiful scheffleras growing in their garden. That pretty much brings me to present day and the wisdom in which my post is inspired. When asked by her husband Andrew how many schefflera they needed, danger (Loree) replied: "as many as Mark and Gaz have" (danger garden). And in that same spirit I say of the same question: "as many as danger has!!"

And with that I find it only fitting to introduce the latest and greatest addition to the garden ... Schefflera  brevipedunculata!! 

I just love this little beauty of a schefflera.

I still don't know where it will go and will keep you all posted. But I was just so very excited that I had to share.

it's been a while... the trouble I've been up to

It has been quite a while and so I thought I needed to share some of the plant trouble I've been getting myself into. To be honest, it has been quite the disciplined planting season. But there are some treasures that have found their way into the garden and I am thrilled to share.

First off is yucca land. The yucca 'margarittaville' and yucca aloifolia purpurea on the bottom right and top of this photo both were planted today! I'm hoping the sunny slope will provide a good home for them to grow.

Here's another look. Notice the yucca aloifolia being slightly under the fronds of the trachycarpus. I'm hoping that provides a good amount of shelter for it.

And I shared about my Cistus order a while ago, but these next two nolina 'la siberica' came on my order from them a few weeks ago. They had been sitting in their pots in the I don't know where to plant this pile and finally made it into the ground today.

I hope these are fast growing! anyone with experience care to weigh in?

And here's where the plant purchasing trouble really starts to ramp up. A new palm has entered the garden! I finally got my hands on a sabal! Though I've been hoping for sabal minor, I had zero will power when the prospect of a sabal palmetto came about! I know it will be painfully slow here, but I'm hoping that the southern exposure and rock in behind will give it a bit of an edge.

Another exciting plant purchase came last week when I gave into the temptations of this callistemon citrinus. I am still yet to find 'woodlanders hardy red' - the object of my plant hunting desires - but I am loving this one. Who knows, maybe this will be the beginning of a callistemon purchasing addiction?

And in true Louis fashion, I couldn't buy just one sabal, I needed two!! This one is larger and sits potted in the hottest location in the yard.

 And last but not least, the other yucca corner received a new hesperaloe parviflora. I had been lusting after a huge 5 gallon one with multiple bloom stalks but they sold before I gave myself permission to buy it! Darn! Lesson learnt: always give into impulse plant lust. But this wonderful one gallon found it's way home and into my garden. I feel as though I want to soften/hide the rhodo in behind with some mexican feather grass. The other thought is to pull it out all together and plant a new tree - maybe arbutus?

Anyways that's the wonderful trouble I have been up to! how about you!? what plant lust trouble have you gotten yourself into?

May foliage follow-up

The May foliage follow-up is here! I love May for the foliage! It's at this time that everything is so vibrant. I love seeing all the new growth emerge! One of my greatest excitements has been seeing the agaves wake up from their winter survivalist mode. I've had a number of sad looking agave arms, but all in all, I'd say things are looking quite good going into summer for these guys.

Aloe aristata has been a rock star tucked into these rocks. My larger more exposed clump is not looking so nice.

Everything looks so vibrant in the late-spring sunshine.

Dicksonia antarctica has started to push out lots of new growth.

As has melianthus major...

There's just so much to be excited about. (I know this is the foliage follow-up, but can you see the bloom about to emerge from the largest echeveria glauca!)

Prickly pear growth has got to be one of the coolest things to happen in my garden this spring. It's a first for me!

It kind of looks other worldly in my opinion.

The leccino olive has really picked up in the last month. And for good measure here is a solo shot of my favourite trachycarpus in the garden.

Pretty soon I'm not going to know what to do with this canary island date palm! It is the happiest of little palm tree (though becoming less and less "little")

Well happy foliage frenzy!!! Head on over to Pam's blog digging for the rest of the foliage follow-up.

garden bloggers bloom day!

It's bloom day once again! And for all the joy of spring over the last bloom days, the May bloom day marks the beginning of summer or summer-like bloom day magic! How exciting is that!?

I'm still swooning over the tubular red flowers of russelia. I have not noticed any hummers yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they flock to this beauty.

One of the happiest things at this time of year is the trachycarpus blooms! The males are always ahead of the females and tend to droop downward.

Chamaerops humilis are also blooming...

In the soon to be blooming category I have olea arbequina and olea leccino.

Of course it wouldn't be spring in the PNW without some rhodo blooms. This particular rhodos future is in limbo. Thoughts have been percolating about planting a large teddy bear magnolia.

While its not always my fav, this year the heuchera are looking quite swell.

 Chives are blooming and looking wonderful as well as this beautiful iris. Each year I threaten to get rid of the iris and then I'm reminded of how beautiful it is in bloom. It's almost orchid like!

Happy bloom day everyone. For more, check out May Dreams blog.

My Weekly Fav!

Over the last months I have enjoyed danger garden's weekly posts about her favourite plants in the garden this week, and so I have decided to borrow one from her playbook. Who knows, maybe we can start a garden bloggers weekly fav's!

So for this week, I have to share a plant that is very special to me... sedum palmeri. I purchased this plant two years ago and have been thrilled with its performance in the garden. It reminds me of a thick clump of echeveria. And it is a rock-solid performer here in the PNW.

One of the best features in my opinion is the beautiful blue/green foliage.

In the springtime gorgeous yellow flowers emerge and really add a burst of colour to the garden. I have two big clumps going. One in full-sun and the other part-sun. The part-sun patch has been the most vigorous of the two. I don't know if that is just coincidence or if other people have found the same thing. But that has been my experience so far.

I love the way it looks against other plants like black mondo grass. This patch is slowly creeping towards the mondo grass.

Xera plants has this to say about it: "A wonderful evergreen Sedum that is an excellent garden performer in the PNW. This form was found at 10,000' elevation in Mexico and has been reliably hardy down to 0 °F. Lovely gray/blue rosettes at the end of trailing stems. Yellow flowers in late winter. Full sun to light shade in well drained soil. Performs with or without water in summer. Cut back in spring to tighten up the new rosette. 10" x 10". Great container plant." (http://plantlust.com/plants/sedum-palmeri/)

What's your favourite this week?!

Nursery Hopping - Phoenix Perennials

One of my favourite things to do is nursery hop - the act of nursery hopping. For a plant nerd, this is one of the most exciting things to do. And visits to Phoenix Perennials are always very exciting ... especially when you have plants from Cistus Nursery waiting to be picked up! I can't even say how grateful I am to the Phoenix Perennials crew for arranging a group import from Cistus!

Before picking up my plants, I decided to do a little perusing... One of the first things that caught my eye was this frantoio olive! I was struck with plant lust (no I didn't buy it ... and I'm already regretting it). But check out how beautiful it is!

 I can just see this in amongst all my yuccas and agave.

But my problem was that I could see almost all of these plants in my garden... How to choose?!

good things always come in these green pots!

When I stumbled upon this, I'm sure I gasped. With the knowledge that I've already killed one, I was able to put it down, but I might just have to go back and get it.

Citrus anyone? This is one of the best selections of citrus trees I have seen in and amongst Vancouver.

Lots of danger too!

Another plant I've been lusting after is this variegated agapanthus! It reminds me so much of my yucca 'bright star'

My plant radar was going on overload. Does this ever happen to anyone else? You get so excited that you feel overwhelmed. Where to even begin?!

So I'm sure you are all wondering, what did I actually get? There's no way I was going home empty handed. But this plant lust purchase came right out of left field. It actually happened when I pulled into the parking lot. The very first thing that caught my eye was the last thing I thought I couldn't live without .... russelia equisetiformis!

Here it is at home in my garden! I still haven't decided if I'm going to plant this not at all hardy plant or if I'm going to get a nice pot for it. But it certainly belongs!

And don't worry, I can't forget about my Cistus plants... meet my new yucca margaritaville.

And my two nolina 'la siberica!'

The best part of it all was the sun shining and temperatures soaring to 90F. All in all I'd give it the EPIC seal of approval.