Can this jungle be tamed?

I don't often share any pictures from this part of the garden for a reason.  This is what ivy does when left unchecked in the PNW.  Mixed with blackberries and some other weeds that die off and look horrendous in the summer sun, something needs to be done.  If you've been following my recent nursery escapades, I've been considering taming the jungle for a nice dry garden bed.  With all that green it's hard to believe but this area is actually quite dry and bakes in the summer sun (if it decides to show up this year).

I would love to add a couple of nice yucca rostrata, a few agaves that deserve more sun than they are currently getting, dasylirion wheeleri (?), maybe a chamaerops humilis cerifera, sedums, and other drought tolerant plants.  It will have to be done in stages.  But it's time for phase 1.

Phoenix Perennials visit

I have found my new home. A few weeks ago I posted a few pictures from Phoenix Perennials at the Pacific Northwest Palm and Exotic Plant Society annual plant sale and I keep finding myself coming up with excuses to go back.  This weekend I had the most legitimate excuse yet, sun! The sun was apparently shining everywhere but at my house (a conspiracy I'm sure).  Not that I needed an excuse to visit a place this wonderful.  I actually find myself overwhelmed when I go.  I walk around aimlessly for hours holding different plants.

Every time I see this trochodendron aralioides I want to plant it at my neighbours house.  You see, I really don't have a home for this, but if it just so happened to land on the other side of the fence, I really would not complain.

This acacia pravissima on the other hand could always find a home in my yard.

And of course an object of plant lust... chamaerops humilis cerifera.

Pineapple guava is a plant that always attracts my attention.  I think its the silvery undersides of the leaves.  I have never grown one of these though I am told they do really well here in the PNW.

 Azara microphylla I believe.  This was a stunner!

Here's where I started to lose it.  I even had dreams about this plant.

aloe striatula

opuntias, yuccas and agaves... I think the owners of Phoenix Perennials are my people

oh but it gets even better...  dasylirion Wheeleri, yucca rigida, and dasylirion longissimum.  I sense a desert bed overhaul in my near future.  I first have to tackle a jungle of ivy and blackberries.

I almost grabbed another aloe polyphylla - apparently squirrels don't only like to hurt my aloe aristatas.  I found one of my beautiful aloe polyphylla desiccated and torn into hundreds of pieces not too long ago when I came home from work.  It wasn't pretty.

More plants to temp me with with.  I have long been an avid fan of eucalyptus trees and Phoenix Perennials has one of the best selections of these beauties around.

But more than anything, I lusted after this planter.  I know just where this belongs... with ME!

I actually felt like my head was spinning after a while.

And my head is still spinning looking back on these pictures.  I don't even know if I can say it, well type it (which theoretically should be easier) ... I didn't buy anything! WHAT?! I know, I don't know what happened. I was so very much overwhelmed.

Don't worry... I'm going back.  But first off I will tackle some ivy and work on the new planting space.

To buy or not to buy, that is the question.

Do you ever recite Hamlet in the face of plant lusts?  I'm sure the nursery people get a kick out of this.  Me down on one knee, taking cell phone photos, reciting my version of Hamlet to this beautiful Yucca Rigida.

"To buy or not to buy, that is the question:

Whether it is nobler of the mind to preserver

through the temptations of plant lust,

or  to succumb to your urges

And by succumbing own it?" 

I thought that this little rostrata could be a good consolation prize...

 But that little yucca trunk! Is it worth putting a halt to the weekend plans of driving to Phoenix Perennials and buying some wonderful treasures? Or shall I consider it happy birthday to me (I've already done that a few times)?

Or do I hold out for the hopes that they can order me a large Yucca Rostrata? After all, that is in the works too.

What are your plant lusts?

What do you do when it rains without ceasing?  I dream of plant purchases. I was asking myself this question today - Self, what plants are you lusting after this year?  It's all about focus.  You have to get that instinctive plant radar up and running.  I tried to think of a top ten.  If I could buy ten plants this summer that would revolutionize everything what would they be!? Here's my top ten in descending order.

10. Agave bracteosa - I have finally found a good source ... now the problem is and remains the sticker shock.  But I have the perfect home, sitting empty in wait for my beloved agave.... maybe this weekend. (this plant would be much higher on my list if not only for the fact it is well within my reach)

9. Brahea Armata - This one is a completely new addition to the list.  This palm was completely off of my plant lust radar until I saw one in the flesh a couple of weeks ago... one word, stunning!

8. Chamaerops humilis cerifera - do I need to say anything more?!

7. Sabal Minor - Oh how I dream about conquering the ivy jungle in the northwest corner of the yard and creating a whole new garden space.  These could go in as the new "palm shrubs"

6. Fascicularia bicolor - I was given the idea of "planting" these in the crux of my trachycarpus fortunei ... and then I thought about the boots of butia capitata.  Not to mention having some bromeliads around always makes things happy.

5. Agave havardiana.

4. Trunking yucca rostrata - I already have two of these bad boys in the yard but it appears I simply must have one with a trunk.

3. Jubaea Chilensis - This one I have seen repeatedly over the years but sticker shock always wins out.  Actually, with this plant its not sticker shock.  It's more or less the fact that I would get a giant - declined - If I ever tried to purchase it.  I suppose that's a good thing.  It keeps me in check - for now I will admire them from a distance.

2. Nolina La Siberica - Can some nursery finally order this plant in!?! It's actually a conspiracy I think.  I have scoured the Fraser Valley looking for this treasure.  It is nowhere to be found.  That being said, I was told next spring I could get one if I'm patient... this could be a long wait.

1. Cordyline Indivisa - the real deal indivisa not the thousands of mislabelled nursery pots "cordyline indivsa."  Again after seeing this plant in the flesh at the West Vancouver garden mecca I am on the hunt. This one will be a little next to impossible to find.

What about y'all? What plants are on your plant lust radar this year?!  Happy plant hunting...

Junuary 2012

It's official, the beginning of June has marked by the return of Junuary.  This Junuary could possibly be the coldest yet - thus far.  With highs of 54F and 57F the last couple of days I have been asking myself how it is even possible to sustain life this far north of the equator.  What's worse, the once sarcastic reference to Junuary has become common place language.  I find this greatly disturbing on so many levels.  You see, I am a summer person of heart.  But recently I find myself opening the jars to the cinnamon scented comfort candles, adding extra blankets at night, and drinking gallons of hot tea.  But I have a dream.  A dream with days soaring into the 90's, a dream with a jug of sweet tea, hammocks, ice cream, and the smell of BBQ.

I wonder when the funk of Junuary will ever leave.  I've considered a ceremonial sun dance - if only it would work.  I have to admit, it has slowed down the garden fervour.  Thankfully, the garden seems to take it in stride.  The Dicksonia Antarctica (Tasmanian Tree Fern) seems to love this weather.

Little Sheffy seems happy in his new home.  I'm not sure what conditions these plants do their best under but I'm sure all this rain is helping it settle into place quite nicely.  (Can you tell I'm really trying to convince myself to be alright with Junuary ... but I'm so not)

What I'm holding out for is agave growing weather - the real test of summer!

Tragedy in the garden...

I have to report a tragedy.  Sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon a group of bandit squirrels waged war on my beautiful little aloe aristata.  The side story being, last spring I bought this aloe,  planted it in a protected little hollow and watched it sail through the winter and produce a bloom! My first ever outdoor aloe in bloom! I was ecstatic.  But then tragedy struck...

That bloom stalk was just about ready to put on its show when it was brazenly snapped right off.  I think what makes tragedies like this worse is that I have long considered myself a friend of woodland creatures.  I have defended them as more than rats with bushy tails.  No more. This was personal.  I couldn't quite figure out what provoked such a nonsensical act.  Was it retaliation for disturbing a stash of nuts? I did uproot several starts of nut trees this year.  Or was it entirely random?

On a happier note, I planted an entire aloe patch -Take that squirrels!

Communities in transition - Mt. Pleasant Vancouver

In parts of Vancouver like Mt. Pleasant, front yard makeovers are becoming more and more common.  The communities are in a kind of transitional change.  Older homes are undergoing facelifts so to speak and really changing the face of this community itself.  These small changes can be seen as representations of changes within the community at large.

I really enjoyed this modern facelift.  Hebes and flax anchor the planting...

You can see how it is a bit jarring beside the neighbours.  This odd conundrum is only made worse by contrasting all the different and competing facades.  But then again, perhaps it is a mere representation of the neighbourhood itself - diverse.

 Either way, there is no doubt I love the plants chosen in this re-model.  It has a fresh urban feel.

This one has a more woodland kind of feel to it.  I love all the different foliage combinations and the river rock look.

Another take is the historic look.  I love the old character homes in and around Vancouver!  Perhaps the key to performing this well in this kind of neighbourhood is a kind of hybrid style.

The little cafe at St. George really understands this.  It combines modern, rustic, and historic elements to create an unique oasis right in the centre of this neighbourhood.

Who doesn't want to cuddle up and enjoy a nice cappuccino in this setting?

I certainly did!