Category Archives: evergreens

attracting birds, drought tolerant, evergreens, garden visits, months 04-06: spring, months 07-09: summer, months 10-12: fall, perrennials, urban deer

Red Hot Pokers – Kniphofia

07/29/2016 svseekins 2 Comments

Red Hot Pokers are goofy plants.

Folks either love ’em or hate ‘en.

Me?
I love ’em.

Here’s why:

The ‘red hot’ blooms remind me of Halloween candy corn from when I was a kid.
photo by SVSeekins

Kniphofia grow happily on our rocky outcrop in very little soil…
with very little moisture…
So they’re super drought tolerant AND low maintenance, too. Win, win!

They’ve transplanted easily into partial-shade borders. I like plants that are easy to grow.
photo by SVSeekins

Hummingbirds & bees LOVE LOVE LOVE the blooms.

The deer – – not so much. Our local deer just ignore the Kniphofia 🙂

Red Hot Pokers, aka Torch Lilies, are pretty much evergreen in Victoria – – unless it snows.
In which case they immediately turn to slime…
Then come up fresh & green again when the weather calms down. That works just fine for me.

photo by SVSeekins

The Red Hots I’m most familiar with – – those with the graduated red + orange + yellow on one poker – – bloom in our garden in May.

Last July I saw some blooming in the Government House Gardens. I immediately searched out a few summer bloomers for our place.

These varieties, likely Knifophia uvaria ‘echo mango’ and ‘echo rojo’ are dwarf and have much narrower leaves. They’re designed to re-bloom throughout the growing season.

They also stayed green through the winter, although they looked a little more dried & messy compared to the May bloomers. Happily they bounced back in the spring sunshine. Now they’re blooming !

The deer have nibbled a couple tender flower spikes, but I’m hoping that’s just curiosity, and they’ll leave the dwarf plants alone from now on. Finger’s crossed.

To my amazement Abkhazi Garden had some Red Hot Pokers blooming near their front gate in December!
Who knew?

Isn’t that a Must Have?

Anyone know where I can source some of those??

lilac, red hot pokers, irs, lupin Lupinus, with the ceanothus just about to come into bloom too, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

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evergreens, months 01-03: winter, perrennials, projects

Hellebore Bowl

03/22/2016 svseekins Leave a comment

helleborus Hellebore - Mardi Gras double dangling garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

It feels like magic to have blooms in the garden through the winter months, so it’s no surprise I admire Hellebore.

helleborus Hellebore - Mardi Gras double & hand garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Commonly the flowers gaze at the ground, likely trying to shed our west coast rain. When I take the time to lift the face of one, I realize it’s even more lovely .

Happily I don’t have to stand in the rain to enjoy the blooms. These flowers last really well inside the house as cut flowers (over a week). BUT their nodding heads do make a vase arrangement tricky.

At the mini-show of the View Royal Garden Club last month, judge JB suggested floating the blooms face up in a bowl.

helleborus hellebore garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

CH, from Victoria Horticultural Society, floated a collection of Hellebore in a large casserole at the VHS parlour show. Wow, what a variety of hellebore blooms!

It’s no wonder the Hellebore has become so popular over the past few years.

The very next day I delighted in another display. AF put together a collection of blooms from her yard & floated them in a bowl on her coffee table.
So simple.
So lovely.

With all this encouragement, I’ve finally got up the nerve to pick some of our flowers & try an arrangement myself.

I use a mini pie plate, fill it with water, then float the blooms. The toughest part is deciding on colour placement… but seriously, that’s just beginner’s nerves. It looks OK, doesn’t it?

Now it feels like there is hope for spring. What could be easier than this !?!

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evergreens, months 01-03: winter

Pink Rhododendron Blooms in February

02/29/2016 svseekins Leave a comment

Pink blooming Rhododendron in February, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Like so many February days on the West Coast, it’s grey & overcast. C & I head out for a walk over Mt. Tolmie anyway. A block or so along Henderson Road, we’re surprised by pink blossoms at the edge of the sidewalk. February blooms on a rhododendron ??? Don’t they usually bloom in May? What a treat.

It’s a big shrub, and it’s covered in buds & flowers! This is not just a confused branch sending out an aberrant flower… This must be the regular season for this species to bloom. Sweet.

I take a photo, then we continue our walk.

But right next door is another blooming bush! Well, I suppose this makes sense. Who doesn’t yearn for the promise of spring at this time of year? I’m guessing these neighbors share garden notes over the fence.

A couple more houses along the way… Another pink rhododendron.

Around the corner; another!

Down the block: a 5th!

By this time we are sensing a trend. C & I make bets on how many pink rhodos we ‘ll find along our regular route.

The 6th discovery is down the next street.

Then it isn’t until after cresting Mt. Tolmie Park, and heading back home along the streets of the south-western slope, that we find more blooming evergreens.

One is behind a fence (beside a blooming forsythia!)

Two more grow in the garden of a fellow who’d moved into the neighborhood about the same time we had.

The last one has buds just starting to open. It’s right in front of a pink tree. (Perhaps a Cherry? or Plum?).

There might be other rhodos we missed, but I reckon 11 is a pretty good collection – – certainly more than either of us expected. Perhaps we should start looking for an early rhododendron for our garden. (Not just to make an even dozen. or keep up with the Jones’s, or build community, but for our good mental health.)

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