Category Archives: perrennials

boulevard garden, bulbs, months 01-03: winter, perrennials

Winter Aconite Meadow

02/26/2023 svseekins 9 Comments

It’s early February & skies are overcast on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The temperature is mild: frosting overnight but about 8 celsius in the afternoon.
The garden is asleep…
Mostly.

eranthis, winter aconite, galanthus, snowdrops, garden Victoria BC Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

A friendly gardener has a happy display of snowdrops and winter aconite along her front border. It cheers up the neighbourhood.

I have to stop to take it in:

The sunshine radiates from the small yellow flowers, warming the snowdrops in their glow.

How many years have these corms & bulbs been naturalizing in this bed?

How far will they travel when left on their own? There are plenty of babies escaping into the edge of the lawn. I reckon a meadow is preferable to a golf green lawn anyway.

Thank you & hats off to the green thumb that put this all in motion.

It’ll be fun to watch it progress through the winter & into spring.
🙂

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P.S. Here are some other meadow faves:
January

February

March

April

May

July

Meadow Blooms – A Grazed Meadow

drought tolerant, evergreens, garden visits, months 01-03: winter, months 04-06: spring, months 07-09: summer, months 10-12: fall, perrennials, projects

Landscape a Driveway

05/19/2022 svseekins Leave a comment

I’m hurrying to a new lunch place when I stop short. I’ve never seen this before — but I like it!
How can I make my driveway more appealing?
Here is my answer — landscape the driveway itself.
Genius! And beautiful!

The rock garden is set smack in the middle of the driveway, leaving the planting safe from the tire tracks on either side. Here’s the following challenge: What is a good driveway plant? The succulents & mossy groundcovers grow low enough that they’re safe as the car’s undercarriage passes above them.

stonecrops, creeping sedums, succulent, driveway rock garden, rockery, crevice garden, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Perhaps the rockery itself also serves to protect the plantings from treads. Situating the creeping sedums in low planting pockets reduces their risk of compaction. Maybe that’s why they’re often called stonecrops?

hens and chicks, Sempervivum, houseleeks, common houseleek, liveforever, succulent, evergreen groundcover,stonecrops, creeping sedums,, driveway rock garden, rockery, crevice garden, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Sempervivum (Hens & Chicks) are tough as nails, too. They happily grow in gravel, forming such tight clumps of rosettes that weeds can rarely squeeze themselves into the party. It’s an added bonus that houseleeks come in many colour varieties.

driveway rock garden, rockery, crevice garden, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Straight through our coastal winter, the evergreen rockery has interest. And with so many foliage colours, can it be called evergreen? Isn’t it more like evercolour? Is that even a word? It should be. There’s so much variety. 🙂

creeping thyme, Thymus praecox, hens and chicks, Sempervivum, succulent, driveway rock garden, rockery, crevice garden, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

The drought-tolerant creeping thyme provides background support to the showy houseleeks through the cold months. I envision its mound of bright pink flowers as the headliner through June and July.

Our garden successfully hosts all of these plants. The biggest key to our success is that the neighbourhood deer turn their noses up to all of them. (I’m always thrilled to find something pretty that they won’t browse. )

Was the hardsaper skilled enough to gently slope the bricks toward the central rock garden? The rain could irrigate the plants, soak through the gravel & replenish the water table. Cities are promoting permeable landscapes. This garden is pretty and environmentally friendly.

I’m guessing it’s also a reasonably low-maintenance bed…
occassionally pinching out weeds from between crevices,
sheering spent blooms,
blowing debris away… wouldn’t that be all?
But looks can be deceiving. Next time I pass by, I’m going to knock on the door & ask the gardener. 🙂

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months 01-03: winter, months 04-06: spring, natives, perrennials, urban deer

Pink Trillium

04/30/2022 svseekins 1 Comment

Western Trillium Is not your typical flower. When the bloom first opens, the petals are white. Over time they turn pink. It’s two plants in the space of one. 🙂

Trillium ovatum, western trillium, Pacific trillium, Pacific Wake-robin, Western Wake-robin, Coast Trillium, Coast Wake-robin, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

At the Garden Club’s plant sales table, I was fortunate to find a mature Trillium. (It can take up to 7 years before the first bloom!) Now, it grows in our courtyard — safe from hungry deer.

Each year I’m thrilled as the perennial emerges in March & blooms by Easter.

Trillium is from the Latin ‘in 3’s’.
• 3 leaves circle the stem.
• 3 sepals frame the flower
• 3 petals highlight the bloom
• the stamens are set in groups of 3.
• there are 3 chambers to the seed pod

I reckon it looks slightly alien. Trillium ovatum, aka Pacific Trillium, is native to Pacific Northwest. It’s a delight to come across on a walk through a local woodland.

Trillium ovatum, pink bloom western trillium, Pacific trillium, Pacific Wake-robin, Western Wake-robin, Coast Trillium, Coast Wake-robin, garden Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Pacific Northwest — photo by SVSeekins

Alien or native… bright white or soft pink… I enjoy Trillium. I’m glad to have it in our garden. There are other trillium species native to other areas of North America & further afield. A couple of varieties have made it into our borders. Hopefully, one day — or one year — they’ll bloom, too.