Category Archives: urban deer

sharing the garden

months 04-06: spring, natives, urban deer

Youthful Blush of Spring

04/20/2012 svseekins 2 Comments

Last spring, I came across the loveliest drift of foamy flowers that I’d ever seen. It grew on a rocky outcrop. Pink blooms smothered the moss-covered rocks. It was as if the hillside was blushing.

grape hyacinth on hillside — photo by SVSeekins

“That would look great in my garden!” I thought.

We have a rocky slope that blooms with grape hyacinth at this same time. Wouldn’t the pink & blue combo look fabulous?

My friend SK had similar thoughts. Little green plant-coveting monsters chorused from our shoulders, encouraging us both to forage some of this wildflower.

It was a group consensus.

We just took a few plants. We only took them from crevices already overflowing with the pink population. I felt a weensy bit ashamed by our boldness – but only for a moment.

The plants were tucked into similar mossy crevices in my garden as soon as was possible. Fingers crossed for their survival, I went inside to search out the details on the plant.

It turns out that it’s named appropriately. Sea Blush. Blooming on rocky hillsides throughout the Pacific Northwest, it’s a native wildflower.

I certainly hadn’t noticed any unusual smell from the flowers, but when I read about it, I hoped there might be just enough to deter the deer from feasting. Deer frequent this part of the garden more than any other. Time would tell.

It was disappointing to find out Sea Blush is an annual. Since we’d moved it while it was in bloom, I figured there wasn’t much chance it would set seed.

What a delight to find it blooming this spring! Was the winter mild enough that the plants survived? Did the seeds develop even though I’d set it back by transplanting? I’m not sure how it survived, but I’m thrilled it did.

Now I hope it’ll spread across the rocks & produce the blushing spring meadow of my fantasies.

Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary offers classes on native plant gardening. I took one last weekend. The instructor, Pat Johnson, listed Sea Blush as one of her plant picks for native gardens. She has superwonderful photos of gardens on Vancouver Island that benefit from the use of native plants. I definitely recommend the 1/2 day class if you ever get the chance.

Swan Lake also has a native plant sale coming up this weekend. Imagine –

getting coveted plants without scavenging…
and raising funds for a local park.

Win-Win
Even better than foraging, don’t you think?

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© SVSeekins and Garden Variety Life, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to SVSeekins and Garden Variety Life with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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evergreens, months 01-03: winter, perrennials, urban deer

Flower Count – day 7 – hellebore

03/27/2012 svseekins 8 Comments

It’s sometimes called the Winter Rose, but isn’t actually a rose relation. The flowers really do remind me of the wild rose, but mostly it gets that name because it blooms in winter, some even by Christmas!

Typically the Christmas bloomers have boring white flowers that slowly age into interesting light green flowers before setting seed. We gifted Mum with one of those hellebore this past Christmas & it’s still looking great on her balcony.

Helebore - Blackthorn strain - evergreen in February border — photo by SVSeekins

There aren’t any Christmas blooming hellebore varieties in our garden. At that time of year our hellebore are just happy evergreen perennials that the deer leave alone. I think they’re wonderful just filling in the borders so winter doesn’t look completely desolate.

These come from the new hybrid varieties that have appeared in nurseries over the past couple years. The hellebore suppliers have presented blooms in pinks and even dark colours that seem almost black. Those types seem to flower later in the winter.

Hellebore - February promise — photo by SVSeekins

By February our hellebore are starting to show promise. That’s my cue to get out there & do a bit of pruning.

The new bud stems shoot up from the centre of the plant, pushing last year’s stems over a bit. It’s those older stems we need to check out closely. Some get a bit of gunk on them & that could infect the new growth. It’s wise to remove any with those issues. This sample below shows it even better…

Hellebore Pink Frost - early February buds & old growth — photo by SVSeekins

That poor hellebore really was looking worse for wear. I cut away all infected old stems, knowing that the new growth would arrive in hardly any time at all. Here’s what it looked like shortly after its trim:

Hellebore Pink Frost - late February flowers after pruning — photo by SVSeekins

Hellebore - creamy buds in February — photo by SVSeekins

Another variety was showing buds in February at about this same time. I checked closely but didn’t find any issues on the leafs, so it didn’t get trimmed back at all. My intention is to let it alone unless it starts to look poorly.

In the meantime I’m really enjoying the fat double blooms it’s producing, even though they’re that boring creamy white colour.

Hellebore - Mardi Gras double & hand — photo by SVSeekins

I’ve heard that hellebore will slowly spread through the garden, & that’s fine by me! To add some extra encouragement, my plan is to collect their seed pods & help out a bit with the distribution.

It’s just a delight to have a good show of blooms so early in the year! That’s why I’ve kept a couple in big pots by the back door. I seem to need that promise of the flowers & warmth that will arrive in a couple more months if only I can hold out that long.

Helebore - full bloom in march — photo by SVSeekins

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attracting birds, evergreens, months 01-03: winter, natives, urban deer

Flower Count – day 3 – mahonia

03/03/2012 svseekins 5 Comments

It was early February when I ran across this burst of sunshine in Victoria.

mahonia in February — photo by SVSeekins

Mahonia is an evergreen shrub that boasts happy yellow flower clusters through winter.

This particular specimen is certainly more showy than the local mahonia (Oregon grape) that grows in our yard.

At this time of year the tall Oregon grape in our shrub border is only just preparing to bloom.

mahonia - tall Oregon grape in February — photo by SVSeekins

By summer it’ll be sporting dark berries. One of my favorite resource books, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast, tells that some use the berries to make jelly with real pucker power.

Oregon grape with berries — photo by SVSeekins

The leaves are shaped like holly, but aren’t nearly as hard and prickly.

I’ve seen full-sized holly trees, but mahonia only seem to come in shrubs or ground covers.

Holly berries are red, while mahonia’s are blue.

In some places, folks consider holly an invasive. I’ve not heard any such complaint about the mahonia.

Aside from watering it for the first summer after transplanting, Oregon grape seems happy here with no attention at all.

This one is a hard worker. It’s evergreen, so it’s interesting all year-long. The winter blooms feed hummingbirds. The summer fruit feeds other birds. The mild prickles deter deer. Who could ask for more?

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Flower Count