Tag Archives: western washington

Tomatoes today May 26, 2018

The tomatoes love the Walls of Water! Started from seeds February 15 the transplanted up to 4 inch pots then on March 31, into the WOW. Now, May 26 they are showing out the top.

The weather is still cool at night so I am not ready to lift off the WOW and replace with tomato cages.

The next photo will show the difference between the WOW tomatoes and some extras I planted directly in the ground on the same date, just to compare what would happen.

Having fun with tomatoes

I just love getting my hands dirty with transplanting. It is such a time of hope. Good food in a few months. The remainder of these tomatoes are for the Central Valley Garden Club plant sale in early May.  Until then they will be toasty warm in my greenhouse.

Mason Bees in my garden

I enjoy nurturing the native bees and providing nesting homes for them. Since we have five fruit trees, four blueberry plants, 50 strawberries and multiplying raspberries, my garden keeps these bees working. I like them because they work in the rain, unlike other pollinators. I have some cute bee houses and some practical, jury rigged ones and they both do the job.

The wire one above is what I will explain. Mason Bee season here in the Puget Sound lowlands runs from about March 15 when you put them out until mid July when they are ready for storage. Recently I have learned about these predatory wasps that drill holes in the cardboard straws to lay their eggs, ultimately killing the developing Mason Bees. This year I am using white cardboard tubes placed in natural reeds, hoping to discourage the predatory wasps. The tan tubes with mud closures are the bees from 2017 and the white tubes are the nesting sites for 2018.

More unique plants 

One of several focal points in the Hinkley garden is a Dove tree. Dan explained that it was planted by previous gardener before he owned the property. The plant is originally from China and the the “doves” are actually white bracts.

To learn more about this rare plant collector follow these links:

Dan’s web presence
Monrovia Dan Hinkley collection

More fuchsias today

I wrote an article on hardy fuchsias for Westsound Home and Garden a few months ago and  during my research, I got really hooked on these plants. I always like to grow a few plants before I write because I like the first hand experience.    Before I moved west, I was only familiar with the annual types of fuchsias. How limiting was that! Here are a few more in bloom today.

Would you wait three years for a bloom?

Going back to my theme of “this wouldn’t grow in Minnesota” I planted some things in my western Washington garden that I could not get to grow in my Minnesota garden. David Austin roses lover the maritime climate here without any winter protection. Perennial herbs are such a treat. But the star of the day is this Monrovia yucca plant. It’s a first for me. I think I have been waiting three years for this yucca to bloom. Worth the wait, don’t you think?