Daffodils ~ Happy Earth Day!

My studio sale is over for another year, and my attention turns to my garden.

My daffodils are blooming like crazy, just in time for Earth Day – Spring is my favorite time of year!

I feel revitalized, energized and I fly out of bed each morning to see what’s new.

Right now a new daffodil opens each morning!  Beautiful colorful sunny daffodils.

I love variety – color, size, plain and fancy; and a variety of bloom times.

Daffodils emerge from a bulb, and are also called narcissus and jonquils.

As you can see I have a lovely collection.  These are just my early varieties.

Other spring bulbs are also blooming – fritillarias, hyacinths, and more.  A few of my early tulips are showing color but not open yet.

Today I’ll just show you daffodils.  When my daffodil clumps are large enough I divide them and plant them in empty spaces throughout my garden.

I don’t always wait until they die off.  I’ve moved them while blooming so I know what variety I’m planting and can see where they belong!

Large and small, tall and short.  Multi-stemmed and regal tall singles.

I love them all and when I see them smiling like this, I smile back!

Happy Earth Day everyone!!

 

Unofficial Spring

Officially we have about a week before Spring and my garden is budding with color.  Most of my garden is still underground but the sun has been out the last few days inviting my spring plants to wake up.  And inviting me outside to play.  I’m calling it unofficially spring!!

I’ve been buried in my studio in spite of the gorgeous weather lately because my annual studio sale is just around the corner and I still have much to prepare for it.  I’ve opened my studio for the last 15 years or so, and joined the Gorge Artists Open Studios 4 years ago.  Now I’m down to the wire with only a month left to finish all the work I’d planned and clean up my garden because people like to walk through it while they’re here.

After a long studio day I managed to get a couple hours of clean up done outside late this afternoon.   I could no longer walk by the debris of fallen limbs and branches from winter snow and ice.  I managed to get quite a bit raked up in a short amount of time.  Of course it’s not picked up, just raked into piles along my paths.

I decided to trim and weed as I raked each section so that I could slowly acclimate to all those tasks that my back hasn’t done all winter.  It felt wonderful sitting in the warm sun, listening to the birds sing as I cleaned up each bed and pulled dead leaves away from tender shoots sprouting up.

I’m grateful to have been outside.  In the sun.  I’m grateful to have only had a couple of hours because my back was not ready to work that hard.  My plan for tomorrow is to repeat today.  Maybe not as long.  Or maybe I’ll just sit and enjoy the sun and birds a little longer.

If you’re in the Northwest, I’d love to have you stop by my studio sale to see what I do.  In my studio and in my garden.  April 11, 12 & 13.  You can send me a message here or via email if you’d like directions.

Our resident deer are also happy to see the sun, and my plants popping out of the ground.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Keeping a Friend’s Garden

Earlier this month I was photographing my garden and planning blog posts.  Then one of my favorite friends was in a horrific accident and all my attention went to her:  http://www.hoodrivernews.com/news/2013/jul/13/local-artist-hospitalized-after-motorcycle-acciden/   We had just finished a meeting for an August art show and as we stood on the corner chatting afterwards, I remember thinking how cute Kathy looked in her motorcycle leathers & helmet.  Everything changed less than an hour later.

Her friend Dana set up a calendar of tasks for friends to help with, like feeding her cats and watering her garden.  Once a week I water her garden and pet her cats, filling up the food bowl if it’s empty.  I gathered some photos of our mutual friends to paste on her hospital wall so no matter where she looks, she’ll see someone who loves her. It doesn’t feel like enough.  Kathy has many friends that are thinking of ways to help, to show our love and support.  Along with many other artists, I’m donating my work for upcoming fundraisers and I don’t know if that’ll be enough.

I decided to give 20% of my sales towards Kathy’s fund. If you’ve been thinking about buying a gift of glass, garden art, or something for your home; notecards or photograph prints on metal or canvas, you’ll also be contributing to Kathy’s fund and I thank you in advance!  http://www.zibbet.com/SteiderStudios  No, this is not a plug to get you to buy something….I’m simply looking at any possible way to help my friend & her family.

Kathy is one of those people who everyone loves. She’s full of life, energy and effervescence. She sits on many committees with me and keeps a beautiful garden as you can see in these photos. I’ve been her student & she’s been mine. She is a sports enthusiast, skiing and snowboarding during winter months & windsurfing in summer.  I could go on and on about her but I think you get the idea. She smiles at everyone and they can’t help but smile back. She radiates positive energy.

It was my honor to spend a day with her in the hospital, tending to things staff has little or no time for.  Misting her face, helping her eat, holding her hand, turning her fan, getting more ice…anything she asked of me I did.  It was one of the hardest days I’ve ever spent because of the circumstance, yet I witnessed her joyful spirit courageously fighting.

I already adored her husband, but I have renewed admiration for him in watching how he lovingly tends her.

If you can send a prayer or positive energy with healthy vibes, they’d be appreciated.

If you’re in the Columbia River Gorge, watch for announcements of opportunities to help.

I don’t know when Kathy will be back in her lovely garden, but perhaps the best way to show support later will be to purchase her enamel jewelry, wall art and switch plates.  I’ll post a link to her on-line shop when she’s ready to return to work.  In the meantime, if you’re in the Columbia River Gorge, you can purchase her jewelry now at Columbia Arts in Hood River.  She’s also one of the featured artists for First Friday in August with her enamel wall hangings.  The show, ‘A Glass Act’ runs through the end of August, so you’ll have all of August to look for Kathy’s work!

Oh How My June Garden Blooms!

I gasped when I noticed these flowers blooming!  I’ve tried growing Jack in the Pulpit (also called Cobra Lily) for close to ten years and now I have three blooming!

I’ve had Arisaema candidissimum and Arisaema sikokianum bloom then disappear.  These Jacks have leafed out each year but never bloomed.  I’m not sure which variety they are because I’ve tried so many, but I think they’re Arisaema heterophyllum.

Each is blooming in a different part of my garden – my test to see which is the best spot for them before I buy more.

I have yellow Pouch Flowers blooming!  Love these sweet pockets of color.  I still need to find the red variety.

My geum is at the tail end of its blooming cycle.  Another plant with a red variety I want!

My yellow tree peonie has two blooms this year, but the lavender variety hasn’t developed blooms yet.  I think I have it in the wrong place with not enough sun.  I’ve heard they don’t like being moved, so maybe I can limb up surrounding trees for it.

I love this red peony – blooms are covering the foliage this year.  My pink peonies are about to burst open.

As I wander my way through the garden I am serenaded by this sweet Sparrow and a plethera of other song birds.  By planting natural habitat for birds I’ve created a safe zone for them and a sanctuary for me.

I try to not disturb the chickadee bringing treats for her babes.

And I try to capture her in flight to no avail.  So far.

Our hummingbirds must be nesting because they’re no longer fighting over the feeders.

Ravens are back in full force, attacking my compost pile with gusto.

Alas, the cowbirds are also back!

Other critters I love to capture are butterflies.  I stopped using toxic poisons (weed and bug killers) in my garden more than a decade ago and love how these flying flowers have increased over the years.

I especially love when I can capture them in flight!  I grow a lot of plants that encourage them to stay in my Columbia River Gorge garden.

Read this link from Organic Gardening for more information about attracting butterflies to your garden.

Swallowtails are probably the largest butterfly I welcome back each year.

I am noticing many different types of bees pollinating my flowers, fruits and veggie plants.

As I pulled weeds and excess plants I gently moved ladybugs to new homes.

My Gas Plant is one I look forward to each year.

As is this Columbine.  I haven’t posted in so long, I fear I’ll bore you with too many photos, so will end here.

If you’d like an alternative to commercial weed killers, try this recipe, it works:  1 gallon apple cider vinegar, 1 cup salt, 1 teaspoon detergent.  Mix and spray on weeds.

Thanks for stopping by!

Deer in my Garden – Again!

Enjoying my morning coffee, I was startled to see a herd of deer snacking their way through my garden.  Before I chased them out, I snapped a couple of photos.

Tomorrow I’ll  set up the last art show of my spring season (see previous post!) so today I have to pack and load my car.  I hope to catch you up with notes from my garden next week.  If I can clear out the weeds, it looks like a spectacular garden season emerging!

Thanks for stopping by … if you are near Portland Oregon this weekend, stop by the Columbia Gorge Art Festival at the Corbett Grade School & tell me you follow my garden blog!!

Full Moon Rising

The last full moon of 2012 appeared tonight above my front porch.  I couldn’t resist grabbing my camera.

100 photos later, these are my favorites taken with my Nikon D5100.  I wanted to compare these to my old camera, but by the time I recharged the battery from lack of use we had cloud cover.

Thanks for stopping by & Happy New Year!

Birds, Butterflies, September Flowers

Chickadee on my glass birdbath, looks like I’d better fill it.

Skipper Butterfly on Verbena bonariensis.  I love the detail my new camera captures.

Pink Gaura is a favorite in my garden.

Red Breasted Nuthatch in my weeping cherry tree.

Eastern Tailed Blue Butterfly drinking from an aster.  I’m learning about butterfly species!

Pink Hydrangea – it’s my only hydrangea blooming at the moment.

Rufous Sided Towhee perched on a sprinkler head as I stalked him.

Bumblebee imbibing in a sunflower.

I love this single rose – surprising since I usually go for the big fluffy varieties.

Looks like it’s time for a Liquid Fence application.  Before my pears are completely harvested by deer.

Checkerspot butterfly(?) drinking from a lavender aster.

My blue Veronica blooms earlier, then comes a paler pink and finally this beautiful ‘red’.

Steller’s Jay kicking fir cones.

Painted Lady Butterfly on Verbena bonariensis looks like a lollypop!

And a sunny Sunflower just makes me happy.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Chasing Butterflies

One of the hottest days of the year and I’m out in the sun chasing butterflies.  Why? Because it’s too hot to work.   Help me identify them!  Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly? on my pink butterfly bush.

There were at least two dozen butterflies in this section of my garden.  It was amazing and exciting and oh so much fun in spite of the heat.

Bumblebees rolling in pollen were irresistable while I waited for a butterfly to land!

I also saw but didn’t get good photos of (I think) Mormon Fritillary and maybe a Skipper.

Common Buckeye butterfly?  in my coreopsis.  I found a shadier spot for a minute…

…and on the Buddleia, back under the scorching sun.

Another bumblebee I couldn’t resist.

Hydaspe Fritillary butterfly?  on my pink butterfly magnet – I mean bush.

Hydaspe Fritillary butterfly?  Ruby Giant Echinacea.

My friend Laurie Miller made this sweet sign (along with a dozen others for me).  I love it.

Thanks for stopping by on this sizzling day!

Edit:  I forgot to include my Coolest Chasing Butterfly Lytro Photo.  When you see the photo, you can click on it to change the focus – go ahead, play with it!

Plant List Updates!

When I started this blog I had every intention of photographing and cataloging each and every plant in my garden.  As the years go by and I add to my collection of plants, I now see this as a daunting task.  I’ve had a page for My Plant List, listing all my plants in alphabetical order almost since the beginning.  If you haven’t noticed, I’ve finally begun adding sub-pages under it with photos of my plants!  Descriptions, growing conditions, etc. will have to wait for now while I finally begin adding photos.  Yay ME!   Above is a ‘Honeycomb’ Butterfly Bush, that you’ll also find on my new Shrubs and Trees page.

I think this is my favorite Heuchera ~ ‘Georgia Peach’.  You can also see it on my Perennials Page along with a host of other perennials!  Trust me, I have hundreds more to add….  Finding photos of all my plants is also forcing me to clean up the messy way I keep photos all over my computer – I am learning ‘o-r-g-a-n-i-z-a-t-i-o-n’!

This is my favorite Fritillaria ~ stenanthera, which you’ll find on the Fritillaria page under the Perennials Page.  It’s a ‘bulbous perennial’ and I wasn’t sure if I should have it stand alone or add a ‘Bulb’ page (which sounds horrific right now as there are SO MANY bulbs in my garden)…I can always rearrange later, right?

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Variegatus’ is on the Grasses page also under Perennials.  Many of my photos are detail shots because that’s how I love to capture plants.  Especially if they flower…unless the foliage is particularly interesting…and I can remember the name of the interesting foliage plant!

Speaking of foliage, Hosta ‘Aphrodite’ is on the Hostas Page…again, under Perennials.  Does it all make sense now?  I’d love to entertain your ideas on how I should list these extra plant pages!

‘Keeping up Appearances’, a Tall Bearded Iris is found on the Tall Bearded Iris page.  That’s actually the page I began with when my iris started blooming.  The next page I add will probably be day lilies since they’re blooming now and I’ve hovered over them with my camera for weeks!

Since I tend to ‘collect’ plants I don’t have ‘just one’ of hardly anything.  Eventually I’d like to separate out more sub-pages like the conifers from deciduous trees.  But for now, while sitting near the fan blowing cool air, escaping the hot August sun for a few hours I’ll just keep adding photos.

Thanks for stopping by!

At the Base of Mt. Adams, a Garden Tour

Saturday was an exceptionally lovely day in the Trout Lake Valley with blue skies framing a majestic Mt. Adams.  My gardening mentor, Miriam invited me to join her on a self-guided tour of five Trout Lake gardens and I jumped at the chance, always looking for inspiration in another’s garden vision.  We picked up our mutual friend Jan whose garden could easily have been on this tour and headed out in Miriam’s convertible to enjoy the day.

Peck’s Perennial and Vegetable Garden was our first stop with the most amazing giant vegetable garden I’ve seen in a long time.  They plant continually for a constant source of fresh produce and it feeds their family all year.  Angela made me want to plant vegetables again while giving us a personal tour of her organic garden.

From the flyer:  The Peck Garden is seven years old and was designed by Angela.  The whole family pitches in to help with the yard work and harvest.  The perennial garden is a great space for family and friends while the vegetable garden is flourishing.  They use organic manure as fertilizer, but the manure had been composted, resulting in fewer weeds and more produce.  They also have a variety of fruit trees in the vegetable garden area and a hedge of raspberries.  They have a beautiful selection of roses, and rhododendrons dominate the front of the house.  This garden has a welcoming and friendly appearance reflecting the characteristics of the family that cares for it.

Tiffan’s Perennial Garden was our next stop and I must admit it was my favorite because of Donna’s colorful garden art and hand painted birdhouses throughout the garden.  We have similar tastes in plant material and she gave me  pink columbine seeds; PLUS offered LAVA ROCKS for my current project!  I’ll be back soon to pick up those rocks!!

From the flyer:  The Tiffan Family Garden was designed by Donna six years ago.  The garden has a fairly high maintenance level and the whole family works in the yard.  It is a perennial garden designed to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  There is also a vegetable garden, chicken coop and a variety of berries and fruit trees.  The layout of the garden was meant to be expanded over time; the oldest beds are the ones closest to the house and the rest were added later.  The vegetable garden is the newest section; it was added this year.  In the future they would like to add a gazebo and a pond.

Pearson’s Organic Garden and Orchard was our mid-way point and although it was wonderful, the fruit tower offered to guests was amazing!  As were the sunflowers and hollyhocks!  Laura was a delightful host and it felt spiritual standing in her 114 year old garden.

From the flyer:  The Pearson Garden is the oldest garden on the tour.  Started in 1898, it is still in use today.  Laura Pearson designed the vegetable garden and works very hard to keep up with the work.  She is the third generation gardener at the house, and the plants are flourishing.  She grows all of her potatoes, carrots, beets and many other vegetables.  Her orchard produces apples, pears, cherries, plums and Asian pears.  She stores her potatoes and apples in her fruit cellar which is under the house.  They also have a cider press in the cellar to make fresh apple cider all year long.  In the future, they would like to have a better composting system in the vegetable garden, to improve growth and cut down on weeds.

Allen’s Indoor Garden captured my heart with the whimsical touches added for Sharon’s grandchildren.  At this point we realized time was running out, and although we didn’t want to rush we didn’t spend as much time here as at the other gardens.   I loved how the horses came out and posed for me while we perused the garden.

From the flyer:  The four year old Allen Garden is every unique.  The main garden is actually indoors.  The house plants add color and fresh scent to the house and pool and are creative living decorations.   In the back of the house there is a children’s garden complete with a beanpole teepee, meandering paths and vibrant scents, perfect for the grandkids.  Both the garden and houseplants are cared for by Sharon Allen.  Eventually Sharon would like to have a whole yard landscaped for a natural look, with wildflower meadows and dry creek beds.  The goal is for a low maintenance garden with native plants and flowers.

Lambert’s Riverside Garden was our last stop with only thirty minutes left in the tour.  Char was so engaging and let us stay beyond the close of the tour, enjoying her river view, charming home and colorful, fragrant garden.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day of garden touring in the Trout Lake Valley.

From the flyer:  The Lambert Garden is nine years old and numerous people have had influence over the design.  The layout was planned by Brooks Heard, and a gentleman from Underwood made plant suggestions.  Lucinda Guilderhouse also made plant suggestions, but Char made all the final decisions.  The garden work is done by Char and her husband Jim, who work hard to keep their yard pristine.  This garden is one for relaxation and family.  The fragrant blooms attract bees and the lights create a magical feeling at night.  In the future Char would like to add a permanent greenhouse, raspberries and raised beds in a vegetable garden area.

At the Tiffan Garden, Donna had one plant that none of us could identify.  Do you know what this is?

Thanks for stopping by and taking the Trout Lake Garden Tour with me!