Adventures in Oregon Gardening

I moved from Southern California to Portland, Oregon, and quickly became obsessed with plants. These are my adventures learning to garden in the Pacific Northwest. .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { visibility: hidden; } .ig-b-:hover { background-position: 0 -60px; } .ig-b-:active { background-position: 0 -120px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 137px; height: 24px; background: url(//badges.instagram.com/static/images/ig-badge-view-sprite-24.png) no-repeat 0 0; } @media only screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min--moz-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (-o-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2 / 1), only screen and (min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), only screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi), only screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx) { .ig-b-v-24 { background-image: url(//badges.instagram.com/static/images/[email protected]); background-size: 160px 178px; } }

[devonclaire]

Leaves from my Sugar Maple (acer saccharum) tree, late November 2015

[devonclaire]

Early September, 2015: Removing Clover By Hand

We have a clover invasion on our lawn. We are attempting to remove it by hand instead of using roundup or other herbicides. The reasons we don’t want to use herbicides are: (1) we grow food in this garden, and I don’t want to eat herbicides, and (2) our dog hangs out on this lawn all the time, and she shouldn’t have to lounge in poison.

So, my first thought was to just dig up all of the grass and lay down new sod. Not an easy project, but it would take care of the clover for sure. My husband, on the other hand, decided he would just try to pick away at it — that is, remove it by HAND — in his spare time. I didn’t think he was serious at first, but one day I came home and he had removed about one square foot of clover. I was impressed. He removes a little more every single day, and I’ve been helping him this weekend. Sitting on the lawn picking at clover roots may look a little weird to our neighbors, but we find it quite meditative. So far, we have removed about half of the clover from the lawn. What you see in the pictures is actually just half of the clover we had a few weeks ago.

The thing I didn’t expect was the clover’s crazy tangled root systems. No wonder this plant is invasive — its root structure is like a huge knot of hair. If you look underneath the leaves, you’ll see roots overlapping strands of roots, overlapping many more tiny strands, and more strands below that — all tangled together.

This time next month, the grass will have probably stopped growing, so we think we have about a month to tackle the problem. After that, the lawn will go dormant and maybe freeze during the winter, and maybe that will help kill off the clover. If it comes back next spring (which I am not sure it will), then we’ll dig up the grass — but not until we’ve tried this method.

As you can see, pulling up the clover leaves big brown patches of dirt on the lawn. Sorry, neighbors.

[devonclaire]

August 2015: What's Growing in My Garden

Zinnia “Swizzle: Cherry and Vanilla,” Dahlia “Tessy,” David Austin “Crocus Rose,” Zinnia “Swizzle” with California poppies, another California poppy, David Austin “Queen of Sweden” rose, Marigold “Bonanza Flame,” Kale “Red Russian.”

[devonclaire]

June 6, 2015: David Austin Roses are Blooming!

I ordered David Austin roses back in December. I planted them right after they arrived via mail in late February, and they bloomed this weekend.

The pink one is called “Queen of Sweden” and the white one is called “Crocus Rose.” I expect them to put on a show all summer.

I planted these where some nandina domestica bushes used to be — they won’t look like much during the winter, but hey…the nandina wasn’t too spectacular at any time of year.

Also, it’s 90 degrees this weekend, which is way too hot. I’ll be spending a lot of time watering and checking the plants throughout the day.

[devonclaire]

May in My Garden

Lupine and Shasta daisies (both perennials) are in full bloom. Columbine came back this year but not too strongly. I planted osteospermum near the front porch.

[devonclaire]

Late April: Sunning the Houseplants

We had an 80-degree day, so I decided to bring some of my many houseplants outdoors for about an hour. I never leave them out overnight because I’m paranoid about bugs getting to them, and then accidentally bringing the bugs inside. In the red pot, I have a Croton, and in the white pot, I have a big Bird of Paradise.

I try to wipe down the leaves of the houseplants to remove dust every other month or so, because the dust prevents the plant from absorbing light (and makes it look bad).

[devonclaire]

April 9: My tulips are in full bloom!

[devonclaire]

Early April: My tulips are blooming!

[devonclaire]

March 7: Ranunculus is doing surprisingly well in a container on my back deck. These ranunculus were just too irresistible not to buy, even though it's pretty early in the year and I suspected they might die during a frost. However, they seem to be thriving in a container on my back porch. I am always concerned that plants I put on my back porch won't get enough sunlight, because my backyard is heavily shaded by gigantic pine, cedar, and fir trees. But somehow, light is peaking through, because these guys are surviving!

[devonclaire]

February 28: Lack of Sunlight

It was a perfectly sunny Saturday here, but since our house and front yard get no sunlight until April (or is it May?), our property was completely shaded.

Since all the other yards in the neighborhood were getting sun, I thought I’d just take my rhododendron “PJM Elite” out for a little sunbathing. Yes, that meant standing in the middle of my street with a potted plant.

See that pointy shadow on the right side of the page? That’s the shadow of our house. It covers the entire lawn and flowerbed in the winter months.

Luckily, our across-the-street neighbors had offered to let my plants sun in their sunny yard a few weeks before, so I ended up putting this container on their curb for an hour or so, where it didn’t need my supervision. Winter problems, man!

Oh, and after several weeks of sunny, mild weather (from the 40s to the 60s F), we had an overnight freeze the night of February 28-March 1. I woke up for my run on Sunday morning and it was 27 degrees! Too bad I had just bought and plant those ranunculus in a pot on my deck the previous day. We will see how they do.

[devonclaire]

Late February: Plants Seen Around My Neighborhood and Office

It’s definitely an early spring. These are some of the plants I’ve spotted that don’t usually bloom until March or April.

In this photo collage: Rhododendrons, plum blossoms (or some type of prunus tree), saucer magnolia (magnolia soulangeana), Japanese magnolia, camellia, crocus, and more plum blossoms.

[devonclaire]

Mid-February: I have one daffodil blooming!

[devonclaire]

February 13: Signs of spring are everywhere! These are not from my garden — just plants I've seen around the neighborhood. It's mid-February and these plants don't usually bloom until March! Pictured: Orange crocus, dutch iris, pink rhododendron.

[devonclaire]

Here's a better shot of my crocus. Happy spring!

[devonclaire]

February 5, 2015: My crocuses are blooming!

It’s been relatively warm the past few weeks (at least for winter in Oregon). It’s been in the high 40s through high 50s most of the time, and I think the flowers are being tricked into thinking it’s spring. They’ll hear no protest from me!

As you can see, I am long overdue for a good weeding in the front yard.

[devonclaire]

Early January, 2015: Whoa there, daffodil. Slow down.

It’s January and the yard looks pretty bad. My husband and I tried to mulch some of the young plants (lupine, hydrangea), but when we opened the bag of mulch, we found it was frozen.

We gave up on mulching, at least for the day.

While we were out there, however, I noticed one of my daffodils already has a little yellow bud developing. Given that they bloom in March and April, I think it’s way too early for this to happen. I have no idea what will come of this new growth. Will the flower stop developing once we have another hard freeze? Will it bud and then just die because we don’t have any sun in the yard at all this time of year?

[devonclaire]

Late November: Sugar Maple

My sugar maple (acer saccharum) went through the weirdest autumn change this year. The leaves stayed entirely green until late November, while most of the other maples in the neighborhood were changing brilliant shades of yellow and orange. Then about a week ago, the leaves started experience a green-to-yellow “color bleed.” About three days after that started, the majority of the leaves fell off all at once, creating a mess on the front lawn.

This is unlike most fall leaf change and drop patterns I’ve seen in this area. I hope there’s nothing wrong with the tree! Otherwise, it seems to be incredibly healthy.