I'd love it more if I wasn't looking at it from the couch instead of being out in it because it is raining.....

Gorgeous Japanese maple you've got there. :)

Thanks bos888 :-)

There were only a few original plants from the landscape formerly known as mine. After 25 years left to their own devices, I thought perhaps it was high time both the Sango and the red one were properly pruned. I called a guy gardengal recommended and he did a fine job. Neither one of them had any definition before.

Sorry about your vertical moisture. Other than the grayness, we aren't really getting much precip. I'm working on a BBQ and it's threatened a bunch but mostly been all talk.

I'm thinking most of my stuff is running 4-6 weeks late. Lots of azaleas, camelias and the like have been blooming but I just barely am seeing my St Breward rhody bloom and it's my first of the year, usually in March.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073513}}

My stuff is late as well. I've still got daffodils blooming.

Yes, I'd say the pruner did a great job.

It stopped raining but it is quite cold and everything is all wet.

Finally.............#2 in the order of bloom but well worth the wait. Now if the torrential downpours would only cease and desist so the bloom won't prematurely be destroyed :-(

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073515}}

oohh la la! 'Elsie Watson' is good lookin!

Ain't she a looker ?

You know, this is the strangest spring. I took that shot and now it's like everything is coming all at once. 'Rocket' and 'Jean Marie' are just starting to crack. My 'Sensation' lilac is absolutely loaded and on the verge, my old, old fashioned lilac is all half opened and my choisya has never had such an incredible bounty. It's official, I'm done whining till frost or at least till the next sqwall whichever comes first ;-) Sadly, if all goes according to the hoyle this year, we know which of those two will win that race.

Your garden is looking really good!

We had a pretty good squall early Tuesday morning. Twigs everywhere.

Elsie is stunning! Have many Lee's Dark Purple and there's one that's always the 1st to bloom -- opening now, first dark peeping flush. Horse chestnut candles are growing tall and erect and starting to open. All this lovely rain and cool temps prolongs the spring and my yard LOVES it. Almost all the Eucs are showing signs of new growth, either bumps swelling and leafing where former leaves were, or growing new leaves from the trunk. When it gets warm and sunny they will go bananas.

Have to figure out some way to rope the magnolia branches together in middle of November so the snow / ice doesn't destroy them. Gotta learn how to prune magnolias so they stay tight and compact. Frustrating because every spring their inner leaves fall off and their branches just get longer and scrawnier and more prone to breakage under weight.

Got bugs notching out rhody leaves so have to do the nematode thing soon for 1st time. Was going to carpet everything again with Liily Miller's rhody/camellia food which everything in the yard likes the best after wormcastings but it's been too wet to reach a lot of the yard.

This is the best time of year! Last winter was too long and cold and scary, lots of damage. We've taken all the dead stuff out but one sweet broom which was so beautiful, hoping it comes back somehow. If not, going to plant a black mulberry tree in its place. One Green World has mulberries, which the birds love.

Planted a lot of camellias. Think the yard will finally have enough shade for them to thrive. One with fishtail leaves, very cool, will need a sunscreen over it, will put on when the lake near it goes down enough to get to it. But eventually it will be OK, surrounded by coast redwoods, sequoias, catalpa, dawn redwood, sweetgums, thujas, cherry trees, willows.

Now if only there were something evergreen that would grow on the ground in the willow thicket the yard would be done. Huge amount of work, building this from scratch. Gonna take a few full days of weeding the horsetails and other weeds (just one other kind) and picking up the now-dropped-leaves of the pin and white swamp oaks. It never ends, because the horsetails keep coming up, and have infested neighbor yards where they let them go, feeding the entire root system. Horsetails gobble up too much dirt, water and nutrients to ignore.

Everywhere we go, look for miniature ivy starts. May have to order online. There's a huge variety out there, just hard to find. The variegated Persian ivy is really beautiful. Think miniature ivy (not invasive especially in heavy shade) is the only groundcover that eventually will survive. Moss will take over all the umpteen retaining walls but there's too much continual litter on the ground for moss to be happy, unless I spend all my time vacuuming the yard. The vacuum is fairly useless when it's wet out there.

My horse chestnut is just barely starting to pop. I have the red 'Briotti' and it's full bloom usually coincides with the white wisteria right behind it. The wisteria is budded but a ways off yet so......

that surely was one screwed up winter.

i just checked weather underground. except for that one horrible week, it was one of the most mild winters ever in Portland. just a handful of days where the night time temps went into the high 20's. never below 26 (and that happened only once). daytime highs never failed to break freezing.

but man, that horrible week was... horrible. no wait, i take that back. it was very pretty looking at the snow kill my plants.

The Briotti is spectacular! My 6 are Ft McNairs. That's what the nursery had when I started, 6 almost dead ones on sale for $18/each. I did look them up 1st and they're hardy and supposedly more resistant to disease and leaf scorch. They're deep pink with yellow centers. Not nearly as striking as the red ones. Mine are not able to hold the chestnut spikes for more than a couple weeks. On another thread it was suggested that it's because they're all the same and not able to cross-pollinate.

This spring these horse chestnuts are really putting on the growth. Zounds. They're more than twice as big as last year and have tons of new budlets starting to swell from the branches. I was tempted to get the big hippos but for once reason and reality about the size of my yard held out. But I love huge trees and rejoice whenever I see a mature strong hippo. These Ft McNairs are watered a lot all summer and hold their leaves and color until a few frosts. They shade a long stretch of the house from the blazing west sun.

At least we have lots of bees this year. The hollies are blooming, smelling good. The crabapple and cherry are already making their little fruits out of their blossoms. Lots of different kinds of pollinators in the yard. Also lots of swarming bugs because of all the water. The birds eat the bugs. Swallows swoop.

I'm new to gardening, finally got my own house/land, and every change, every blossom, every raindrop, every bee, every leaf thrills me, cup overflowing. Seeing the 1st batch of about 200 trees get through their 3-years-in-the-ground mark and start GROWING is awesome.

I know what you mean, I was an extreme novice when I began. The more I learned, the more dangerous I became ;-) Each new success seemed to help provide the energy for the formidable task ahead. My project was not nearly as massive as yours but it took every ounce of energy and every drop of creative juice I had in me. Now that it's nearing completion and most of the successes are maturing as envisioned, it's very rewarding. I'm thinking that the novice in me, especially creatively, allowed me to end up with something unique both in hardscape design and plant selection. I suppose that in the end, when it's a true labor of love it ends up being kind of a reflection of one's personality. Not always what a professional might have done but nevertheless a massive improvement over what previously existed.

What amuses me is that many people who have observed the process assume that I am OCD, that somehow I will never be content to be done. I'm sure as I drove myself to exhaustion much of the 7 years it has now taken me, it would appear that way. However, I am not nearly as allergic to enjoying it, as I am weary of the major construct part of it. I covet the times when I can just putz and sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Until then, I have a yard boss who just blew the whistle and told me to get back to work :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073517}}

Boxofrox, very interesting. I thought from your pictures you were a long-time professional. But you'd do it all over again, no matter how much work, for that unique stamp of love and personality that has turned your abode into the garden of eden. More pictures please!

I started with 1/4 acre of nothing but mud, weeds, garbage and extreme standing water. Knew ZERO. It was all about the water, channeling it and trying to stuff as many water-loving water-slurping trees in here as possible to turn a swamp into green habitation.

This is what it looked like a few months after we bought the house and had fixed the inside enough to function and painted the outside to match our future rhodies exactly -- this was my partner with her mother before we planted anything and had just started building endless retaining walls. It was bare nothingness. And now -- the house is no longer visible! The jungle has enveloped it completely.

So you can see why now I'm going so crazy with every leaf:

Longtime professional.....don't quite know whether to be flattered or insulted so I'll just sit here and chuckle ;-)

I'm just a former black thumbed neophytical yard hack who got tired of feeling sorry for my poor ashamed wife and set out to give her something she could be proud of. I'm pretty much self taught by researching gardening through books and nursery folk and the internet, a proverbial AOTDB (Amateur Owner To Design Build). I looked at what I had to work with, made a list of the plants and water features I wanted, worked around all the necessary structural issues I needed to address and then killed myself. Winters when I couldn't be out working were spent either online, in front of my garden books or on my drawing board. I think what I discovered along the way was that my real affinity was for color, contrast, and sightlines and in the end I had created a special uniquely me place where we could retreat and leave the world behind :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073519}}

This is my first yearly rhodie bloomer, just finished plucking her, won't be this blue for another year :-(

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073521}}

That is so full fluffy and beautiful, Boxofrox. What do you mean "plucking" her?

Deadheading :-) That sucker had a full squished down 5 gallon bucket of spent blooms.

Next, I've got 30 or so of these..........

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073523}}

Does deadheading or "plucking" help the plant or do you do it to make it look better?

Both, actually all three ;-)

It helps turn the focus back to the new growth that sprouts below the bloom. It also keeps the clutter to a minimum. But it also keeps the spent bloom from sliming up the foliage.

I passed a bank sign yesterday at 11:00 AM and it was 44 degrees. Not all that bad if it were Dec or Jan, but come on, the 12th of May???? Nevertheless, inspite of our extended winter, my number 3 is finally here, momma's personal favorite....'Rocket'

Could spring be far behind?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073524}}

Wow, Rocket is beautiful!

Some of its leaves are notched.

Have you ever tried the beneficial nematode treatment? Does it really have to be done every year? Rhodies in my yard really showing bites, have to do something very soon.

Have you tried sticky stuff on the trunks to catch the weevils? What kind of sticky stuff works best?

Hot air from California is supposed to come up this weekend, high 80s to low 90s they say. So the heat is on its way ... watering here. 38 degrees this morning.

I never have treated my rhodies for weevils. Sure, I get a few chomps now and then but pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme. That particular shrub is pretty doggone vigorous otherwise.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073525}}

You're lucky! And your rhody is gorgeous and robust.

I ignored the chomps last year and they invited all their friends to feast on the leaves. Imagining the roots getting similarly eaten and I gotta do something big. The soil here hasn't warmed to 55 degrees yet or the nematodes would already be busy eating the weevils.

I'm sure hoping that the forecast is accurate, I think I heard maybe 75 for here. I had my pond filtration system professionally cleaned and it required a 60% water change so that dropped my water temp a lot. Chemically and pH wise not a problem but with Koi, they have problems with the feed when the water is much cooler than 50. I've grown quite attached to them over the years :-)

The bloom is on...............

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073527}}

Raking up the leaf litter under your rhodies helps with the weevil problems. If I remember correctly, their eggs winter over in the leaf litter, or something like that. I just know it works.

This is one of my favorites..............

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1073530}}

Wow, Box----September Song is now one of my new faves too....thanks for the pic.
Love that color!

You're welcome sg :-)

Her color is somewhat like 'Unique Marmalade' but richer. That picture has a lot of light, she's actually somewhat darker and a nice contrast with the purple 'Jonathan Shaw' behind her.