Gardening, landscaping and plants in general

[Mister_Brue]

@endo Nigella, or ‘Love-in-a-Mist’. They’re annuals, but they self seed with carefree abandon. They also come in these colours…

[ROman]

[GraemeE]

Technically did some crime today.....garden crime

Friends aunt sold her house to developers a few months ago and retired out of state.

Told us to plunder the gardens before they demolish and build condos - so we did

On load number 3 currently

[Boit]

I never post anything here. I’m new to gardening. Started this landscaping project in 2021 by putting 21 tons of boulder into my 40’ wide 5’ high E facing slope of my house. I’m in zone 9 (Seattle, WA) and trying to grow some stuff that is a little on the edge…with some success and some failures and some hard lessons learned. Here are a couple pics of what it now looks like now in my 4th consecutive growing season.

[GraemeE]

@Boit that looks amazing

In addition to plants (obviously)I have boulder envy

[Go For Chill]

@Boit This is killer! I’m loving it.

[Boit]

Thanks y’all for the kind words.

My wife and I rented a little excavator and dug out the holes for the rocks we picked out at https://marenakos.com/.

Marenakos was able to crane in all the rocks without disturbing the red buds in the parking strip.

Happy to have the upper slope retained now.

[endo]

Looks awesome @Boit

[ROman]

Current Lily's blooming.

[JDelage]

@Boit - Lovely work! I'm in Seattle too, between Volunteer Park & Interlaken on Cap Hill.

[Boit]

@JDelage Nice!

I lived on Cap Hill for 7 years prior to 2018. Love that neighborhood.

I’m in N.Ballard now…above GG and near Larson’s Bakery. Shoot me a DM if you’re over here and want to see my garden…or talk about IH or whatever.

@pechelman made the trek out here once. Glad to see more of us connecting in Seattle.

The other morning I was dropping my kiddo at Daycare and noticed another dad wearing IHs. Naturally, I complemented him on his jeans..and that wasn’t difficult to do. They looked amazing!

I’m hoping that we’ll get another retailer back in Seattle. Blue Owl seems like they would be THE store!

[ROman]

I'm told this is an African Lily.

[SKT]

@ROman beautiful blooms

[SFMCfranky]

Artichoke in bloom - photo taken last evening in my back field.

[SKT]

Some beautiful Hydrangeas from this morning’s walk

[SKT]

@Mister_Brue I’m sure they’re a product of some hybrid wizardry but they sure are pretty

[SKT]

@Mister_Brue ahh…actual nature so much cooler

[endo]

@SKT @Mister_Brue my mom always made them blue by adding a certain fertilizer. Just read this: to color hydrangeas blue, acidic soil with a low pH (ideally below 5.0) is crucial, as this allows the plant to absorb aluminum, which is responsible for the blue color. Additionally, the use of aluminum sulfate (alum) in irrigation water or as a fertilizer can help intensify the blue color.

[Mister_Brue]

@endo That’s it! I didn’t remember it was to do with aluminium though. This is the one in my garden:

[wjw]

For hydrangeas or acidifying soil in general you can use a more natural sulfur. More natural than aluminum sulfate--you don't want aluminum sulfate to run off into unintended areas. I use Espoma Soil Acidifier which uses elemental sulfur and gypsum a couple times a year for my hydrangeas, rhodies, azaleas and any other acid loving plants.

I try to keep my garden as organic as possible, but I do use an annual copper spray for a couple plants that have bad powder mildew problems, and an insecticide for ornamentals that have a bad weevil and whitefly problem. The organic methods for those pests and pathogens weren't able to curb the problem.