Golden Hour

 I cannot recall a busier garden season than this year. Open gardens, visitors and consultations, it has all been wonderful and non-stop. The moment the last guest left from our most-recent open garden FM reminded me it was the golden hour, the time in the garden that no one really gets to see unless you stay after 6 pm. The time when lighting makes magic. 

So, in an effort to balance our hectic schedule with a bit of calm, I took FM's advice and spent a couple of evening hours taking in this creation with camera in hand. Since visitors rarely see it this time of day I thought I would share my very personal golden hour.

Around the barely used fire pit, foliage rules. Between grasses and a now huge Azara microphylla (upper right), the shades of green alone are enough to keep this gardener happy.

Evening sun catching blossoms of Cotinus 'Pink Champagne'.

Penstemon 'Firebird' looking rather more pink than firebird cherry red. I find it quite charming.

Alcea rosea 'Nigra' was sown from seed years ago. It has been in this spot for at least five years when I expected it to last only a year or two. It never flowered last year (perhaps also in 2021) and it has had rust before, but when it blooms it is something to see.

This one is for my mother. She gave me Oscar the Agve parryi subsp. truncata, which I feature regularly on the blog. I don't know that I've ever featured Oscar's pal Felix the opuntia (unsure of the species). Here he is blooming, Mom, and quite happy.

Stachys 'Hummelo' is so good in my opinion. I love the way it has seeded itself in a cascade down a steep bank in the berm garden.

Digitalis parviflora at the edge of the labyrinth garden. This is its first year blooming. I hope for seedlings where it is sited at the edge of a hot and dry area in full sun.

Santolina 'Lemon Queen' simply luminous in angled evening light.

Ceanothus x pallidus 'Marie Simon' had a lot of dieback - many bare and dead spindly branches this spring having been hit hard by winter weather. I pruned it back significantly and it has responded with vigor. This semi-deciduous ceanothus actually likes a bit of a spring haircut, I should do it yearly.

Mystery hebe from Joy Creek Nursery - a rescue. My guess is H. 'Heidi' or  'Autumn Glory' I think perhaps for the former for it's blooming now, not in autumn. Whatever it is, I stuck it in the ground in the open next to a rustic log bench not expecting it to survive, it was literally a stick. It not only thrived it also rebounded after a nasty spring. 

Lowly Verbascum thapsus glowing in the evening sun. I generally yank these, letting a few bloom here and there, but definitely removing them before they go to seed. In moments such as this I'm happy I leave a few.

Here is a new-to-me plant, Mirabilis multiflora. The FABULOUS Mary Ann Newcomer of Boise horticulture fame mailed me seeds a couple of years ago. I grew them on, planted out the best one last year and it sort of disappeared while forming a tap root. Completely deciduous, I wasn't even sure where I had planted it and hoped it would come back. It did, with gusto! In her words:

 THIS PLANT. Amazing. It will develop a tap root the size of a person's arm. I am not kidding. Mirabilis multiflora or desert four o'clock. I first saw it 10 yrs ago in a garden in UT. Knee high, very little water, and in no time (2 yrs) it will be 6 to TEN feet across. I repeat, very little water. 

It will be a player in the revised back garden. New rules: it must be able to survive 10 weeks with very little intervention.

She lives in the very tough climate of Boise, Idaho, and if it survives for her, then it's a winner for me. Thank you, Mary Ann (who by the way is the most fabulous house guest ever!). She gave me more seeds recently, I plan on growing more.

Veronica longifolia, Amsonia hubrichtii and Nassella tenuissima mixing in the meadow area.

Knautia macedonica has seeded itself nicely in the meadow garden. Long wiry stems hold dark crimson flowers bobbing along, flowering periodically through summer. I have it paired with Allium sphaerocephalon, drumstick allium that echoes its colors, and it holds its own for months with practically no supplemental water.  

Tritelia laxa (syn. Brodiaea laxa), a native bulb of Oregon and California appreciates drying out in summer. 

Lupinus albifrons was a gift from a friend who grew them from seed. She came to my garden in early spring and pricked them out as we planted them - she says she gets the highest success rate that way and as all of the seedlings we planted are thriving I would agree. Thank you, Meagan!

Another friend gave me two sweet peas she grew from seed (I have the best friends!). This one is planted in the veggie garden and has the most divine scent. Sweet Pea 'Old Spice'.

Calycanthus (either occidentalis or floridus) continues to bloom prolifically. If anyone out there can positively i.d. this one way or the other for me I would appreciate it.

More foliage textures near the fire pit while the evening sun catches the grasses of the orchard in the distance.

Muhlenbergia rigens (deer grass) and Festuca rubra 'Patrick's Point', two West Coast-native grasses surround the fire pit. I love the color combination and the durability and ease of both of these drought adapted grasses.

Ozothamnus 'Sussex Silver' in bloom.

Amsonia hubrichtii in a sea of creeping thyme.

Thymus serpyllum 'Elfin' just beginning to bloom. Creeping thyme is the best groundcover, I use it in many places in full sun.

Anaphalis margaritacea, pearly everlasting, pops up in many places in the western woodland garden on its own.

Aquilegia formosa, western columbine, also pops up in the shade garden on its own.

Kniphofia thomsonii backed by Verbena bonariensis.

The edge of the meadow garden with Amsonia hubrichtii, Digitalis ferruginea, Achillea millefolium, Epilobium 'Solidarity Pink' and Nepeta 'Walker's Low' mix with grasses such as Carex testaceae and Anementhele lessoniana.

Astrantia seedling in the shade garden.

A creeping groundcover rose I took cuttings of from my mother's garden last year. We bought it at Heirloom Roses years ago and have long since lost its tag. It's a beauty though and a prolific bloomer.

Sempervivum in one of my favorite containers (purchased from Danger Garden years ago) with a seedling of Petrohagia saxifraga.

I love the combination of dark navy blue with fresh white of Sedum album in a pot on our deck.

My replacement Atriplex halimus is doing well now that we've warmed up considerably since May when I was getting worried it wouldn't make it.

Evening light catching the tops of large shrubs.

Evening light across the orchard and the now tall orchard grass.

Digitalis lutea pops up in random places having traveled on soil from the old garden where it was prolific.

In the heart of the veggie garden, we do use this area as a resting place. Often in the evening with a glass of something yummy. It is especially lovely with the scent of sweet peas so close by.

Agastache 'Kudos Red' now relocated to the new gravel area near Oscar the agave is much happier.

Eryngium giganteum - Miss Wilmott's Ghost - continues to hold court at the edge of our driveway. The clump of plants is easily 5' across and 2' deep - it's massive and would be even larger if I didn't keep it in check. A beauty, though. I wouldn't be without it.

This summer has been really quite lovely. A few hot days but nothing extraordinary. I think this has allowed for many stressed plants to have a bit of a rebound, although damage from the last couple of years certainly took a toll. Holes from the damage are filled in quickly from neighboring plants and the push/pull continues on. As the garden evolves into a more mature setting, those glimpses of what the original vision was are sometimes revealed to me in moments like golden hours when I can simply take it in. Sharing the garden with others is something we truly enjoy and hopefully some of that vision is apparent to our visitors. It's hard to tell, really. I wish people could see it in the early morning and evening hours, the golden times but alas, that is rarely the case. That's why I do posts like this one.

Thank you to all the folks from the two Corvallis Evening Garden Club visits and everyone else who came over to spend a little time with us this past spring and early summer. We appreciate you all! More open gardens on the horizon, to be sure.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always thank you so much for reading and commenting, we love hearing what you are all up to.