Breakfast at our house

Hey Diva Dog, what’s that you’re eating?  It smells good. Can I try some?

 

Hey, this stuff is good! You don’t mind if I have some, do you? There’s enough in that bowl to share, right?

 

Do you mind? I’m trying to eat here. Could you step back and give me some space?

 

Let me help you finish that off. I wouldn’t want you to get indigestion from eating all that by yourself. No need to thank me, Diva Dog. What are friends for, after all?

 

  Psst. Tomorrow, same time, same place?

Season’s Greetings from the Wenches & the critters

Mugsy

Charlie

Sierra

Dakota & her groupies

Sleeping cheek to cheek

White Socks and Diva Dog taking their afternoon nap.

--Curmudgeon & Wing Nut

Guarding the peas and potatoes

Today we decided that one hour of gardening in light misting rain was better than no gardening at all. I swear the weather people said we'd see the sun all weekend long. We did some cleaning in preparation for planting the tomatoes. Just in case Mr. Raccoon decides to drop by, Diva Dog is on the job, guarding over the peas and potatoes.

At the other end of the potager our salad greens--which are mostly not green--have been producing quite nicely this Spring. There are also beets and radishes growing in the front section. In the back section there are chard, garlic, shallots, purple cauliflower and purple kale--a reject that was headed for the compost pile until Wing Nut rescued it and brought it home.

This month we missed GBBD but here are a few of our blooms from May. First up are the trilliums. We finally got trilliums to bloom in our shade garden. Not all the plants bloomed this year. A little research learned me that this is not uncommon with young plants. They can take up to 5 or more years to bloom. Last year none of our plants bloomed. This year half bloomed--all white. Hopefully next year the red ones will bloom.

Wood Anemone

Lily-of-the-valley.

Freesia.

Washington Park Arboretum

Established in 1934, the Washington Park Arboretum is the largest public garden in the northwest and the oldest gardens west of the Mississippi. Situated just east of downtown Seattle and south of the University of Washington, the 230 acre arboretum is a spectacular urban green space. The collection of rhododendrons range from dwarfs to tree forms. Here are a few of the ones we found in bloom today.

 

 

 

One of our favorite trees to visit at the WPA is prunus serrula, also known as birchbark cherry, paperbark cherry or Tibetan cherry. It is a native of western China It does flower a bit later in the spring. But the bark is what really wows.

 

 

Hey, I smell a squirrel!

Eagle Watching

Every winter, hundreds of eagles come to the Skagit River to feast upon the spawning salmon. We drove about 2 hours northeast of Seattle into the foothills of the Cascade Mountains to see some of the majestic birds.

It was cold and gray, but that is apparently better viewing weather for eagles. When it's warm and sunny, they soar up and ride the thermal currents. A few professional photographers (with enviable cameras & lenses) were there as well as bird watchers. They told us the majority of the eagles had moved on to other sites; we were about a week or so late. We did manage to see, at a distance, about 10 eagles, mostly sitting in the trees. There are two eagles in each photo below.


Here are some close ups on the eagles.

One eagle did fly ovehead and I was able to snap a series of pictures of it. With a little computer wizardry, I was able to make this panoramic photo.

We also saw a great blue heron standing on a tree stump near the river's edge. It stood very nicely for me to take its picture.


There was a bit of snow on the ground, so we romped around with Diva Dog. We drove to a park recommended in our dog guide to let her stretch her legs (and ours) for a while. We saw some amazing trees, ferns, and other foliage.


It never ceases to amaze me how green this state is year round. I'm also frequently amazed by the natural beauty here.

The Chocolate Flower Farm

This weekend we headed north to Anacortes and Whidbey Island for a little vacation. The weather was perfect! We stayed at a dog friendly B&B, Island Tyme, right outside of the little town of Langley on the southern end of Whidbey Island. Diva Dog seemed to enjoy her time on the beach! We also did some hiking.

Double Bluff Beach, Useless Bay

Mt. Rainier

The woods at Greenbank Farm

Island Tyme B&B

For more photos of our trip, click this link to our Whidbey Island photo albumn on Ofoto.

While in Langley we visited the Chocolate Flower Farm which is a small specialty nursery. They specialize in dark flower/foliage plants including some that smell like chocolate. They also make chocolate candles and soap. Of course we couldn't leave without acquiring a few more plants for our garden!

Penstemon raven

Euphorbia tasmanian tiger and blackbird

Hummingbird sighting!

Curmudgeon and I took Diva Dog for a walk before dinner this evening. When we returned, I heard a buzz and saw a blur. We quickly looked up and noticed a hummingbird buzzing over the hillside garden. It was hovering over the mystery plant and the lavender. Ivette asked how on earth we'll get a picture of the hummingbird. I don't know yet, but I'll work on it. Here's a website that has a picture of agastache and a hummingbird: http://www.highcountrygardens.com/agastache/ (okay, so that's cheating a little!)

I saw the hummingbird once earlier this summer. I had just finished planting the agastache (hyssop or hummingbird mint) and heard a buzzing over my head. It flew down to check out the agastache, which wasn't even blooming yet. The one we have is very fragrant - rich licorice scent. I told the hummingbird to come back in a few weeks when it was blooming. Well it's blooming now and my little feathered friend is back too! I love gardening! :-) I'll have to keep an eye on it to figure out what kind it is. We saw it a few times last summer, so we planted more things to attract it.

Here are some pictures of the hillside garden and the agastache. The garden area is about 14 ft wide by about 30 ft long. When we first moved in, the weeds (blackberries, wild clematis-like thing, morning glory and dandelions as big as your head) were dense, tall, thick and frightening. The vines came from the rock wall (that we didn't know we had for the first 2 years!) and the neighbor's yard and reached all the way to the sidewalk. We've been cutting, digging, pulling, and doing our damnedest to get them out. I even bought a machete!! Word of advice - a machete blade will throw sparks if you hit it on rocks. They aren't faking it on "Survivor." Be sure not to cut when things are too dry.

These pictures are from earlier in the spring. The agastache and lavender hadn't started blooming and we were still working on clearing out the bottom of the hill. Notice who has decided to take a nap amongst the impatiens! The red flower is a hibiscus. Oh yeah, and the striped grass which we think looks really cool with the hibiscus is actually considered a noxious weed here in WA! Ooooops!