Echium x wildpretii 'Rocket' is my favorite plant in the garden, this week…

It’s time has come; the monster must be celebrated...

This Echium x wildpretii 'Rocket' is remaining one of a pair I bought at Xera Plants the summer of 2010. Here are the twins the day they came home from the hospital nursery (lower right hand corner).

One went in the front garden that year, this one stayed in a container over winter 2010/11 (insurance based on questionable hardiness).

Then planted in the ground in June of 2011, it was so small then (even smaller than the last photo having lost a few leaves due to transplanting shock). It grew like crazy that year and even developed a branch.

By the time spring 2012 rolled around it was obvious the largest arm was going to bloom. Here’s a photo from June of last year. Andrew (6ft 2in) for scale…

And after I removed the bloomed out arm here’s what was left…

Which has become what’s blooming now.

Andrew appears again this year for scale (with Lila as a bonus)…

This whole section is a long branch that comes off the stump of the original plant.

Stretching out across the ground a good couple of feet.

And that trunk is huge! I can’t get my hand even halfway around it, oh and it’s hairy too…

Isn’t it just incredible? That tiny little plant has produced two 12+ plus bloom spikes and lived for 3 years in my garden. Which brings me to the description from Xera...."Amazing biennial that is worth growing for the rosette of leaves alone. Silvery thin leaves form a rosette to 3' wide and curl up into a spherical shape as tall. VERY COOL. In the second year a 6' tower of scarlet flowers points straight up. Well drained soil in a very warm position with occasional summer water. Overwinters best with good drainage. Great w/ boulders and Cactus, maybe a giant sloth and an alien. Full hot sun."...Wait, did they say 6’ tower? Ha!

Here’s where things get sad. This is the end! There are no more arms pushing out of that stump. When this one is done it’s done. A better gardener than I would leave it in place as long as possible (seeds!). But I’ve already watched it lean in the heavy rain and wind and I don’t want what happened to its much shorter sister in the front garden last year…

…to happen to it, that would be catastrophic. Besides I must be honest, it’s taking up a good bit of real estate that I’ve got plans for. So I close this tribute with a couple more photos, it’s been a pleasure to have you grace my garden Mr E. W. x R….

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Bloomday at the danger garden annex…

It’s been awhile since I’ve claimed the nearby Kennedy School Gardens as the danger garden annex but after walking the grounds earlier this week I was so excited by all the blooming things that I had to share…

It was a drive-by on my way home from grocery shopping that sent me back on a dog-walk, after all the Chilean Fire Bush (Embothrium coccineum) were blooming and I wanted to see them close-up.

There are two trees at the KS, one right behind their sign on Simpson and 33rd (shown above) and this one, near the northeast corner of the building (if you’re in the area and want to see them in person).

I also have two in my garden, but mine couldn’t be called trees, since they’re only about 12” tall. Maybe someday…

Another tiny plant in my garden that has achieved a much larger stature at the KS is this Fremontodendron….

Loaded with flowers!

Blooming Echium pininana (I think)…

And a bloom-spike on their Manfreda undulata 'Chocolate Chip'…

Hard to see isn’t it? Here’s a close up of the business end…

This little guy has leaves and flowers like an Echium, but I have no idea what it is.

Beschorneria with a bloom-spike! (Alison if you’re reading this is what I hope you see soon from that Beschorneria I forced on you at the GB plant swap)…

At first I thought those tiny yellow flowers were coming from the sedum, but upon a closer look I see that's not the case, plus no sedum I know has ever bloomed that nicely.

I do love a greenish dogwood blossom. Doesn’t everyone?

Classic color combo.

It kills me that I couldn’t get a better shot of this! I waited and waited for the sun to go behind a cloud but no luck. I believe it’s a Eryngium proteiflorum, the eryngium with a protea like flower…

I’ve never seen one blooming “in real life,” mine died a quick death long before a flower was a possibility.

Knowing there is rarely just one of anything along this border I searched and found another…couldn’t get a good shot of it either.

One more thing…back in my garden I discovered that the KS Manfreda undulata 'Chocolate Chips' isn’t the only one in the neighborhood that’s going to bloom. Mine is too!

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

How long does it take to forget?

Last week as I was planting this gorgeous 5-gallon phormium (picked up at the orange big box for only $24.99), it hit me how far backwards I’ve slid, and I paused for a moment to reflect.

When we moved to Portland this area was midway through a historic period of mild winters. I jumped in with both feet when planting…phormium, cordylines, yes and yes! Then the PKW’s hit (phormium killing winters) 2008/9 and for those of us that foolishly replanted, again in 2009/10. Since then it’s been pretty smooth sailing, with this last winter being particularly mild. You know what that means right? Those plants I vowed never to replant are creeping back into my garden.

First it was just a couple phormium in containers…

But now I’ve got seven phormium in the ground!

Their tall strappy foliage just can't be beat.

And of course their colors are pretty fabulous too.

It’s not just the cordy's and phormium that were hit, I lost a few sizable astelia during those winters as well. After that experience I vowed they were only going to be grown in containers. The current count? I’m up to three in the ground and I’m seriously considering releasing the containerized trio.

Am I asking for trouble? Perhaps.

I have serious doubts that the Euphorbia stygiana I posted about a couple weeks back would make it through a repeat of the PKW’s…

And no doubt the Banksia marginata would be toast...

But here I go doing crazy things like planting a tree fern (Dicksonia antartica) in the ground!

Why? It wasn’t doing so well in the container and since it’s my second I thought I’d see if I couldn’t get it to thrive here. Plus maybe I was a little jealous of the tall tree ferns in the garden of Mark and Gaz. We’ll see.

So my initial post-PKW resolve to only plant things hardy to zone 7 or lower (a full zone colder than mine) has obviously been forgotten. Or at least blurred by things like this Acacia pravissima continuing to succeed when I thought for sure it would be dead by now.

The current best example of my zonal denial? I’ve planted an Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira’ right out in an unprotected spot in the front garden.

Should make for a wonderful summer focal point, wonder what it will look like next January?

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.