Alicia's Garden Sanctuary

Good morning, garden!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:54:00 +0000

Well'p - despite all the snow and pouring rain, my little crocuses and tulips are starting to peek through the dirt! Grow little flowers, grow!

Tęsknię za Tobą, Babcia

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:40:00 +0000

It's been two years since my Grandma Baldwin passed away. In honor of her love for gardenias, I am posting a picture of one below.

Tęsknię za Tobą, Babcia

What's summer without Marigolds?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:09:00 +0000

There is something about Marigolds that reminds me of home and of summer. They smell surprisingly good - even though when I was little, I hated the smell of them. Same with Geraniums......hmmmm......am I turning into an old lady? Nah....my tastes are just changing. Anyway, they just spark fun memories of SoCal where I grew up.

Here are some photos of the Marigolds that I planted around our Japanese Maple, out in the front yard. I love the rocks in the background :-)

Mom's Zinnias

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:59:00 +0000

Zinnias
Originally uploaded by Silent Movie Girl

Here is a picture of my Mom's beautiful zinnias! They are doin' pretty good out there, methinks!

Tom's Evening Stock

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:42:00 +0000

My friend Tom and I both planted some evening stock seeds this year. While mine are still trying to get started (okay, so I planted late) , Tom's are really taking off!

Tom says: "The flowers are tiny and barely noticeable, but man come sunset they start giving off a powerfully sweet licorice aroma. Just you wait."

Here's a great photo of the stock from his yard. Thanks, Tom!

Lavender!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:53:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite times of the year. It's Lavender time!

In honor of the Lavender Festival in Sequim and on Vashon Island this weekend, I am posting some photos that I just took of the lavender that is blooming in my yard. We'll be heading up to Sequim on Saturday, so I am sure that there will be more lavender photos to come!

Blackberry Blooms

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:22:00 +0000

DSCN4371
Originally uploaded by Silent Movie Girl

It's blackberry season! Here's a shot of some blooms coming up on a blackberry bush that I needed to eradicate YESTERDAY!

Pretty anyway ;-)

A

Snapdragon

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:19:00 +0000

Snapdragon
Originally uploaded by Silent Movie Girl

Here's a random snapdragon that popped up in my yard last week. Aren't the colors awesome? I love the combination of magenta and yellow.

Our fence!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Here are some pics of our fence!! We are so excited. Now we can start planting things and blogging about them! :-)

New addition to the garden sanctuary

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:40:00 +0000

There has been a new development - an addition to the garden sanctuary! A fence!! Woo Hoo! I will post some photos before long. I also have a few photos from the garden to share.

Stay tuned!
A

Mystery solved!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:10:00 +0000

Pretty flower (2)
Originally uploaded by Silent Movie Girl

I've solved the mystery in my yard. These wonderful flowers are COLUMBINE! YAY!

:-)

Allium

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:17:00 +0000

Thanks to Wikipedia, we know that Allium is the onion genus, with about 1250 species, making it one of the largest plant genera in the world. They are perennial bulbous plants that produce chemical compounds (mostly cystein sulfoxide) that give them a characteristic onion or garlic taste and odor, and many are used as food plants. Allium is classified in family Alliaceae although some classifications have included it in the lily family (Liliaceae).

Most bulbous alliums increase by forming little bulbs or "offsets" around the old one, as well as by seed. Several species can form many bulbils (tiny bulbs) in the flowerhead; in the so-called "tree onion" (A. cepa Proliferum Group) the bulbils are few, but large enough to be used for pickling.

Members of the genus include many valued vegetables such as onions, shallots, leeks and herbs such as garlic and chives. A strong "oniony" odor is characteristic of the whole genus, but not all members are equally flavorful.

These photos are of my Allium, which are new to the garden this year. I love them!

Bleeding Heart of some sort?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:14:00 +0000

I have got ALL KINDS of mystery plants coming up! I love it! It gives me a little glimpse into what the previous owner planted years and years ago.

Anyway, this little sucker popped up in one of my tulip graveyards. Doesn't it look sorta like a variety of Bleeding Heart? Thoughts anyone?

Ummm..I "think" these are Mountain Bells

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:57:00 +0000

LOL!! I "think" that these are the Mountain Bells that I planted! I was about to entitle this blog post "Does anyone know what these are?" and then I went onto http://www.brecks.com/ and looked up Mountain Bells - it looks like these "might" be them? I am thrown off because the Mountain Bells that I ordered were a mix of darker purple, yellow and white (the picture to the left is from the Breck's website).

Hmmm! Oh well - these are pretty anyway!

If anyone knows that these AREN't Mountain Bells and might know what they are - let me know! :-)

Here are MY mystery flowers:

More ranunculus....

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:53:00 +0000

I couldn't resist sharing more ranunculus photos with you. They are just too cool and the details on these photos came out really clearly. I love the colors :-)

Lilacs and Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:47:00 +0000

Nothing rings in Spring like lilacs and sunshine. Here are some photos from the wonderful lilac tree in our backyard. I can almost smell the lilacs just looking at these photos.

As always, if you'd like to see more - just head on over to my Flickr photostream.

Larry LaJoie Memorial

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:04:00 +0000

So, you may or may not remember that we planted an extra special tulip bed in honor of Mike's father - who passed away last year. He loved tulips and he loved USC....hence the color choice of "cardinal and gold". Okay, so the red isn't EXACTLY cardinal and the yellow isn't exactly gold.....but we got close enough.

We planted a large package of giant red tulips and a large package of red with a little yellow - both from Costco. I ordered some more - special from Breck's in Holland - and those are mostly yellow with a little red. We planted those right in the middle of the patch.

Well, the bulk of the garden - the ones that we got frm Costco - bloomed a few weeks ago. The color has been absolutely spectacular!! The ones from Breck's however, were taking forever to bloom. They were getting close, but not quite there.

Last Friday was Mike's father's birthday - our first one without him. As I pulled into the driveway after work - I noticed that the special ones in the middle of the patch had bloomed. They waited until his birthday! What an awesome gift it was. For all of us.

Here are some photos - enjoy them and think about someone you love :-)

Our very own state flower display.....

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:29:00 +0000

We have a total of six rhododendrons in our front yard. They are old and established, humongous and beautiful. Here are some more fun facts on rhodies (from where else? Wikipedia!):

Rhododendron arboreum (Lali Gurans) is the national flower of Nepal. Rhododendron niveum is the state tree of Sikkim in India. Rhododendron catawbiense, the predominant Rhododendron in the Appalachian Mountains, is the state flower of West Virginia, and is in the Flag of West Virginia. Rhododendron macrophyllum, the predominant rhododendron on the Pacific Coast and in the Cascade Mountains is the state flower of Washington.

Here's a picture of our brightest one - right by the street. You can see it a mile away!

...and for the final closeup....

Porch Pansies

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:22:00 +0000

There is just something about having lots of colorful pansies (flowers) on my porch. They are cheerful and tend to remind me of family (my Grandma's name is Pansy).

These are some that I found over at Tony's market last month - and they've been cheering me up ever since!!

Ranunculus!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:15:00 +0000

My ranunculus are starting to bloom! I planted these bulbs the year before last and I think I might like to plant more! They are so pretty and cluster-y.

It's fun to head into the Spring/Summer phase of my garden!

Tulips from the Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:37:00 +0000

Here are some photos of the various different tulips 'round my garden (see Tom? I do have A LOT!).

My faves this year were the HUGE yellow ones. Seriously - they were the size of my hand if I were to put my fingers together into a point!

I also love the dark parrot tulips that I have. The ruffles are so cool and the color is just plain amazing. It's almost like Merlot.

Cool flower photo

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:17:00 +0000

IMG_1389
Originally uploaded by exportryan

My friend Ryan took this photo at the Volunteer Park Conservatory this past weekend. Very cool!

Come on, sun......

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:50:00 +0000

DSCN3919
Originally uploaded by Silent Movie Girl

This is one of my favorite pictures from Roozengaarde. I love the forsythia and the wire fence in the background. The combination of tulips and daffodils is always really nice, too.

After last weekend....I am SOOO ready for some warm weather!! Come on, sun......

A

Me and the Tulips

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:53:00 +0000

DSCN3971
Originally uploaded by Silent Movie Girl

The tulip festival was so fun! Here I am tip-toeing through the display garden @ Roozengaarde. Check out all the photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silentmoviegirl/sets/72157604507783862/

A

Helloooo Spring!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:18:00 +0000

Spring flowers!
Originally uploaded by Silent Movie Girl

These are from my tulip/hyacinth patch over by the dryer vent. The sun came out last week and my flowers rejoiced. Hello Spring!

A