This past Sunday (26 June) Heronswood held its second West Coast Open House of the year. The Open House was hosted by volunteers from Chase Garden (http://www.chasegarden.org), and all proceeds benefitted The Garden Conservancy (www.gardenconservancy.org). Some 750 people attended, over twice the number who attended in May. The next Open Day in Kingston takes place on Saturday, July 16th.

Early morning

Early morning before the crowd

Registration

The weather Sunday was lovely—sunny and warm. But so far this year, the Pacific Northwest has seen little but cool, wet weather. The garden shows this. Everything is well behind what you’d expect. And some damage from an early November cold snap is still evident in various frost-burned plants. Several people told me that locally many of the climatically marginal plants such as ceanothus and rock rose (Cistus spp.) died as a result of this event. Heronswood lost a fine, old Grevillea victoriae.

Parking cars

Lots of parking space

Beginning the tour

This reminded me that I’m regularly surprised by the weather—cold snaps, late springs, whatever, weather that seems slightly unusual or that strikes me as maybe too cold or too hot. And with this surprise, comes a mild sense of dread. I doubt that I’m alone in these feelings. I think they are the basis of one of our current cultural concerns—climate change (anthropogenic or not). We humans have short memories; what occurred last year and maybe the year before becomes the base line for what we think should occur in the future. But we forget that the basic constant in weather is change, and the climate of North America (and Earth itself) is always changing; it has never been as it is now, nor will it ever be the same again. Despite all, Heronswood is a beautiful garden that is looking pretty well as you can see from these photos.

Most of the ephemeral and small flowering plants that were everywhere in May (http://www.heronswoodvoice.com/2011/05/down-the-rabbit-hole-guest-blog-by-nick-rhodehamel/) have faded. They’ve been replaced by a myriad of other flowers, geraniums prominently among them.

Geranium x oxonianum

Geranium sanguineum

Geranium sanguineum

Geranium sanguineum

Geranium himalayense x pratense

Geranium himalayense x pratense

Geranium pratense

Geranium sanguineum and Campanula cochlearifolia

Aqulegia dark purple

The perennial gardens are beginning to come into their own.

Perennial beds east of main house

Eryngium alpinum ‘Star Blue’ Corylus ‘Red Filbert’ behind

Eryngium alpinum ‘Blue Star’

In the beds to the east of Heronswood’s main house is the thistle-like Erynigium alpinum ‘Blue Star’. Endemic to the Alps and Balkan mountains, it’s a more showy cousin of Eryngium yuccifolium, a native to the prairies of the upper Midwest and colorfully named (for reasons I don’t know) “rattlesnake master”. E. alpinum is commonly called “sea holly” (for reasons I also don’t know).

Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’

Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum) is a common and wide-spread perennial that is found south of Manitoba to Texas and east to the Atlantic Ocean.

Lonicera spp

Pictured here is a type of privet honeysuckle (Lonicerapileata). It is evergreen and makes good borders, growing to about 3 feet high. Lonicera flowers attract hummingbirds; the fruit of most species is slightly poisonous.

Most of the edible plants in the kitchen garden—squash, corn, strawberries, tomatoes—are clearly stunted from the late spring, but the surrounding trees and shrubs, such as these maples and this viburnum, are looking great.

Kitchen garden

Acer palmatum ‘Shindeshojo’

Acer shirasawanum ‘Autumn Moon’

Viburnum plicatum ‘Pink Sensation’

Quercus robur ‘Concordia’ (yellow)

Quercus robur ‘Concordia’

One tree I had never noticed before is this Chilean fire tree (Embothrium coccineum).

Embothrium coccineum Chilean fire tree

Embothrium coccineum Chilean fire tree detail

Chilean fire tree is native to the temperate forests of Chile and Argentina. It is evergreen with these bright crimson Proteaceae-type flowers and does well in the Pacific Northwest.

All quiet

Two more Heronswood West Coast Open Houses are planned for 2011—July 16, as I mentioned, and the final September 10. Please come see us.