Rock star

I probably shouldn’t feature this plant on a blog called The Edible Balcony Garden because (#1) it’s inedible and (#2) it’s not even in my garden. This Lewisia cotyledon forma alba is happily soaking up the sun and heat in my Mom’s south-facing rock garden. But I’d like to write about this “happy camper” anyway because it’s exactly that: the right plant in the right place. This is an important concept that’s taken me many growing seasons to accept because…

…My favourite ornamental plants are full or partial shade dwellers. And no matter how often I water or try to shelter them from mid-morning to late-afternoon sun, they do not thrive on my south-facing balcony with its heat absorbing deck. I learned this costly, disappointing lesson a few years ago when I tried to grow native woodland plants. The experiment, not surprisingly, failed — unless you considering adding more plants to the compost a goal. Put the wrong plant in the wrong place and you will use far too many inputs to keep it barely alive, effort contrary to a low-impact garden.

So last year, I finally gave in to my habitat, even if it’s not my first choice. The new attitude I’m trying to cultivate is the gardener’s equivalent of “if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.”

This season I’d like to add sun-seeking, drought-tolerant succulents to the hayrack planters and hanging baskets at the front of my balcony. But now I have doubts about including Lewisia. In doing research for this post, I learned about its growth requirements and I’m not sure I can create rock garden-like conditions. According to one reference, “brought down from their subalpine heights to sea level gardens, they easily fall prey to root-rot.” That doesn’t sound good! I really don’t want to stress another plant or myself — or our precious planet’s resources — by trying too hard to make something work.

For now I can be quite happy enjoying alpine plants by visiting this botanical garden more often. And I will continue to take photos and make plans for my future rock and shade gardens.

But if you are seeking a showy specimen to fill a bare spot in your rock garden, you may want to consider this pure white-flowering Lewisia with its abundant blossoms.

The start of the May Long-Gardening-Weekend

Wooo-hoooo. YES!!! It’s here. Friday evening. And today, finally, good weather. A dream gardening weekend begins NOW and doesn’t end until midnight on Monday. Thank you, Queen Victoria.

Part of my weekend wardrobe: You Grow Girl SUPERfantastico buttons, a Lillie & Coe hat and new, still-clean-but-not-for-long gardening gloves.

Green Thumb (& Black Nose) Sunday

Photos of the gardener’s helper adding removing worm compost to from the containers this afternoon:

Sniffing the black gold

Living up to his reputation as an earth dog

No wonder cleaning up takes more time than any other gardening activity.
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The fairest tulips of them all

Yesterday morning — a weekday off work plus three more blissful things, all before breakfast:

1) Sunshine
2) An easy drive from city to country (ie, light traffic, no roadwork, no construction zones — this is rare)
3) A greeting from exuberant ‘Angelique’ when I pulled into Mom’s driveway:

No surprise that my favourite tulips are the same colour as cherry blossoms. You can see a close-up of another Angelique’s beautiful face here.

So if you were limited to just one tulip in your garden, which one would you grow and why?

Today’s most encouraging news headline:

‘Zero Mile Diet’ Blooms in BC

Source: The Tyee

Good news for gardeners, farmers, locavores, seed savers and seed vendors who manage sustainable supply and demand in the new home garden and small farm based economy. (OK, I’m just dreaming with this last statement.)

Green Thumb Sunday

I’ve spent the last week of evenings and several hours today dividing tangled root balls, repotting and potting on, amending soil, pruning, trimming and shaping — in other words, dealing with previous seasons’ plants — and tending to seedlings — oh where will I put them all? But my focus in this post will be simple enjoyment and appreciation of the oldest plant on my balcony (12+ years): Inaba Shidare’, “Cascading Leaves of Rice“:

I didn’t know the meaning of its name until today. Quite lovely and it makes me enjoy and value my favourite plant even more — and it has nothing to do with the price of rice.

You read more about the tree with ricelike leaves here.

What’s up?

Seedlings trying very hard to grow tall and strong in this cool weather.

Nasturtiums: Vanilla, Cherry Jubliee, Creamsicle

Lettuce: Looseleaf, Romaine, Butterhead

Lavender, Parsley, Basil, Alpine Strawberry ‘Mignonette’

Stay or go; read or sow

Should I stay or should I go; should I blog or should I sow?

Monday through Friday, my first afterwork activity is predetermined. By my Westie. And today if he hadn’t, as usual, nudged me with his nose toward the door, the early evening sunshine would have pulled me outside for a long walk.

Now that I’m home I’m left with the other two options: blog (ie. read old favourites and new finds, comment, write my Earth Day post) or sow. Again, the choice is easy. This awaits me:

I’ve sown about 1/4 of these seeds and am ahead of schedule compared to last year, on time compared to 10-12 years ago, but very late (for indoor sowing of herbs and flowers) according to last frost dates for zone 8. My garden is an experiment in pushing all kinds of limits, including space and time. I do have to follow a calendar of some sort, though, and need to sow the sweet peas NOW or wait until fall. Credit goes to Thomas Hobbs for this late and spontaneous addition of sweet peas to the balcony garden. He featured them in hanging baskets this past Saturday on the morning news gardening feature.

“Think of me”

Blooming on my balcony and illuminated by the sun this afternoon:

In the language of flowers, a yellow pansy = “think of me” (source: A Handful of Flowers)

Addendum (April 21st): Yes, a yellow pansy (Viola x wittrockiana) does mean “think of me” but this flower is a yellow violet (Viola), which means “rural happiness.” My goof. I did a bit more research based on Tess’s comment. Thanks, Tess!

A bit of a beautiful distraction because I’m supposed to be sowing the rest of my seeds this afternoon. I’m both late and on time with this task — late according to the West Coast gardener’s calendar for indoor seed starting but on time with my own journals from past years. I spent a little too much time in the urban garden this month and not enough my own. Blame it on hanami and sakura intoxication.

after the April showers…

Lemony-buttery hyacinths in our condominium’s courtyard garden. A daily dose of spring colour.