Down The Rabbit Hole

KingstonRabbi

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the Rabbit Hole, a refuge for wayward plants and critters, including you.

This is where I garden above ground, which doesn't quite fit with the title, but just go with it. :)

My favorite part of my garden is the parking strip. I live on a corner double lot, so I have over 2500 sf that used to be lawn that is becoming a wildlife/native plant refuge. I started the first section 3 years ago before I was diagnosed with cancer. First year I just smothered half of the lawn and weeds by laying down cardboard and covering it with 10 yards of soil mix. Next summer I bought bare root shrubs and native perennials, plus plants I'd been keeping in pots for years looking for a place to plant them. I laid out some winding paths for people to explore once everything grew in.

For the last 2 years things have been growing out of control while I've been recovering from chemo treatments. This year I'm almost as healthy as when I started this project. So far this year I've smothered another quarter of lawn and planted it with more natives and perennial flowers that I started last summer. Goal for this summer is to keep that section weeded while the natives spread and to recover as much of first part of project that's now overgrown. That won't be all work though. I designed the garden so that I could discover new things every time I walk through. Pulling away weeds and overgrowth I've already rediscovered a few treasures.

First, some blue camas bulbs I planted last summer. Glad I put the stake to mark them because I'd never have found them in strawberries otherwise. They used to be so common in PNW that Native Americans ate them as a staple. I've only seen them growing wild once. I bought these at a native plant sale as bulblets and kept in pots the first summer. Last summer I got a couple blooms. This year I'm hoping they divide and I can start spreading them into more open areas (assuming I can clear some).
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Another native is blue lupine. This one I started from seeds I collected. This is only one that survived last summer without water. Unlike it's hybrid relatives this one stayed green all winter so started spring with a foot of top growth. Like it's relatives it seems to attract aphids. You can see two stems down in front covered with grey aphids. They don't seem to be slowing it down any. From a distance it almost looks like it belongs in my other garden.
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Not every flower in my garden is blue. Well, right now they're all blue. I've got wood hyacinths and cornflowers in bloom, also blue, didn't plan that. But I've got plenty of reds, pinks, whites, purples, oranges, even some green ones, and more blues on the way. I hope you make yourself comfortable and enjoy your stay. Wander around, eat as many strawberries as you like, then just lie back and watch the dragonflies and hummingbirds feeding on gnats overhead.
:Namaste:
 
Here's a couple flowers that aren't blue adding a little diversity.

Alliums aren't natives or edibles, the two main criteria I usually use for choosing plants for this garden. I got the bulbs on clearance last year and included them in my refuge garden hoping they will naturalize. They also add some height and variety in spring. Mainly I'm featuring them tonight because they're not blue. This is the new section of garden, which is why you can still see dirt.
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Golden Chain is another non-native/non-edible, but this one has a personal history. Growing up there was a tall one outside my window that bloomed on my birthday every year. This is an offspring of that tree that has since died. So it's like a companion to me.
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Behind it you can see a little of the overgrown mess I have to work with in the old section. Behind on left is a mound of bee balm and further back you can see yet another blue flower, a perennial centaurea. A lot of buds starting to open. This is a great time of year for little discoveries nearly everyday. That's really my main goal with this garden, to create a place for discovery and wonder.
 
More little discoveries


When I got home Friday evening I opened my car door to pleasantly troubling discovery. These are suckers from underground runners from native species Nootka Roses I planted in first summer. When a few popped up last summer I thought they were seedlings. Some of them actually were, but I had no idea this species spread like this. I may have to remove them before they take over and limit them to more isolated areas of my yard. The big ones have started opening buds, Not showy, but that's one of the things I like about them. They are one of the large scale features that blends with more showy flowers and ties the whole garden together. Plus they are great safe places for tiny birds like bushtits that occasionally visit in small chirping swarms.
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Golden Hop Vine, climbing up the dead trunk of a Camperdown Elm. Hops aren't native but they do really well here and one of the major agricultural crops in Washington. These are ornamental and I probably won't be using the flowers in home brews. I kept the tree trunk for visual interest and also because humming birds like to perch on it late in afternoon. Last summer I planted the hops to climb up it, fill the canopy with leaves, and then trail back down around the edges like the elm used to grow. They spent last summer establishing roots, this summer they'll finally reach the canopy and we'll see what happens after that. If you wonder how far I'll go to hang on to a plant, this one's been dead for four years and I'm still keeping it!
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Another re-discovery, Sorrel hidden between the lupine and strawberries. Edible herb with red stems and veins. I need to move it to where it won't get lost again. It's only a foot from the camas flowers but I still didn't see it when I was taking photos for first post.
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Pacific Nine-bark, native small tree/big shrub, I planted in first summer, this is first time blooming. If you look closer (as is my goal in this garden) you see its stems have red papery bark that splits to show pale greenish white stripes.
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Native geranium, crowded into a corner with the nine-bark and other shrubs that I planted without much planning. I need to relocate most of the plants here. It's fun to find all the little things I have planted here, but it's also out of the way and I don't go through this part often. I also started a pond feature that is totally lost in the clutter, so some rearrangement is definitely called for, eventually. On the left, a blackberry I pulled. Another feature of my garden, weeding often becomes foraging. The bunnies love the vines as much as I love the berries.
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In the newly planted area of parking strip, a native flower I can't remember the name of (right), and an alpine strawberry grown from seed of plant that volunteered at my parents house. It doesn't spread like it's cousins, berries are too small to make a meal of, but I love the sour and dense flavor for quick snacks when I'm working out here. The native plant I can't remember name of needs a more woodland like spot. The thin stems make it look like there's not even a plant there, just some floating leaves and tiny white flowers. Also in photo, a couple Salals getting started, blue fescue grass, and a tree peony that obviously isn't native, but I bought it at school plant sale to raise funds for their native plant garden, so it serves a double purpose.
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And a red spider I can't identify, about an inch long. Wild life is moving in!
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Edit: I found info on spider:

Common Name: Woodlouse Hunter

Latin Name: Dysdera crocata

Family: Dysderidae

Size: body length about 3/8 to 5/8 inch; length including legs, up to about 1 3/8 inches.

Behavior: These nocturnal spiders prey mostly on woodlice, also commonly known as pill or sow bugs. They build retreats underground and in decaying logs in which to molt, and deposit eggs.
 
This post brought to you by the color yellow

This section of garden is still a mess, but the bones of what I'm trying to accomplish are still showing through. The main patch of yellow spilling over is Oregon Sunshine, a Northwest native if not exactly local. Hiding in back on right is some type of Sedum that I will eventually uncover as I get control of garden this summer.
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Around the corner more Sedum growing under other shrubs and perennials on the other parking strip. I spent 2 weekends digging out all the invasive weeds and containing the soil so it doesn't keep spilling onto side walk and into street. That made the neighbors happy. I've now established a secure area to launch my attack on the rest of the mess.
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Golden Hops still climbing the dead tree. One vine is already filling the top branches and a dozen more are about to join it to make this tree live again.
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A bouquet of dandelions (actually Hawkbit, a close relative). One of great things about having rabbits is that weeding becomes foraging. They will go bezerk when they see this!
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Now for some non-yellow. Fireweed and Foxglove spires echoing each other nicely. Can't take credit for the arrangement. I planted the original foxgloves where they are, but fireweed grows wherever it wants to. Humming birds are loving it, but oddly I haven't seen as many bees as last year.
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And another view of a rose bush. This one died back to root stock, but I love the soft pink cloud that shows thru while the ugly bush is hidden. My goal when clearing weeds is to keep enough other foliage to maintain this effect. Overall I want things to look like natural meadow/woodland edge. For the most part I have that. I'll have a few gaps after I remove the invasive stuff, but I have plenty of plants still in pots waiting to fill in. Plus restoring the pathways I layed out when I started this garden.
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:rofl: "Hey!!! That was mine!" Lol!

Lovely garden KR. Is this the off-topic you were speaking of? If so, I'm very pleased to find this lovely slice of nature you're playing God with. I had a corner lot and I made the street corner a huge perennial garden, that I never took any pictures of. This was before cell phones and their handy cameras. I kept it fluid and slightly overgrown, filled with bees and little critters. Like you I wanted you to get close and see something. My paths wandered through the space almost like a stream would have.

This feels kinda like home. :battingeyelashes: :green_heart: Thank you for inviting us in. Or out, as the case may be. :laughtwo:
 
Sense of Wonder in progress

My big project this weekend was to get a start on old garden. The original layout included paths marked with boards or pavers now overgrown. Brick path starting at corner will narrow and wind as it passes vine maple and red flowering currant. I had to remove one of native roses to reclaim this section of path.
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And 50 feet away is the other end I hope to reach by end of summer. You can see part of one of the side paths buried in strawberry plants. Most of the this end is fireweed and foxglove that I will need to pull anyway. My wild roses suckered, so don't know how many of those I need to dig up. Past the fireweed are 3 elm bushes 7' tall and 4-5' wide that suckered from roots of a dead tree. Not sure how I want to deal with those yet. I want the path to be a little difficult to follow to add to the natural look and feeling of discovery as people walk through.
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At the other extreme is the new garden. I still have some excess dirt to move and more plants to add, but I plan to keep this side more open with gaps between plant combinations, still natural but more exposed to passers-by. I also need to leave room for neighbors to park on this side. At the far end you can see raised beds for vegetables and then more lawn that I'm leaving for the neighbor's daughter to play on. Some day I get around to converting that, but not this summer.
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I like that you leave the space for a child to play. Sweet! :hug: :love: I used gravel for my paths. Someone gifted me a load, so I made do. It actually worked out nicely.
 
And you didn't even begin this epic project until after you were diagnosed with cancer?

Amazing!
 
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