May is a most magical month, with some of my favorite flowers in bloom, soft spring air and incredible lighting as the weather changes. Often, after a drizzly day, the sun comes out late in the afternoon and the lighting on the trees and horizon line is so ethereal.
We are gradually in the process of resuming classes. On Saturday, May 29th, is a paper-crafting class inspired by an old hispanic tradition. Ramilletas are made with a wide variety of papers, cut in a decorative shapes and stacked together to imitate colorful flowers. I’ve done this craft for 15 years and still continue to find joy in creating cards or wall hangings.
The link to the class is here: Ramilleta Paper Craft There is still room for 5 more students. We will have 3 hours of crafting as well as enjoying homemade pie and tea! Vaccinations required.
July 12 we will host embroidery artist and designer Sarah Slovensky for Modern Embroidery.
Each person gets a kit to complete a design similar to this one and hands-on instructions for making the varied and lovely stitches, which you can take forward and apply to pieces of clothing or wall hangings. You’ll also get some of my wonderful homemade pie and tea to round out the afternoon. Vaccinations required. You can see more of Sarah’s work on her website Hoffelt and Hooper
Sarah will also be participating in our Summer Arts & Crafts Market July 31 & August 1 so mark your calendars for those dates as there will be so many wonderful artists and craftspeople selling their wares, with some doing demos.
Our food vendor that weekend is the incredible Matt Dillon – well known Seattle chef and farmer.
Gardens offer endless ways to express your passion for color and texture. In this garden the owner, Shirley Collins, loves white flowers so many areas of her garden reflect that. I recently visited and was charmed by the purity and brilliance of the combinations including this white potentilla ‘Katherine Dykes’ and this white spanish lavender.
The spanish lavender ‘Madrid’ still has the hint of purple in it but overall reads a clean white which looks so fresh. It’s a good tight grower and overwintered very well. I think we put these in 2 years ago.
Through a shadier area Shirley is establishing some of the white japanese primose that will weave about the sturdy groundcover, Epimedium x Sulpherum – the most comman yet so lovely epimedium. With it’s very pale yellow flowers it keeps the cool tones of the predominantly white flowering garden and looks bright in the shade.
On a sunny fence line Clematis montana ‘Marjorie’ is a mass of bloom in the softest muted pink shades – perfectly picking up a similar pink in the ekianthus which is further along in the border.
Ekianthus are such a good plant for NW gardens as long as placed in an area that gets summer irrigation. From flowers of white to pale dusty pink to an almost red one they are regal plants with good form and charming dangling bell shaped flowers. Blooming when many rhododendrons bloom they could be paired up with a good white rhododendron and look great.
A thorny but fabulous plant – native to California – Ribes speciosum resembles a fuschia more than a currant. It’s a mass of blooms in May and drought tolerant as well. I have paired it with the yellow leafed Physocarpus Dart’s Gold and it’s a cheerful site out my kitchen window.
I first saw this plant in England espaliered on a brick wall – which looked so fantastic. It’s always amusing to see how many of our native plants are more appreciated and artfully used in English gardens before we are aware of them.
Weeding along in this bed I was pulling out winter cress at the base of this herbaceous clematis ‘New Love’ with fragrant flowers in the summer. As I pulled a mass of weeds and dried leaves away I was startled to see I was pulling out a nest as well. No eggs were contained so I tucked it back in place and pulled the leaves back in front of it, wondering if it would be abandoned after disturbing it?
The next week I went back to check if anything had changed and was startled when a spotted towhee flushed off the nest revealing 4 spotted eggs! It’s the first towhee nest I’ve ever found so it was extra special.
The first Itoh peony I ever carried in the nursery years ago was Bartzella and it’s still such a great yellow one. This is a plant I put in a garden I designed 18 or so years ago and it’s just so full and lush. Fragrant and dependable, I really consider Itoh peonies worth the investment up front for the longlasting beauty they provide. The foliage is great all summer and turns lovely colors in the fall and of course the blossoms can’t be beat. Even the seed pods are a good shape.
A lovely dinner at an amazing location on Vashon Island was enhanced by this incredible sunset. For some reason it reminded me of agates with the dramatic lines of color and see through quality of the light on the water. Always some kind of wonders in these Pacific Northwest skies.
I’ll end this newsletter with a sneak preview of one of the local makers who will be at our Summer Arts & Crafts Market – Megan Kroh of Lovelight Flowers will have fresh floral arrangements as well as ceramic containers at her stand.
We have other ceramics – all vary so much bet you might find someone to your liking.
Textiles, beadwork, paper crafts, jewelery, block printed textiles, fine art paintings and woodwork, plus fantastic lunch options from Matt Dillon’s food truck.
So looking forward to that weekend! July 31 & August 1
Hope you’re enjoying being able to socialize more now.
Happy Gardening & Creating,
Mary Fisher
Cultus Bay Gardens
7568 Cultus Bay Rd
Whidbey Island
Clinton WA