Spring Garden tour/Garden Style nw

Hi everybody and welcome to Garden Style. So I haven't been out for a little while. Got my second vaccine on the 16th of April and had a very bad reaction to it. In fact, it landed me in the hospital for about three days and left me with a case of vertigo that I've been dealing with. And that should be wearing off here in the next few weeks. But I no sooner got out of the hospital and we were gearing up for Mother's Day, so I've been extremely busy as well as trying to heal from this little episode that I had. So that is why I haven't been around. But today I thought I would treat you to a tour, a spring tour of the yard. I don't think I've done a spring tour of my yard before, but thought I would take you on a little tour today and just chat with you about some of the plants that I've put in. Kind of bring you up to date as to what's going on and show you some cool stuff that I've got blooming here in the yard. So come along with me and let's let's take a quick tour. Okay, so I thought I'd start here on the back deck. I've got Louisia blooming in David's head here on the deck. Finally got the succulents out. They actually made it through the winter. Some more down below and got some basil planted in there. And up here, let's see if I can step back, this beautiful hanging basket that the hummingbirds fight over every morning. It's like cheap entertainment. And then I'm gonna take you guys out here to the side yard. This is the time of the year where things just bust out and bloom. Lilac bush, which I didn't even know existed when I moved in. It just appeared and it took it a few years, but it is finally in full bloom and it smells amazing. Absolutely amazing. Ygellas right here. This is just one variety here that's out in full-on bloom. Love this time of the year. Lithodora, great little ground cover and it's finally spreading. Took it a while to get itself going and I got a beautiful patch of it here and it's working its way down the bank. The purple azalea in bloom there. This is one of my favorite shrubs. It's coming out with its new growth, which will eventually start to turn pink on the tips. Hostas are starting to come up. The azaleas are all in bloom. Love this time of the year. Everything looks so fresh. And then over here, I have a beauty I want to show you. Hopefully I'm not going too fast. I got real lucky when I bought the house and inherited some gorgeous rhododendrons. Look at that. So it's coming out with some huge buds on it. It's starting to do its thing. And another type of Ygella. This is wine and roses. I just love the contrast of the pink and the dark leaves. So they're starting to do their thing. And over here, another gorgeous rhododendron. Don't ask me about the varieties. I don't know. These were just given to me. And this shrub is huge. This thing's probably about six, seven feet tall. Look at that. Look at that. Rhodies, they were just stunning at this time of the year. Hold on to your hats because I'm about to show you another one. Just a quick stop before I get to the rhodie I want to show you. But this is the back area I've been working on since last year. This fence went in, it got moved back. Finally have the veggie beds planted right here. The raised beds, look at the size of the artichoke there in the center. I put marigolds in there as a deterrent against worms as well as slugs. They're kind of like the sacrificial lambs. Another really neat item here is this atlas cedar. See the serpentine look that it has. Little birdie that lights up at night. Circle around here. Gorgeous golden oregano and I've got aliums that are starting to come up. Rosemary that's completely out of control. He bloomed and now I need to trim him. Down here is another wyjela. This is a variegated version with pink flowers but look at it. It's just loaded with flowers. Craziness. Then you're entering the perennial bed and here I have a huge row of catmint which is all starting to bloom and I love this stuff because I never have to water it. It just loves it out here in the heat. Circle around here. Got some wallflowers blooming and I've replanted this area. I was on a mission to get rid of some garden thugs. You know those plants that you think you like but then they start to take over. Well for me it was goldenrod and it just went nuts in here so I dug it all out and I replaced it with a tamer plant which is phlox and this is a lavender and white type of flower and you'll definitely get a vision of that once summer gets here. That's when it starts blooming. Monster hostas in the shade garden over here and I whacked back my hydrangeas because they were turning into monsters. Yeah look at that. This is just the beginning. We're gonna get huge. Another gorgeous specimen right here. Look at that. Another rhodii inherited and he hadn't bloomed for the last three years until last year and now I know what color he is. Aren't they beautiful? I mean this will give you an idea how big flowers are compared to my hand. They're huge. So he's stunning. Japanese lace leaf maple. Got a little bit of a haircut this spring. Okay back around to the perennial bed here and it starts to come to life towards the middle of June into July. This was another area where I had garden thug galore. I cleaned it out. Now I've got dahlias in here, phlox and very back back there I'll have pit simmon coming up behind the angel. Alstroemeria. Everything's just so small and so new right now and then I put in some peonies right here and they've been blooming for a while now and this is an ito peony which is a cross between a shrub type peony and a tree peony which means their stems are thicker so they don't flop over like your standard peonies do and then Johnson's blue geranium flowers are starting to come up and these will just be caked in blooms here real quick. Another peony there and this is where I decided to put my crape myrtle in the center here so he'll look small for now but not for long. He will actually turn into a tree. I'm going to train him to turn into a tree and he'll be much taller than the peonies that you see here in the garden bed and then one of my favorite all-time rhododendrons that I inherited. I gotta step back just so you could soak all this in. This thing is about 10 feet tall. Look at it. You can't even see the leaves. It's so many blooms. He is just stunning this year. You've probably seen me do a few videos in front of him over the past few years but I thought I'd just get up close so you could see these flowers all roughly on the edges. Just gorgeous. Peach flambe. It is just gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. By far my favorite. This is probably my favorite one in the yard and down here I planted some new salvia plants and they're starting to bloom now right here on the border. It gets really hot here during the summer. I'm just going to cruise down the edge here. These things are just starting to grow up and fill in through the season. Another rhodie started blooming. This is kind of a purple lavender. Really pretty. I don't know. It's just something that was here. This is the first time he's bloomed this year. I'm babying him along. He used to be like two feet tall. Now he's like four feet tall here against the edge of the woods. Yeah we got lilies starting to come up now. Azaleas are coming into bloom here. Geraniums which I love on the edge of the border. And I've done a video on these guys. This is brunnera and they get these beautiful blue flowers on them during the spring. Hostas are just now starting to come up. You'll see irises in the background. Got a lot of action going on here in this garden. Yep just starting to fill out and get some color. Gorgeous maple in the back there. Neon green helps to light up the darkness back there. That's where they really come in handy. And yet another rhododendron. Look at this beautiful purple lavender with the dark centers on them. This was probably seven or eight feet tall and just now starting to bloom. This one's almost done. The flowers on here are about the size of my hand. They're huge. See look at this. Absolutely huge. And he's due for a trim. He's starting to get a little scraggly. So once he's done blooming as you can see he's on the edge of going or getting done. He's gonna get a little haircut. Help thicken him up. Okay and another stunner. Red rhodie here and he just started blooming probably a few days ago. Let me step back here so you can get an idea how big he is. Yeah just gorgeous. And this is probably my all-time favorite tree. It's not really a tree. It started as a shrub. This is a double file viburnum and it's probably been here for the last 25 years. I'm trying to step back here so you can get an idea how big he is. He's just stunning but by far one of my favorites. Just gets caked in the white blooms. Smells amazing. Looks really pretty with the rhodie there. And then I'm just now starting to establish these gardens. Here's another one I'm just getting started. I have a forest grass sitting on the corner there so we got to get him some friends. Trim out the edge. I planted another rhododendron here. Doesn't get quite as large as the other ones. I divided and transplanted some hostas out of the shade garden. So that's what you're seeing there. And hydrangea in the back. It's kind of dark. I'm sorry for the shadows. Astilbes in the back there. I'll be showing some more of those as soon as they bloom. And we just keep going. This is another collection of phlox here. I planted some perennial ground covers into the old-fashioned pots here with the hardy fuchsia at the top. Rainbow grass in the back. Just keep moving here. This is amsomnia. Hasn't started to bloom yet. It'll come into its own in June. Hypericum. Gorgeous shrub. This is aduzia and I have, I've fallen in love with this shrub. I planted it a couple years ago. He was just a baby but now look at that. Just beautiful. It's up here on the corner just before you go out the gate to the front yard. I'll circle around. We're back here to the shade garden. Just starting to come into shape. Things are coming up. This is awesome. Check out this plant. I cannot remember the name of this. I put it in a couple years ago and it just gets bigger and thicker every year. But look at the flowers. They look almost like little orchid flowers and he's very happy here. So as soon as I get a name I'll let you know. I can't remember for the life of me what it is. It's beautiful. It does great in the shade. And cruising along. Curly fries hosta. Monster in the back. Cut back all the ferns this year so they're back fresh and green and pretty. And still these are coming into their own. And bleeding heart. Just getting started down there and then back up to that gorgeous pink Brody I showed you earlier. And that's just the backyard. Off to the front. Just kind of an overall view of the backyard. Give you an idea. That's a lion's head maple that you see there in the big blue pot. You have these teeny tiny little leaves. I just love the variety. It's beautiful in the fall. He's taking up space in the pot there with supertunias down below and in about eight weeks you won't be able to see this pot. The supertunias will just take over and make quite a statement. My favorite Brody in the back. Just gives you an idea the size of this yard. It's a lot to take care of. We just had some brand new mulch put down. That makes a difference. New gravel that's going to go into the pathways. Doesn't it just clean it up? All the edges have been done so it's clean. Weed free for now. Yep just kind of circling the big circle here. Another beautiful maple coming into his own there. And then we will head out the gate to the front. Okay so you can kind of see the gate in the background there to give you an idea of where I am. And you are looking at a stunning Korean lilac. This is one of those lilacs where it'll bloom now, takes a little bit of a rest, and then it will bloom again as long as I don't trim it and just leave it alone. And you would not believe the smell. The smell is just, it'll knock your socks off. It's so fragrant. Look at that. This is my famous succulent garden down below. It is hot hot hot here during the summer. And I redid my man pot this year so he looks a little funky right now. I've got the petunias in there and there's one salvia sending up a bloom. But he's getting ready to send up a bunch more. Hopefully I'll balance him out a little bit because he does look a little funny. I'll give you that. And then over here on the side I'm getting ready to put in yet another garden bed leading into the gate to the backyard. And a beautiful arbor is going to end up in front here. So you'll get to see the progress on that because I definitely did not get to it last year. There was no time. Okay, I'll circle back around here and take you to the front yard. There's my buddy, my frog buddy, and another variegated rhododendron. Beautiful purple blooms just getting started. And we have a juga for a ground cover. It's a little beat up right now because I had to rake the daylights out of it. Had a lot of debris. I'm just going to fill right in and just be solid purple. Got flax, a gorgeous coral bark maple, which really stands out in the wintertime with its red stems. But you can see he's put on a lot of growth. He's been here about three or four years now. And yet another rhododendron. All right, something is chewing him. Pretty darn sure it's beetles getting the edges of his leaves so we're gonna have to treat for that. Don't you just love it when that happens? Gorgeous orange peachy kind of peachy orange bloom on it. Really pretty. Okay, there's a natural rock path that leads down to the front of the garden. And all these little guys you see growing right here, this is a ground cover and it's just native here to the state of Washington. And it's in the dogwood family. See the cute little blooms they get on them? There's just millions of them. Even after we put the bark down. Look at them. Very much a woodland plant and I'm okay with it. I'm just gonna let them do their thing. Down here we have azaleas and bloom. So pretty. Yeah. Love, love, love this time of year. So we have a couple of them flanking the little pathway there and I really clean this area out in here. And I'm letting a lot of the natural vegetation take over. Why? Because it's low maintenance. Another azalea there. One here. You can see I've got some extremely tall fir trees in here. So it's really hard to find things to grow underneath them except for the native plants. So I leave a lot of that there. They just naturally take off on their own. The ferns, everything are all native. And just let it do its thing. Circle back around this way. And over here, more fir trees. Look at this. They're at least 40 feet tall. And I got another kind of wigeola here. Just now starting to get on, going to bloom. And these guys are young. They've only been here a year or two. That one. This one took a beating this winter. He got broken in half from a limb falling out of the trees. It's impossible during the winter to keep it clean. Let me show you this little specimen. Look at this. This, get myself out of the shadow, it's a type of spruce and it gets this new growth on it with the red tips here. See that? Isn't that cool? And those will eventually fall off and then exposes the new growth like what you see in here. Yeah. He's just cute as a button and he'll eventually get about five, six feet tall. He's just a little baby at the moment. But I was really intrigued by the red tips on it. I thought that was pretty cool. He does very well out here in the heat during the summer. And if I pan around this way, stunning variegated maples. Look, they're like pink. When they first come out with their new growth in the spring, who needs flowers? You've got foliage like that. And I have two of them that flank my circle driveway. There's the other one over there. And they've been here three or four years now and they're really starting to take shape all on their own. They're just gorgeous. They surprise me every year with their beautiful new growth. And then as we get into the summer, they lighten up to a real light pink. If I go up close here, you can see that those are a variegated leaf and eventually they'll be green and white. And then they turn this stunning scarlet color during the fall. So I am thrilled with these maples. They're kind of hard to find. And as soon as I get the variety name for you, I'll tell you what they are. Yeah, just beautiful. Okay. The lawn finally looks like a lawn. It's got a fresh edge on it. New mulch. This makes all the difference in the world for the gardens. Okay. I just had to show off some new combinations I'm experimenting with this year. These get morning sun and afternoon shade. So I'm experimenting with Gartenmeister Fuchsias, some Impatiens, and of course Bacopa. And this is actually Megacopa, where the flowers are a little bigger than a regular Bacopa. And those will end up vining down the planters. But that's one I wanted to show you. And I'll show you the other one. And this is the other combination. This is also a Gartenmeister Fuchsia, but it's got those beautiful variegated leaves on it. And then I'll have the orange blooms that are tubular shape that shoot out the top. And I combined it with Bacopa. And then the other one, this little silver vine you see here, is Dichondra. And both of these do well in shade as well as in sun, which is why I chose them. So I'll definitely tune in later and show you what they look like once these go into bloom. But this is only maybe about a foot tall. And it'll eventually be about three feet tall, which is what I want it to do. I want it to go up the wall here. And it's under a covered porch. So another experiment as far as combinations go this year. And as you can see, I'm in the middle of building another one. And I always seem to have a box of plants that I haven't planted yet. Always. What is up with that? But in my next video, I will cover some perennials that I'm experimenting with this year. And of course, any new plants that we're starting to get in at the nursery. But meanwhile, I got to get busy and plant what I've got here. So I hope you guys are having a fabulous spring. I am starting to feel better after my little bout with my second vaccine. So we are off and running and hopefully back now to where I can start doing videos for you on a regular basis. All right, you guys, enjoy your spring. Of course, any questions, you can leave those in the description box down below or send me an email to GardenStyleNWest at gmail.com. Talk to you later. Bye-bye.