Autumn garden shrooms and things.

The rainy season has settled in and the mushrooms are taking full advantage. I have no idea what the name of any of these are, but there are so many different ones in the garden. The squirrels like to munch on them while perched atop stumps.

Little purple shrooms.

Cluster of large shrooms on the decaying alder tree snag. These are so cool.

Fungus on garden stairs made from fallen big leaf maple.

Shrooms marching in line.

Korean dogwood under the bigleaf maple.

Japanese maple leaves dot the moss lawn.

Yellow colored japanese maple leaves.

Crimson colored japanese maple leaves.

Dried seed heads of oceanspray shrub.

Hardy cyclamen hederifolium

More fungus, this time on an old douglas fir stump.

Collection of large shrooms in the lawn.

The Stumpery

In the front of the cedar grove is a pile of old cedar stumps. When we moved into this place it was buried under the remnants of an old wood pile, garbage, and a few ginormous sword ferns that grew around that mess. I cleaned it all up and moved a few of the huge sword ferns to a slope that needed a bit of stabilization. I proceeded to re-plant the stumpery with shade garden-y things and here it is today. It is filling in nicely and quickly!:

Here you can see a few of the sword ferns I left in place as well as the native trilliums and bleeding heart that I planted. It didn't take long for these to really begin spreading:

A lace leaf japanese maple has also been planted on the stumpery underplanted with more bleeding heart, trilliums, and some native alpine enchanters nightshade that has just popped up. Buried off to left under the dicentra is a native honeysuckle:

Redwood sorrel has also been added and is quickly forming a large mat. I dig up bits and move it about the woodland garden:

Oregon grape also grows on on the stumpery and has these lovely yellow flowers every spring:

Erythronium has been planted here as well and like all that I plant, it disappeared for a year, then came back with a few leaves this year, and will likely bloom next year. Seems to take a few years to get settled in my garden for some reason:  

The stumpery also hosts twinflower and starflower:

The starflower is spreading like mad and the twinflower has really begun to spread. Off to the right is a nice clump of hepatica media. The hepatica has lovely blue flowers in early spring and is ever so slowly forming a nice little mat:

I pile leaf litter over this stumpery every year and the plants stay snuggled under it in the winter and devour it during the growing season. Don't toss those fall leaves! They are garden food at their best and provide homes for many beneficial insects.

Random Post About Birds in the Garden

Many types of birds visit the garden every day and it's just fun to watch them do their thing. Sometimes, less fun like when the ravens open up the garbage and pick through it to get clam shells and the like. (Sneaky little buggers at it, too!) I actually enjoy the ravens, I just don't want them in my garbage, so I try to keep the garbage in until garbage day. 

We have a large rabbit population which means raptors often make visits. Here's our local bald eagle up in the tree above the garden. Owls often make an appearance at night, but I have yet to get any pictures of those elusive beasts:

We have Anna's hummingbirds and Rufous hummingbirds. The Anna's hang out all winter, being replaced by the Rufous in the spring. Sometimes, we have both kinds in the summer, but the Anna's seem to like to move off to higher elevations once the temps warm up and the Rufous move in. Below is a newly arrived Rufous this spring:

Here he is at he feeder. Once too many hummers show up, I hang multiple feeders on opposite sides of the house to attempt to minimize the fighting:

Sapsuckers spend quite a bit of time in the garden. So many things for them to eat:

We also have Pileated Woodpeckers that spend quite a bit of time in the garden. Last year, we had an entire family hang out on 2 of the snags in our yard - 2 adults and 3 juveniles. I thought about taking the snags down at one point until I realized all the critters they hosted including squirrels, woodpeckers, sapsuckers, flickers, chickadees, and many others. Since the snags aren't in any danger of hitting any kind of building or structure, they are staying and will continue to host all kinds of wildlife. 

Spring has Sprung!

Well, it's been a very, very, very wet winter and spring this year. My garden is at least a month behind. The flowers have finally begun to bloom, though! Here's what I have going in my garden right now:

Narcissus:

Blue hyacinth and pieris. Both smell delicious!:

Pulmonaria. I rescued these from a brush pile in the woods when we first moved in. They are starting to spread and look fab now that a few years have passed:

Some sort of purple rhododendron:

Narcissus Thalia after a rain shower:

Fancy blue giant hyacinth that smell amazeballs. These drench the whole backyard with a fab scent:

Fritillaria meleagris. I really like these a bunch and they have done very well in my garden the last 2 years. I'm thinking about adding more:

Closer shot. Notice the white one in the bunch:

Trilliums! Oh, How I adore you. This is our native trillium ovatum in a sea of native dicentra formosa:

Vanilla leaf! I'm so excited! I added these last year and was hoping they would take and they did! I'm working on creating a large swath of these in the woodland garden.

Redwood sorrel, the workhorse of the dry, deep shade garden. I planted these in the western red cedar grove. I have few options here and these fit the bill with shining green colors. I hope to have carpets of it blanketing the grove: 

Native wild cherry tree in bloom. So pretty, but so fleeting:

The salmon berries have been blooming for several weeks now. They hearken the return of the Rufous hummingbirds each year:

Trillium luteum. I planted these a few years ago and it looks like they may finally bloom this year. Fingers crossed!:

Bergenia. Evergreen, takes shade, sun, or poor soil. It can be split a gagillion times to make more. How can you go wrong? This is one tough customer and these live in a very shady part of the garden. I do have some others in complete opposite conditions on the sunny slope and they do just as well:

Yellow stream violets. I finally have a good little grove of these going. Diminutive little things, but I love them. They seem to thrive when planted along with mosses in an open, but shady area. They like to pop up along the woodland trail here and there (and, yeah, that's hail on the ground, it's been a bit stormy lately): 

Erythronium. I don't remember which variety this one is specifically. I've planted various ones and they seem to take a few years to get going. This is the first group really doing well for me. I plant them, they seem to disappear for a year, then come back with leaves, and the next year begin to flower. I guess they just need a few years to settle in:

Bleeding heart Gold Heart. I have this planted along with trillium luteum and if I can get the trillium to finally bloom, they should look spectacular together:

More Narcissus Thalia. I like this one because it's tough and takes a beating:

Pasqueflower. I've moved this a few times due to rabbits wanting to make lunch out of it. I finally moved it to this rocky slope and the rabbits seem to leave it alone here. Too much trouble to get to, I guess:

Another trillium. They pop up all over the place in my woodland garden:

This clump of trillium is really spreading. I've already split it once and this year there are even more in the clump! This one grows in the stumpery of old cedar stumps:

 Some fun daffodils next to the new gold leafed spirea Gold Flame:

Tulip Clusiana. These just keep coming back for me year after year. The rabbits don't seem to bother these species tulips, either. I haven't had as much success with the yellow species tulipa sylvestris as the rabbits like to mow those to the ground for some reason. So, I'll stick to survival of the fittest and add many more of these guys to my garden:

Multiple clumps of Tulip Clusiana. These are growing along the sunny, dry slope below the sport court in my garden:

And that's what's blooming for now. My garden is still pretty new and is still in a major building phase, but I'm starting to really be able to add some fun things in now. It's been a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to continuing the garden build this year.