The Queen of Seaford

Friday, January 17, 2025

Puget Sound Fling Day #3 - Heronswood

Our visit to Heronswood was a feast for the senses!

From the bus drop off, on the pathway of the woodland garden was a striking example of a Japanese climbing hydrangea, Schizophragma hydrangeoides. Heronswood is 15 acre garden founded by Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones. Over time the place was sold to Burpee Seed, then sold off at auction. The Port S'Klallam Tribe purchased it and it is now under a 501 (c)3 Foundation open to the public. More can information can found at Heronswood site.

Schizophragma hydrangeoides

A woodland meadow with lots of pinks and blues and yellows caused me to stop and get a few photos.

Astrantia, Greater Masterwort, was present in many gardens in the PNW. At first I thought it was something else. Many conversations occurred with my fellow Flingers and I lost out on the plant ID and now I can't remember what I thought it was in the first place. I was so sure I was correct, funny how that happens.

Astrantia

Many of the gardens in Heronswood were groupings with great color complements. White, gray, silver and pale blue paired with some dark colors.

Eryngium

I wish my Crane's-bill geraniums looked half this nice!

Geranium pratense, Meadow
crane's-bill

Hot colors included this one, below, common name Angel's Fishing Rod or Fairy Wand Flower.

Dierama pulcherrimum

And who doesn't love some Meadow Rue dotting the garden on its wispy stems?

Thalictrum

There were a few different varieties of ornamental oregano, they all were lush and full of blooms.

Origanum sp.

The first Fling I attended was in Asheville and I fell in love with pitcher plants. There are so many varieties and many are native to my area. This planting around a pond with lily pads was just amazing.

Sarracenia sp.

Isn't this a great color combination? I really am drawn to complementary colors. The peachy yellow lilies and the blue/purple Agapanthus really look great together.

Agapanthus and Lilium

More Astrantia

Astrantia

Would you believe this is a Fuchsia? I had no idea there were varieties with variegated foliage.

Fuchsia 'Tom West'

This is a wide shot of the formal parterre garden. I didn't want to leave this spot! Once a kitchen garden for Dan and Robert it is now purely ornamental. Be sure to check out the videos on my Instagram page.

Walking back to the parking area, much as we hated to end our visit, we came across ferns and ferns and ferns!! It was almost prehistoric!

Here is another oregano, I had never seen this variety before. This one was near the gift shop.

Origanum 'Xera Cascade'

Another plant near the gift shop was an unusual pitcher plant. It almost looks like it had a nose!

Darlingtonia californica

This post just scratched the surface of a wonderful garden. If you are in the Puget Sound area and have plans to go to Kingston, WA, be sure to add a visit to Heronswood to your itinerary.

Next up is our visit to Dan Hinkley's and the Brindley's (Dan's neighbor) gardens.

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Photo-a-day Week 2

Welcome to week 2 of the photo-a-day posts. All of the photos have been taken with my cell phone, Pixel 7, except for the last one, today's photo at the bottom of this array.

Day 6- Forsythia bush sprouting and blooming well ahead of the season. This poor shrub has not done well though it keeps holding on.

Day 7- Glowing rain gauge. The sun setting behind the gauge. I volunteer to observe and report rainfall to Cocorahs.org, a citizen scientist program. Do you like observing weather and want to be a part of this large organization? Go to the link above and find out how.

Day 8- Frosty morning photo of lichen, moss, and leaves in one of the planters on my deck.

Day 9- Two dogs, anxious to play, regardless of the chilly tempertures.

Day 10- Our snowfall has begun. It was short lived, changing to sleet then rain in a couple hours. Weeping Redbud, Ruby Falls.

Day 11- Seed pods of Leucothoe fontanesiana, in my front woods.

Day 12- American Goldfinch feeding on Rose of Sharon seed pods. This one taken with the camera instead of my cellphone.

Thanks for stopping by again this week. Now that Christmas items are packed away until next year, we can get back to Puget Sound Fling photos. Stay tuned.

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Photo-A-Day Week 1

Before I get back to the Puget Sound Fling, still have some fantastic gardens to share, I am starting a new series.

My friend David Sullivan, CIOPhoto instagram, has had a series of a photo a day for 365 days for a number of years. After enjoying his series, I thought I would jump in and do the same. Mine are posted daily on my personal Facebook page, but every Sunday I will share what was previously posted here on my blog. This week's photos will include only 5 photos as this is the first week of the year, a short week.

Day 1- A ground level photo of my dog, Liebling. She doesn't seem to be very impressed with this project. Perhaps I will photograph her in the coming year showing more enthusiasm.

Day 2- A frosty morning with long angles of the winter sun. Below is our septic drain field, cut not too long ago to make way for daffodils to emerge come spring.

Day 3- A waxed Amaryllis bulb in bloom on my dining room table. Christmas tree is still up and all decorations still out for us to enjoy.

Day 4- A side view of one of our Nutcrackers, perhaps looking sad as it is time to begin to put away the decorations.

Day 5- Outside with the dogs I spied the first open bloom of the Prunus mume 'Hokkia-Bungo' one of the flowering apricot trees. I especially love this one as its fragrance is that of cinnamon and the flowers are dark pink. It is a lovely small tree and on warm winter days our honey bees enjoy the flowers.

This ends our first week of photo-a-day. Please come back weekly to see what has been posted next.

More of the Fling will come soon....as soon as I finish putting all the decorations away!

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