The Garden Tour 2010

The Garden Tour came off without a hitch, or rain. At least until the very end. At 3:45 at Beth’s with only a few of us left, the thunder started and the waters poured forth inundating Grant Creek and northern Missoula. Given the havoc the rain played with flowers before the tour – keeping them from opening as well as knocking the petals off those already in bloom – the anxiety of a fabulous display for the tour was unfounded.

The beginning of the end... storm clouds on the horizon at noon.

The start of the tour was the opposite of the end and the blue trim of David and Nancy’s house matched the blue of the big sky. I think perhaps a bit of the sky fell and gave an unparalleled display of blue fields of flax high on Mt. Jumbo. At Sue and Terry’s the blue was the Bachelor Buttons and Russell Lupines, at Jackie and Stewart’s the Catmint, Iris and Jacob’s Ladder just beginning to open, and at Janice’s a large blue, heavily ruffled iris stood out. The sky at Beth’s matched the Mountain Lupine shimmering blue between the trees and formed the welcoming background for the reception.
Nancy’s knot garden, somewhat dubious after this winter and before spring finally arrived, is starting to green back up and made a nice showing, even for boxwood growing on top of what is usually a very dry mountain.

Passing to the north of the knot garden leads to David’s fruit and vegetable garden. The concrete retaining wall adds warmth to the garden over the winter, helps to warm it earlier in the spring as well keeping it frost-free later into the fall and is an extremely resilient windbreak.Passing behind the house to the west and above the last of the Balsamroot blooming in the woods takes us to the small patio and pond overlook. Part of the trail near the pond was closed to safeguard the nesting blackbirds, only one of many species attracted to the woods and water on the mountain. David had turned the creek on for the tour. Recycled through the pond, full from days of rain, he didn’t have to add water this year to make it all function properly.

The pond is home to many plants, a number of bird species, salamanders and a few fish.

Connie and Jean enjoy the diversity of plants in the lower garden.

Sue and Terry have one of my favorite perennial borders, and when it is in full bloom it is truly amazing sight and shows what a small space can do. Varying in width from about twelve or fourteen feet to about thirty feet it is an excellent combination of large flowering and colored shrubs in the back and perennials of various sizes and bloom season in the front. The photo doesn’t really do it justice since the two cold wet days this week kept the poppies and big Russell lupine from blooming, and Sue’s grandmother’s yellow iris, brought from South Dakota when she started the garden, were beaten down. On the other hand our cool wet spring has helped her hostas be their best. I’ve never seen hostas in Missoula grow quite this large. And they set off the many bleeding hearts to tremendously good advantage.

Hiding behind the hostas was Sue's Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Jackie’s garden is another example of a lot of garden in a small space and where care and watering is minimal. A large Beauty Bush in full bloom welcomed people on the tour.

The border bed on the west side of the lot was designed for minimal water usage and season long color. It starts with crocus and miniature iris blooming in mid- to late March and goes until late fall when the Catmint finally quits and the Asters freeze.

An old wheelbarrow and stone bench accent Jackie's backyard.
The dry garden next door, installed and designed by Karen, made another impression. But with that brilliant red Firecracker Penstemon, it is hard to miss and the biggest advantage is that there is no need to water. Janice’s garden as visitor’s saw is still under construction in the front but enough is done that you can see how it will develop. The back, about half new this season, will take another year or two to develop and match the older part, but at the moment it is all very neat and tidy thanks to Tom and Will. The tulips were just finished and the big summer peak bloom hasn’t quite begun yet. But if the garden was not at its most colorful the people on the tour were impressed with the new outdoor kitchen and pizza oven. A couple of guys really liked that big new grill!

The last stop and the reception were at Beth and Paul’s. An amazing forest vista (with music by Grant Creek) carefully developed over the last 30 years along with the accompanying gardens were the backdrop for the reception. Beth’s back yard where participants arrived is somewhat subdued by comparison to the cacophony of plants and color inside the deer fence in the front yard. The tulips were almost gone but that is to be expected the last day of spring. The remaining tulips, enormous Polemoniums, Anemones and colored foliages make an exciting impression.

The constant spring rains this year have given all the wildflowers the boost they need to show off to the best of their abilities. The flax, the lupine, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, wild roses and Penstemon are just a few that have outdone themselves and made their “garden” proud.
And yes, the Cypripedium montanum was in bloom at Beth’s.

Thanks to all who were able to attend and I’m glad everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves. Maybe in a couple of years we will try this again.

Wildflowers

The last month or three have seen my attention captured by as many wildflowers as their domestic cousins. They intrude into my field of vision with bright colors and unexpected apperances that both delight and amaze me. In many areas I couldn't hope to plant them as beautifully as they are this year with the abundant rain we have had in the valley. The wild cousins of many of our domestic flowers came from somewhere, some time ago. Lilacs grow wild across parts of Asia and our modern apples and flowering crabapples have roots deep in the antiquity of Central Asia. Generations and centuries of plant breeding have produced the assorted blooms we see today.

Gaillardia, G. aristata, in its many varieties started out in the prairies of the Midwest and northern Rocky Mountains. Lending itself towards domesticity today there are a number of varieties from nearly pure yellow to burgundy.

Other wildflowers don’t lend themselves so readily to molding by the hand of man and are quite insistent they want to remain wild and untamed, spreading across the landscape of western Montana of their own accord without the interference of human gardeners. The Arrow-leaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) are in full bloom now, gorgeous beyond what any gardener could imagine doing with them. Even with my many attempts at seeding they rarely produce new plants. They require specific condition to get them going, although that hardly seems possible given how many of them there are, or seem to be. Try transplanting even a small seedling into a garden and see how difficult it is. The long tap root doesn’t like to be disturbed even if it started out life in a pot. This large plant appeared by chance at the edge of the path at the bottom of David and Nancy’s hill where it simply sits and shows off. When the bright yellow flowers disappear the silvery leaves and robust shape take over the display.

Indian Paint Brush (Castilleja spp.) seems to follow this pattern too, content to spread across the hills and dry forests but determinedly avoiding domestication. More difficult to transplant or cultivate than Balsamroot and demanding more stringent soil requirements, this one ended up inside Linda’s fence but well hidden from the rest of the garden. I found it only by chance.

Not quite as common as the brilliant yellow Balsamroot is the abundant (this year) Death Camas, or Zigadenus venenosus. Hiding like a delicate treasure in grasses its own height the creamy white blooms show up to taunt, or tempt, from a distance. Reportedly it causes animal deaths, and a number of human deaths have been reported as well.

Blue flax (Linum lewisii) is often introduced to semi-wild dry garden areas although it does show up on its own occasionally. It has become a favorite in many dry gardens because it takes care of itself, re-seeds reasonably well but is not invasive and has a beautiful floral display. My camera loves the nearly flat flowers with just enough interesting variation in color to catch its “eye.” The darker blue of Larkspur (Delphinium bicolor) is evident in the same grassland areas as these others, but its darker blue and smaller size make it somewhat less visible.
Blue Sugar Bowls (Clematis hirsutissima) are less frequently spotted. The plants resemble the native Pusitilla or Pasque Flower but the small nodding and quite fuzzy flowers resemble its larger cousins, the trailing Clematis.
In a natural area in the western part of the Missoula valley hiding among the grass in small short clumps I found the native phlox, Phlox hoodii. This may be a variety unique to the Missoula valley. Near it I found the yellow flowers of Biscuit Root (Lomatium triternatum), a source of food for many Native Americans groups in the Northwest. I'm not sure I'd put it in a garden, the flowers are not particularly showy, but is has an interesting history with people. Prairie Smoke, (Geum triflorum) inhabits the same area, and seems to acclimate itself well to gardens everywhere and isn’t too fussy about anything – germinating, spreading, water, soil quality, transplanting and so on. While the flowers are attractive they aren’t especially showy. The real display, which gives the plant is name, is after the flowers are gone and the seed heads appear, looking like small wisps of smoke against the grass.

Chokecherries, Hawthorne and Serviceberry are also blooming now, their clusters of white blooms resembling late clumps of snow at the tips of their branches, or a shower of fireworks against the green background of the forest.
As the season progresses and we pass through summer and into autumn I will continue to keep an eye out for the natives that opportunistically intrude into the lives of the gardens under my care. If you don’t have access to all of these gardens, as I fortunately do, take a walk along the river on the Kim Williams Trail or up the trail on Waterworks Hill and look for the flowers there. If you can’t make it that far many of the flowers can be seen in bloom in the Waterwise Garden behind the Missoulian on South Fourth St. East, or on the restored grassland area going down to the river and Kim Williams Trail.