This is sold as "Pink Forsythia". It's not a forsythia. Some varieties are white, not pink. It's
Abeliophyllum distichum 'Roseum'. The flowers are blooming now which is cool. The plant seems to have a forsythia-like shape, and pseudoforsthian flowers. The name is OK. These plants originate in Korea. I guess that's considered exotic. Forsythias all originate in China, Korea, and Japan. I'll try to take a better pic net time. The plant is not as fuzzy as my pic.
Anemone coronaria De Caen.
This pic from Amazon, although I bought them at Fred Meyer. These are new to me but not to horticulture. It's hard to find pics of the whole plant, so it's hard to predict what it will look like. From wikipedia, Anemones are called "
poppy anemone, Spanish marigold, "dağ lalesi" in Turkish, "Calanit" in Hebrew, "Shaqa'iq An-Nu'man" in Arabic". Also from wikipedia, the Arabic name is thought to originate from "
the Sumerian god of food and vegetation, Tammuz, whose Phoenician epithet was "Nea'man". Tammuz is generally considered to have been drawn into the Greek pantheon as "Adonis". Adonis died of his wounds while hunting wild boar... [Adonis
] transformed into a flower, stained by the blood of Adonis. Tammuz's Phoenician epithet "Nea'man" is believed to be both the source of "An-Nu'man" in Arabic which came through Syriac, and of "Anemone" which came through Greek. They go on to say,
"Another possible source of the name is An-Nu'man III Bin Al-Munthir, the last Lakhmid king of Al-Hirah (582-c.609 AD) and a Christian Arab. An-Nu'man is known to have protected the flowers during his reign. According to myth, the flower thrived on An-Nu'man's grave, paralleling the death and rebirth of Adonis. That last version seems unlikely.
Whatever the history, they look interesting. The plants that survived the winter are growing nicely. The leaves are finely cut and ruffled, thick and green. Multiple web sites state all parts of the plant are toxic, and deer and rabbits leave them alone.
Also new to me, but not to horticulture, Ixia. This pic from bloomingbulb.com but I bought them at Fred Meyer. Most web sites state they cant handle cold wet conditions, but the row I planted last fall appears to have survived. The plants are about an inch tall. Again, it's difficult to find pics of the plants in bloom. Just the flowers. I became interested in these when I saw what I think were Ixia at a house we looked at and almost bought. The yard was full of them, hundreds. All one color, yellow. If they were Ixia, that variety seemed must do fine here. From
ces.ncsu.edu IXIA
Hybrids...Cream, purple, rose, yellow or yellow flowers)...very late spring (May/June)...~16 inches tall...Injured at temperatures below 28 degrees F (-2C) when planted...warm (75 to 80F) - cool (35 to 45F) - warm (50 to 65F) annual thermoperiodic cycle...Climatic zone habit: 1990 USDA Climatic Zones 6 ot 7 with mulch, Zones 8 to 9 without mulch...Full sunlight only. Some sites emphasize the need for dry season when dormant. Here, summers are dry but winter is wet. That the row I planted last fall survive is encouraging.
Rhubarb not quite ready for pie. Maybe 2 weeks.
The pink tree is "Hollywood Plum". There may yet be some frosts / freezes, in which case maybe no plums. I always think about that, this time of year.
Side/Front yard. Spring is here. I'm impressed with the amount of diversity in this small space.
These cuttings are from ornamental plum. They have calloused well. There is some top growth. Not sure if roots are developing yet. I think I see root initials. So these are still in the "maybe" category as to whether they will develop into little trees.
Here's Ning rototilling an area of lawn. If all goes by plan, this will be a wildflower meadow. There will still be grass in the meadow. THe tilling opens up sod to give the seeds a chance. We've never done this before so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
After taking the Home Orchard Society grafting class, I was anxious to try. These are the attempts. This is a russeted Asian pear, Chojuro. I've grafted a nonrusseted variety, unsure cultivar. Purpose is for pollination. Mostly I think it's just cool. 
This is the nonrusseted Asian pear. Unknown variety, had one pear last year. Grafted another unknown onto it from my home tree, plus 2 Euro pears, Orcas Island and Rescue. I tried to graft near the trunk. Not the best grafts I've seen. We did bench grafting in the class. Learned whip and tongue graft, which took more finesse than I have on the bench. On the tree it would likely have meant a blood sacrifice to the tree god. So I tried the less hazardous but possibly less successful cleft grafting. No loss if they don't take. Pears have a reputation for easy grafting, so maybe.
This is sold as "Pink Forsythia". It's not a forsythia. Some varieties are white, not pink. It's Abeliophyllum distichum 'Roseum'. The flowers are blooming now which is cool. The plant seems to have a forsythia-like shape, and pseudoforsthian flowers. The name is OK. These plants originate in Korea. I guess that's considered exotic. Forsythias all originate in China, Korea, and Japan. I'll try to take a better pic net time. The plant is not as fuzzy as my pic.
Anemone coronaria De Caen. This pic from Amazon, although I bought them at Fred Meyer. These are new to me but not to horticulture. It's hard to find pics of the whole plant, so it's hard to predict what it will look like. From wikipedia, Anemones are called "poppy anemone, Spanish marigold, "dağ lalesi" in Turkish, "Calanit" in Hebrew, "Shaqa'iq An-Nu'man" in Arabic". Also from wikipedia, the Arabic name is thought to originate from "the Sumerian god of food and vegetation, Tammuz, whose Phoenician epithet was "Nea'man". Tammuz is generally considered to have been drawn into the Greek pantheon as "Adonis". Adonis died of his wounds while hunting wild boar... [Adonis] transformed into a flower, stained by the blood of Adonis. Tammuz's Phoenician epithet "Nea'man" is believed to be both the source of "An-Nu'man" in Arabic which came through Syriac, and of "Anemone" which came through Greek. They go on to say, "Another possible source of the name is An-Nu'man III Bin Al-Munthir, the last Lakhmid king of Al-Hirah (582-c.609 AD) and a Christian Arab. An-Nu'man is known to have protected the flowers during his reign. According to myth, the flower thrived on An-Nu'man's grave, paralleling the death and rebirth of Adonis. That last version seems unlikely. Whatever the history, they look interesting. The plants that survived the winter are growing nicely. The leaves are finely cut and ruffled, thick and green. Multiple web sites state all parts of the plant are toxic, and deer and rabbits leave them alone.
