Wells-Medina Nursery (3/26/07)

While my heart may always belong to Rosso -- my cute, neighborhood, wholesale-oriented nursery -- I think I found my new second-favorite nursery around town.

The Wells-Medina Nursery has a large, beautifully curated selection of perennials and trees (not to mention one of the best-looking nursery websites I've ever seen). I think they stock more conifers and Japanese maples than any nursery I've visited yet.

Before we head over the bridge, we pick up my Chestnut District friends, whose Ceanothus is about to explode. Right now you can see just one tiny blue blossom near the window. These are the friends who bought me the Ceanothus book that I'm going to tell Chuck about. I'm supposed to use the book to try to identify the variety of Ceanothus, but I haven't done that yet, either.



However, when we pulled up and saw these Ceanothus plants, they asked me to guess the variety. And somehow I managed to guess that they were Ray Hartman. Hurray!



Drimys lanceolata. This evergreen is too tender for our sunny, windswept lot, unfortunately. But, hey, a girl can look, can't she?



Skylands Oriental spruce. Ever-chartreuse. Love it.



Mounds of mondo.



After this grueling winter, I'm a little wary of cute grass-looking plants from New Zealand. I'll probably change my mind come fall.



Heaths and heathers.



I think this Ceanothus is Dark Star. It looks just like my Julia Phelps at the moment, tight purple buds just about to burst.



I'm excited about this Ceanothus, Vandenberg, because it's only supposed to be 2-3 feet tall and wide. I could put that out front.



I know it's weird to take photos of Japanese maples in March. But these are a couple that I thought had pretty bark. This one's Matsukaze.



Goshiki Kotohime.



Here are a couple black elderberries.



I'm loving Cryptomeria japonica, called "Sugi" in Japan (where it is the national tree). Wells Medina has lots of varieties. Like this Aruacarioides.



And these Sekkan Sugi.



This fluffy one is the Elegans variety.



As I mentioned earlier, Wells-Medina has a lot of conifers.



And behind them, a lot of Japanese maples.



I have a red-barked (Siberian?) dogwood at home, but these lime-barked ones are pretty too.



OK, one more pine, and then that's it. This is a Japanese umbrella pine.

Elandan Gardens (3/24/07)

Elandan Gardens is one of my favorite places in Washington. They specialize in bonsai, which is not particularly interesting to me, but the site itself and the overall garden design are phenomenal.



When you drive in, you have to slow down to miss the Buddha head in the road. It's your first sign that this place moves at a much different pace than the highway you just turned off of.



Before we go into the garden itself, let's bum around the parking lot area and look at plants they have for sale, rock sculptures that they're working on, and other gorgeous things that are lying around here and there.



















OK, I'm ready now. Let's give the nice girl $5 and tour the garden.



This one looks like a person to me.

















This Sierra Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) dates from 1540.







After leaving Elandan and heading toward Bremerton, we saw a bald eagle (on top of the pylon closest to the water).



And a battleship.

Peninsula Gardens (3/24/07)

Peninsula Gardens was a pretty standard nursery. I'll show you just a few photos.

But first we need to drive west across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Looks like they're almost finished with the new one.



It's raining hard.



They just opened their espresso shop on Friday, and they have a $1 special on lattes all weekend. The biscotti was also $1.



Not really my thing, but these ceramic planters are pretty pretty.



This kind of looks like a jack.



Right now I'm liking spruces.



I like purple foliage next to yellow blossoms.