Front Gate Looking Out |
Front Gate Looking In |
The first shot above is of the gate looking from inside the garden to the outside. In that shot you can see the vines growing on the roof of the gate. These are what I call the clash of the titans. One of these is Vitis coignetiae, a grape relative which is grown for its large beautiful leaves which turn crimson in the fall. The other titan is a form of the golden hops called 'Sunshine'. This is not the usual golden hops. It is one I got many years ago from Nichols Garden Nursery in Salem, Oregon where a lot of hops are grown and it is a cultivar that is actually used for hops production. I think 'Sunshine' is a better plant than the usual Humulus lupulus 'Aurea' in that the leaves seem to be larger and they do not scorch in the sun as much. Both of these are very vigorous vines, capable of covering vast areas, and I am constantly having to cut them back so that they do not swamp their neighbors.
I once had another titan here in addition to these--Clematis montana-- but it bit the dust when a neat freak garden helper decided to "tidy" it up. That, among other reasons, is why I don't have any garden helpers now. That same garden helper also weeded out all my Dactylorhiza seedlings which were growing in the pathways, but that is another story for when I do a post on dactylorhizas.
The delphinium in the top picture is one of the New Millenium delphiniums from New Zealand. I will be having a post on these in the future, but suffice it to say that they are better than the Pacific Giant strains.
I love the golden hops vine, even painted the fence blue for it, but it wanted to own so much of my small garden that it had to go. Now against the blue fence are citriodora Monterey cypresses for privacy screening. (I have a vague memory of seeing photos of these in your garden too?) So glad to have found your blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Denise. Yes, I did have some of those Monterey cypresses in my garden and I like them quite a bit, but they eventually got too big for their locations and had to go.
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