Green Haven in Downtown SLC

While visiting Salt Lake City to study the Temple Square gardens, I also spent some time across the street at the new City Creek Mall.  I didn't shop.  I just enjoyed the landscaping around the creek that runs through the middle of the mall.



Can you believe that this scene is found in the middle of downtown SLC?  After training my eyes on all the flowers at Temple Square, it was refreshing to survey the green. 



Downtown was a mess from construction the last time I visited SLC, so it was especially nice to see the finished product.



There are fish living in the creek, though I didn't catch any photos of them.



Quaking aspen trees are lovely even in winter.  I wonder how well the rest of the landscape holds up during the cold months.



This part of the creek runs between closely spaced lines of shops and is much prettier than the landscaping at the local mall here in Spokane.



The fountains in this pool were running in the evening, though I didn't catch a shot then.  I was told there is another fountain in the plaza that shoots flames. 



Cheers to whoever came up with this plan.  Though I love flowers in many gardens, the simple palette of green leaves, pale boulders and flowing water is perfect here.

Snowy Shots From The Garden

We woke up to snow this morning, much to the excitement of the children.  I immediately thought of the hundreds of bulbs still waiting for me to plant.  Hopefully the snow will be gone by Friday, when my husband generously offered to help me get them into the ground.



You can see the roses still have leaves and mounds of catmint still need to be cut back.  I need more fall weather before winter arrives to stay.



Here is the view from just inside the back gate.  We have been enjoying watching the cute little birds that flock to the crabapple trees to eat the fruit.



The contorted filbert is lovely with branches stripped almost clean of leaves and catkins dangling like Christmas ornaments.  It actually produced a couple of nuts this year.



A clump of Siberian iris in front of 'Green Mountain' boxwoods forms an interesting contrast of textures. 



For now there is plenty of texture in the garden, though soon the last of the deciduous leaves will fall from shrubs and perennials will collapse into piles of mush.



The dwarf Arctic willow still has leaves, pretty fluffy thing.  I'll cut it back to the ground in spring to keep it from getting too large.



This is the main sunny garden.  I'm still scratching my head about what changes to make next spring, because it's not quite right yet.  Maybe I can fit a few more English roses here, but do I really need more roses? 



Straw-colored hydrangea clusters hold mounds of snow.  Just looking at that chilly metal bench makes me shiver.



Maybe by next winter the swing set will be mostly camouflaged by quick growing 'Hall's Purple' honeysuckle.  The leaves did turn deep purple last month, which made a Halloweeny scene with the deep maroon leaves of the 'Shasta' doublefile viburnum in the corner. 



The jagged boulders look interesting in the snow.  The little shrub on the bottom right is the Koreanspice viburnum that had such great fall color.



I can't count the number of time my toddler tipped this fountain over in the past year.  Maybe by next summer he'll have outgrown that urge.



Here is a final view looking east, with one of my favorite 'Green Tower' boxwoods taking center stage.  Glancing out the window, I see that the snow has melted from the street and from the edges of the garden beds.  Phew.  There is hope for bulb planting later this week.   

Planning for Spring Bulb Bloom Progression at Spokane Temple

Fall planting of pansies, kale and spring blooming bulbs is finally finished at the Spokane Temple.  Now if only I could convince a crew of volunteers to help me finish planting the hundreds of bulbs I have sitting in my garage for my own yard, ugh.  Anyway, we decided to do a few things differently at the Spokane Temple grounds after visiting Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, and talking with one of the head gardeners there about his spring plantings.



This year we planted ornamental kale and pansies in a few flower beds inside the temple gates, just as we did the previous fall.  Last winter was fairly mild for us, and the kale lasted several months before becoming so ratty that it needed to be pulled out.  The pansies hunkered down to make it through the winter and bloomed heavily in the spring before being removed to make room for the summer annuals.  A harsh winter this year might kill the pansies, but if that happens we'll plant more in the spring to serve as underplanting for the bulbs.



 After talking with the Temple Square designer/gardener (thanks Larry!), we decided to focus on the four flower beds right by the entrance doors so we can create an exuberant celebration of spring each year where all visitors can enjoy it.  We plan to pull out all the old bulbs and replant new ones in those four areas each year.  This will give us the ability to use fancy tulips that only bloom well for one year.  It will also make it much easier to plant the summer annuals, since we won't be trying to plant around bulb foliage.  Many areas outside the fence are planted with daffodils and grape hyacinths that come back well every year, so we'll let them continue to do their thing.      



I created collages to help me plan the bloom progression for these entrance gardens from February (or March, if the winter is very cold) through May.  We order bulbs from Zonneveld, a Dutch bulb exporter.  Their catalog gives helpful information about each type of bulb, including an estimated bloom time.  The cute little flower bulbs above should bloom in February and the first part of March.  Bloom times vary from year to year depending on the weather.  Sometimes a warm week will pull things into bloom early, then cool weather will keep the blooms fresh for a couple of weeks afterward.  Sometimes the heat strikes at the wrong time and the open blooms fry and die within a few days.   



There are limited choices for early spring bloomers, but the selection increases as spring progresses.  Around here the earliest tulips (like 'Showwinner', above) don't bloom until March.  We have red, orange and yellow perennial tulips planted nearby these entrance beds.  Therefore we're kind of tied to a similar color scheme each year (though I added some deep pink hyacinths into the mix).  That's fine because us cold climate folks are hungry for bold color after a long, grey winter.  The photo above doesn't do justice to 'Orange Princess,' which blooms with glorious shadings of color flaming up the petals. 



This last collage shows the big bang finish in April and May.  Last year double 'Miranda' tulips brought ohhhs and ahhhs from everyone who visited.  Somehow I didn't make it over to take photos, sigh.  Taller orange 'Ballerina' tulips should bloom with 'Miranda', while long-lasting grape hyacinths and the resurrected pansies will make a cool understory.  Topping out at two feet or more, giant 'Temple of Beauty' and 'Cashmir' tulips will be the last to bloom before we dig them all out and plant summer annuals.  Putting together the annual seed order for our grower is on my To Do list during the next few weeks. 



We planted in three stages.  Here the tulip, hyacinth and daffodil bulbs are laid out to be planted in the deepest layer (thanks Marilyn for letting me use these last two photos).  I tried to follow the Temple Square method of laying each type out in flowing curves.  We'll see how well it worked in spring.  My brain felt fried after dividing up and laying out hundreds of bulbs in symmetrical patterns in both of the spiral beds and the smaller front door beds.  Then I helped Marilyn and her volunteer crews (or just Marilyn if no one else came) spend hours planting.  Because we're only planning to keep these bulbs in the ground for one bloom season, we can plant very close together.  We just have to make sure the area gets watered regularly if we have a dry spring.       



Last year I mixed all the bulbs for each area together and had volunteers spread and plant them.  To our dismay, we figured out in spring that small bulbs (crocus, mini iris, chionodoxa, muscari) just don't make an impact unless they're planted in groups.  So this time I laid them all out in groups of five or seven to plant after the big bulbs, kale and pansies.  
It's amazing how much work was required to prepare and plant these four smallish areas.  Most of the people who enjoy the flowers in spring will have no idea of the hours spent planning and planting.  But us volunteers do this work to express our love for God through serving others, and I feel Him smiling down on our efforts.  Then in spring it's just icing on the cake to see delight on the faces of visitors when the flowers put on their show.