Spokane Temple Tulips and Daffodils

Here are some photos of the spring bulb plantings at my church's nearby temple, taken in mid-May. The yellow tulips above are 'Jap Groot'.



It's been nearly two years since I was asked to work with the temple landscaping committee as a volunteer, and it's always nice to see our work paying off with beautiful displays.



Our church currently has 134 temples scattered all over the world, and all of them are expected to have beautiful grounds surrounding the elegant buildings.



New temples are open to the public during open houses, but after dedication only church members in good standing are allowed inside. The grounds remain open to anyone who wants to enjoy a peaceful setting.



Large temples - like the ones in Salt Lake City, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles - have crews of paid workers to take care of the grounds. Little temples like the one in Spokane are cared for by volunteers.



It's a lot of work taking care of the temple grounds! Each year volunteers donate hundreds of hours of labor doing things like pulling weeds, watering, deadheading, planting annuals, etc.



A big part of my job is rounding up volunteers to help with temple work projects. This task is hard for me, because I get nervous calling busy people to ask them to get their hands dirty working at the temple grounds.



In the past year I have also helped the main coordinators pick new plants and draw out new perennial beds, which has been a lot of fun. We're working with a Master Composter to add lots organic material to improve the soil.



I earned my Horticulture degree from Brigham Young University, which is heavily subsidized by my church. So it feels great to use that education as a volunteer at the temple.



It's helpful that I live just a mile away from the temple, so I have experience working with the same soil and microclimate challenges in my own garden.



Oh, and we have plenty of challenges at the temple grounds. It's definitely not a garden of Eden! Besides thistles and thorns and other weeds, we have to plan for deer eating plants outside the fence.



Supposedly this area was once a riverbed, so the original soil is poor, rocky clay. Since we're at the bottom of the Spokane Valley, the cold air sinks down here and gives us early fall and late spring frosts, plus extra cold temperatures in the winter.



In addition, the temple site gets a lot of drying winds. And the areas immediately south and west of the temple get intensely hot in the summer from sun bouncing off the white granite walls.



These harsh conditions have made refinements necessary in the twelve years since the Spokane temple was built. But the landscape is getting better each year as plantings - especially trees and large shrubs - mature and give the grounds a fuller look.



Soon the huge beds of peonies will be in bloom, and next weekend we're planting hundreds of annuals that will make a great show all summer. I'll try to remember to get some more pictures later in the season to post.

Saturated Spring Color in the West Bed

It has been so exciting to see the vivid colors burst into bloom in the west flagstone bed this spring. It ended up as a rainbow of hues - warm purple, deep indigo blue, green leaves of course, golden yellow, orange-red, and hot pink.



The most rewarding part for me has been to finally have an area of the garden that looks 'designed'. Although the front yard is getting to that organized, polished point, it's not quite there yet. And of course the backyard abounds with pretty plants that are thrown in together without much planning.



Anyway, this west bed features repeating clumps of plants - both perennials and bulbs - that tie the whole area together and draw you along the path. Though it didn't turn out exactly as planned . . . the orange-red tulips were supposed to be peach 'Daydream' with a 'pencil-thin dark edge'. Hmmm. These tulips do not look like the picture on the bag from Costco. But I think their vivid color works even better than the soft peach would have, so I'm not complaining.



This photo shows Alyssum 'Basket of Gold' with dwarf purple irises (from my friend Robyne) and Aubrieta 'Axcent Purple' in the background. I grew the Alyssum from seed last year, so the clumps are still small, but they're adding a bright note of gold to the design.



I have been so impressed with this type of Aubrieta. It has been blooming for nearly two months now, outlasting each wave of bulb blooms and continuing to provide cheerful color. I highly recommend this plant, which also comes in rose, blue, and I'm pretty sure I saw a golden yellow version as well.



Here we have 'Crown Princess Mary' tulips, which were ordered from White Flower Farm last fall. It's another plant that I'd strongly recommend, since each bulb gives several peony-like blooms. It's given a lot of bang for each bulb. Of course my daughters are quick to point out that the beautiful hot pink color is their very favorite part of this bed!



I've learned that the only thing better than a beautiful plant is a beautiful plant set off by the perfect accent plant, so the colors, forms and textures of both plants enhance each other. In this case the 'Axcent Purple' Aubrieta is the perfect accent (ha-ha) for the tulips.



Here's a shot showing a 'Blue Jacket' hyacinth, which started blooming before most of the other plants and are completely spent by now. I cut back all the flower spikes yesterday.



Thankfully, as the 'Blue Jacket' hyacinths finished, these 'Blue Spike' grape hyacinths started up (Muscari armeniacum - available from Brent & Becky's bulbs). They are larger than most grape hyacinths but still smaller than regular hyacinths. They have proven to be good naturalizers for me, coming back in bigger clumps each year.



This photo highlights the difference in color between the warm purple dwarf irises and the true blue of the grape hyacinths.



Here's another shot showing how well three different forms can work together - airy, lacy golden Alyssum with bold balls of pink from the tulips and a mat of purple Aubrieta.



I'll end with a final shot of the tulips-which-are-not-'Daydream' with purple and pink in the background, to remind me that surprises can be even better than the plan. Now I'm looking forward to salvia, bearded irises, catmint, asiatic lilies, english roses, daylilies, coreopsis and yarrow to bloom in this area as the season progresses. Plenty of vivid color to come.

Mother's Day Projects

First a sneak peek of the west flagstone bed. By next week the spring bulbs should be in full bloom so I can post a bunch of pictures. Above you can see a pink 'Crown Princess Mary' tulip with violet and orange flowers in the background.
Last weekend we accomplished a lot of work in the garden. A dump truck left 5 yards of bark in the driveway on Saturday morning, and we worked through sun, rain and hail to get it all spread by evening. My husband did most of the work, but the kids and I helped some, too.



I bought a fountain to match the birdbath from last year, both from Lowe's. My husband put it together and set it into place near the back patio. The sound of the water running is nice - not to loud, not too soft. Of course nothing can drown out the shrieks and wails of our kids when they're playing in the backyard, but after they go to bed the fountain makes the patio very pleasant.



I also brought home three more big black urns from Lowe's, to match the one I bought a year or two ago. I planted them simply with an Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri' in each one. The conditions on our back porch are difficult for flowers, with shade for most of the day, then intense sun and heat for a couple of hours during the summer afternoons. Hopefully the asparagus ferns will be tough enough to take the extremes.



The bark in the beds makes a nice backdrop for all the emerging leaves, and the smell of fresh bark is wonderful. I chose 'bark fines' instead of bigger chunks, so it will be interesting to see if the small pieces rot away in one season or if they stick around longer. My tired husband informed me that he'd love to avoid this project next spring, if possible. The photo above shows a lily stalk among columbine leaves, with delphinium leaves in the background.



I was grateful for all the work my family put into these garden projects. Some moms enjoy breakfast in bed, but I was happy to get bark in my (flower) bed for Mother's Day. I also wanted a nice picture of the children to send to the grandmas and great-grandmas, which I caught after ice cream bribes, threats, and lots of eye-rolling (from me as well as the kids, wonder where they learned it?). You can see the result above. I hope all you moms had a great day as well!