Conifers, Hellebores and mystery plants

It was too good to last, the spell of nice weather! Today the cold rain, fog and drizzle arrived, but I was gone to the city in preparation for the marathon of activity that is the fourth annual Saltscapes Expo. I'm leaving in the morning to go back to the city, and the show opens at noon, running to Sunday at suppertime. I give two talks a day, plus I expect there will be lots of potential articles to write about; there usually is. The Expo isn't like your typical (boring) home show or anything dull like that. NO plastic siding or tacky carpet or vendors hawking crap; there are plenty of interesting vendors with unique artisan jewelry, pottery, soaps, foods; talks and demonstrations, music, food to sample...it's like the magazine is dumped into the Exhibition Park and brought to life. Hectic, tiring, but a lot of fun, too.

While the good weather did last things grew insanely fast this week. Including, of course, the weeds, but they'll keep til I get home; LSS doesn't do weeds, and he'll be busy here holding down the fort. As a little present, that Helleborus purpurascens decided to open its first blossom for me. I'm very excited, and of course, have had a flareup of Urgent Plant-Seeking Madness. (UPSM, not to be confused with GADS)


When I was at Briar Patch the other day, I oogled and ogled and drooled over the hellebores that Lee and John have on hand. How do you like 'Goldfinch'?

Or perhaps 'Kingston Cardinal'? No, I didn't buy either of them...but given that my big hellebore has at least half a dozen buds and seems to have survived brilliantly...I just might succumb to buying ONE more.


This is one of my must have plants this year. Meet Sciadopitys verticillata, also known as the Japanese Umbrella pine. I've been thinking about this handsome, slow growing evergreen for a year now, and finally I've decided where to plant it (it's a bit marginal here) and am going for it! Of course, I'm also getting a small gold Korean fir, too--emphasis on small, so I can afford it and so it will settle and grow nicely--and some more conifers. And some more shrubs. And some more perennials...


This is one of my 'I have to have this' plants from last year. Juniperus horizontalis 'Lime Glow' is delicious, with brilliant gold and green foliage, tipped with burgundy in the late winter and spring. It's not a big plant, working well at the front of a border with a collection of other perennials and shrubs, but somewhere up front where it can catch your eye.

Congratulations to Ewa, Adrian and Layanee, who all identified the mystery shrub as Thujopsis dolobrata! AJ, of course, you didn't point out you were there the day I got my Staghorn Cedar from Bunchberry...and Layanee, since I don't have deer problems, I'll enjoy mine and hope the deer leave yours alone.

I'll try to post over the next couple of days, and get caught up on my blog reading, too!