Jacqueline Houston is a member of the Wedgwood Garden Club, and also a Master Gardener of King County. She has been gardening in Seattle for over 30 years, and now has a garden consulting/coaching business called Enchanted Garden Consulting. Wedgwood Garden Club always welcomes new members – contact Jacqueline at tppoems@comcast.net for more information on our monthly meetings.
Every year I renew my membership in the Northwest Perennial Alliance to get access to the incredible number of members’ Open Gardens, on display from May through September. For a mere $50 per year, you can visit over 100 private gardens throughout the Puget Sound as well as visit public gardens such as Heronswood, Soos Creek and Powells Wood garden etc at no cost on their designated NPA Open Garden day. There are very few gardens I visit where I don’t pick up some new idea, and here is a story of two very different gardens in Medina that surprised me with unexpected take-homes.
One was a fabulous acre of tall conifers, sophisticated plantings, water features, and lovely garden views that have been featured in a garden book (on display on patio). It was an absolute pleasure to stroll around. However, I noticed to my surprise an almost total absence of bees, even in the sunniest and most flowery spots. As pollinator-friendly plants had lately become my focus, after noticing something of a drop in bees in my own garden, I was disappointed that such beauty hadn’t brought in more bees.
Down the road was a much more conventional garden, with a rectangular back lawn facing extensive views out over Medina. It was edged with planting beds containing shrubs, perennials and annuals. Suddenly I noticed a wave of fragrance that penetrated even my COVID-impaired sense of smell, and I couldn’t initially figure out where it was coming from. I finally tracked it down to 3 shrubs of Abelia ‘Edward Goucher’, which had been much more rigorously pruned than my own sprawling sample back home, and as a result was a dense mass of small fragrant flowers (they were also in full sun, which mine was not). And nearby were several specimens of an allium that I had never seen before, Allium millenium, covered in blue flowers (in August! – most flower in early summer). Both allium and the abelias were also covered in bees.
I went home and tracked down some Allium millenium at my local nursery, and discovered, this winter, that the leaves remained evergreen (I hope this happens in colder winters too), which other alliums do not. Later I moved my abelia into more sun and pruned it viciously, and now I am crossing my fingers and hoping for a bee-heavy summer.