From my yard.  Feel free to post yours!

My yard is a mess! Here are some of the daffodils.  In front of them is weed grass and some Chinese chives that I need to clean up.

These started as 3 little bulbs, about 10 years ago.  This variety is "Jetfire".

"Victoria" Rhubarb.This started at the "50 cent" table of neglected plants, about 7 years ago. Many pies have come from this plant.  It needs to be divided.  It is HUGE!  I think there are sweeter, redder varieties and have one of those in the yard too.  Rhubarb is a great "landscape" plant, big leaves and low maintenance.

Egyptian Walking Onion.A self-perpetuating onion that gives the first scallions of the year, and yields a moderate sized onion in the fall. I'm experimenting with barrel growing, which gives more control and fewer weeds.  This is a plastic barrel that cost $6.00 and I drilled many holes in the bottom.  Sorry about the plastic, but wine barrels are $39.00 here and don't last as long and are much heavier.  The larger plants were from last year.  These are larger than the ones in the ground.  The barrel warms up faster.  The tiny plants were starts from the "seed head" which is what makes them "walk".  In the fall, instead of flowers, this variety has "flower clusters" that are little onion sets - some of which produce more clusters of sets.  If they are planted, they result in many additional plants.  The starts can be planted in spring or fall.  I plant them in fall.  My great aunt Emma grew these in her yard in Illinois, in the 1930s to 70s.  I had some but life moved me around too much to save them, so this patch started from some from the Seed Saver's Exchange.  I've been growing them for a decade and have given away many sets for other people to grow.  They are pungent, and give by far the earliest scallions of the year, usually starting in January or february here in the Pacific northwest.  By the way, if you want some starts, let me know and I'll send them to you in the late summer or fall.  If you live locally, I'd be happy to dig up a few for you. 

White Potato Onion.Another self-perpetuating onion, this one also gives early scallions.  I like it more for the medium size, flavorful onions in the late summer. These have a much richer flavor than the grocery store onions, or other modern varieties. My great-aunt Emma also grew these 50 to 70 years ago. These are also not from her's, which are unfortunately now lost, but I think they are the same variety.  I like them a lot.  They are not as prolific as the Egyptian Walking Onion but I like the flavor better.

Heirloom German White Garlic. Much more flavorful than the grocery store garlic. Again, experimenting with barrel method. This is less time time consuming than growing in the ground, but does require attention to watering in the summer. Last year's barrel-grown garlic had bigger cloves than the garlic in the ground.  I also have a native American garlic Inchelium Red or German Red, but unfortunately have mixed up some bulbs so Im not certain which is which.   I saved the ones that grew best for me.
Chinese chives.This stand is about 7 years old. They were grown from seeds that I collected through a few plant-generations, from seeds that my partner obtained in China. When they are 6 inches to a foot, he chops them into about 1/8 inch pieces, adds egg, chopped tofu, and some spices, and makes them into dumplings. We get many crops from the barrel each spring and summer. I also have a stand of Chives that I started as a boy, about 40 years ago. I found their descendants in my parents yard 10 years ago and dug some up to plant here. They have smaller leaves, and a more delicate flavor, than our "Chinese"-Chinese chives. I remember, vaguely, that i grew them from mail order seeds, for the pretty flowers. They have lovely bunches of white flowers, and the bees love them.  They annoyed my parents, because they were invasive in their midwest yard.  Most likely, the next generation will be hybrids of these and the Chinese Chinese chives, because I don't bother to separate them and I like the idea of genetic diversity.

A pink helleborus. This stand has been blooming for 2 months. I planted it in this location about 5 years ago.
A white helleborus. The flowers are nicer up close. They droop, which serves the plant well in the rainy or snowy winter, but it's hard to appreciate how pretty they are without being close. These are raised up on a retaining wall, so are easier to see.

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Replies to This Discussion

My baby tomato plant is becoming a man already....

This is a cherry tomato. Also coming into fruit is my amsterdam and lemon boy.

Make me cry!  I LOVE Lemon Boy.  Mine won't have a chance of fruiting until July, at least.

I just finished building this garden. I have put sage and clumping onions in amongst my regular plants. This garden gets some hard core afternoon sun in the middle of summer so I will have to keep an eye on it. Underneath this garden is about 10,000 miles of caleche clay but after a year of adding soil, mulch and compost, I am now able to dig about 1 foot down whereas before I could only dig about 2 inches.

Lovely!

This is so beautiful! Just stunning! Yes, I know caleche, from my garden at Ft. Hood near Killeen, Tx. When it was dry it was as concrete, wet it was like molasses, sticking to shovel and shoe. I love your combination and the lovely bird bath with a stone. The river confuses me. Where are you. If you are on any of the Texas rivers with which I am familiar, there are giant floods, not every year but I saw some real gullies throughout the Hill Country ... have you had any problem?

Pure peace and tranquility!

Beautiful garden Sandi!

Lemon boy. Coming along nicely. I am soooooo proud!

I am so coming to Texas to visit!

I would love for you to visit Texas Sentient.

One of these days.....   I'll have to come up with a conference there or something. 

Oh!, we still have threats of deep frost. I don't set mine out until June 1 each year. How healthy these look. 

Indeed, you should be. 

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