The Pacific Bonsai Museum

On Sunday we took advantage of a mild sunny day to visit three gardens not far from home. The first is the Pacific Bonsai Museum on what was formerly the Weyerhaeuser campus in Federal Way, WA. 

Not actually a garden, this museum is an outdoor display of living art. There are about 150 bonsai in the collection, 60 of which are on display at one time. It is one of the largest and most diverse collections in the world. 

The walk from the parking lot to the Bonsai Museum lets you know you are heading to a special place. 

 Some tropical trees are in an enclosed glass house. My glasses and camera lens immediately steamed up in there. 

 Out in the bright sunlight, we first see this Juniper from Taiwan, trained as a bonsai since 1959.

 This upright tree with a blue painted background reminds me of the Cascadia flag. 

 Most of these trees are quite large, and all are masterworks of art. 

 This Satsuki Azalea has been "in training" since 1910. 

 With Tom in the picture you can get a correct idea of the size. 

 Many of these trees have wonderful old trunks. 

This azalea dates from 1800. 

 Here you can get an idea of the wonderful woodland setting of this museum. 

 This Japanese yew dates from about 1700. It was probably found in the wild as an already old tree and made into a bonsai, but that date is unknown. 

 This is a climbing hydrangea. Ours climbs up a fir tree. This one has been severely controlled, not allowed to become a vine, and has instead become a lovely bonsai. 

Some call these tortured trees. In a sense they are, but they are also a wonderful art form, but one that takes constant care to keep them alive, in shape, and healthy. 

Thank you.

Too many, too soon, but not forgotten. 

What's Up

I haven't posted for a while. I thought I had nothing to talk about. We were just doing the same old, same old. So I thought about it, and decided we really were doing stuff, even if it is ordinary stuff. 

We have had another great week of weather, even reaching 80 on Wednesday. Our roses are starting to bloom.

So are the fox gloves.

We have gone for our exercise walk, 3.25 miles, almost every day. 

By Monday I was ready to go back the the site of the wasp sting, bee activity seeming squelched by spray in that bird house nest. As of today, my face is pretty much back to normal, the last of the swelling and itching gone. So Monday and Tuesday I finished the clean up of the scilla foliage, cleaning out the rose bed and the bank above it. That was hard work, and hard on the back.

Tuesday I had time out to go get a haircut before going back to work in the garden. By Wednesday the garden jobs were getting crossed off the list. It was warm and I actually sat on the patio and read all afternoon, or at least until it was time to go to Irene's cross country meet. She suffered in the heat and from a cough from a cold or something the Friday before, twisted her ankle and walked part of the two miles, but still came in in the top six. 

Thursday all I did was go for our walk and go out to lunch with retired teacher friends from my old school staff. The rest of the day I sat on the patio and read. Yay me!

Now it's Friday. We have gone to our usual Friday morning breakfast with Tom's former staff members, and finished our exercise walk. Then I grabbed my camera for a few garden photos so I had something to pretty up my post. 

The Korean dogwoods are in full bloom now, the native dogwoods being long past bloom time. 

 We have two trees, one in the back yard and one in the front. 

 This one in front is what I can look down on from our home office window as I sit here at the desk top computer. 

Speaking of desk tops, Tom has his genealogy charts spread all over next to me. It's 1:00, time for lunch. I'll putter in the yard a bit after lunch and then go back to finishing my book. No doubt Tom will be here at the computer entering data and finding more on his newest Swedish Archive site. 

Slowing down these last few days has been great. We'll be doing more of it! 

Columbine and Allium and Wisteria, Oh My! It's Mid-May!

I took most of Friday off. My eye was still bothering me and I was so stiff and sore from working in the garden, so I decided to take it a bit easier.

We went to our usual Friday breakfast, then did some shopping at Fred Meyer on the way home. I spent a little time out in the garden picking flowers for a new kitchen table bouquet. Then I spent about a half hour snipping the heads off spent tulips and poppies. 

While I was out snipping, my eyes were continuously captured by the blooming beauty around me, so after lunch I decided to go out and take a few photos, since the high, thin cloud cover made for good photography lighting. Just as I headed out, it started to rain! But five minutes later it stopped and the sun came out. It's May. May is gentle here. 

The hanging fuchsia baskets Jill and the kids gave me for Mother's Day look happy on the north side of the house.  The hooks were already in place from when we used to have fuchsias years ago. 

Out in the garden, Columbine Time is a lovely season here in the Reeder garden. 

 Last fall, while shopping, we came across a bag of allium bulbs and decided they would be a great addition to this bed. They are!

 As you may have noticed, the glass flowers are blooming too. 

And then, down on the garden deck, there is this!

Tom has been busy washing the windows. We - mostly he - got the insides done Thursday, and Friday he finished all of the outsides. I felt a little guilty, but only a little bit. 

Then I took my Kindle and went down to sit on the deck and smell the wisteria.