July in Seattle

Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender) in Columbia City. July 2013

Downtown Seattle. July 2013

Capitol Hill with Queen Anne Hill in the distance. July 2013

Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill. This park covers a reservoir near Broadway Avenue E & E Pike Street, the two largest commercial centers on the hill. The crane & red wall mark the construction site of the Capitol Hill Station for light rail trains.  The water feature illustrates the flow of the municipal water supply from the Cascade Mountains to the city.  July 2013

Lilium martagon at Seattle University. This Jesuit university is a beautifully landscaped space on the east slope of 1st Hill. July 2013

July 2013 in Seattle was warmer & drier than normal.  The mean temperature was 68.1F/20.1C.  The normal mean temperature is 65.7F/18.7C.  There was no measurable rain.  Normal precipitation is 0.7 inches/17.8 mm.  The highest temperature was 89F/31.7C, the lowest 52F/11.1C.  There were 2 days with light rain, 15 days with fog, 2 cloudy days, 16 partly cloudy days & 13 fair days.  The days were mostly warm or hot, sometimes with morning fog.  There were 23 days at 75F/23.9C or above, 7 days at 85F/29.4C or above.  July is typically warm & dry in Seattle.

Bradner Gardens Plot B29B

Hemerocallis 'Bela Lugosi'. June 2013

'Vates' Collards. June 2013

 'Speedy' Bush Beans & Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver'. July 2013

Lilium auratum. July 2013

Clematis integrifolia. July 2013

Penstemon x mexicali. July 2013.

June & July at plot B29B were occupied mostly with weeding & watering.  I watered once a week in June.  But then in July I noticed that the vegetable plants in the other plots were many times the size of mine.  I started watering twice a week.  There was faster growth then, but my plants still lagged behind.  In June, the daikon (Asian radish) flowered without producing edible radishes.  I pulled them all out.  I was told I could eat the greens, but they were unappealing to me.  Toward the end of June I had my 1st harvest, which consisted of 11 green beans.  I cooked & ate them.  In July, a week later, I had many more beans, enough as a side dish for 2 people.  There were also 5 sizeable & very tasty 'Merida' carrots.  For the following 2 weeks, I had beans & 'Perpetual' chard. Flowers had been abundant earlier in the spring.  They petered out in June, when the daylilies stopped blooming.  The flowers of early summer were less bountiful.  Clematis integrifolia, Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver', Lilium auratum & Penstemon x mexicali bloomed in July.

Summit Slope Park & Unpaving Paradise P-Patch

Summit Slope Park July 2012

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012 with tool shed & alley behind

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch July 2012 with extra-long picnic table

Unpaving Paradise P-Patch is part of Summit Slope Park on the west slope of Capitol Hill in Seattle.  This is a very densely populated area.  The park & p-patch were created from a parking lot in 2010.  The design & execution were excellent.  This is among the nicest small parks in Seattle.  When I first saw the site, it seemed odd to me to have a p-patch in an area with so much pedestrian & vehicular traffic.  I thought vandalism would be rampant.  But I haven't seen any obvious injury to the space & now I really love it.  The largest part of the park is p-patch.  There are also 2 small pieces of lawn, some basic landscaping, areas of pavement including stairs, a tool shed, 1 barbecue grill & possibly the longest picnic table in Seattle.  There are 37 plots on land owned by the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation.  The entire park covers 1/5th of an acre at the corner Summit Avenue E & E John Street, right next to the E Olive Way business district.  Click here to see more Seattle P-Patches.

Republican P-Patch

Republican P-Patch July 2012

Republican P-Patch July 2012

Republican P-Patch July 2012

Republican P-Patch July 2012

 Republican P-Patch July 2012

The Republican P-Patch can be found on Capitol Hill in Seattle.  So you should not expect most (or any) of the gardeners here to be Republicans.  Voters in this legislative district gave Obama 83.5% of the vote in the 2008 presidential election.  The Republican P-Patch is located at 503 20th Avenue E on the corner of E Republican Street.  The neighborhood here, known as Miller Park, is not as densely populated as other areas on south Capitol Hill.  It is composed mostly of smaller, early 20th century apartment buildings & houses.  This p-patch is one of the older community gardens in Seattle.  Established in 1986, it has 23 plots on privately-owned land, leased by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.  It has a quiet, earthy, yet urban feel.  Click here to see more Seattle P-Patches.

June in Seattle

Cistus purpureus (Orchid Rockrose) on Capitol Hill. June 2013

 

Phygelius x rectus 'Moonraker' (Cape Fuchsia) with roses on Capitol Hill. June 2013.

 Stewartia on Capitol Hill. June 2013

Cistus (Rockrose) on Capitol Hill. June 2013

 

Philadelphus lewisii at the Olympic Sculpture Park. June 2013

June 2013 in Seattle was warmer & drier than normal.  The mean temperature was 64.8F/18.2C.  The normal mean temperature is 60.9F/16C.  Total precipitation was 1.3 inches/33mm.  Normal precipitation is 1.57 inches/39.8mm.  There were 2 days with heavy rain, 2 days with rain, 14 days with light rain, 7 days with fog, 2 days with haze, 9 cloudy days, 19 partly cloudy days & 2 fair days.  It was unusually warm both at the beginning & end of the month.  It was 79F/26.1C on 6/4, 80F/26.6C on 6/5 & 6/6, 87F/30.5C on 6/28, 86F/30C on 6/29 & 93F/33.8C on 6/30.

The dry season in Seattle begins in June.  People generally start irrigation during this month.  The skies are often cloudy with little or no rain.  Roses, rockroses & clematis, among many other flowers, are in bloom.

Howell Collective P-Patch

Howell Collective P-Patch beside The Sanctuary. July 2012

Howell Collective P-Patch with Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower). July 2012

Howell Collective P-Patch & an entrance to a condominium at The Sanctuary. July 2012

Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) at Howell Collective P-Patch. July 2012

 Seven Hills Park. July 2012

The Howell Collective P-Patch lies in a strip between The Sanctuary & Seven Hills Park in Seattle.  The Sanctuary is a condominium development built within a beautiful & impressive old Christian Science church.  Entrances to a few of the units are visible next to the p-patch.  The old church, & to a lesser extent the p-patch, are the only compelling reasons to visit Seven Hills Park, among the blandest of parks in Seattle.  However, the park is certainly an improvement over the parking lot that preceded it.  Tables & barbecue grills are a nice touch.  The rocks that represent the 7 hills of Seattle are almost comically less than imposing.  The rest is mostly grass.  The Howell Collective P-Patch was established in 2011.  It is owned by the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation.  There are no individual plots here.  The p-patch has been designed, planted, maintained & harvested together by the members of this community garden.  Click here to read the Howell Collective P-Patch Blog.  The garden & park are near the 15th Avenue E business district.  Click here to see more Seattle P-Patches.

Estelle Street P-Patch

Estelle Street P-Patch June 2012

Storm drain, Estelle Street P-Patch June 2012

Foxglove, Estelle Street P-Patch June 2012

Furniture, Estelle Street P-Patch June 2012

Treillage, Estelle Street P-Patch June 2012 

The Estelle Street P-Patch is located in the Mt Baker neighborhood in southeast Seattle.  It lies at the eastern end of S Estelle Street, which does little more than cross Rainier Avenue S, making it one of the shortest streets in Seattle.  The p-patch takes up the Seattle Department of Transportation right-of-way, a low slope that might have connected S Estelle Street to S Hinds Street, had it been paved for vehicular traffic.  An asphalt path lined with blackberry brambles existed here before the p-patch was created in 1990.  This garden is somewhat chaotic, with 23 plots of different sizes & shapes, most of them contained by charmingly ramshackle fences & furnished with recycled items, on 6,000 square feet.  This is in marked contrast to its orderly neighbor, the Courtland Place P-Patch, a short walk away.  S Estelle Street sits in a very low-lying area of the Rainier Valley.  The elevated storm drains are a reminder of the time when Wetmore Slough flowed through the lower part of this garden on its way from the vicinity of Rainier Avenue S & S Dearborn Street to S Genessee Street, where it emptied into Lake Washington through what is now Genessee Park.  The slough was mostly drained when Lake Washington was lowered by 20 feet, as part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal project, in 1917.  Click here to see more Seattle P-Patches.

Courtland Place P-Patch

Courtland Place P-Patch June 2012

Courtland Place P-Patch June 2012 

Broken concrete wall, Courtland Place P-Patch June 2012 

Cosmos, Courtland Place P-Patch June 2012

Artichoke, Courtland Place P-Patch June 2012

The Courtland Place P-Patch is located in the Mt Baker neighborhood of southeast Seattle, between 35th Avenue S & 36th Avenue S, near Courtland Place S.  It sits on land owned by the Seattle Department of Transportation as right-of-way for S Spokane Street.  Spokane Street is notoriously intermittent, starting & stopping more than a dozen times on its way from Lake Washington to Puget Sound.  Here is a 1-block stretch covering 2,500 square feet.  25 plots are filled with identical, rectangular beds, each neatly contained with 2 x 6 inch boards.  There are 2 picnic tables at the center of the garden, which is entirely enclosed by a sturdy fence & a wall of broken concrete.  There are gates at both ends on the 2 avenues.  This garden was established in 1999.  The Estelle Street P-Patch is within easy walking distance & offers an interesting contrast in p-patch styles.  Click here to see more Seattle P-Patches.

May in Seattle

 

Viburnum plicatum var. tomentosum at an electrical substation built of concrete cement in the deco style in Columbia City. May 2013

Brick Tudors are common early 20th century homes in Seattle.  The landscape is also no surprise.  The Bergenia may date back to the 1920s.  The Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) is a remnant of the native forest.  Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) & Kurume azalea (Rhododendron obtusum) became (& remain) popular in the 1950s & 60s when Japanese style gardens were fashionable.  Euphorbia characias  & Euphorbia in general has come to be used commonly within the past few decades.  This house is on Mt Baker Ridge. May 2013

This is a very uncommon early 20th century home in Seattle.  The Spanish colonial style was never popular here.  Stucco is considered inappropriate for the rainy climate.  On Mt Baker Ridge in May 2013

A garden at New Holly in May 2013.  The lot across the street is undeveloped.  The business district in the Othello neighborhood has been redeveloping slowly since the 1980s, after decades of decline.

May 2013 in Seattle was warmer & wetter than normal.  The mean temperature was 58.6F/14.8C.  The normal mean temperature is 56F/13.3C.  Total precipitation was 2.38 inches/60.45 mm.  Normal precipitation is 1.94 inches/49.27 mm.  The weather was unusually warm & sunny early in the month.  The temperature rose from 65F/18.3C on May 1 to 87F/30.6C on May 6, which set a record for that day at 17 degrees above normal.  The temperature dropped to 67F/19.4C on May 8, then rose to 81F/27.2C on May 11 at 13 degrees above normal.  Cooler weather prevailed for the rest of the month, included a high of 52F/11.1C on May 22 at 8 degrees below normal.  There were 6 days with rain, 17 days with light rain, 14 days with fog, 3 days with haze, 14 cloudy days, 11 partly cloudy days & 6 fair days.

May is the most flowery month in Seattle.  The leaves on the trees are still a bright green as the rainy season comes to an end.

Madrona Park

Picnic shelter, Lake Washington, Madrona Park, May 2012

 Lake shore natural area, Madrona Park, May 2012

Madrona Woods, Madrona Park, May 2012

Madrona Woods, Madrona Park, May 2012 

Stream with Lysichiton americanum, Madrona Park, May 2012

Madrona Park is one of a series of parks along Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle.  It contains lake shore including a swimming beach, a wooded hillside of native plants, several streams, lawn, a picnic shelter, a barbecue concession open in summer & a dance studio, on its total of 31 acres.  Madrona Park is located in the Madrona neighborhood in east central Seattle.  Madrona was was named by John Ayer, who contributed the land for Madrona Park, after the tree Arbutus menziesii (known in Seattle as Madrona) which was common to the area.  This species is known as Madrone in California.  A number of Madrona still exist here.  The Friends of Madrona Woods teamed up with the Seattle Department of Parks & Recreation to turn the 9-acre urban forest within the park into a welcoming place for people and wildlife & encourage its return to a more natural & sustainable state.  Work was also done to recreate a natural area along a section of lake shore, which included the re-emergence of a stream flowing into Lake Washington.  The result of all this work is quite impressive.  Click here to read about more parks along Lake Washington Boulevard.