Hellebore

Monthly Top 10 Plants at Campiello Maurizio (February 2023)

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Not feeling so great after a trip to the dentist so this post will be brief!

Nine hours later, and I’m continuing to deal with numbing and discomfort on the left side of my face. Yea-ouch!!!

One: Oh hellebores—they’ve looked great both before and after the snow storm. This photo is from before, but now that the snow has mostly melted, they still look great. Phew!

I would love to have some fancier leaved hybrids, and maybe a species or two, but I’ve not been really great about acquiring them yet. You’d think I’d know better! It’s not too hard to find them out there.

Two: Fragrance in the garden is something most of us enjoy—especially in winter when so much is still asleep. Sweet boxes are always great additions to shady areas, and additionally, they smell great!

I have a few different ones in the garden. This one is Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis and it’s in the back garden. Since it’s a lower growing option it works well as a ground cover.

Three: The Goodyera oblongifolia aren’t looking great per se, but the one plant has now grown into many since it was planted!!!

This little native orchid is a favorite of so many folks, and while it can be a bit finicky in the garden setting, it doesn’t have to be.

This grouping lives under a large Doug fir and I’ve included other native plants nearby to keep the little group happy. It seems to be working.

Four: Of course I have to add a houseplant or two too!!! This is Streptocarpus UA-Retro. Ain’t she a beauty?

Hubba hubba!

Five: Love this tough hybrid and so do the hummingbirds. Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’ is an interspecific hybrid of two Asian species and is quickly becoming a favorite in my front garden.

Six: I don’t even remember how long I’ve had these Galanthus elwesii but it’s been for well over a decade now. They’re reliable and true for me, maybe not the most hard-to-find, but hey, I live too far away from Galanthus Gala to throw down too much cash on some of the more difficult-to-find ones. (Just kidding!!! That’s what the internet is for, right?)

Anyway, for now, these will do!

Seven: Another great winter plant in the garden, this Garrya elliptica ‘Evie’ came to me as a pet plant that had been trimmed into a lollipop topiary in a container. I’ve let it get a bit messy, and plan to cut it back now that the big show is almost over, but until then, you get this view of it. As a lollipop, it looks a lot like a dramatic chandelier. I can’t wait to see it look like that again.

Eight: Back in houseplant world, Dracaena masoniana aka Sansevieria masoniana has been putting on some new growth and each night I’ve looked at it with a bit of wonder. Kind of amazing how much the leaves can change over time. Plants are amazing.

Nine: So then the snow came… and I think that this is an Acer palmatum var. dissectum of some kind, I just don’t know which one. Mom bought it for me back in 2004 when we first moved into the house. It was a discount plant, from some random nursery in Clackamas County, and it was on sale because it had a very ugly graft.

I wanted it for the cats to hang out beneath it in the summer. For many years, they did.

Now, she’s my pruned princess.

And last but not least…

Ten: All of the plants. All of the plants are #10 on my list this month because I love them and feel terrible they had snow dumped on them. I know this is a subjective opinion, but it seems fair enough.

If not, well, I’ll blame the novocaine whenever it wears off.

VERONA, ITALY: GIARDINO GIUSTI (PART TWO)

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A few weeks ago I introduced the Giardino Giusti and began to describe our visit there. It’s been just a few months since we left Italy, but it feels like ages right now. As I said before, the garden is simply incredible and the plants found there are all part of what I’d consider the traditional Italian garden. Maybe the photo collage is too small, but above on the far left you’ll see Acanthus mollis, some jasmine, and a hellebore with an Italian terra-cotta planter on a classical Roman-style pedestal. In the middle image you’ll notice the Italian cypresses flanking the perfectly painted Italian building. These trees are used to the extreme in this garden, oh, and that last pic on the far right, the boxwood! Oh, the boxwood! There’s architectural remnants too—but course.

Up the stairs in the lower garden there is an orangerie, although I cannot remember what to call it in Italian. Beyond it there’s an area dedicated to Brugmansia, but they were only just beginning to grow again after having been planted out. (I assume they’re protected over the winter.) Above this area, you can see a lovely structure which you’re able to walk up to in order the sit and enjoy the view below of the garden and town itself.

The flowers in this area were mostly Iris. The many citrus plants were blooming and the scent of their blooms was intoxicating. Along a wall, for the second time during an Italian vacation, I saw caper plants growing.

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Looking back towards the entrance to the garden, I noted this row of statuary lined up above a roof’s edge. My husband recognized the style of dress and the symbols each held and they essentially represent the classes. There’s nobility, military, clergy, and a peasant.  What’s missing is the piece that was up above the other 4. If I had to guess, it may have been religious, but I’m not certain. (My guess at the 4 statues representing the classes is a guess as well, but it’s and educated one.)

Protected in this area is the lovely Citron fruit. These lovely structures are so simple. The fruits were so happy and snug growing against their wall.

Sadly I cannot remember right now what this area had been, but I do remember the little pockets in the walls.

Before heading up the lovely path I had a lesson in Italian. I made the mistake of goofily pronouncing belvedere as we would in English, as I had learned as a kid from watching Mr. Belvedere. My husband lost it. When he lost it, I lost it cracking up at him. Then I had to laugh at how to correctly pronounce the word in Italian—bell-va-dare-aye. I felt so stylish. Of course this led to me talking about Signore Bell-va-dare-aye! It doesn’t take much for me to have fun, now does it? Turns out that to my husband “Belvedere” is somehow sacred. Yes, it means “viewpoint” if you hadn’t figured that out already.

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I guess when you have a view like this, you might want to take it seriously.

Next post, you’ll be seeing a bit more of it.