SEATTLE — "It's spring and spring is the time to plant and there are so many cool plants here, I can't wait!"
Ciscoe Morris, Seattle's gardening guru, is cruising Swansons Nursery looking for his favorite plant picks for this time of year. His first pick: a Hosta called Fire Island. "I'm afraid to touch it I'll get burned! Is that gonna look great in my garden and look at it next to this beautiful Corydalis here," he said grabbing a Corydalis 'Blue Heron'. "This little member of the poppy family blooms for a nice long time in spring," he added.
Next stop, a plant with spikey scarlet leaves that towered over him. "This is Phormium 'Guardsman' said Ciscoe. It gets 7 feet tall so be sure to put it in a spot where it has some room.
Then a delicate plant with a sweet pink dangling flower: "Oh, just what I was looking for, this is Dicentris Spectabilis which is a spectacular bleeding heart these things get 3 foot by 3 foot, have these beautiful bleeding heart flowers but the best thing about this plant is it attracts hummingbirds to the shade, there's not many plants that do that!"
Ciscoe wrapped up in his favorite section: Rare and Unusual Plants. "These are Podophyllums - they're called Mayapples. Interestingly people ask can you eat the fruit on these, because they get these cool apples. You could, but Native Americans used them to deworm people. So you could, but only eat one if you need worming."
Ciscoe found a Hunan Mayapple in a little pot with a big price tag:
"One hundred-and-fifteen dollars! I shouldn't get it - oh what the heck! Maybe I can sneak it in when Mary's not looking. Oh la la."
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