Our raised drive serves as an island during the winter floods we experience here all to frequently. It also serves as a repository for all the plants I can’t grow in our deep, rich alluvial soils.  Our drive is built of sand and rock, mostly, garnered from a restructuring of the banks of the Snoqualmie River north of Carnation, in an effort to reduce flooding. So all the species tulips that aren’t in pots go into the gravelly soil, and do  quite well there. We grow a hedge of lavender and other Mediterranean  herbs that would sulk in our soils.  I call the drive our Mediterranean garden for that reason. As I get ready to head of the the Island of Elba again, and to the gardens at the Eremo di Santa Caterina, I thought I would post a picture of one of the endemics of the Tuscan Archipelago which  I grow here, maybe one of the only sites outside of Italy.

Linajola dell’ Arcipelago ( Linaria capraria), surprised me when it survived for a few years out here in our foggy, cold valley, but it didn’t surprise me when last winter’s excessive bouts of cold finished fit off. Luckily I still had a few seeds and started a fresh crop, some went in the ground and some are staying in a pot, so I can protect them if winter turns bitter again.

I will publish more photos of Elba and it’s wonderful flora when I return in October.