I’m back!

I decided to retire What Blooms When, retool, rebrand, and relaunch.

Still writing about gardens, gardening, new plants, old plants, phenology, photography. A friend told me the new blog title would “indicate [my] incredible humility to [my] billions of readers.”

I was thrilled that www.amycampion.com was still available. You wouldn’t think Amy Campion would be an unusual name, but apparently it is. There is an Amy “Catfox” Campion, hip hop dancer, in L.A. I don’t think we would ever be confused, as I look like a giraffe on rollerskates when trying to dance, and I would bet Ms. Catfox doesn’t know the difference between an Arctostaphylos and a Calibrachoa. Maybe she does, who knows? Just glad she didn’t take my domain name.

But I digress. I have a lot of catching up to do!

I made my first-ever trip to the Farwest Trade Show last month. It was fun to see what was new at the nurseries.

This tree was a hit. Marley’s Pink Parasol® weeping Japanese snowbell from JLPN. Supposedly gets only 8 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. Who couldn’t find space for that cutie pie?

Japanese snowbells are taken for granted here in Portland. They always look fabulous—even in September, when it hasn’t rained for months. When we moved into our rental house, I wanted to let in more light in the backyard for a vegetable garden. Our landlord pointed at a healthy snowbell growing well over my head and said, “You can take that out if you want.”

And I did.

Perhaps I need to atone for that, and plant a Pink Parasol.