SEQUIM — It’s the bloom of the century, plus 20.
Like a publicist for the Clallam County Master Gardeners’ spring series of events, their fountain bamboo plant has flowered, as the species does only once every 120 years.
The blossoms are plain and the seeds flimsy-looking, but this bamboo, aka Fargesia nitida, is a kind of herald for the opening of the Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden at 2711 Woodcock Road.
“We don’t know how long it’s going to bloom,” said second-year master gardener Karen Skinner.
“We’re thinking it’s going to die,” after this bloom, like a bee that’s done its stinging.
Of course the master gardeners plan on using the Fargesia’s seeds to propagate some offspring.
These growers are passionate about their plants, and in spring, they fairly burst with cheer, energy and plans.
“We’re doing a major face lift on the demo garden,” Skinner began. The 2.5-acre garden will have new paths and a spruced-up wetland section, plus a grove of fruit trees with new, educational mulch.
“Our whole goal is to educate people,” Skinner said, adding that the demo garden will be open to the public from sunrise to sunset starting today.
One thing that makes this a teaching garden, not just a showplace, is the wood mulch — instead of grass — under the plum, apple and pear trees.
It keeps weeds down and conserves moisture, and the trees no longer compete with grass for nutrients, said Jean Pier, president of the Master Gardeners.
And, of course, there’s no mowing of mulch.
“In the past, this used to be a very maintenance-intensive garden,” Pier added. “We want to teach the public low-maintenance gardening.”