Last Thursday was opening day at one of my favorite local nurseries, Secret Garden Growers, You know you've arrived when you see the witch crossing sign... (pardon the bad photo taken from inside my car)... The day had been marked on my calendar for awhile, it was a good excuse to go for a drive (45 min to an hour from my house), see friends who work there (Ann and Evan) and of course a fine opportunity to ogle the plants... Variegated Daphniphyllum I want to clean out the pine needles and plant something in that cool slab. I forgot to ask if they had plans for it. Lots of 'Spo ..read more

Every time I drive by this log-filled hellstrip I think "I really need to stop and take photos" but I'm usually headed home and don't have the time. However, one cloudy afternoon last week I made the time. Unfortunately the view from my car is my favorite, and since capturing that view would mean standing in the middle of a street with a blind curve, well, you're not going to get to see it. Instead you'll see it from the sidewalk. I can't tell if these trees were felled on site, or if they came in from elsewhere. They're used in many interesting ways though, and there are rocks ad ..read more

I visited the Ventura Botanical Gardens as part of a trip to Southern California last November. This was my second visit, the first was back in late 2015 (coverage here). Back then I was surprised by how the sad the plants looked as a result of the record drought the area had been dealing with. Unfortunately things got even worse in 2017 when the Thomas Fire hit the area, as a result the garden closed. This current version of the garden (reopened in late 2018) is much improved and looks to be on its way to great things... Our visit (me + my sister-in-law, niece, and mother-in ..read more

As I wrote in Monday's blog post, last weekend was Hortlandia, the spring plant sale which brings many of our Portland-area nurseries together under one roof. Today I share my haul, mainly because I love to look back on these posts and see what I bought each year. Here's a group shot before I took them out of the car... On the far left, Fuchsia procumbens.  Last year was the first time I grew this plant (check out the crazy blooms and berries), and based on what I read online I thought it wasn't hardy here and thus an annual. Nope! My plant is coming back from the roots so I thought I ..read more

Here's a newish nursery in my area that's been quickly making a name for itself, Illahe Rare Plants (and they do mail order). I took this photo at the Salem Hardy Plant Sale last September. Their booth was a highlight. Here was my haul from that sale, all Illahe! In an unusual turn of events I planted everything but the yucca last fall. I never plant things in the fall, I just don't trust winter to be kind—and what do you know? It wasn't! (kind that is) But all of these plants lived and are doing great. They're just at the bottom edge of the protection I put down for the Aloe aristata ..read more

After three months of garden ugly (not just winter, but extreme storm damage) I can finally look around and see things that are alive. It is a wonderful feeling! Today I want to share the joy and take you around the garden, if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen a few of these photos already, but there are plenty of new ones too. I'll start with the orange blooms of Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Akebono'. This is the first year I've been able to take a photo of the blooms en masse in front of the orange wall, last year an unexpected snow at the end of February knocked them back. More ora ..read more

This post wraps up the Saturday garden stops from last June's Study Weekend in Vancouver, BC. All that's left are the Sunday gardens! Do not worry, there are five of them—so still lots to see. The description of the Martini garden: "I fell in love with this 1924 bungalow on a deep lot when I saw the "For Sale" sign while dog walking in 2013. I moved 120 plants (divisions and cuttings) from my old place to expand on the beautiful but young garden started by the previous owner. I had the hardscaping done by Stellar Landscaping and splurge on three large trees, but have done 99% of the rest of ..read more

The tour booklet we received at registration for the Vancouver Study Weekend event had a suggested route for seeing the open gardens. Since I started my day at the UBC Botanical Garden (skipping the morning lectures) I had a head start on those who attended the morning lectures, I also chose to do the gardens in reverse. Once I started to cross paths with friends who had already toured this, the Walters Garden, I heard the excitement in their voices when they asked if I'd been...they really wanted to know what I thought of it! When I arrived, I understood. This was unlike any other gard ..read more

Next up on my Vancouver Study Weekend adventure (last June) was this garden belonging to Pam Frost. A multi-layered planting screens the front of the house from the street—I was standing with my back to the house looking towards the street when I took this photo. I love the bits of clipped hedge emerging from the dense foliage. From our tour booklet: "Gardening on her 1/2 acre for over 50 years, Pam Frost has created an amazing sanctuary within the city. Pam is the consummate gardener and her love of plants shows everywhere you look. As you stroll through her garden keep an eye o ..read more

This is going to be a bit of a long and winding road post. It all makes sense in my head, let's see if I can tell the narrative so it makes sense to you... This is a photo of the Pseudopanax ferox in my garden back when I thought it had escaped unscathed from our winter storm.  I was wrong. It's dying back from the top down, leaves are falling. However, when I do the scratch test about half way down, there is still green. I am holding on to hope that at least part of it is still alive. I may be disappointed. Because of the widespread (winter-storm caused) death and destruction in t ..read more