An August visit to Chickadee Gardens

The details are not overlooked in this garden, something that would be very easy to do in a garden of this size. Tamara and her husband/Facilities Manager run a very tight ship!
This was my first time seeing the "new" chicken house, La Casa de Frida...
It's a thing of beauty which pulls together all the elements of Chickadee Gardens / Blue Jay Lane Farms. The metal siding echoes that of the main house, the painted sign (Tamara's handiwork) pays homage to one of their original chickens Frida (details of the making here) as well as pulling in the blue of the nearby garden shed.
Once again I took photos of the chickens, only to have them turn out blurry. Sweet Pea the turkey gets all the attention.
Glancing over at the house...
And now wandering through the garden. The absolutely fantastic garden...

The chicken house (it seems too fancy to be a coup) is visible through the porch overhang of the blue shed.
I posted these photos in the order I took them as we walked and talked. Some are looking back towards the house...
Some are looking off in the distance...

Tamara has planted Phlomis russeliana to perfection. Those post-bloom orbs become natural garden totems.
The vegetable garden...
That cool powdery purple-blue gets me every time.
I believe she said these calendula were volunteers from a years-ago planting.
Grevillea x 'Neil Bell'
Absolutely covered with blooms.
Beyond Neil...
The artwork is by Michihiro Kosuge, Tamara's art advisor at Portland State University as well as the department chair for many years on and off at PSU. Tamara and David became close to him in his final years and have a few of his pieces in their garden. These are effectively Japanese fish traps in sculpture form.
You will be thrilled to know, Oscar the Agave parryi var. truncata lives on (it was a little dicey after last winter). Here are his good looking progeny

And Oscar himself...
Salix eleagnos var. angustifolia, aka rosemary willow.
Up on the deck you'll find these interesting containers... 

And now we've made it to the shady part of the garden, I was in awe of this Polystichum setiferum 'Pulcherrimum Bevis'. I'd heard of "Bevis" but I had no idea it was such a glorious beast!
Austroblechnum penna-marina, aka Blechnum penna-marina on the left, Saxafraga x geum 'Dentata' on the right.
Good ol' spotty dotty...


I love that mossy pathway!

Cyrtomium macrophyllum, I think I just stopped and pointed with my mouth hanging open. It's hard to tell just how large those "leaves" are. Lucky me Tamara has since tracked one down at Cistus and it's mine!
Just a few after-dinner shots now...



That's a new baby Agave ovatifolia at the bottom there...
I was given a bag full of veggies (and eggs!) from the garden to take home. Andrew and I enjoyed every last bit. Even the cucumbers were hugely more delicious than what we get at the grocery store.
If you enjoyed what you saw here then click on over to Tamara's blog Chickadee Gardens and subscribe! She does a weekly blog post and it's always always insightful and inspiring. Thank you Tamara and David for welcoming me into your beautiful garden and home.