The garden of Hansen-Winter...part 1

Sometimes "The Powers That Be" are strong enough, and so determined, that they don't send you just one sign, but a second. Recently I was that lucky. I met the owner/designer/curator/laborer of this garden last autumn when I took part in a library event at the HPSO offices. She gave me her business card and invited me to come see her garden. It sounded intrequing and I was thrilled at the invite.

Then life got in the way.

I lost her card.

I forgot about our meeting.

Fast forward to June when I was hanging out in my friend JJ's garden and who should I run into but Hansen-Winter. We knew we knew each other but it took awhile before we got our bearings. Turned out she was opening her garden in July for Hardy Plant Society members. I was so there!

This garden has a split personality. Today we visit the old growth sections. Plantings getting by in the shadow of tall Fir trees. Tomorrow's post will be entirely different. If I wasn't here to tell you they were the same garden I bet you'd never know.

Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca'...

Hansen-Winter is very good about labeling her plants, however if there was a name on this amazing Rhododendron I missed it.

~~This one too.~~ Wait, we have a name! Rhododendron bureavii, thanks Bob.

Aralia cordata

Did you know their leaves got this big?

Daphne x houtteana

Another sexy Rhody...and this might be about when you're realizing there's going to be a lot of statuary in this garden? She's a Craigslist connoisseur.

Polystichum setiferum plumosomultilobum, it's a whirlwind...says Great Plant Picks.

Rhododendron sinogrande

Yes, wow.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Red Fox'

Comptonia peregrina

Schefflera delavayi, and a gorgeous one at that.

Robinia, I think?

The stacked bits are (if I'm remembering right) some sort of buffing wheels, stacked to become a sweet planting column.

Mahonia 'I Wish I Knew'...cause it's HOT!

(I want this...so bad...)

Another Schefflera...

Okay are you ready?

Did you see my teaser last week?

Are you ready?

Here he is...

And his little dog too.

He's one of a kind.

Gears as mulch?

Or stacked?

I kept hearing water, or so I thought. Couldn't quite tell if it was close by, or just a far away sound I was interpreting as water. Can you make out the fountain in the distance, beyond the doors?