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Monkey see, monkey do…
Clifford, our big-leaf magnolia, has been calling out for a little extra summer lovin...You see he has the perfect lower branch structure for tucking in of a couple tillandsia, which you’d notice when...
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Alstroemeria isabellana, my favorite plant in the garden this week...
I purchased (those who were there might say “pounced on”) this Alstroemeria isabellana last summer at Joy Creek Nursery. I’d gone to hear a talk by Kelly and Sue of Far Reaches Farm, who’d brought some...
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Touring Horticultural Heaven
Yesterday we returned from 5-days in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area where I took part in the 2013 Garden Bloggers Fling. I had a grand plan to post a “best of” photo collection today with...
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Was it something I said?
I’ll admit it, I regularly say flowers aren’t all that important to me and foliage is what matters, and it's true. Still, I don’t dislike flowers, I view them as a bonus, the little piece of chocolate...
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Privet: the final frontier…
This year we've torn out the hydrangea, some lawn, a pair of Pieris japonica and a large rhododendron. You might think those projects along with ones from previous years means we’ve worked just about...
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Percolating…
The idea of a shallow metal dish planted with succulents and mounted atop a pole has been working its way around inside my head for a several years now. I think the first time I saw such a thing was...
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Agaveland!
Remember all those rescue agaves I brought home last November? Well I’d been saving a little corner of the “new” planting area with them in mind, and once the monster Echium x ‘Rocket’ came out and the...
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Rodgersia 'Bronze Peacock' is my favorite plant in the garden this week…
While it’s true I’ve never met a Rodgersia that I don’t love Rodgersia 'Bronze Peacock' is extra special. Why you might ask? Because it continues to amaze with the color of its new foliage, even in...
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A fabulous send off…
The day before we left for San Francisco, when I should have been packing, I instead went to lunch with a couple of ladies from WeHoP (Western Horticultural Products). As if hanging out with fun plant...
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The garden of Shirley Watts, where it all began…
The 2013 Garden Bloggers Fling (which I’ll be referring to as the 2013 GBF from now on) began with a cocktail party in the Alameda, CA, garden of designer Shirley Watts…Our buses pulled up in front of...
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Blooms for July…
When I was younger I was obsessed with birth-stones and birth-flowers (as well as horoscopes). I always felt a little cheated because my brother’s birthstones were the diamond and pearl while I was...
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Leucadendron ‘Ebony’…my fav plant this week and foliage follow-up feature!
It’s a tall order to be both my favorite plant in the garden this week AND the monthly foliage follow-up feature but if ever there was a plant up for the challenge I think it’s this one, even with its...
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Flora Grubb, version 3.0
I wonder…if I lived in the San Francisco area would the allure of Flora Grubb eventually wear off? Or would I be begging to work there simply to offset the cost of my purchases?Our final stop on the...
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Designing a garden to discourage night-time visitors…
As part of our visit to Flora Grubb we were invited to take a tour of a garden just down the street designed by staff at the nursery. Those expecting a lush, private, paradise like the gardens we...
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How to ship a trunking Yucca rostrata in seven easy steps...
1. Buy the Yucca rostrata.2. Buy a sonotube (or any tubular cardboard form used for shaping concrete) which is at least 2" wider than the yucca when the leaves are folded completely upwards from the...
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Hey check out that parking lot!
Have you ever recieved an email from a friend saying you should check out a parking lot because it has cool plants? I recently did and I’m glad I listened…after all you don’t see oleander in Portland...
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The day after the Fling…
The San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling wrapped on a Sunday night, however since Andrew accompanied me to SF and we’d hardly spent any time together we stayed on until Tuesday morning. We had big plans...
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Eryngium maritimum, my favorite plant in the garden this week...
This Eryngium maritimum has been in my garden just shy of a year…It’s not a big “stop you in your tracks” stunner…But those twisted, spiky, ghostly leaves…I love them.I bought my Eryngium maritimum on...
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Where the aeoniums are…
I bet you think this is another post about a garden in California...Nope. This one is right here in Oregon, Portland to be exact...Those of you familiar with Thomas Hobbs books Shocking Beauty or The...
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Bromeliads in the garden
One of the many things I found myself wishing for while in San Francisco was a climate where I could grow Bromeliads outdoors year-round. They can, I can’t. However this inconvenient little truth...
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