Clik here to view.
An afternoon at PDZA
Somehow three years had gone by since I'd visited Tacoma, Washington's Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (PDZA). The last time was July of 2019, when I was there to interview Bryon Jones (lead...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mystery is the key...
I pulled this quote from a Jess Walter book I recently finished, I believe it was Over Tumbled Graves. You would think I'd have noted the name of the book when I recorded the quote, but at the time I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ten ferns that are easy to grow in my Portland garden
The following is a lightly edited reprint of a story I wrote for the Summer issue of the Hardy Fern Foundation Quarterly. It follows a set formula for this regular fern feature, where members write...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The garden of Don Brooks and Chris Syrjala
Today we're headed back up to the Seattle area and the Northwest Perennial AllianceHardy Plant Study Weekend that took place in mid-June. This garden was just a couple blocks off a route I traveled...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Another NPA Study Weekend stop: Scot Eckley's garden
This garden was just across the street from Don Brooks and Chris Syrjala's garden which I shared on Monday. A few hundred feet apart physically, worlds apart stylistically—yet I loved them both.I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
August Instagram goings-on
So many things get posted over on my Instagram page that never make it to the blog, so I thought perhaps a repost of a few Instagram goings-on might be fun. Starting from back on August 16th when I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Late summer in the PNW wilds...
Here we are, it's Labor Day. For many that means the end of summer. I'm not one who thinks that way, but I do understand it means my barefoot, open-window, sun-filled days are dwindling. In recognition...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Visiting Nanthawat's garden
I finally got to visit my friend Nanthawat Jiranuwatana's garden! (I've been asking to visit for several years) If that name seems familiar it's because he's the owner of The Other Side Nursery which I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jungle Fever, a must see when you visit PDZA
Last July (when we had decided rather spur of the moment to visit Tacoma) I had a few free minutes after leaving the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, before I needed to pick up Andrew. I decided to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Crevice Garden, a book review
The full name of the book is The Crevice Garden: How to make the perfect home for plants from rocky places and it was written by Paul Spriggs and Kenton Seth. I received a copy of the book back in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
More from my visit to Cistus
As mentioned on Monday I made a visit to Cistus Nursery last month, where there were many things vying for my attention, like this pair of palms along the drive. They had me thinking about how much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blooms in September
I don't have a lot of flowers to share for this Garden Blogger's Bloomday post (which is a day late, Bloomday actually falls on the 15th of each month). I do however seem to need to tell a story about...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The pitcher plant project headquarters
I finally made a visit to Rob Co's garden! He and his wife Dahlia came to visit my garden last October and extended an invite—a year later, I finally took them up on it!Before we get too far in, I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The lady and the agave
Andrew tells me that vintage photos of agaves are extremely hard to come by. There are lots of cactus, houseplants, botanic gardens. Search for agaves though and the selection is narrowed. This one...
View ArticleClik here to view.
One Green World, finally!
In conversations with Portland gardening friends it seemed inevitable that at some point the name One Green World would come up. Then, when I'd admit that I hadn't visited, they'd look at me with a mix...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meet Holman, my adopted Yucca rostrata (or how my Sunday took a complete 180...
I was enjoying a nice relaxing Sunday morning when a text came in from my friend Wes Younnie. Someone had forwarded a NextDoor post to him and he sent it on to me; it included a link to this... Free...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thai take-out green-wall, a (better late than never) update...
I first posted photos of this green wall back in Oct of 2013, and then did an update in December of the same year, after we came out of a deep freeze. Hard to believe that was almost ten years...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The view from the other side...
I've got to be honest, this garden made the cut as one to visit during last June's NPA Study Weekend for the simple fact that I wanted to see what it looked like to be at water-level looking out...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I had to start sometime...
Our September weather was dreamy. Well, that's my take on it. Not everyone feels that way. Many are worrying about the lack of rain. I can't get too worked up, knowing that it will show up...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New plants from a trip north...
I always hope to make a summertime trip up to Seattle to see friends, but as I get busy the trip gets pushed back and back—September or October are much more likely. This year's trip was last weekend,...
View Article