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Blood is thicker than water, the pen is mightier than the sword, and the...
I've been planting my chartreuse strawberry pots with agaves and succulents since I bought them back in 2014. This particular combo has been in place for at least a couple of years.I laughed when I...
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Another visit to Rare Plant Research (with the Outlaw)
I'm a sucker for tradition, especially when it evolves nursery/garden visits and good friends. If my calculations are correct then this last weekend was my 18th annual trek to Rare Plant Research in...
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Dirty Diggers and garden spying
After loading up the car at Rare Plant Research, Peter and I made a swing by The Dirty Diggers of Lovewood's plant sale. There were lots of folks from our Portland Garden Blogger's community selling...
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An epic agave rescue
It began with an email from a lady named Grace: "Hi, Loree: I got your name from Paul at Xera Plants because I need to GET RID OF a 20-year-old large Agave macroculmis* in a public church garden that I...
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My Pachycereus schottii var. monstrosus, and a new succulent bromeliad
I don't have any idea how old this Pachycereus schottii var. monstrosus (aka totem pole cactus) is, but it became mine back in 2017, a gift from Maryellen McCulloch. It's had a rough life since then,...
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Even the Huntington Garden was once open and airy...
This planting is almost unrecognizable to any of us that have visited the Desert Garden at the Huntington Garden in San Marino, CA. While the specimens are sizable, there is so much open space around...
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Whale's tongue agaves that didn't even know winter was a thing, and a couple...
I learned of this Agave ovatifolia planting via Instagram and photographed it back at the end of March. I don't know what took me so long to post it...Reports of mushy agaves all around Portland were...
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Dissecting my Hover Dish plant remains; there is life
When things turned cold last December I completely forgot about taking down the Hover Dish planter over the front porch. Once I remembered and commented on it Andrew offered to take it down, but by...
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Changes in the NW corner of the upper back garden
Today a few garden updates from the Northwest corner of the upper back garden...First of all, I bit the bullet and planted the tall Pseudopanax ferox that I got from my friend Lance Wright when he...
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Mary DeNoyer’s garden; as seen in a very different month of May
My fellow NE Portland gardener Mary DeNoyer opened her garden a couple weeks ago. I was sure to visit. She opened last May as well (blog post here)—what a different May that was! The preceding winter...
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PNW Roadtrip Travelogue Part One; nature (mostly)
Whereas most folks were winding up their long-weekend summer kick-off celebration on Memorial Day, Andrew and I were just getting started. We hit the road Monday morning, our final destination for the...
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PNW Roadtrip Travelogue Part Two; nurseries, gardens and new plants
Before we hit the road for this PNW adventure I researched nurseries in both cities we planned to stop in on the way to Spokane; LaGrande, OR, and the Clarkston WA/Lewiston ID metro area. We didn't...
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June blooms, before the gloom
This spring it was all rain all the time, until suddenly it wasn't. If my memory is correct we've had just two rain events in the last 7 weeks, neither of which were substantial. It's been blue skies...
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Visiting the garden circles on Portland's waterfront—how I spent my jury duty...
I think I've mentioned that I recently performed my American duty and answered the jury duty call? It wasn't the best timing, but then again is it ever? At least the view from the top of the new...
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Yuck! Cornus critters
I recently snapped these photos of my Rhododendron 'Ebony Pearl' and Cornus sanguinea 'Compressa'—they looked so good in the evening light.I planned to post them on Instagram, but hadn't gotten around...
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Fourteen years later, we have a step
Back in 2007 when we had the wall surrounding the patio built (hired out) and put in the patio (oh so painstakingly done ourselves) we factored in steps down from the back lawn, inline with the paver...
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My agaves that made it through Portland's ugly winter
What a winter it was for agave lovers gardening in Portland. Over the past few months I've written so much about the agaves that didn't make it, some of you were probably wondering if I had any agaves...
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Oh no you don't!
I spotted this leaf from the front porch and knew right away what it was, a Tetrapanax papyrifer sprout. This has been a banner year for them. I've pulled and tossed, and pulled and potted,...
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Pent-up plant buying needs met with a stop at Christianson's Nursery...
Garden touring and plant peeping in another country is great fun, but it can be a little frustrating too. Looking at plants, but not being able to buy any*, eventually gets old. After nearly 5 days in...
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Is this thing sharp?
This photo could easily have been of be me, after all I have to touch all the plants—especially the sharp spiky ones. What I am really wondering though, are those flowers impaled on the tip of the...
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