Clik here to view.
Wednesday Vignette, hiding the plastic
We're skipping back to my parents place for this Wednesday's Vignette. As I was grabbing my plants (of course I bought plants while visiting!), to pack-up the car, I spotted a grapevine wreath tucked...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Planted perfectly
This is the view from our front door. That Verbascum appeared as a little seedling in July of 2015. How do I remember that? Because I was getting the garden ready for a large tour coming through in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bromeliad planters, Version 2.0
About this same time last year I shared photos of changes I'd made in the shady corner, specifically the planting up of two tall metal tubes...As with everything in this corner I loved them. There was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Back from a week in the desert...and it's still only June!
Maybe it's because the Garden Bloggers Fling was so early this year — taking place the first week of May, rather than the more typical late June.Maybe it's because spring in Portland felt more like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Museum plantings, desert style
Our SW travels took us to two museums with plantings I really appreciated. The first was in Scottsdale, at the Museum of the West: "Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West boldly immerses its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wednesday Vignette, keep Las Cruces weird?
Both my city of Portland, and Austin, TX, take pride in being a little unusual. You'll see "Keep Portland/Austin Weird" signs, t-shirts and bumper stickers. But this backyard I spotted in Las Cruces,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Phoenix Desert Nursery and an Agave Dig...aka "The Haul"
Would you believe me if I told you I had no intention of bringing plants back from our desert vacation? Well that's the truth. I still have a handful of Agave, Opuntia, Dyckia and Aeonium here at home...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2018 Garden Bloggers Fling — the opening bash at the downtown Austin Library
So let's go back to Austin — our opening night gala was at the "new-ish" downtown library. The building is beautiful and racks up all sorts of impressive stats, learn more here.The library sits...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Opuntia house
It was a cloudy morning as I headed out to run some errands. My route took me past this house, and garden, as it does several times each week. This time though, I stopped...The combination of blooming...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This year's vertical garden(s)...
Last year I took advantage of a mostly bare trellis (the vine has migrated to the other side, the "sunny side") and used the metal grid to hang Bromeliads and a few Tillandsia.I liked it so much that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wednesday Vignette, little nopales
I bought this Opuntia/Nopales air freshener at the Mexican Art Museum in Austin. It was sealed up tight and I knew chances were pretty good it would stink bad once I opened it, and I've got a sensitive...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Touring Thornhurst
New blogger and all around great guy, Dale Hickey (blog here), recently invited us Portland GB'ers to tour Thornhurst, the garden of Phil and Barb Thornburg and the de facto display garden for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wildflowers and showers, during the Austin GB Fling
If you've been following posts from the 2018 Garden Bloggers Fling in Austin, then you know we started our 3-day tour at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center on Friday morning.I was on the early...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In a Vase on Monday — I'm back, not that I ever really stop filling vases
If you read last Wednesday's post then you saw the stock tank full of Lilium tigrinum 'Splendens'. There were black lilies too (they've finished up), and a few seed grown Bells of Ireland (Moluccella...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Garden of Curt Arnette, a post Fling stop in Austin
Another of those special "post-fling" Austin gardens that I got to see — thanks to Pam — was the personal garden of designer Curt Arnette (Sitio Design)...Curt was the designer credited with the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Wednesday Vignette, cactus kicks
My fellow PacHort board member Laura (aka garden0n) was sporting these fabulous suede cactus kicks at our last board meeting...Good thing I really like her AND we don't wear the same size shoe....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Mirador Garden, a stop on the Austin GB Fling
The annual coverage of our Garden Bloggers Flings is an interesting thing. In previous years it's seemed like everyone was in a mad rush to write about EVERY SINGLE GARDEN immediately upon their return...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Austin loves its steel...
Yesterday's "from Austin" post (here) featured some of the largest steel planters I've ever seen. When it comes to steel planters in general — no matter the size — I have to say, Austin loves...
View ArticleClik here to view.
July 2018 Bloomday, tardy
It's July! It's Hot! It's Bloomday! Or rather it was, yesterday, the 15th. But I was watering...and just didn't get around to posting photos of what's blooming in my garden, so I'm filing my report a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why I Garden, from the HPSO Quarterly
For the summer issue of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon's (HPSO) Quarterly magazine I was asked to write an essay answering the question of "why I garden". Over the years a wide range of gardeners...
View Article