I just love it when I’m driving down the street on some uninspired errand, when I spy the house of an obvious mad gardener. Even better when I have time to stop and poke around for a closer look.
This garden makes me happy. Clearly the person who lives here loves plants. They are gifted in a way I envy. They’ve densely packed the garden with a diverse living privacy screen that’ll look good all year round, all without looking like a hoarder.
The garden is feeling camera shy this week. It’s had a long dry summer and we are both really looking forward to some rain. I’m starting construction soon, finally replacing my chain link fence after years of masking the eyesore with plants. Since many of my plants took a beating this year anyway (due to many factors, spilt milk), it seemed like a good time to hit the pause button and get a proper backdrop in place. At this point I’m just coasting out the summer and looking forward to next season, in this case, spring, when the construction is done. In my fantasy garden “next season” is never two seasons away, waiting out the fall and winter in anticipation of spring, holding over with only the evergreens, so the garden isn’t completely asleep. It would be much more fun to approach winter with anticipation of a spectacular garden show. I have such envy every time I see winter trees and shrubs covered in fruit and berries, and realize the garden could still be unfolding all year round, festively decorated and inviting the birds to stop by.
I’ve long had mixed feelings about mums that suddenly pop up at grocery stores in the Fall, looking like outsize flower mushrooms. I’ve tried not to be a stick-in-the-mud, but they’re just so loud and unnatural looking.
However, a few years ago I happened upon some chartreuse-flowered chrysanthemums. I’m weak for any chartreuse plant, so I succumbed to the purchase and I potted them up with some classier-to-my-eyes companion plants and felt very pleased with them. And then I went back for some pale yellow ones. And after they lived through the Winter and Spring and Summer to bloom again, I was hooked. It never occurred to me that they were perennial. Duh. Now I’m wholly enthusiastic about mums and am even happier to see that there are some very chic and more subtly-colored versions out there.
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Hello, Gardeners.
Hope everyone is getting in some spring shopping. It’s busy out there, online and at the physical nurseries. Since big group sales are off again this year, nurseries have lots of luscious wares on hand. But, they are going fast. If you have your eye on something, don’t tarry. Or it will be swooped up by a more decisive shopper, and then the plant will never look so good to you. I promise. Don’t ask me how I know.
Every year toward end of summer–when it’s hot and uninspiring in the garden–I think, but fall is coming. I imagine being outside enjoying the lovely light, getting to those projects I put off for cooler weather, maybe sitting in the lounge chairs that’ve gone unused all season.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear, frost on the roof and no reindeer near. Early on, several days running, frost! Oh, I know it’s nothing to some of you tougher gardeners in more severe climate, but I’m no monument to justice. This is Portland. In ain’t supposed to be this cold this soon. Scrambling to protect tender plants ensued.
The Gossler Farms fall 2020 catalog is out with some brand new plants and restocked favorites. Gossler Farms’ plants typically have all that heart-melting green lushness and fiery fall drama ??? that feel like classic Pacific Northwest gardens, with plenty of hard-to-resist collectors’ plants sprinkled in for good measure. I’m not one to resist the urge to do a little fantasy shopping of my own while updating our catalog with the latest. Why fight love?
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How much fun is it to say Banana Canna. Right up there with Sambucus. This post has nothing to do with Sambucus–aside from the delight in saying its name. Sambucus was my first deliberate Latin plant name utterance. Megan taught me when she urged me to buy a lacy Fern Leaf Elderberry. That plant got big and gorgeous. No worries. The new peeps poisoned it and it is long gone. I will not be bitter, I swear.
Canna musafolia aka Banana Canna is not only fun to say, it’s leaves are big, dramatic, and it sways romantically in the breeze. You’ll think you’re on vacation. (more…)
When we first heard the forecast, Bill lamented not having Champagne in stock. It’s a tradition. We watched the first flurries from our toasty living room. It was no blizzard, but lovely just the same. Bill started a fire. The dog slept. We ate lunch on the sofa and had a glass of wine.
It was early in the day, but after all, snow. The forecasts had been all over, though most said no accumulation “on the valley floor,” that’s the Willamette Valley floor. They always say that. (more…)
I swore I wasn’t going to buy any new plants before I had my garden weeded, composted, and rearranged. Hahahaha. Turns out that wasn’t true, and it never has been. Bloggers from our area were recently invited to Little Prince of Oregon for a shopping spree. All bets and all budgets were off. (more…)