You should really see Cistus Nursery in the winter if you're in the area. It's transformative and paradigm-shifting to walk in one dreary Pacific Northwest day, where you might be used to seeing bare branches and bald spots where dormant plants lie sleeping around...
Happy Valentine's Day And one more of the Helleborus. It's so darn photogenic. Wishing you a lovely day--with lusty dreams of hearts and flowers. Cheers
The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon holds a giant spring sale--and also a smaller Fall Sale. Oh, there is still a gaggle of crazy gardeners vying for fabulous plants, but the fall sale is a little more mellow than spring's Black Friday crush. And a great feature of the...
Do you ever play that game? I hope so, that I'm not just some nutty outlier. I'm going to guess you do, at least once in a while. Though I stand ready and willing to be corrected. Sometimes to make the game more manageable, I try narrowing to just one genus. That...
I would be remiss to write about The Oregon Garden and not include photos from the Conifer Garden, after-all many people go there just to see the conifer collection. I'd like to think my ability to admire the conifers is an indication of my maturing as a gardener,...
We've all watched new homeowners move in and take over an existing garden. Some work with what they bought, taking out and adding to, making their mark on what was created by another - but now belongs to them. Others opt for the scorched earth approach and can only...
Happy September! This is my absolute favorite month. All the big leaved plants are peaking. Trees and shrubs start pushing new growth. The weather gets more cooperative for digging, moving, planting. And we're bathed in golden diffused sunlight at the end of each day....
Just a bit over a year ago, I had the vision of someday removing the giant swath of Juniper we inherited with our Flamingo Park House. The "Sea of Juniper" was some 12' wide and 40' long. Apparently, back in the 60s and 70s, people got the notion that mass planting...
Turns out the grass isn't always greener. I'm always saying, look at those lucky Californians, they can grow all the super cool stuff. But the drought and water shortage--not so lucky. I enjoyed an article on Annie's Annuals & Perennials' blog this week. Nursery...
I’m curious, have you ever been tasked with writing a description of your garden? On the surface it sounds simple, but then emotion gets in the way. All those things you see (they’re out there in the future, you can see them clearly), that others might not. You need...