Anita Barbey and Todd Liebow kindly opened their historic garden to Hardy Plant Society members this weekend. (Just join already. Months of fabulous garden tours and all for $35.) From the HPSO guide: The garden was designed and constructed for Lady Anne Kerr McDonald...
Just saying, if you've got the shade and the zone, 6a-8b, grow this awesome plant. Podophyllum pleianthum aka Chinese Mayapple is big and splashy, and not the least demanding. Plant in moist organic soil--and then stand back and swoon. Before I began gardening in...
You may recall, I posted about the Lan Su Chinese Garden before. I said that I hardly ever go--because I have a yearly membership, which means I can go any time I want. Hmmm. That doesn't make sense, does it? And it's not true. Now that I'm driving myself around town,...
I've got it. How about you? What's are you pining for? My problem is remembering what I want in the face of so many temptations when I actually do make it to the nursery. I'm dazzled by the abundance. And, of course, the pesky brain injury, blah blah, no help there...
I meant to write about another topic. Actually, two other topics. And then I took pictures of this Iris confusa. You can understand why I had to post these, right? And here I thought I didn't like Iris that much. When will I learn not to write off a whole category of...
It's happening all around the garden...new growth is appearing on the evergreen ferns, shrubs and trees. Plants that disappeared for the winter are making a return. A new gardening season is upon us! Some of my favorite foliage to appear each spring belongs to...
The big winter weather joke around the Pacific Northwest is a forecast calling for "snow on the valley floor." That's the Willamette Valley we talking about, and we hardly ever get snow, at least on the northern end. Those of us who grew up here are always rooting for...
I really meant to draw up a blueprint for Flamingo Park Gardens, develop a strategy, make a definite plan—on paper. And if wishes were horses… I seem to be buying plants, quite a few plants, and working the “plan” outward from there. Oh, I can hear professional garden...