flynn070

I have always said that most of my gardening knowledge has come from books, a fact that pertains to almost every other aspect in my life as well. The first thing I did after moving here was find as many gardening books as I could that related to gardening in this region. I was excited when I heard that Paul Bonine and Amy Campion were writing a gardening book. I have met both authors - Paul is the owner of Xera in Portland, a fantastic nursery that offers lots of unusual and unique plants. Amy is a writer and photographer and we both are currently serving on the HPSO Board. They are two of the smartest people I know when it comes to plants and gardening in this region. This book is a great introduction and a must-have for recent transplants to the area (such as myself!). The first section deals with the all-important (and extremely complicated) subject of climate. There are eight climatic sub-regions in the Pacific Northwest. We live in the Willamette Valley and the weather here is fa...

The dark, dreary days are upon us but there are bright spots in the garden. We continue to enjoy our bird-watching hobby. For the past 3 hours, this Juvenile Cooper's Hawk has been sitting in the apple tree. I kid you not - he has not moved for 3 hours! One of our favorite visitors to the suet feeder is this beautiful Northern Flicker. This photo was taken on Christmas Day when we had snow on the ground -  I have been working on the terraced area on off days when the weather permits. This large sloping area will have two terraced borders and wide steps between them. After some contemplation and listening to Michael's suggestions, I decided to use railroad ties instead of rocks for the steps. I was afraid it would be too much rock and I hope that the ties will not command too much attention. I want to have grassy steps here. Believe it or not, one of the most pressing annoyances is what to do with the grass clods that I am removing. We are not supposed to put them in our lawn re...

January February March April May June July August September October November December Happy New Year! Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy