flynn070

It seems that there is so much going on in the gardening world here that it is hard to keep up. Case in point - the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Open Gardens. These are private gardens open to the public. Every weekend (and some on Monday evenings), there is a list of gardens to pick from. Just deciding which ones to go see can be a difficult decision. It seems that a lot of the gardens on the tour in previous months were in far-away locations (or they seemed far to us) but now there are more appearing on the list in Portland and Vancouver.  We had a great day on Saturday. We visited three gardens on the list and made a stop at Fabric Depot, a humongous fabric store that Michael had heard about. Fabric stores are to Michael what gardens are for me. He does enjoy the gardens as well, or at least he says he does. :) On this trip, we saw a lot of clematis! In fact, the first stop was the Rogerson Clematis Gardens, a test garden for all types of clematis. The huge yellow clematis is '...

This was my second visit to Joy Creek Nursery - the first being on my very first trip to Portland three years ago. It is my favorite nursery and far enough away (about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic) to keep me out of trouble. Their plant selection is incredible. They specialize in a number of plants - hydrangeas, fuchsias, clematis (just to name a few) - and they have a tremendous number of varieties. Their display gardens are reason enough to visit even if you don't plant on buying plants (although I would dare you to leave without getting something - it is just too irresistible). The hydrangeas were at their peak this past weekend. This beautiful purple one (I did not see the name) looks great next to a stand of Queen of the Prairie ( Filipendula rubra ). 'Pia', a low growing variety, is on my wish list. I could not find the name of this powder-blue lacecap variety. Michael had a conniption over the pale violet hydrangea on the right. We could not find the name ...

We are really enjoying the weather here in Washington. It is July 3 and I think we have had to turn on the a/c three times. The past few weeks have been especially nice with temperatures rarely getting above 75. The evenings are so cool that we put on our sweatpants and robes. We open the windows and let the cool breeze come through and it is wonderful.  Even though the temperature is nice, everything cannot be perfect. Rainfall has been scarce (it typically is dry here from June - September). I have to water everything at least once per week, sometimes more often than that, and the containers have to be watered daily. I have been busy spreading a mountain of mulch that I received from the forestry service. The front side bed is probably the driest place in the garden. A retaining wall holds it up so the drainage is excellent. I have not really added too much to this bed. It seems that every time I buy a plant, it ends up in the border around the deck in the back. I am trying to ho...