Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Bauman Farms goes a little Flora Grubb


Ya’ll know Flora Grubb Gardens right, the ultra-hip nursery in San Francisco? Well on a recent trip to Bauman Farm and Garden in little old Gervais, Oregon (where?) I came face to face with a display that almost looked like it could have been pulled right out of San Francisco. No, not the barn above (with a friendly ghost)...this:

That small rill was running down the center of an outdoor dining table…

While I find the red plates and stemware a little jarringly dark and holiday-themed for this setting, I was able to overlook them in person (for some reason it’s a little more difficult to do in pictures) and just concentrate on the skill and artistry involved in creating the table.

These “honeycomb benches” were selling for $115 each…

And these elevated succulent bowls would look great in my garden!

I have a love/hate relationship with fire in the garden. I think burning wood is highly inconsiderate in an urban setting. I’ve got neighbors who seem to think I want to fall asleep to the aroma of campfire and have nightmares all night about our house burning down. However I understand the draw of the flame, and let’s face it most evenings us Oregonians could use a little warmth outdoors. This rusty propane fueled “fire feature” ($1,140) I do like…

Moving on to explore the nursery…a little Rumex sanguineus seems to have escaped and found its happy place…

A picturesque pair of Honey Crisp...

The big draw of Bauman Farms for me is the succulent collection; there are usually great plants at nice prices. Agave Americana, $15.99

Agave victoriae-reginae 'porcupine,' $12.99

Agave schidigera 'Shira ito no Ohi,' $12.99

I bought my first Agave parryi 'J.C. Raulston' at the Bauman booth at the Yard, Garden & Patio Show a few years back. Tempting to get another…

More succulents…

Gorgeous Dasylirion!

I’m guessing these Agave bracteosa are the same ones from which I selected mine last summer. Only $12.99! (back then…not sure if they’ve upped the price at all).

At first I thought this was a huge Phlebodium pseudoaureum or Blue Fern, but now I’m not so sure, the leaves just don’t seem “right” (no tag that I could see).

At the base of the plant was this freaky business…

And proving that even I can sometimes walk away from a nursery visit empty-handed guess what! I bought nothing…although I’m kind of already regretting not picking up another one of those monster A. bracteosa…

Monday, July 30, 2012

Looking back to 2005


Tomorrow, July 31st, marks 8 years since I became an Oregonian. As it frequently goes when you’re moving, we finished packing and left Spokane much later than planned. This meant a drive through the Columbia River Gorge in the dark, a full moon lighting our way, not a bad way to make a life changing journey. Andrew drove ahead of me, a 26 ft U-Haul pulling his car which was chock-full of plants dug from my garden, I followed in my car. We lived almost a full year in a rental house while we got settled and found our home, which we moved into the end of June 2005.

This little trip down memory lane was spurred by a comment from Bom, The Plant Chaser who asked if I had any pictures of my garden from before I started to make it mine. Fortunately have this group of photos taken in May of 2005, during the home inspection prior to the closing. I’ve looked at them a few times over the years and even posted a weeklong series of “then and now” posts in October of 2009, but I’ve never attempted to replicate them, taking a shot from the same place at the same angle. Well, that is until now. Let’s compare 2005 to 2012! Above was our house as we found it, and here it is now…

Those will eagle eyes might notice one of the tall Fir trees behind the house is missing, that came down in 2007-ish as when the lot behind us sold and was divided into two smaller lots.

Walking into the back garden in 2005…

And in 2012…

Along the back of the house looking at the neighbors garage 2005…

2012

Looking at our garage in 2005 and more importantly at the time, the Hydrangea. I associated Hydrangeas with the huge one that grew outside my apartment in Seattle and was very excited to be getting one in my own garden.

And now…

Towards the southwest corner of the lot in 2005…

2012 (sorry about the sun spots)

What was a weedy lawn in 2005...

Is now our patio. The much loved (because we didn’t know at the time what a maintenance nightmare it can be) Laurel hedge-wall came out later that first summer, 2005. We thought it was on our property but it was actually on that of the neighbor behind us. She cut most of it out to build an ugly fence which, thankfully, you can’t even see now!

Looking to the northwest corner in 2005…

2012

Towards the back of the garage, 2005…

Same view, 2012. I would love to have a climber growing on the fence again but anytime something gets established the neighbors clean off their side and that’s the end of that.

Looking at the back of the house, 2005 (wouldn’t this have made a great outdoor movie screen?)…the Roses and Azaleas (up against the house) came out the first month.

2012

Standing in the lawn looking back towards the driveway we see the neighbor’s huge Photinia which completely concealed the side of their house in 2005.

2012 you definitely see their house…

Looking towards the back door, 2005.

When the Photinia came down there went the shade for the south side of our house. Left with a hot asphalt corridor I decided this was the perfect place to grow heat loving veggies.

So there you have it, I’m so glad I have these “before” pictures to look back on and I was quite shocked by the changes when I see them in this format. If you’ve got before photos of your garden I highly recommend this exercise, and if you're a garden blogger how about sharing with the rest of us?