Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The 2014 ANLD Garden Tour...

Last week I took part in the pre-tour for the 2014 ANLD Garden Tour. This tour focuses on gardens designed by members of the Association of Northwest Landscape Designers, we visited 6 gardens mostly in North and Northeast Portland, with one in Southeast. This tour is an excellent opportunity for homeowners in need of professional landscape assistance to see what the member designers can do. This tour isn't a plant-centric event (although a couple of the gardens were obviously tended by plant lovers) but rather a chance to think about the bones of our gardens. Here's a quick look at what you'll see on the tour...

We started the day at the garden of David P. Best, designed by Barbara Hilty and Adriana Berry. Since the pre-tour was just getting underway we stood listening to announcements and thanks for quite awhile. I don't do well in an environment where I am forced to stand still for long periods and I feel trapped by the large number of people all around me. I coped by taking photos of the hardscape elements at my feet.

The varied intersections of metal, pavers, and soil was an interesting design element throughout this garden.

The second garden belonged to the Malones, recent transplants to Oregon, and was designed by Marina Wynton.

Remember, there is always an agave. This one has been left plenty of room to grow.

This take on the traditional bottle tree was created by Mike Suri, who was on hand to tell us a little about the design process. He also created a pair of gates, one visible in the first photo of this garden above.

Sometimes you've just got to work around things...

As we stood listening to the presentation in this garden I dreamed about growing Joe Pye Weed...

And having a fabulous garden shed with a green roof and doors like this...

The third garden of the day was one I've visited before, and for those of you joining us in Portland for the Garden Bloggers Fling one you'll be visiting too. The designer behind the Ernst/Dermer Garden, is Laura Crockett (who also had a hand in the Floramagoria garden).

This remains one of my favorite seating areas ever...

During the Fling those doors will be open and we'll be visiting the neighboring garden as well.

I got some great tips from plant-nut (and gardener/owner) Linda Ernst about overwintering astelia.

After a tasty lunch stop at Garden Fever Nursery we were back on the road. Garden number four belongs to Pat Moore who got design help from Bruce Hegna. Pat had a bit of a problem...

Propagation skills gone mad! He needed a way to corral his collection and make the garden livable, Mr. Hegna created raised beds to coral the plant collection and plenty of hardscape to make the garden workable. You can read more about the process here.

One of my favorite features of this garden was something I spotted as we were leaving. The planted, yet walk-able, hell-strip...

Here we are at the Meihoff Garden, designed by Donna Giguere. This home sits on a narrow street with bumper to bumper parking on both sides. One of the homeowners design requests was a parking space, which they got...

The wide hell-strip had the densest carpet of Leptinella squalida 'Platt's Black' that I've ever seen.

Amazing!

The glass spheres throughout the garden are the work of Zoe Bacon.

Leaving en-route to the final garden I spotted this license plate...

Here we are at the Williams Garden designed by Darcy Daniels (I visited Darcy's personal garden back in 2011). Darcy shared that one of the first questions she asks is whether or not the garage is actually used to park a car. If the answer is no then the driveway is claimed as garden space! These planters are on castors so they can be moved aside if need be...

When in place they create a private seating area just outside the home's side-door.

There were several fabulous plant combos in this garden.

That's Darcy under the shade pavilion addressing the group. I didn't think to ask if the designers would be on-hand the day of the actual tour, I bet they will be.

So did I whet your appetite? The tour is this Saturday, June 28 from 10 am to 4 pm. Tickets are $20 and available online as well as at Garden Fever, Xera Plants, both Portland Nursery locations, Cornell Farm and Dennis 7-Dees. Proceeds from the tour go to fund scholarships for design students. Click here to see my friend and fellow blogger Jane's take on the tour and here to see what Heather thought. Oh and Heather's giving away a set of tickets! (*late breaking news, Ricki at Sprig to Twig has a pair of tickets to giveaway too!*)

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

36 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 24, 2014

    Do you know what that last plant is? It's really neat.

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    1. Yes, and no. It's a rhododendron but I can't remember which one, I even asked! Perhaps other commenters will be better at ID than I...anyone?

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    2. Hmmm...could be wrong but it looks just like my Rhododendron pachysanthum. Nice post, Loree - looking forward to seeing some of these scenes at the Fling!

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    3. I think you're right Tamara but for the rhody above it, the one with the powdery copper hue. Any guesses for the one with the bright green leaves?

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    4. D'OH! I should know better than to type anything before coffee. You are right!

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    5. Looks to me like it might be R. oreotrephes.

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    6. Rhododendron williamsianum, thanks to the Mulchmaid posing the question on Facebook. Funny thing is when I asked the designer she joked about the owners of the garden being the Williams and the name of this plant. How did I forget that?

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  2. Some really, really great stuff on this tour! (That has to be the most attractive bottle tree I've ever seen!)

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    1. It kind of made me think of a bottle canoe, or maybe bottle skis.

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  3. Thanks for the preview! I've seen the others as well. It's so tempting to think I might have time in the day to do both this and the HPSO/GC tour. I sometimes wish we didn't use our garage, but alas, we do. I need to find someone who can create motorized staging, that I could swing into the driveway with the touch of a button.

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    1. You have the advantage of having a garage that is actually of usable size! So many of the homes here in NE Portland have garages only a Smart Car, Fiat, or Mini Cooper could fit in!

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  4. You always wear the coolest sandals! Looks like an interesting tour and I look forward to seeing some of these during the fling! Only three weeks away - hooray!

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    1. I meant to tag that photo as being for The Outlaw, since it reminded me of your comment that you thought I was a teenager since my toes showed up in so many of my photos.

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  5. As always, it's fascinating to see what caught your eye differently from mine. Great overview!

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    1. Thanks Jane, seems we also managed to focus on quite a few of the same things!

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  6. Some seriously spic-and-span gardens. The pros make it look easy, don't they? The driveway planters on wheels is a great idea. Thanks, Loree.

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    1. I overheard a couple of ANLD members/home owners talking and evidently they have a "groomer" assigned to each garden on the tour. Something we should have for the Fling gardens! I want a groomer!!!

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  7. I love that last plant too!! very nice gardens, If I where there I would go.

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  8. I always get hardscape envy when I see gardens like these. So much inspiration!

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    1. "hardscape envy"...good phrase! Yes that's a definite side effect of going on a tour like this.

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  9. I know this is an anticipated visit/tour but I can't help but exclaim how immaculate all the gardens are, like your photos were airbrushed. Some very inspiring photos there!

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    1. You all are giving me a complex. My garden will not be airbrushed for the Fling...

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  10. Pretty much fun to see what each of us chooses to zero in on...and won't it be a hoot to see Portland through others' eyes after the Fling?

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    1. Definitely! I wonder how many will be surprised at the golden lawns? ("but it rains all the time in Oregon...")

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  11. I wonder what the cost of a round-trip ticket from LA to Portland is? Seriously, I never see well-priced garden tours like this around here. I LOVE the garden surrounding the seating area you showed in the Ernst/Dermer garden - I'd like to create something with a similar feel in a low-lying area in my own garden (but with drought-tolerant plants, of course). Thanks for sharing the highlights!
    P.S. Did your toenail polish coordinate with the hardscape elements in that 1st photo, or was that a trick of the light?

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    1. Oh Chris, I so wish you could just hop on a plane and get up here! My polish is a greenish/grey tone so it did actually coordinate pretty well.

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  12. What great gardens. Love the shed and green roof as well, that is exactly what i am want for my garden, so thank you for the photo will make it much easier to explain now.

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  13. Great garden tour Loree!

    It's interesting to see well designed gardens planted up well.

    Your nail polish is cool as well!

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  14. Love those planters on castors, and the number plate hahaha

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    1. It certainly had me thinking about my own vanity license plate...DGR GDN!

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  15. I want a groomer too (referencing an earlier comment)! I really like the transformation of driveway into patio garden. Lots of good ideas here.

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    1. Too bad you can't go on the tour this Saturday and see it all in person!

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  16. AnonymousJune 30, 2014

    How wonderful it must be to see gardens like these! Mine was just shredded from hail and I'm still feeling depressed about seeing it all happen in just 20 minutes - CheyDesignGuy.

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