Monday, August 4, 2014

The Portland Garden Conservancy Tour 2014, I'm all out of order now...

This, The Urban Garden, was my last stop on the Conservancy Open Days tour but the one I feel like posting about next so what the heck. I'm jumping ahead.

I've driven by this garden on occasion but for some reason never stopped to do an "on the sidewalk" post about it. I wonder why? All of this goodness (below) is growing in the parking strip...

Looking through the parking strip to the house.

Oh the color!

The official lowdown on this garden: "The Urban Garden, with its wandering walkways, blends elements of texture and color for every season. Tight, purposeful plantings use the space well, bringing visitors enjoyment and offering a year-round outdoor living area. Despite its small size it is home to a diverse plant collection including conifers, evergreen shrubs and many perennials. The garden maximizes outdoor space with a colorful work shed and awnings and various sitting areas that allow for enjoyment of the different layers and heights of its beds. Bird watchers will love how wildlife observation is incorporated into the garden from different vantage points..."

I see they're growing the plant of summer 2014...

I've never been one to appreciate the bridge over a river of rocks thing, it's kind of "garden art-ish" to me and surely you know by now I am not a big fan of that.

This leaves me with a similar feeling.

I love this, just look at all those plants crammed into a tiny space along the house!

The view from our living room window features one of our neighbors big plastic waste receptacles, it drives me crazy and not in a good way. This is such a nice thing, a cute little corral for the unsightly.

I've got it! It's not so much the container (old wheelbarrow or wagon) but the plant choices that don't appeal to me. Taste is such a subjective thing.

Stock tanks in the driveway! Theirs are for ornamentals though, not edibles. I toy with making the transition but then I taste a sun ripened tomato and there's just no way I want to give that up.

Controlling the jasmine.

A peek into the back garden...

There were several shelters throughout the garden.

This one creates a private spot next to the garage. I didn't get a chance to ask but I suspect this where the owners dog is allowed to dig and "take care of business"...

Covered dining off the back of the house.

Even a little lawn.

This simple design for the side of a raised bed is hugely appealing to me, but I'd use my usual grey bricks...

Although I'm a big fan of using stock tanks as planters I've never gone for the waste can as a planter thing. What do you think of the look?

It's a small, and very full, garden. And believe it or not I didn't notice that flat platform in the middle when I was there in person, thus I didn't get a chance to ask about it's purpose.



This concludes another garden tour. I've got two more to share from the 2014 The Garden Conservancy (which was held the end of June), but those are for another day.

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

37 comments:

  1. Lovely!

    My front raised beds are made from recycled bricks as well, though, no where near as mossy as there's since we don't get near as much rain.}:P

    I like the look of the stock tanks. WE toyed with that idea for edibles as well, but decided not to do it this year.

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    1. Yes moss is a given here in Western Oregon. I'm always surprised how quickly it greens up in the fall when the rain starts.

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  2. This was a very photogenic garden, with that overstuffed look that I love, but colorwise and foliage-wise, just a little too busy for me. It made me wonder if there is such a thing as too much foliage contrast. Also, lots of shrubs and perennials planted too close together for their mature size.

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    1. Funny you mention the "too close together for mature size" thing, since the owners are also garden designers. I wonder if they do that in their clients gardens? Heck I'm guilty but I also understand what I'm doing and want the mashed together look.

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  3. Interesting garden. It's hard to miss those orange hoses mounted front and center. I can't decide whether I a) like them as functional garden art, b) admire the owners' chutzpah at displaying them like that, or c) wish they had done something to disguise them, like they did the waste can corral...

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    1. HA! I thought the same thing when I saw the one out front (shouldn't they have stashed that?) but then when I saw the one in the back I figured they were just letting the necessary be a decorative element.

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  4. That is one packed garden! I admire the work that went into it and liked a number of vignettes but, like Alison, I found it just a little too busy. It reminds me a little of the garden I had at my old house, where I used every square inch - mine was never so meticulously groomed, however.

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    1. It is busy, and oddly that isn't something I really picked up on in person. However there is an element to it all that is off putting to me (when I was there and in the photos), I was going to mention it in my post but decided to wait and see what the reactions from you all were like.

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  5. I think the waste can as planter thing works if it's incorporated with other galvanized material, like stock tanks. I don't use them but appreciate them in other people's gardens. Love the fullness of this garden and the way the space is divided. Makes this small space seem bigger than it is! Thanks for another gorgeous tour!

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    1. I do the hard work so you all can spy on Portland gardens...you're welcome. (haha)

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  6. A design mentor once told me "there's no such thing as a bad idea, only bad execution". Along those lines, I have seen garbage cans used brilliantly, and not so. I think maybe repetition is key. This garden is a little chaotic for my taste out back, but I bet it feels less so in real life (?). I find the front appealing, especially the way it complements the house.

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    1. Yes indeed, it felt very full but (to me) not so chaotic in "real life"...

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  7. sandy lawrenceAugust 04, 2014

    I have a bridge over river rocks, though it is a solid thick slab of rock rather than wood, not intended as garden art, but a safety issue in consideration for elderly friends who feel a bit unsteady on the rocks.
    I agree with Allison regarding the contrasting foliage colors. The arrangement seems almost formulaic, as if done by stencil. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it just doesn't "flow", if that makes sense. But in my view from drought-stricken Texas hill country, that lush hell strip is enviable!
    Nice photo tour.

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    1. It sounds like your bridge serves a purpose, I was referring to the ones that are simply decorative. I can't remember for sure but feel like this one fell in the second category.

      Now as for your comment about it being "formulaic, as if done by stencil" thank you! That's a perfect description of what I was feeling. The closest description I could come up with was "soulless" but that was way too harsh.

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  8. I say this a lot when I visit other gardens (virtually or in person): lots of nice ideas here! Unspoken is the "but"... but I don't like everything. For instance, the rebar holding up the brick wall seems too deadly to me. I love the hellstrip but wonder about some of the choices (are there dwarf smoke trees?). Overall though, quite nice!

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    1. Maybe that deadly bit is why it appeals to me?

      As far as I know there are no dwarf smoke trees, however many people cut them back hard in the early spring to encourage dramatically colored (and large) new growth. Now that mine is finally getting some size I will be doing that.

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    2. I instantly loved the rebar for some reason -- it was the one hardscape / non-plant element that felt natural and interesting without being kitschy, to me, -- but then again, I've never had tetanus.

      Love the honesty here, from commenters and OP alike. This garden wasn't entirely to my liking, either, but the owners are clearly plant folk, and anyone who collects that much in that tight a space is to be congratulated. Would love to learn what their professional designs look like.

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    3. Yes I actually laughed out loud at the tetanus remark...

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    4. I asked them about the rebar when I was there and she says it is the only thing holding those bricks in place. I suppose as long as they are below the top of the bricks that is ok with me. I think it gives the horizontal bricks a bit of vertical interest at the base of the plants. :)

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    5. Agreed (vertical interest), there's something about the visible structure that appeals to me as well. If the bricks were mortared into place it wouldn't be as interesting.

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  9. Galvanised trash cans...urban decay and industrial chic in the right setting. Not a fan of them but they occasionally work depending what else is associated with them. I think the reason why I couldn't warm up to them is because it's really difficult to make them look elegant. Steel stock tanks though, I like a lot! So wish we could buy them here...

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    1. Seriously, you can't buy stock tanks in England? That's crazy!

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  10. Lots of interesting elements in this garden. I like your commentary and agree with you! I do like open spaces and this would be a bit tight...clearly they love plants and I understand that!

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    1. Not many open spaces here, that's for sure.

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  11. I do plant in trash bins but so far have kept them out of sight. I've got a bomarea struggling away in one near the compost pile -- if it was in bloom, I'd drag that sucker out in prominent view in a heartbeat ;)
    As far as being overcrowded, I'll have to defer to the northwest gardeners. My LA eyes can't visualize how to keep this all watered...

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    1. Now I have all sorts of mental pictures of you wrestling a trashcan, or were you smart enough to put it on casters?

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  12. Ha! I've never seen moss on that kind of retaining wall. Not quite my style, but I definitely salute the use of color out front...on everything! Needs. Some. Spiky. Accents.

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    1. Oh gosh...you're right. My old adage about there always being an agave certainly did not hold true in this garden!

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  13. its super pretty, but i don't like it. It seems as though everything is temporary--conifers that will get huge crammed in together or right next to the house--and everything else obviously not of a mature size stuck right next to something else. There's a difference between mature plants that have grown together and cramming small young plants together because one is in a hellfire hurry and wants instant gratification. It disrespects the plants as living things. Or else it is just a temporary construct meant as a Wow!


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    1. Now you've got me wondering just how old the garden is.

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    2. They told me they have been working this garden for about 4 years (if I remember correctly) and used dwarf varieties. That said.. yes.. it was very full and I can't imagine what some of those hydrangeas will look like when full size. I guess they are constantly in the garden pruning things back to size.

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    3. Thanks Nicol, there were so many folks lined up to ask questions that I didn't get a chance. Funny that I read "constantly in the garden pruning things back to size" as I was heading out to tame a clematis that is threatening to eat everything in my garden...

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  14. There are features of this garden I like quite a bit, though I imagine the infrastructure with a completely different plant palette..I can't fault them for planting stuff too close together for I am guilty as charged. Sadly , it looks a damn sight better than mine !

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    1. If we're hanging guilty signs around our neck give me one too...

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  15. Oh no... I´m always amazed and jealous about all this gardens! and now that I´ve seen some of them in person it is worst... what can I say...stunning...

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    1. Ah Lisa you'd have a blast with Hardy Plant Society membership, touring local gardens every weekend.

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  16. A beautiful garden and the house is lovely, too! They even look nice together. I do like the bridge over the gravel creek bed because it saves the gravel from being pressed into the ground or messed up by foot traffic as well as reducing the risk of turning an ankle on a loose stone. Doesn't seem so necessary with this little one, but my parents' dry creek bed is wide and uneven enough that it's a little tricky to navigate, and rather difficult to get a full wheel barrow across. My father is planning to install a bridge or two.

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