Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The HPSO/Garden Conservancy tour is this coming Saturday (check it out!)...

Each year the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon teams up with the Garden Conservancy to arrange a one-day tour of selected private gardens in the greater Portland area, proceeds from the tour are split between the two organizations (the HPSO puts the money toward their Grants Program).  Last year's tour was in NE Portland on small-ish urban lots. This year's tour is suburban, on much larger lots. The theme is "Extending Your Garden Season" and five gardens in the Beaverton area have been selected for the tour (more info here).

Last Saturday the organizers held a pre-tour for us garden bloggers and we visited three of the five gardens you'll be able to see this coming Saturday. Yes we do the scouting so you can be assured this is an event worth attending, it's hard work but we're up for it!

Our first stop was The Prewitt Garden, owners Nancy & Gordon Prewitt. They've been gardening on their 1/3 acre for over 35 years. The front garden is a great advertisement for loosing the lawn...

Cornus sanguinea 'Compressa', of impressive size...

Loropetalum chinense.

Mixed here and there throughout both the front and back gardens were a nice collection of non-hardy (for us) succulents.

I loved this wrap around planter by the front door and meant to ask where they found it - but darn I forgot!

Now we've curved around to the huge back garden.

There are lots of happy, well-grown, ornamentals and succulents...

But the real focus is on the food...

Beautiful...

Healthy...

Food.

Did I mention it was beautiful?

I noticed Scott lean down to take this shot so when he was done I did the same. Mine turned out nice, but I bet there will be a drool worth image over on Rhone Street Gardens this week (Scott organized our gathering, I guess the Portland GB Fling didn't ruin him for trying to heard kittens - I mean bloggers).

I took so many photos in all the gardens it's hard to not show you everything. I need to leave a little for you to discover on the tour, right?

Our second stop was the Mitchell Garden (owners Chris & James Mitchell). I'd had the pleasure of meeting Chris awhile back, when shopping one day at Xera Plants. It was a pleasure to tour the garden she and her husband James have created on their large corner lot.

She's got a talent for great foliage combinations...

And is a budding conifer collector (if I remember correctly this is an Abies concolor).

Cleome, one of those plants I always mean to plant but never do!

My Hosta flowers last only as long as they go unnoticed by my clippers, however if they looked (and smelled) like these they just might get a pass.

I've seen so many gorgeous short Tetrapanax lately! This one grows along the side of the house.

After admiring the Tetrapanax you step out into an expansive back garden with raised beds under tall fir trees...

*sigh*...I miss my Gunnera!

Grapes cover the top of arbor, while hops enclose the back.

I forget how many kinds of hops there are growing in the garden, maybe 7? They're all used in making home-brew.

Did you spot the Agaves in the garden? The Mitchell's came up from California and brought with them a love for Agaves. In fact there was an entire section of the garden devoted to these plants which I'll cover in more detail tomorrow over on the the plant lust blog. Be sure to check it out!

There's definitely a collector at work here, Schefflera delavayi...

The collector also has a great eye for design.

We've returned to the back garden entrance and are fixin to head on to the next garden, but before we do I had to capture that great lawn / patio edge...

And the Agave!

So many fabulous foliage combinations here...

On to our final stop of the pre-tour; the Winchester Place Garden of Zachary Baker & Leon Livengood. These guys like color...

I mean really like color...

This combination made me a little giddy. Anyone know what the purple and chartreuse leaved plant is - not the Coleus, the one with the small leaves - in the center of the photo?

Orange Zinnias are always a good thing.

Here's the long view of the back garden. I'm standing in their cozy seating area (which I negelected to get a photo of...

I think it's safe to say the fountain captured all of our imaginations.

That's a wrap on my sneak peek at this year's Garden Conservancy Tour, if you're thinking of attending you can buy tickets right at the gardens on Saturday (August 29th) info here. Oh..and thanks so much to the owners of the three gardens who opened for us last Saturday, it was wonderful to see your beautiful creations!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

39 comments:

  1. These gardens all look so fabulous! I feel very tempted to come back for this tour, but having just been there for the Green on Green tour, I don't know if I'm up for another day of travel followed by gardens. I bet you all had a blast careening around to each of these. That purple and chartreuse leaf looks familiar. Could it be a type of Weigela?

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    1. Weigela, maybe? To bad we don't have a high speed train between Portland/Tacoma/Seattle...

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  2. Your photos are incredible and you caught a lot of things that I missed (and not just the agaves!). The purple plant looks like some kind of Phlox paniculata, but I missed that, too! P.S. What kind of camera do you have and do you enhance photos before you post them? It was a gray day from the Wa. fires, but your photos are so bright and crisp.

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    1. Phlox huh? Hmmm.

      I have a Sony Cyber-shot, fancy! (not) I do process the photos in Picasa (free) before posting them. Thanks for the compliments!

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  3. great blog and post, wonderful garden.
    best whises from spain

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  4. Live is not fair, and the fact that I won't be able to tour these gardens proves it. 'Nuff said!

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  5. The idea of the pre-tour seems to be catching on...because it is such a good one. This should tip any fence-sitters into the gardens. I think the mystery leaf might be a coleus.

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    1. Indeed it is! (especially for us bloggers! sad you didn't join us Ricki)

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  6. The purple and chartreuse leafed plant is a coleus. Could be "pineapple"
    jan in FL

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    1. Thanks Jan! I wasn't clear though about which plant I need ID on, it's the smaller one - dark leaves, in the middle of the image.

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  7. Thank you for the tour of beautiful gardens from those too far away to see them in person. They all look wonderful.

    Too bad no high-speed train between So Cal and Portland!

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    1. Now that would be wonderful! I'd be down your way for the succulent show and sale, Venice garden tour (are they still doing that?) and the Huntington plant sale, oh heck who am I kidding. I'd be there at least once a month!

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    2. Oh that there were high speed trains criss-crossing the entire U.S. I'd love to go to SoCal or Portland in less than 24 hours or for less than $300.

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  8. I don't know whether to praise you for posting this tantalizing preview or not... those of us at a distance won't get to enjoy! :( Cornus sanguinea 'Compressa' is going at the top of my list for fall planting (if I can confirm its deer resistance). Looking forward to seeing more!

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    1. I got my little Cornus sanguinea 'Compressa' start from a gardener that lives in a rural area north of Vancouver, WA. I bet she has deer munching on things and her Mama plant was beautiful. Thus...I think you might be in luck.

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  9. My first guess was Weigela, too, but after staring at it, now I'm not sure what it is.
    I loved all three gardens for different reasons and was so happy to tag along.

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    1. I was bummed to not really get to talk to you guys much, you were speedy zooming on out ahead of us slow folk!

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  10. Amazing photos! I love the zinnias and colors.

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    1. Looking at those Zinnia I remembered a pack of green Zinnia seeds I didn't sow this spring - next year!

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  11. I think Amy might be on to something with the mystery plant. Phlox paniculata 'Lord Clayton' has similar leaves and is available in your area. It looks like there is a long green phlox leaf below, a cut flower stem in the middle and then the dark new growth with the flower bud. The new growth might be a little uncharacteristic from being deadheaded?

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    1. Oh man...those flowers (on the Phlox) are just too much!!! Why can't such beautiful foliage have simple little (barely seen) flowers. Thanks for the ID Tim.

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  12. You and the other bloggers who've posted on these wonderful gardens have done a great job in minimizing overlaps - I'm impressed even though I suspect this is less a matter of coordination than a difference in focus. I love that first shot of the Prewitt's front garden - I want to do something along those lines to make better use of the area surrounding our Magnolia.

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    1. You're right, there was no coordination, we're just attracted to different things! There was a quick little "which one was your fav" talk at the end and I was amazed to hear the differing opinions. Oh and speaking of that photo you loved, it made me think of your front garden!

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  13. The mystery plant looks phloxy to me. What fun to tour these gorgeous gardens with such delightful company.

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  14. Oh my, so many things to be inspired with! And just love that wrap around planter!

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    1. I really regret not asking where they got it. WWIT?

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  15. Fabulous. I am so sorry to have missed it. Thank you for the tour, Loree. Yes, wonderful combinations of foliage - especially in the middle garden. Lots of ideas and that fountain! Wow.

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  16. Why do I torture myself reading about these gardens when I live thousands of miles away! So many wonderful desgin ideas. That Hosta is H. Plantaginea or August lily. They are pretty much the only fragrant Hosta flowers. These are the only Hosta flowers I let bloom. Guacamole has similar flowers and fragrance.

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    1. Thanks for the Hosta ID, maybe you need to take a Portland vacation sometime and coordinate it with one of the many tours we have?

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  17. Amazing foliage, even though the only plants I know are the agaves! And so good to see a collector garden be a real garden, with design and thoughtful.

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    1. It's kind of sad how often a great plant collector's collection is lost in the weeds...

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  18. Yes, that purple foliage is Phlox paniculata. I'm not sure which cultivar though. I too cut my hosta flowers. They're too distracting. That wrap-around planter is very cool indeed!

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  19. Like Amy, I was noticing how good your photos have gotten. Not only the glowing color but the perspectives you capture. Very nice! The gardens aren't bad either. ;-) Wish I could attend the tour, but our tour season will finally be here in another month.

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    1. I was looking up some older images the other day (from 2010) and found myself thinking "my photos suck!"...funny what taking thousands of images over the years will do for your focus.

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