I'm taking you along on another walk...

Feeling a little stir-crazy and not wanting to let a dry morning go to waste, it was time to go for a stroll. Hoping for ID on this vine. I think it's a Trachelospermum?

Love the dark winter color.

This house has undergone a renovation, I love the wood accents, especially since they're in a place protected from wet.

The planter is pretty sweet too, but I see it's already staining the concrete.

The back fence has windows, too high to see in – but maybe there's a deck on the other side?

This is at the back of the property, nice trellis.

As I approached this small tree (?) I thought of the Keebler Elves (okay it's a stretch). What great form! (can anyone ID?)....

The leaves are nice too...

Then I saw the form was the result of some rather harsh pruning.

Then I noticed it's neighbor, the Arctostaphylos. I know this is not a natural shape!

Ugh. Why people!? WHY....

There was a happier vision across the street. Behold the silver oak, Quercus hypoleucoides. This is the first time I've really "seen" this tree. Maybe because this was a younger tree that I could actually walk up to and admire the leaves?

The silver undersides give it its common name...

*sigh*

It's just a wee thing...

The house it's growing in front of has some great details. The railing along the steps is rusted metal, which plays nicely with the wooden steps. I also appreciate the asymmetrical cut-out in the gate.

Wowa! The clash between old Portland housing and new. The new is actually on the street behind the old, this is the backside of it.

And the front. It almost looks like a retail building not a residential one.

This was one in a series of 3 attached homes. The others had glass doors.

Like the fence.

Not sure about the arbor, if that's even the right term?

Shiny bits at the top.

A classic.

This photo is more for me than you, unless of course you need to hide a view. This is exactly what I should have done to hide the ugly 2-tone garage behind us. Tall columns of rolled fencing used as a trellis.

Brilliant!

I wonder what's growing on them?

I wanted to take a photo of the ugly construction going up next door (why these were done, I'm thinking) but there were guys crawling all over it working away and I didn't think they'd appreciate posing for a portrait.

Moving along...this entire front and side yard was a disaster area, except for the little oasis of loveliness,

Finally I'll wrap this part of the walk with a stop by a front garden I originally wrote about on the plant lust blog. Those photos were taken in late summer, I thought I'd see what things look like in winter.

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Sexy Arctostaphylos look good no matter the season.

I am really quite thrilled at the number of Manzanita I discovered on this walk. People are planting them, and that's a very good thing.

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