Friday, November 11, 2016

I'm glad I didn't miss this one, a garden from the Salem Study Weekend

A note before I jump into today's post. I have been struggling with continuing on, writing and posting about plants and gardens...as though my world, our world, hasn't been altered by Tuesday's events. Yesterday's Mumvember post seemed so discordant with reality. However, on Wednesday morning I vowed to garden on, to love, and to fight against the darkness. I'm choosing to continue posting here because that's how I share my love for gardens, plants, and the natural world. As well as all the people that populate that world. Onward!...

Back in June I took part in the Salem Study Weekend, this is an annual event which rotates between a few Pacific Northwest cities and includes tours of private gardens and lectures (next year is in Victoria, BC). The schedule for the first day of touring was rather packed (9 gardens) and so I prioritized my list based on the descriptions we were given. I did not expect to make it to all of them. Luckily I did because otherwise I would have missed this one, which turned out to be a favorite!

The description: "Our garden is a casual mix of Asian meets Arts-and-Crafts style. The front is somewhat restrained but as you pass through the custom gates you’ll see a personality shift. Note the westerly territorial view and the long Ipe deck with pergola and two privacy screens for outdoor dining. The gravel pathways and terraced rock walls feature a vast collection of trees and shrubs that dance in the evening breezes. An array of textural, colorful perennials are accompanied by the sound of water. The coeur du jardin is a garden house with stained glass and an Asian-style door nestled between a flowering Golden Raindrops crabapple and a chocolate mimosa. It has been challenging and fun to explore the possibilities in our small garden. We look forward to your visit."

What about that description had me placing this garden last on my list? I guess it was "Asian meets Arts-and-Crafts" — neither are favorite styles of mine. Plus I Googled the address of each of the gardens to check them out in "street view" (creepy? maybe a little). They were right about the front being restrained. I wasn't seeing the passion. I want to visit gardens with passion.

But you know what? There was plenty of passion here...

In person I didn't notice the great fence detail on the extreme left in this shot. I was too busy looking through the gate at the plant treasures that lay beyond.

What a great way to block an unsightly under-deck view.

Note the perfect leaves on the Impatiens omeiana. Not a single notch where some evil creature has been snacking (unlike in my garden).

Holy big leaves Batman!

I know not what they are named, but they are very fabulous.

And you know how I feel about Kangaroo Paws, especially orange ones.

Both of those amazing plants fell by the way-side though when I saw these cool seedpods and started trying to figure out what they were.

It took me awhile but I finally realized they were something the gardener had purchased and then stuck into the container. Nicely played!

There's a lot going on in there but it all works together so well.

And the Stachys 'Bello Grigio' — with it's oh so very ghostly white leaves — doesn't seem out of place the way white plants sometimes can. Instead it blends with the neighbors white fence.

Can you guess what my favorite part of this area is?

Yep — the Sedum and Hebe combo.

More fun with pods (I think these are bits from a palm tree?)...

Another angle.

A dead-end, that wasn't treated as such.

Looking back the other direction. This garden is built on a steeply slopped bit of land, it was very well crafted to be accessible.

Looking up, towards the house and the deck.

I've got this same fuzzy succulent and I should be able to tell you it's name. Should be able...

I have no idea what this fabulous yellow bloomer is. I meant to ask the owners when I finally worked my way up to where they were, but by then this was only a distant memory.

What a great planter!

And nicely planted up too.

Another container specimen.

And this! I coveted this...

Can you blame me?

I was so wrong about the passion thing. Clearly a passionate plants-person gardens here.

Stachyurus salicifolius

I forget now what that little yellow variegated plant was. I loved it here and then later saw it elsewhere with a tag. I never did take the plunge and purchase it. I think it's an annual?

Rhododendron 'Ebony Pearl'

OMG! A difficult plant grown to perfection! Daphne × burkwoodii 'Briggs Moonlight'

I can't name anything going on here but it's a delightful mash-up, don't you think?

Thank you Olga and Ron for opening your beautiful garden. It was a pleasure to meet you!

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

35 comments:

  1. Gorgeous, I heard about this weekend and it seem it was smashing success. Say...do you grow kangaroo paws and if so, do you bring them in for the winter? I really love them and want to include them in the garden.

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    1. I do grow them and usually buy new plans each spring, treating them as annuals. Last year however I did manage to overwinter them in the SP greenhouse. Yippee!

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  2. OMG, what a marvelous garden! Thanks so much for lifting my spirits by sharing your photos of it. I love what they did with the underdeck trellis.

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  3. I think the mystery yellow flower might be Penstemon pinifolius

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    1. I know less than nothing about Penstemon, thanks Scott!

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  4. Love this garden--and oooo that Daphne . Mystery little yellow plant : Plectranthus Troys Gold. Some years an annual for me and some years not , but I always take cuttings just in case.

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  5. I assumed the mystery yellow flowering plant was an asphodel, but Scott gives another possibility. Those big leaves with the kangaroo paws could be the clary sage. And I think that white clem is growing through a Rosa glauca - gosh, what supremely happy plants they grow. Even the daphne is letting its hair down!

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    1. The foliage had me thinking Asphodel too, mainly because that's one I know of. They all were so happy and healthy...

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  6. Thanks for deciding to soldier on. I had been thinking the same thing myself and then realized if I wasn't reading and writing about gardens I would be reading all the dreadful news constantly. Everyone is going to need garden blogs as little spots of sanity and beauty.

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    1. "little spots of sanity and beauty" -- well put Linda.

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  7. Garden done with a lot of love. The gateway into the garden and that fence design as well are beautiful.

    Echeveria 'Set-Oliver', maybe?

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  8. Fantastic! I like both the reserved front garden and the exuberant back garden. I need to remember to check Means for kangaroo paws next spring. I love the orange ones, too. I'm pretty sure the big leaves in the container wit the kangaroo paws belongs to a salvia, something similar to Salvia argentea or aeithiopsis, but I'm not sure what species. The yellow flowers look like Asphodelus luteus. Cistus had some earlier in the spring and summer.

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    1. Means had some screaming Kangaroo Paw deals early last spring, or maybe that was the sprig before last? A couple of containers so big I had to pass simply because I had nowhere to put them...

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  9. Lesson learned: keep going even after ODing on garden tours for fear of missing something great.

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  10. Thank you for carrying on during these dark days. My garden was one of the few things that comforted me this week.

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    1. Our gardens are are refuge, that's for sure. Thanks for commenting!

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  11. Oh yes, I see plenty of passion there. From your initial description, I wasn't sure this would be my "type" of garden, but it definitely is. Much creativity, artfulness, and whimsy there. Thank you very much for sharing this: It was a bright spot in my day. :)

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  12. Thank you for the beautiful garden tour and for deciding to keep on. In difficult times we really need those earth, plant and spirit connections that gardens give us. Now if we'd just get some rain in Alabama....!

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    1. I wish I could share our copious amount of rain with you.

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  13. It's a fabulous garden - very artistically designed. I know how you feel about getting back in gear - I'm having a hard time with that too.

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    1. Baby steps. I vacillate between reading everything I can get my hands on, to thinking I should lay-off for awhile.

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  14. oooh, that Daphne × burkwoodii 'Briggs Moonlight' is outta this world!

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  15. Wow! Isn't it groovy when the front garden is restrained but you're surprised by the fabulousness behind the garden gate? A great garden and I'm envious of their Daphne 'Briggs Moonlight' as I've killed it in my garden more than once.

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    1. I am surprised Peter. I put that mullet joke out there and you came so close, but then left it on the table. So not like you...

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  16. Stunning Loree. Just the kind of place I would love to see!

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    1. It was wonderful, and the hosts were such nice people.

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  17. This garden is a gem, and it proves magic can be created with very few flowers. I totally get why you covet the rusty planters; plus the plants in them are masterfully chosen!

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    1. You're right, the plants make the containers oh so much more than they are on their own.

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  18. Well, I guess I was too depressed on Friday to remember to check your blog. I guess being in a better frame of mind today to view this spectacular garden is a good thing, though. Love it. So funny, too, that the description of 'arts and crafts meets Asian' would have been the signal to me to go to this garden first, in case I needed to spend the entire day there. That last shot of the Corylopsis (?) with the ajuga in a container really stands out to me.
    I agree with Evan about the Salvia. I looked up the difference, because I was only familiar with S. argentea. This link shows the difference, so I'm voting for argentea, for what it is worth.
    http://www.worldofsalvias.com/help4.htm
    That yellow flower and foliage does seem reminiscent of Asphodeline lutea, but certainly the lankiest one I've seen.
    Thanks for sharing the encouragement of life and beauty.

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