Friday, December 1, 2017

North to Anderson School! (part two)

Yesterday's post was a (very) detailed look at just one part of the McMenamins Anderson School gardens. Today I share photos from the rest of the campus...

And a campus it really is, since the facility occupies what was Bothell's first Junior High School — not that bamboo, red bananas and Tetrapanax were growing there, back then.

I love the combination of a "trying to bloom" Tetrapanax and Araucaria araucana, the monkey puzzle tree.

Proof that the unusual is at home here, Fatsia polycarpa 'Needham's Lace' or as it's called in the UK: Fatsia Polycarpa Edward Needham form.

Nolina 'La Siberica'

I love the polite (yet direct at times) signage.

Heading across the parking lot I discovered a few lush Loquats/aka Eriobotrya japonica.

And then encountered the meadow garden. How striking it is in its decline, how different it must look in high summer.

I absolutely love this much space has been given over to these plants.

And a huge old tree was preserved. Imagine the changes it's seen.

Pathway through the meadow.

Spoilsports!

A nice place to sit for a bit, on a drier, warmer day.

As frozen and wet as I was, I was still determined to see it all.

Taking this photo I realized I might be looking right into a guest room. I later asked Riz and he confirmed that the gardeners to have to be careful where they point their eyes.

The rain/sleet was once again turning towards snow as I climbed these steps.

A former bloom of Eryngium agavifolium turning into a plantlet.

Where is everyone? Oh ya, over by the fire...(I didn't photograph the group huddled by the warming flames, privacy and all ya know).

Happy Daphniphyllum...

Love how the tawny grass brings out the petiole color of the Daphniphyllum.

Additional prof that things are a little unusual in a McMenamins garden; Pseudopanax ferox. I've heard Dan Hinkley say this would be perfectly happy in the ground in our PNW gardens, even through winter, but I'm still not willing to risk mine. Portland is just to variable, especially my neighborhood.

Ugh. So cold, so wet!

But I can't stop taking photos! Until I do. I have to, my fingers are frozen.

So I step inside for a bit, to warm up and chat with Riz while I enjoy a glass of wine in the North Shore Lagoon. The bamboo work throughout the "Lagoon" was done by The Bamboo Craftsmen, a Portland company.

I really wish I had been more attentive and I would have snapped a photo looking down at the pool from those windows behind the bar.

Here's the pool, those "skylights" above are open to the sky. For awhile it was snowing in the pool. How crazy magical right?

Riz shared that the haze/steam does sometimes shut down the pool. If the lifeguard can't see across the pool then people can't swim.

Safety fist, I guess (at the expense of fun)...

Since this area is enclosed, yet open, plant hardiness zones are pushed — of course.

Dreamy...right?

Back outside it was time to say goodbye to Riz and Anderson School, I had an uncertain drive ahead of me.

In the end the drive turned out fine (I even had time to stop at Wells Medina and Ravenna Gardens), but who would have thought there would be snow in western Washington on November 3rd? Crazy...

Weather Diary, Nov 30: Hi 47, Low 37/ Precip .06"

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

20 comments:

  1. Yes, that stupid snow, it was a shock. I love these photos, so thanks for taking so many, even though you froze your poor fingers. Especially the ones of the pool area. Now I really want to see this place, next spring, I think.

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    1. It will make a great spring outing. I look forward to your photos!

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  2. This is incredible! Creating and maintaining such diverse plantings must be very time-consuming and costly. Kudos to McMenamins (and to Riz for choosing so many unusual plants)!

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    1. McMenamins gets a bad rap for their food and service, but with gardens like these I will continue to give them my money every chance I get.

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    2. I hope their food is good when I stay there because I do like being able to get a meal in a hotel.

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  3. Good on you for braving the elements and freezing your fingers to the bone. This place is eclectic and magical. I would love a dip in their pool surrounded by that tropical glory. I was mesmerized the unique light fixture at the bar; it has a similar feel to the metal railings of the steps outside.

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    1. McMenamins does funky lights well! The pool area is magical, perhaps you should plan a trip?

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  4. That was a strange weather day to be sure. Glad you braved the elements to snap so many great pictures. Love the foggy pool! I'd no idea that the skylights were actually open. How cool is that? Work has finally started in earnest on the McMenamins Elks Club in Tacoma. It's exciting to see that grand old building being restored instead of demolished.

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    1. Is there much garden space at that Tacoma location? I look forward to exploring it someday.

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  5. This is all pretty great, but I especially liked that the pool was open to outside for some reason. Maybe because it looks warm and steamy and the outside beauty looks too cold. :)

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    1. I was warm and steamy! Magical with the snow falling too.

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  6. It does look cold and wet even in your photos but it's a marvelous landscape with so many wonderful touches. The pool area is one example but I also liked the bamboo-wrapped wood post and the plant-like metal structure around the stairway. And it goes without saying that the plants make interesting viewing. You need to return when the whether is more hospitable.

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    1. I'll definitely be back. Maybe Andrew and I can spend the night there on a trip to Canada.

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  7. McMenamins seems to be an extraordinary company with the corporate vision to buy up old buildings that would otherwise be torn down then remake them into something unexpected and beautiful. Thank you for freezing your buns off taking so many wonderful shots, Riz won the lottery when he got this well deserved gig!

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    1. And McMenamins won the lottery in hiring him!

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  8. I wish I had a wall like that for my woodwardia to drape over, though it would be rather awkward to have a guest room beyond that with some stranger staying inside. I suppose the former doesn't have to come with the latter.

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    1. Indeed. For some reason I got a mental image of you out pouring concrete walls around your garden.

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  9. Great photographs. I remember this place from the Portland Fling. The landscaping is really inspired.

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    1. Thanks! This is is a different location, but yes...same company as the one we toured here in Portland.

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  10. That is glorious. I love the mist on the pool, too bad about the understandable lifeguard rule. Thanks for keeping at the photography despite the weather.

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