Thursday, May 10, 2018

The Strauss Garden, a stop on the 2016 Salem Study Weekend

While the rest of the garden-blogosphere is all a-buzz with posts about the gardens we saw during the 2018 Garden Bloggers Fling in Austin, I'm holding off on that and instead returning to Salem, Oregon...and June 2016.

I pledged to finish my posts from the Study Weekend tours before its 2nd anniversary rolled around, and I need time to process the nearly 2,400 photos I took in Austin (so many Agaves!), so I'm falling back on photos I've already edited and uploaded. Not that this garden (or the others I have yet to share from the tour) should be seen as a "consolation prize"...
The garden description, from the Study Weekend brochure: "We have 2 and 1/2 acres of woodlands. When we first started building our house in 1977, our thoughts were to keep everything in our yard natural — other than fruit trees and a vegetable garden. The deer, we found, made us think differently. We now have a lovely, almost deer-resistant garden around our home. Interspersed among the plants are various pieces of garden art. Donna, a former art teacher, with the help of Jack, created many of them out of found objects. Over the years, visitors have commented, "What a lovely peaceful garden in such a serene setting." We hope you, too, enjoy the tranquility."

Oddly brochure description made no reference to the incredible Sedum and Sempervivum plantings, which are what made the garden a standout in my mind.
The gardener wasn't around the day of the tour, so I didn't get to ask her about the use of terracotta pots.

Since all these plants would be perfectly happy in the ground, it must be a texture thing?

Love the black balls...

The garden wasn't all Sedum and Sempervivum however...

But a lot of it was.

Not that I'm complaining...

A couple of wide-shots...

And now I'm back out in the front garden working my way back to the street, and my car.

What an unusual, and wonderful, garden.

Weather Diary, May 9: Hi 70, Low 54/ Precip .08"

All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

18 comments:

  1. Those mounds of Sedums and Semps are wonderful with the terra cotta pots stuck partway in. And I love the quilted effect of the various sedums across the flat sunny area in your last photo.

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  2. A colorful tapestry of succulents and some fun yard art as well.

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    1. Tapestry of succulents, you have a way with words Outlaw.

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  3. How I wish Sempervivum were half as happy here as they are in colder winter environments! Best wishes slogging through all those Fling photos. After a first pass at trashing the obviously bad shots, I'm taking a break too.

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    1. You've reminded me of my brother's attempts to get Sempervivum to grow in Phoenix. It just ain't happening.

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  4. Plunged terracotta pots feature quite often on alpine gardens here, perhaps it’s a drainage thing as well? Although texture seems to be the most plausible reason for that great garden.

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    1. Or maybe they don't have drainage issues but do like the look they saw in alpine gardens?

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  5. Great textures with the sedum and sempervivum, spectacular en masse. I'm generally not a huge fan of garden art/whimsies, but most of these are quite nice and fit their environs.

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    1. I share your non-fan status, but can take it in small doses, like here.

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  6. It seems like those pots are being used as kind of a framing device for the semps etc ? Or maybe the gardener is like me and needs to move stuff all the time.

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    1. Ha! The pots would certainly make moving quite easy.

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  7. I do like the terracotta use in the landscape. Come to think of it, I have a number of small pots in the shed that I should consider using in this way. In the second photo there is a ground cover I can't identify. It almost looks like moss, but most likely isn't. It looks good and lush.

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    1. I wish I could ID that ground-cover for you. It's not moss, but I'm not sure what it is...

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  8. I remember this garden well (which isn’t always the case!) and I liked it a lot. In fact, I spent a little while sitting quietly in the shade on a bench along one of the trails. Thanks for jogging that peaceful memory.

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    1. Now why didn't I remember that you were on this tour?

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  9. Note to self: Loree likes black balls...

    From the "2 and 1/2 acres of woodlands" first thing in the description, I was expecting a shade garden. The full sun, extensive succulent plantings caught me by surprise. I think the terra cotta pots are a nice way to create multiple levels in what would otherwise be a fairly flat planting, as well as a way to highlight specific specimens.

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  10. Not that much into whimsy myself, but this garden is really great! And deer-proof. Thanks for taking us on the tour!

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