Thursday, August 23, 2018

Visiting Dan Hinkley's Windcliff Part One: the driveway and front garden

It's only been a few years now that photography has been allowed during a visit to Dan Hinkley's home garden, Windcliff. I suppose I should be grateful my first visit (after all these years!) fell under the new rules, it would have been hard to walk around this beautiful place and not take photos to share with you!

It was back on August 11th that I visited, with Peter and Alison, that's Peter above, leading the way. This beauty was growing near the gate. No, I don't know what it is — warning, there's gonna be a lot of that in this post, and tomorrow's — beautiful plants that I can't identify.

The gate, which features the same graphic elements seen on Dan's website (here).

Polygonatum I believe.

Damn! If I made it no further (we've just started down the driveway) this would have been enough for me. On the left I believe that's the hardy Travesia Dan is selling. Blooming on the right is Cautleya spicata, I'm so sad the tubers I planted never did anything.

Close-ups...

There were many drool-worthy Mahonia in the garden.

I think this is a mature Schefflera brevipedunculata or maybe a S. gracilis...

Wowsa!

Hmmm, shall we head that way?

Nope! There were several of these around the garden either discouraging (nope) or encouraging (yup) your further exploration.

Peter bought one of these, I would have too except I was off, immersed in the garden, when he visited the greenhouse with Dan. I may never forgive him for not calling me and telling me to get my ass over there RIGHT NOW.

Okay, of course I forgive him, but I just needed to work in a stern warning for future such incidents. Here's a more mature version...

Podocarpus somebody and a killer Rhodocoma capensis aka Cape Restio.

Close-ups...

Love that sideways Arctostaphylos.

And of course the Grevillea x gaudichaudii.

Beautiful plants that I can't ID...

Hey there's Peter again!

He was admiring these gorgeous Schefflera hoi (I think that's what they are) Schefflera macrophylla.

Everyone else in the world grows Verbena bonariensis, why don't I?

Hmmm, what's that off in the distance?

Damn! A mature Sinopanax formosanus.

I need to think very carefully about where I plant mine.

Or not, I mean why should I change my modus operandi now?

You can't even begin to imagine all the gorgeous Agapanthus blooming here. The fact they're considered throwaway plants by many (especially those who live in Southern California) makes me appreciate all the more that this famous plantsman embraces them.

Another gorgeous Mahonia.

Or two! This may actually be Mahonia eurybracteata 'Indianola Silver' (which I have one of, thanks to Evan).

So lovely...

Holy bloomed Phormium!

And a perfect vision of  Melianthus major 'Purple Haze'.

There's that greenhouse which my friend Peter visited...and I did not.

This. OMG this. Oak-leaf Schefflera delavayi...

And that! Variegated Daphniphyllum, be still my heart.

Roger Gossler (from whom I purchased my plant) visited my garden last week and I was a little embarrassed for him to see how hidden by the Paulownia mine has become. At least the Paulownia is deciduous and the Daphniphyllum will have the sky all to itself come November.

An Erica? Colletia

To the side of where Peter was standing a dozen or so photos ago (he was in front of the house) is a small courtyard-ish area with Marcia Donahue pieces.

And this vine!

An Akebia? The leaves seem right but the flowers do not. Then again what do I know? (not much apparently, it's a Tropaeolum speciosum)

And then there's this.

For a moment I was confused. I mean these look real, right? Like the "sausages" Holboellia coriacea (Sausage Vine) produces, only larger, much larger.

But they're actually ceramic fruits made by Marcia Donahue. You can watch a short video of Dan talking with Nicholas Staddon about discovering the vine in China here, he also shows off one of the "fruit"...

That's it for the front, come back tomorrow for a look at the rest of the garden...

Weather Diary, Aug 22: Hi 93, Low 60/ Precip 0 — yesterday was the 30th day we've hit 90 or higher in Portland, thus we've broke the old record of 29 days set in 2015.

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

34 comments:

  1. I was wondering right away how it would feel to visit a fabulous garden without a camera, could you relax and enjoy it anyway.
    I hope someone can ID that flowering vine: I wish my Akebia bloomed like this! Instead I have those tiny inconsequential blooms with faint vanilla scent. On the other hand, I must reconsider Agapanthus: that color!

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    1. The same weekend I visited Windciff I went on a tour of a few NHS Board Member's gardens, one of which we were told any photos we took were for our personal use only and not to be shared on social media. Stab to my heart! But I'm still glad I visited.

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  2. Looks like a plant lover's wonderland. I adore the ceramic "sausage" fruits hanging from the tree.

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  3. SO JEALOUS! Looks amazing. The mystery vine is, I think, Tropaeolum speciosum

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    1. unwelcome but still an invader is the Scotch flame flower, Tropaeolum speciosum, whose succulent white roots move slow but deep through cool acid soils, searching for new hosts around whose necks to throw their arms.

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  4. One wonder after another. Dan Hinkley needs to buy a winter home in SoCal!

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  5. I agree with Joseph on the vine. Beautiful photos. To have the space to grow these large plants, I can't imagine.

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  6. Gorgeous plants, all looking so perfectly grown. Very impressive!

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  7. the erica, looks like a Colletia to me.

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  8. Yup, it's Tropaeolum speciosum. Those were Schefflera macrophylla; huge, gorgeous, and, unfortunately, not hardy here. Sorry I didn't call you but I'd left my phone in the car our two paper cups and a string device didn't reach far enough. Warning received. Phone in pocket on all future garden visits!

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    1. Thanks for the ID's! And I'm sure had I followed you guys I would have ended up with more plants I have no space for, so I should be thanking you!

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  9. You bet I will be back. Your enthusiasm for these plants is contagious. I love those sausage ceramics.

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    1. Aren't they fabulous! I wonder what it looks like when the real sausages of the vine are also nearby?

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  10. He doesn't let you wander in the bamboo because he knows you will all succumb to its charms and we don't let just anybody into the "grow more bamboo than you can handle" club. ;)

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  11. Just looking at Dan’s current garden is amazing. But I also find it almost laughable. He's been everywhere, seen everything and brought seeds home. It is really a botanic explorer’s garden and not a home garden- even though Dan lives in its midst. I’m nor sure if we can even take any lessons away. Just be overwhelmed with delight that he shares it.

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    1. Lesson number one = there are so many cool plants in the world.

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  12. I've been coming back to this post over and over today because I'm still trying to figure out what it is about Windcliff that doesn't appeal to me. I think maybe part of it is that (in this part of it) I don't know what anything is, which excited you but makes me uncomfortable. It kind of strikes me as the really big one-of-this and really big one-of-that garden of the world's pre-eminent plant hunter. My favorite part of this post is the Marcia Donahue fruit, I do wish I'd seen those.

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    1. Thank you for your thoughtful comment Alison and I wish you'd seen the fruit too!

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  13. What a great garden. Very plant collector, which is always fun. Thanks for sharing it, and you should consider growing Verbena bonariensis, it's fabulous.

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  14. You might recall that I and my friends were victims of the no-photo era.I am determined to go back in the next year or two when the garden is open , and want to revisit Heronswood as well since my last time there was during the dreadful Burpee years. Your photos are wonderful and really capture the atmosphere.

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    1. I recall that very clearly. I hope you get the opportunity.

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  15. Mecca for the plant officianando!

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  16. Last year Dan was calling the plant on the driveway, Travesia palmata, this year he is calling it Brassaiopsis dumicola. Even the great are mistaken from time to time. Also the plant Peter bought with the wicked thorns is a deciduous member of the Araliaceae family, called Kalopanax pictus. Robert warned me that it gets sixty to eighty feet tall very fast. No worries for me, since the plants I bought are replacing some Oregon Red alders that died that were that tall.
    John, Aberdeen

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    1. Ah, very good to know...both the Brassaiopsis dumicola and the Kalopanax pictus. I wonder if the Kalopanax stays so narrow as it shoots skyward?

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  17. I covet that oakleaf Schefflera delavayi. I had to convince Vanessa and Willow that it really was the same species as the more common forms.

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