Friday, January 29, 2021

Acting on an agave tip...

It seems impossible that I was out taking these photos on September 21st. I would have thought it was late August. COVID time feels somewhat detached from reality, even in hindsight.

Anyway, I was out on a tip. A friend had told me about a pair of Agave ovatifolia that was worth seeing.

At first I was like "I thought he said there were two?"...

But eventually I saw the second—hiding back there. They are pretty spectacular.

As was the rock and sempervivum bed they're planted in.

I wonder how long this took them to put together? 

There is no bare ground. It's either rocks, or sempervivum.

I was also taken with the strong hedge framework that encompasses most of the front garden.

Do they have plans to plant in that space? Or do they like the negative space surrounded by a green wall?

Inquiring minds...

Meanwhile, there are more sempervivum...


Naturally I drove around a bit to see what else the neighborhood had to offer...

Bingo! Do you see it up there on the front porch?

Agave!

There were also phormium and cordyline...

And a tall eucalyptus...


This lovely arctostaphylos was in the same garden.

A few blocks away I spied an opuntia...

I got out to snap a photo and happened to meet the homeowner/gardener returning from walking her dog. I know gardeners are the nicest people but I was completely unprepared for how generous this woman was. She invited me—a complete stranger—to walk her garden and snap pictures. She waited out front with her dog—COVID kindness.

Check out those Agave parryi!

And on the left a Dasylirion wheeleri.

More opuntia...

And more agaves!


It wasn't until I was walking through this garden that it really hit me how much I'd missed the casual garden visits that we get to do here in Portland, as part of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon.

There's a book of member open gardens we get every year and on any given weekend you have multiple gardens to visit. It really is an amazing program. 

The garden visits were all cancelled when COVID hit last spring, but then later in the summer some garden owners agreed to open on a case-by-case basis. I never did get around to taking any of them up on the offer. But here I was, visiting a garden with a lot of the plants I love, and it was all a simple accident of timing.


Yes, your eyes do spy even more agaves.



I hate that I cannot remember the name of the garden owner. Hopefully she'll see this post and know just how much her generous spirit meant to me.




Arriving back out in front of of the garden, she and I had another conversation about this beautiful Oregon white oak across the street. Thankfully the neighborhood recognizes its value and is doing their best to  make sure it gets to live—there's even a Facebook group to keep people informed, Friends of Overlook Bluff.

On the road back home I happened to drive right by this garden—check out that Yucca rostrata!—belonging to the Mulchmaid, looking good Jane!

Weather Diary, Jan 28: Hi 46, Low 40/ Precip .04" 

All material © 2009-2021 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

28 comments:

  1. Here is to HPSO open garden program, coming back in 2021. An accidental garden visit is often the best. I find those unexpected chance encounters with gardeners is very special.
    Photo #13 was charming and mysterious. Made me want to walk that stone path and through the rusty arbor. I bet there was a lot of exploring to do behind that gate.

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    1. It will be (yay!), as the program has moved online—very good news. I did a little more peeking into that garden but couldn't see much, sadly.

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  2. Is there like a secret Portland agave grapevine???

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    1. Yep! I've got a network of informants. They're not very well paid, but much appreciated.

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  3. You must have smiled all the way back home! What a lovely surprise for both you and the homeowner. Sometimes, life can be quite excellent.

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  4. Gardeners can be the most kind and generous of people. All of the agaves are gorgeous but the A. parryi are truly special. You seem to have a blood hound sense as to where all the spiky plants are.

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    1. It's quite amazing just how many agaves there are out there to be found. I am so proud of my fellow Portlanders for embracing the spiky side of things.

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  5. Nice neighborhood with some beautiful old homes, and some great plants. Enjoyed seeing them, thank you!

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    1. It's a lovely neighborhood. Wish we could have afforded to buy there.

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  6. I wish I had a forest of Arctostaphylos. Sadly, I only have one, which is about three feet tall, after ten years.

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  7. How wonderful! I'd be shocked beyond measure if someone invited me to stroll their garden on the fly here. Your HPSO program is great and I hope you work out opportunities to tour gardens in some fashion this year.

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    1. The HPSO has taken the open gardens program online and so there should be more opportunities, I am thrilled!

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  8. What a great find and timing, that gardener has done a beautiful job. She must miss sharing it, too. "A joy shared is a joy doubled."

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    1. You are correct, we talked about how sad it was to have their garden visits cancelled.

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  9. Those gardens are such gems. So much to admire, like that rusty rectangular planter which is just perfection. And that is a crazy amount of sempervivum!

    (Waving to Jane's yucca!)

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    1. Jane's yucca almost looks like it could wave back, doesn't it?

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  10. When you've mentioned the open gardens HPSO program in the past I was an immediate fan of the idea. Gardener's love to share their creations and be inspired by others creations. A practical question tho... do you know if HPSO has had to arrange for any special insurance? I'm thinking that might be the one real cost.

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    1. I should know the answer to this question, but I can't remember. I know that the Garden Blogger's Fling does take out insurance for the garden visits.

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  11. What a great treat! And a lovely garden. WHPS usually does summer member tours in June and July but they are a few gardens on one day. I don't know if I would want to have to keep me garden prepped for multiple visits.

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    1. Oh you get to chose the date and time you want your garden to be open. No multiple visits required!

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  12. Great timing, and so generous to let you have a tour of what looks like a cool garden.

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  13. Any idea what the Eucalypts are? They're beautiful.

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  14. This garden (the first one) has been brought to you by the letter E. (Hi Loree, I can't believe your commenters left this one lying on the table, way back in 2021)

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    1. Ha! Now that you point it out, I can't either. Too good.

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