AGO déjà vu 1,000 miles north

There are families with such strong genes the relationships are undeniable—eyes, or mouths that show up again and again on different faces. There are also families that look like an assemblage of strangers, curly hair on just one, a nose on another that's so prominent and so different that you can't help but wonder where it came from. 

Where am I going with this? Our gardens of course! I recently visited my friend Denise's—of A Growing Obsession (AGO)—garden in Tillamook, Oregon. Several years ago I visited her garden in Long Beach, California (here). Seeing how her style, and the type of plants she surrounds herself with, has played out across gardens in two very different climates (Zone 10 dry and hot in CA, Zone 8 wetter and cooler in OR) had me thinking about the gardens we create. How strong our genetic garden signature is.

Editing my photos I heard the words "the force is strong with this one" in my head. Funny right? It's true though, both gardens are undeniably Denise.

She said something in passing that I also heard repeated in my head, something about the garden not really being my style. Maybe not some of the plants (although we do have a few in common), but there are many other bits and bobs that I would happily see show up in my garden, her way with upcycled pieces for example.

Digitalis ferruginea, she was also growing Digitalis parviflora but my photo was too blurry to use.

Snaps I took as we walked and talked...

Eryngium ‘Big Blue’ 

This container was fun to see. It's from the same batch as the one that became a table under my shade pavilion (here). I don't remember if she painted it, or if this was the color it was when she adopted it.

Euphorbia stygiana

Cirsium rivulare ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder’

Sanguisorba 'Red Thunder'

I was rather transfixed with this dark Dierama pulcherrimum.

It's a plant that always draws my eye, but especially here.

Peucedanum verticillare

And again to the dierama.

The dark fence was painted this spring. It encloses the garden wonderfully and adds the perfect backdrop to the floral scrim.

After walking her garden Denise and I retreated to the chairs on the back patio, against the house and under cover. Billie joined us. I had another photo of her looking at me, but I thought her profile was so perfectly regal in this one that it had to be shared.

There are ideas here to borrow.

I love how she's used the metal rings to define planting spaces.

Bulbine abyssinica

Planting in raised tubes is the perfect way to feature a plant and add height as well as drainage.

I asked about the gravel mix, as it was unlike any I'd seen before. Denise's reply: "The rock is a mish-mash starting with a base of California Gold granite but with a lot of added river rock dug up on the property and some pea gravel too for mulching new plants"...

Sitting and looking out at the garden I had such a strong sense if déjà vu, even though I'd never been to this garden. There's a little Derek Jarman at work, and the physical similarities with Denise's Long Beach garden too. In Long Beach we sat against the back of the house and looked out at the garden, the garage was on the right, and there was a strong feeling of enclosure—the same features repeat here.

It was garden magic, all of it. It felt so right. 

A garden built from one woman's need to surround herself with plants, her curiosity about them playing out.

Look, ferns! Polystichum setiferum var. divisilobum, aka soft shield fern.

Andrew and I talk about moving, it's just talk, but I worry... could I create another garden that I love? That's mine? 

Seeing this, I think I could.

Bupleurum fruticosum

That's a Sinopanax formosanus under the stool.

I should also mention our coastal adventure was spur of the moment, when a planned trip to Medford, OR, fell through. I asked Denise about a visit on a Thursday evening and was sitting in her garden on Saturday morning. Such welcoming hospitality, thank you Denise! I hope you haven't minded my ramblings about your garden.

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