Random Wednesday; summer scenes from three venues

Since I'm always taking photos it's only natural that I end up with a few loose ends that don't make a complete post, so today I'm doing a three-fer. We start in Dale Hickey's garden up in Vancouver, Washington. It was late May and I was there for our spring garden blogger's plant swap. Dale was working on a new crevice garden...

I fell hard for these Yucca aloifolia Dale had planted along the front of his house and was lucky enough to come home with one from the swap.

A few photos from Dale's beautiful back garden...

The see-thru shurb is a hakea, I think a H. microcarpa...

Its blooms...

Fast forward to August and I'm out on Sauvie Island for a little gathering at Rancho Cistus, the home of Sean Hogan and Preston Pew...

Callistemon some somebody, maybe C. pallidus?

I only have one photo from the always spectacular desert island bed, I was trying to make my way around the whole garden that evening!

Crevice garden in the distance.

And closer-up...

Back-lit cactus spines are always sexy.

Into the grasses and tall eryngium...

Agave magic.

Mahonia, palms and blue sky. Life is good.

It was fun to watch people discover this little gem. Thomas and Kirk from Sebright Gardens gave Sean this small variegated daphniphyllum, what a gift! It was admired by everyone who passed by.

Now it's September and I stopped by Marbott's Nursery. I was there because a friend had posted on Facebook concerned about how empty the place was.

Could they be closing?

In my eighteen years of shopping at Marbott's I've never seen these tables empty. Ernie, affectionately referred to by many as "old man Marbott" passed away last year (obituary here), truth be told I've been holding my breath every time I've visited since then, afraid I'd learn they were closing.

This greenhouse complex is one of my happy places, I wander thru when I need a lift. It's gorgeous in the summertime, and even more so in the winter.

I asked Larry Marbott if the rumors were true, and learned that indeed they would be closed for a few months over the wintertime. He was having surgery and didn't have reliable staff to run the place.

Would they reopen in the spring? I've returned a time or two since, and gotten even more vague answers. Most recently I was told that indeed changes were coming. 

When I asked who would care for the plants while they were closed I was told the elves would. But will they? It's not just the dwindling stock of outdoor plants that my heart worries about, but treasures like this NFS Epiphyllum oxypetalum.

There must be something in the works. I just pray it doesn't include the demolition of these vintage glasshouses...

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