Visiting Tangly Cottage, finally!

After visiting Dorothy's garden and enjoying a leisurely lunch, I drove across the Columbia River via the remarkable 4-mile long Astoria–Megler Bridge, and on to Ilwaco, WA. I spent the night there and the next morning set out to visit Skyler Walker's garden. These tall tetrapanax are the first thing I saw when I pulled up out front.

Skyler blogs at Tangly Cottage Gardening, I've been following her adventures for over 10 years now, although I can't say exactly when I started reading. She and her partner Allan have been professional gardeners tending many public garden spaces in Long Beach, WA, and elsewhere on the South Washington coast. Her blog Tangly Cottage Gardening covers the public gardens (which they've largely retired from over the last couple of years), a few private gardens they tend, and their own garden.

Hopefully you can relate to the excitement I felt, finally getting to visit a garden I've read about online for years?

The plants above and below are growing in the strip of land between their driveway and the neighbor's. Planted up cement utility vaults are mixed with terracotta pots and wine barrel rings. I swooned over the foliage of this melianthus, maybe M. major 'Purple Haze'?

Acanthus sennii about ready to bloom.

A wider shot of the area.

About to head into the fenced front garden now, through that gate.

There are quotes throughout the garden, I think this is the only one I managed to capture in its entirety. 

I meant to ask about the construction of this fantastic planter, is it a trash can lid? Is the base rebar? I'm sure it was probably covered in the blog, but I don't remember! Skyler, what a cool thing you've created, please tell us more about it! (there's another a bit later)

And this! honestly I have no memory of snapping this photo, but here it is. 

I edited down over 300 photos to the 64 I am sharing today. There's a lot to take in. Here we're about to walk through another gate and into the private garden area. There's a catio on the right...

A note to those who might be wandering in, uninvited (I love this so much!)...

A close-up of the catio, complete with a feline resident, I think this is Nickel, but I could be wrong.

Allan's garden was immediately to the left upon entering the garden.

I was quite taken with this tassel fern, Polystichum polyblepharum, as well as the floating blooms reminiscent of the arrangements at Chanticleer Garden.

Mahonia gracilipes.

I was so focused on the watering cans that I cut off the most excellent quote!

I think this is it:

The garden flew round with the angel,

The angel flew round with the clouds,

And the clouds flew round and the clouds flew round

And the clouds flew round with the clouds.

.

.

.

But that things go round and again go round

Has rather a classical sound.

The Pleasures of Merely Circulating

By Wallace Stevens

I wanted to take this vignette home with me.

Looking out into the garden.

Panning to the right.

Looking back to the left.

Did I walk into the lean-to greenhouse, or the other, proper greenhouse? No I did not. I was there for three hours but I really should have spent at least six. There was so much to see.

I covet this planter, even though (if I remember correctly) it's rusted out and can't be moved.

Skyler and Allan live just off the Ilwaco Harbor, so having these big fish totes in their garden makes perfect sense, I just couldn't ever make them work with the layout in my mind. In-person though they fit right in, acting as raised planting beds.

A pulled back shot of the area.

And the second of the cool metal planters on a thin rod.

There are two boat planters in the garden, one to the side... (which we'll visit again towards the end of the post).

And one you walk right up to as you enter the bigger garden.

I was taken with the Kniphofia rooperi and trying to get a good shot...

... but then Skyler called out the little frog and I quickly changed my tactic and instead was trying to capture the frog. What a handsome fellow.

The boat is named the Ann Lovejoy, after one of our most beloved PNW garden writers.

There were several flowers in the garden that I photographed as we walked past them, but since I'm kind of flower stupid I had no idea what they were. Google images tells me this might be Lavatera arborea 'Variegata'.

With it's attractive variegated foliage.

Walking out into the fire circle now, which in my mind was in a much more open spot, and closer to the house. 

Have you noticed the consistency of colors in the garden? The home, the fence, and many other wooden structures are the same teal green and purple (those are the colors I see, you might see or describe the colors differently). I love this. To my way of thinking this repetition creates a sense of place and grounds you. Then the plants and other decorative elements can be loud without challenging that feeling,

We passed by the fire circle chairs this time through, but later sat down and spent a little time chatting. I am so glad to have that memory.

One of the planting beds as it surrounds the fire circle area.

If you're a reader of Tangly Cottage Gardening you know that since I visited Skyler has disassembled this table planting and moved it a few feet backwards to create space for a raised pond like the one we saw in Dorothy's garden. It's a big project but Skyler is making it happen.

In their past as public works gardeners, Skyler and Allan were able to salvage these vault covers which have been reused as pathway stepping stones. Brilliant!

Another wayfinding arch in the garden's signature colors.

And a back corner made larger with the use of mirrors.

And clever peekaboo shutter fencing.

A smaller, but still quite substantial, table planting.

In the opposite back corner Skyler has been working on an installation designed to "stop the eye" at the fence. I think it's extremely successful. I love the gardening implements used as finials along the top of the fence.

The rope-wrapped railing is a nice detail.

Scooter kept an eye on us as we worked our way around the garden, I could have included many photos of him but chose just one, since since this is a garden blog and I'm already am testing your patience with over 60 photos.

These shallow water bowls in fabulous mid-century enamel colors had me thinking of Cathrineholm enamelware.

Oh! I also have this fern, the "other" variegated coniogramme, C.  japonica 'Variegata'.

Skyler dug out a deep pathway section that includes a walk past this gunnera. It was pretty fabulous to be low enough to be at eye-level with those bloom spikes.

I love these rusty bits festooned with marbles.

The impatiens blooms offer a fun color-echo.

Whenever I use the phrase "sit spot" I think of Skyler, as I am pretty sure I've borrowed it from her. She has many fantastic examples throughout the garden. If I had more time to do a second wander through the garden I would have definitely taken advantage of this one.

Speaking of Skyler, thankfully I thought to get her photo, asking permission of course.

We've emerged from the shady bits and are back out in the sun.

Ilwaco enjoys a milder climate than Portland and this beautiful Euphorbia stygiana is happy here.

Here's the second planted up boat I mentioned.

And the cat bench, with another cool planter, this one is a trash can lid for sure.

While Skyler and I worked our way around the garden Allan had gone up on the roof to cut back some ivy and took a few photos while he was up there (the photos are included in this post on Tangly Cottage Gardening). He seemed perfectly at home up there, but looking at him made me nervous.

In real life we sat and chatted for a bit when the garden walk was complete, but once I realized I'd better get on the road headed home we walked through this gate...

And over to the neighbor's driveway where I saw the last of the garden, a new edging, and the "Boat Shapes™" that conceal the compost and storage areas. What a visit! Thank you for spending your morning with me Skyler, it was such a thrill to finally tour your beautiful garden.

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