The next Study Weekend garden; Wynton Pajunas

This was the third garden I toured during last June's Study Weekend in the Portland area, and like the last garden I'd been here before—for the 2014 Garden Conservancy event.

From the garden description: "Our home and gardens have undergone great transformations in the 18 years we have lived here. The yards were initially primarily lawn, and the house was white. The ranch style of the house creates the opportunity to interpret the garden styles in many ways. We didn't start out with a style in mind, but over time we have come to define it as "Wild Urban Modern.""

"We built our gardens together. Mike removed the lawn by hand in the rain and built all the stone pathways., which were designed to look like riverbeds. Marina designed the layout in the front and back yards. Marina dreamed of the curvy steel vegetable beds one night, and the next day we installed them together. Rain gardens to manage storm water runoff, native hedgerow for privacy, water features for the birds, and sunny front yard planting beds indulge Marina's desire to experiment with plants and indulge her fascination for the incredible variety of perennial flower structures. The backyard is Mike's territory, and it illustrates his love of the natural world, plants, and gardening. Mike was inspired one day to build the boardwalk along the back property line: a shady walk and sitting place among nature. The backyard oasis is where we hang out, take naps, entertain and chase our dog around."

The mentioned curvy vegetable beds...

I love how much Marina and Mike have packed into their small space. In my prior post on the garden (here) they reference having a smaller than average city lot. There's is 55 ft wide x 87.6 ft deep, standard for Portland is 50 x 100 (ours is 45.5 x 111).

This shady pathway leads to the boardwalk that runs along the back of the property.

In my prior post I shared photos inside the sweet little hideaway at the end there, this time too many people were crowded in to take photos.

To help you get a sense of the space, if you look below the umbrella on the right you can see the curvy vegetable beds against the west-side fence. The boardwalk is behind me on my right, the hideaway is directly behind me.

It looks like a rock puzzle below the manzanita.

No space wasted! This is the east-side fence with storage on the right.

Looking back at the storage side.

I took a lot of photos looking down. I didn't want to miss a single detail.

And with that, this visit is fini!

The Bit at the End

If you attended the 2024 Puget Sound Fling may have met Grace Hensley. She is plant and garden photographer (among many other things) who grew up visiting Heronswood Garden with her photographer mother. In this short (32 minute) video—a presentation she gave for Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center—Grace shares some of her gorgeous photos of Heronswood and gives tips for really seeing a garden and taking great photos: A Heronswood Journey with Grace Hensley.

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