Dirt Therapy in Vancouver, WA, during Study Weekend

Study Weekend 2025 officially wrapped on Sunday, June 29th, however there was small a line-up of gardens to visit north of Portland, in and around Vancouver, Washington, on Monday. The location provided those heading home to the Seattle and Vancouver BC areas a chance to stop and visit a few gardens on their way out of town. I fully intended to make the most of the offerings, but sadly I only managed to visit one garden, that of Phillip Oliver and Michael Scott. Phillip blogs at Dirt Therapy, hence the title of this post.

Phillip and Michael hosted a gathering of bloggers many years ago (2016?), when they first moved to the PNW from Alabama. That was the only other time I've visited their garden. I'd link to that visit if I could find a blog post about it, I'm sure I must have done one. Even though I follow Phillip's blog, and have seen photos, I was shocked at how different the garden looks now, it's all grown up and filled in!

I was so excited to go through my photos, relive the visit, and share it here on the blog. So, I was tremendously disappointed when I saw just how awful the photos were. 

I arrived at the garden around 11am that day, the high was 94, I remember it already being extremely hot as I walked around. The shadows were impossible to overcome... I lightened a lot of my photos to try and show garden details, but with only limited success. It's a beautiful garden lovingly created and tended by two charming men. Hopefully some of that will come through here.

It's not your imagination. You did see (above) fabric wrapped traffic cones in the street in front of the garden. Michael covered the cones with fabric when an organizer for a previous tour commented on how harsh the orange cones were. What a fabulous custom touch.

Part of the garden description from the tour booklet: "Our garden is in its ninth year. When we first arrived, it was a blank slate with only grass and a dogwood tree. It is on a quarter-acre plot with a small, narrow front garden and a larger, partially terraced back garden. Now packed with plants, it is an eclectic, cottage-style garden, and the only grass remaining is on a pathway. The front garden consists of long borders filled with trees, conifers, shrubs, and roses (mostly David Austin and old garden varieties)."

I'm still standing in the street to take this photo.

Now I've walked up onto the driveway and I'm looking into the front garden, I followed that grassy pathway.

There were a few of these wonderful "gathered bloom" highlights placed around the garden...

Variegated Abutilon.

Still walking the front garden...

Now we're walking further down the driveway and about to enter the back garden. The horizontal green arrow is where we've been, the vertical one points to where we're going.

More of the garden description: "You enter the back garden at the base of the terraces, which are filled with a variety of plants including hydrangeas, perennials, and more roses. Steps from the terrace lead up to a gravel courtyard area with a large pergola and deck. A purple stucco wall divides the courtyard from the Pan garden, which is a small area with perennials and annuals that surrounds a statue of Pan. Phillip is an avid plant lover and is always trying to add more, although space is dwindling. Michael is a crafter, quilter, and loves to sew. He has added many creative touches to the garden including a sprinkling of buttons, jewels, beads, etc., to the gravel courtyard. One of our main goals is to provide a sanctuary for bids, insets, and of course ourselves."

You can see the steps up the various terraced levels...

As mentioned, there were roses. I know nothing about roses other than I appreciate them when I see them, or smell them.

These photos are so bad! In person I kept saying "this is all so good!"...

Rusty blooms.

I love this cement block pedestal.

Duckies! Do you notice color sprinkles in the gravel?

They're buttons and other fun things. I failed to get a good photo, but they were fantastic! As you read above, Michael sews. The buttons were such a perfect custom touch and I loved them.

Hydrangea looking fantastic, completely unfazed by the temperatures.

The purple wall, yes it's purple, trust me. You can read about the making of the wall in this post on Phillip's blog.

And there's the Pan statue with a fine headdress.

You can read about the making of this pebble mosaic here.

Michael is on the far right in this photo, answering questions from some of the many garden admirers. I didn't manage a photo of Phillip but he was doing the same out in the garden.

There were many gorgeous clematis in the garden.

More big hydrangea blooms...

I caught a glimpse, or two, of a twig fence woven along the back of the garden.

And these mushrooms fooled me, for a minute.

Such a wonderful garden, I hope you somehow managed to see that despite the horrible photos. 

The Bit at the End

Today a gift article from the NYT: Who Is That Masked Man? The Orchids Aren’t Telling. Mr. Flower Fantastic, guest designer for the New York Botanical Garden’s Orchid Show, lets his art speak for itself, never showing his face.

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