When the former garden of a local legend opens in February...

Trying to come up with a way to describe this garden in a short, catchy, title-worthy way, I looked up the words local legend: a person famous in a community for a specific skill or story, someone or something well-known and respected within a specific area or niche. Yep, that's a fit.

Dulcy Mahar wrote a weekly gardening column that appeared in our local newspaper The Oregonian for roughly 22 years—back when it really was a newspaper, delivered to your door! In my early years as a gardening Oregonian (we moved to Portland in late summer 2004 and bought our house in early summer 2005) I read her column every week. Dulcy passed away in 2011—she stopped writing the column just before her death. Her writing lives on in two books (compilations) published by her husband, Ted; Back in the Garden With Dulcy and Through the Seasons with Dulcy. Dulcy and Ted had no children, when Ted passed they left their home to Dulcy's gardening assistant, known to all as Doug the Wonder Guy. Doug had his own home, and so in 2017 he sold the Mahar's property, which sat on two-thirds of an acre in the rather exclusive Garthwick neighborhood of SE Portland. 

I never visited Dulcy's garden, and had forgotten all about how much I used to look forward to that weekly column, that is until I read, in a recent Hardy Plant Society of Oregon newsletter, about the garden opening; "Following in Dulcy's footsteps has been a huge challenge. We have spent the past several years restoring and updating the large garden. Although we still have much more work to do, we are finally ready to show off our collection of hellebores. Please stop by to see these winter gems" - Marcela and Rodolfo Puente. That's all the encouragement I needed, I marked my calendar and arrived as the sky cleared after a wet morning.

I have no idea if these current owners are the same ones that purchased the property back in 2017, but it soon became obvious this garden really did have a long way to go. 

Several pathways were blocked with decorative obelisks, a polite "no" that visitors mostly heard. For example we couldn't get any closer to the potting area...

Photos from a distance would have to suffice.

The row of chairs on the veranda, all turned towards the house, was a bit of a head-scratcher. Were they saying "don't sit here!", or maybe "stay back, don't go peeking in our windows!"... I guess really they did both.

At the base of each pair of posts was an open area with a pot sunk into it, except for this one, which was sitting on a piece of wood. What really attracted my attention though was the series of wood and pipe pieces in front. I wanted to pop them out and see what they were hiding! (maybe an irrigation system?)

I did hear a few visitors commenting on the fact the garden was perhaps not really ready yet to be open, more work needed to be done, and why so early? Who opens their garden on February 1st? Obviously there were still plenty of people thrilled to be there... it was quite the social event!

I found myself wishing I'd seen it back in Dulcy and Doug's time. 

 There were several patches of snowdrops

And some decorative glass or tile work.

Oh! I seriously coveted those two bins!!!

I was surprised nobody had braved the slightly wet and dirty benches to have a seat.

More of those path blocking obelisks.

And some of the hellebore collection that spurred the open garden...

A nice pot of Cyclamen foliage.

Imagine just two people—Dulcy and her husband Ted—kicking around that huge house...

I wonder what the pond feeder looks like when it's running? Maybe if I see another open garden listing in a couple of years I'll return and see for myself.

The Bit at the End

I'm continuing on the theme of a beloved gardener and garden writing legend in today's Bit at the End. I first learned of British garden designer Dan Pearson when he wrote for Gardens Illustrated magazine (maybe he still does?), and have been following his Instagram account coyotewillow for some time. It was a fluke that I landed on a interview he did with Matt Gibberd on his YouTube channel Homing, but it was so good I watched it all the way through. It makes my heart happy when I hear someone talk about the good that is gardening as eloquently as Dan did in the hour+ long video—watch it here. If you're left wanting to see a little more of Dan's garden check out this post Janet Davis did on her Paintbox Garden blog; here.

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