James Andrew Gould's garden, last September

Here's another garden visit from late last summer that I'm finally writing about. James Andrew Gould is a serious plant geek (in the best possible way), this is the second time I've been to his place and the changes were staggering. Things have grown and filled in and he's been busy with projects. Let's have a look...

Go big or go home, it's not a bad garden philosophy and James seems to be embrace the idea, especially when it comes to Sinopanax formosanus, he has several.

During my visit they were starting to throw up their blooms, ones that confirm they're in the Aralia family.

There were also several Echium, E. pininana...

Same

And Echium wildpretii.

Another view up the front sidewalk, this one a little closer and a little wider.

The Yucca rostrata claims this shot, with a Eucalyptus on the left and a Lyonothamnus floribundus peeking in on the right.

Phlomis ‘Sunningdale Gold’, I believe.

Agave 'Mateo' (with pups! rather unusual).

James has the happiest Grevillea x gaudichaudii I have ever seen.

Insane (and be warned, there is another!)...

Hmmm, what is this? I should know. A myrtle of some sort I think...

Hi spiky beautiful!

A happy restio, in what is a fairly small garden. James is brave gardener.

Damn fine spines.

Sedum confusum, I believe.

I think (gawd I'm stupid when it comes to Eucalyptus) this tree is getting it's mature foliage?

Meanwhile there were fabulous blooms to appreciate at eye-level (from another).

Here's the second off-the-charts amazing Grevillea x gaudichaudii.

And a peek at one of the carnivorous plant bogs.

Berkheya purpurea

Fatsia polycarpa, maybe 'Needham's Lace'

Yucca schottii, I think?

Another Sinopanax formosanus.

Thinner leaves point to this yucca as Y. linearifolia.

Drimys winteri

Wollemia nobilis

Perhaps another Yucca schottii? But the main reason I included this image, is that I failed to get a shot of the almost finished sunken patio area. It was pretty fantastic, but you'll have to be content with a view through the yucca leaves.

Walking back to my car now I had to get a shot of the expired Berkheya purpurea blooms...

And a spiky yucca (maybe Y. aloifolia). So many cool plants!!!

The Bit at the End

Here's a long post over on Garden Rant that I had to read through a couple times to really make sense of: In Defense of The Gardener’s Voice (on the natives or nothing movement). Gardeners like James, and myself, are plant lovers who fill our gardens with things that bring us joy, pique our curiosity, and that we just want to watch grow. Even things that are not native to our part of the world. Does that make us bad gardeners? Some would say so.

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