On March 13th, 2009, I published my first danger garden blog post. Seventeen years and some 3,989 posts, later and here we are. From that first post, up until May of 2021, I wrote a new blog post 5 times a week, Monday thru Friday. Since then it's been "just" 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As crazy as that is, it's even more crazy that you're still reading (and for some of you), commenting. Thank you. Hands down the very best part of blogging is all the people I've met along the way.
I thought it would be fun to post a photo or two from each of those 17 years, and compare it to the "now" if it seems relevant. Here we go...
2009
Over the winter months (indoors at Andrew's work), Andrew and I cut, painted, and pre-built the shade pavilion. Once the weather improved we brought the pieces home and built it in the garden. In the post Future home of the Shade Shack, I shared photos of the area pre-build, footings poured and everything in place. The photos are kinda blurry because back then I was loading much smaller files...
In 2010 I wrote about the bamboo in stock tanks... Bamboo = green privacy. This is the second most viewed blog post of all time, with over 73,000 eyes on it. Back then I still loved the bamboo in the tanks, now I wish we'd never done it. Thankfully it's all still alive, and contained, but not necessarily happy and healthy. It's the one thing I do fertilize and it gets a good deal of summer water, but it is definitely not as happy as it was back then...
This post was my summary of the replanted front garden: The Front Garden: here’s what I’ve been up to, chapter 3 (the not so big reveal). I'm glad I broke it into three parts (chapter 1, chapter 2) because if I'd have jumped right to the end I don't think anyone would have been able to tell what I'd done, that's how underwhelming it was. However this is also the beginning of what the front garden is now, so a very important post for me. Looking north...
Looking south...
And fast forward to last summer.
2011 is also the year the house went dark, bye bye white paint and hello chocolate brown (Espresso Bean was the official name). I mostly celebrated how good the new color made the garden look: Green and brown, it’s a color match made in heaven!
Here's a shot from roughly the same angle, last September.
2012
A post from out and about on the streets of Portland: Things that make you smile are good things…
2013
The front garden "make over" was still underway and in June of 2013 I was thrilled with the newly planted area in front of the living room window. Out with the inherited hybrid rhododendron, in with spiky plants: Alberta and friends, happy in the ground…
They've all grown up in the last 12+ years, photo from last summer.
2014
It was about time. We finally had the inherited and overgrown privet patch at the north end of the patio removed and a fence built: My favorite thing in the garden this week, well, it's our new fence (at the same time we had the deteriorating fence at the south end, behind the shade pavilion replaced). Sadly the work was done in the wet season and it all became a muddy mess. (you can also see the brown of the neighbor's garage wall (before it went orange) on the right)
For quite awhile I did favorite plant features weekly, or monthly, on the blog. I still remember this favorite, Ludwigia sedioides, aka Mosaic plant. It was part of an end of month favorites feature: It’s the last Friday of the month and that means…favorite plants! of course the stock tank pond is no more, and this plant is long gone.
2016
Also long gone, this Echinocereus triglochidiatus v. gonacanthus hybrid (featured in My plants are happy). Believe it or not the poor thing dried up. I didn't give it summer water and being from an area with summer monsoons, it couldn't cope.
I think this right here may have been the first hint at my coming love for ferns, with my fern table build: But I can't wait until July! Building my fern table...(it's my month end favorite)
The thin orange arrow points to the (still going) fern table in this photo from my 2025 garden tour.
2018
When I started going back over old blog posts, identifying which ones to pull for this blogoversary post I knew exactly which 2018 post was my most important: Love hurts, our little girl is gone. Oh how I miss that little furry face, my gardening companion. And no, we aren't thinking about getting another dog.
Bromeliads started to invade the garden in a big way, this beauty was one of my all time favorites. Sadly I didn't have the conditions to keep it happy over the winter (my basement garden is not the same as a huge greenhouse) so it kept getting smaller and smaller, until it was done. From the post: More from the spring garden.
2020
The book, the book in the garden! In early November I received my advance author copy and couldn't resist snapping a few photos that replicated the cover shot and others from inside the book: Fearless Gardening, in the flesh...
2021
During the COVID summer of 2020, author Brian D Coleman and photographer William Wright spent time in my garden photographing for the book Private Gardens of the Pacific Northwest. It was an honor to be included in the book, and a fantastic (if slightly unnerving, at times), diversion from COVID. Mr. Coleman is also the West Coast Editor for Old House Journal, which is how my Upcycle and Plant creations ended up being featured in an issue of the magazine: I'm in Old House Journal!
2022
The loss of my dad will forever be my defining event of 2022: I love you dad. I cannot believe it's been 4 years.
Holman seems at home in my front garden...
2023
In September of 2022 my friend Eric and I rescued five mature, trunking, Yucca rostrata in one afternoon, unexpectedly, out of the blue. One of them (the one below) became mine: Meet Holman, my adopted Yucca rostrata (or how my Sunday took a complete 180 from what I thought it was going to be...)
Late in the gardening season I finally put together this hanging experiment: One final project before the Great Migration began.
It's still going strong!
2024
The shade pavilion and fence have both come a long way since their debut here in 2009 and 2014, so I thought this photo from last summer's garden was a fitting one to represent the year, photo from: Tour of my 2025 Garden, Part Two (the step finally joined the scene back in 2023, I can't believe it took that long!).
2026
What will this growing season bring? How much longer will I keep blogging? These are questions for the future. Meanwhile, here's Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’ blooming in the garden last weekend...
To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control.
All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
I've missed SO much! I'm going to start visiting some of these beginning posts. The base of the shade shack is so precise, and has stood the test of time. The thought you both put in to building the structure paid off. It's a treasure. Your sweet doggy. I'm sorry about your Dad, but glad he was good one. I think we've all been there thinking new plantings are underwhelming, but my my my it turned into a fabulous and unique space! You must keep blogging, no question.
ReplyDelete