A beachy adventure...

We recently celebrated my birthday with a quick trip to the beach, as soon as we were checked in I was on the sand...

It was a moody afternoon with lots of sun as the clouds were quick to move through. We arrived mid-day on a Sunday so most of the crowds had cleared out, and the folks heading to the coast to beat the heat in Portland had yet to arrive.

These dark Gladiolus were rather unexpected...

The twin rocks of Twin Rocks off in the distance.

The next morning we woke to a dense fog. The ocean was out there somewhere...

I went looking for it but chickened out before finding it. Andrew was back in the room and the fog was so thick I quickly lost sight of the hotel behind me. Here in Oregon we're told not to turn our back on the ocean as sneaker waves can change everything very quickly. I was more concerned about finding the ocean but not realizing I was on some strange sandy point and being cut off from the mainland.

So instead I headed back to the room and Andrew and I ventured north to Manzanita and the Wonder Garden.

The garden began in 2014 (a little history here), and I've visited a few times, first in 2022, a return in 2023, and then again last year when I had the honor of speaking at the neighboring Hoffman Center.

Arctostaphylos 'Sunset'

Arctostaphylos pajaroensis 'Myrtle Wolf' 

A few people wandered through the garden while we were there, but nobody stopped to enjoy the seating areas.

The climate in this section of the Oregon coast seems pretty dreamy to me. Unless I'm mistaken this Anigozanthos flavidus (kangaroo paw) has been thriving here for several years.

Pittosporum divaricatum perhaps?

Pseudopanax crassifolius

Eryngium planum

There were a pair of Eryngium growing together here, I think the white bloom is E. yuccifolium?

What I didn't capture in this pulled back shot is the Agave americana var. medio-picta 'Alba' or the Semponium 'Vortex' planted in this area.

Said Agave, which is lifted for the winter. 

I have no idea how they've been caring for the Semponium(a cross between an Aeonium and a Sempervivum). Maybe it's remained planted out?

Oh, this was a nice surprise. One of the fancy variegated Agave ovatifolia...

Normally this color mashup wouldn't be to my liking but for some reason it worked for me. Melianthus major (perhaps 'Purple Haze'), Dodonaea viscosa var. purpurea, and Asclepias tuberosa.

Leucadendron galpinii 'Silver Cone'

A pulled back shot with Kniphofia.

Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear'

Callistemon pallidus 'Eleanor' (I believe).

Euphorbia mellifera (also an uncertain ID).

Love the dark Aeonium.

Agave 'Blue Glow', the orange petal belongs to...

Glaucium corniculatum

Arctostaphylos 'Howard McMinn'

Aeonium 'Sunburst'

I loved this island and it's succulents, the entire garden was looking especially fabulous this visit.

Eryngium bourgatii

I sat down for a bit to admire the arching form of Rhodocoma capensis...

And then walked around to check out the Chondropetalum elephantinum.

So good!

Eryngium guatemalense

And my final Wonder Garden photos, of their elevated trough planter.

Pretty fabulous.

Back at our beach spot the sky had cleared and it was time for a long walk.

A new city had sprung up in the few hours we were away.

And the sunset did not disappoint. What a way to start my new year...

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I wish I knew where to get a low-cost sheet of metal

Cutting back the contents of the driveway crop tanks (vegetables in one and flower stems grown for vases in the other) I got to thinking how nice it would be to use one of them as a taboret, a table or bench on which to display some of my containers over the winter. They're right by our backdoor and where I park—a highly visible spot. 

(photo from Sept 13th, before cutback and the Great Migration, it doesn't look like this now)

Something along the lines of how I use this metal bench...

(also from Sept 13th)

I found myself thinking, "I wish I knew somewhere I could get an inexpensive piece of metal I could put over the top of the stock tank." Gosh, where would I get something like that!? Duh... maybe where I've purchased most of the metal pieces I'm already using around the garden? 

(also from Sept 13th)

Off to the BBC Steel scrapyard I went. Here's what I came home with...

Because I didn't want to risk rusty stains on the tank's galvanized metal I purchased a section of plastic tubing at a hardware store and cut it to fit over the rim of the tank wherever the two metals made contact.

Like this...

I liked the Russelia equisetiformis (firecracker plant) planted in the tank and it spent last winter in the same place (except for few days we had below freezing, when I pulled it and protected it), so I left it and worked the metal pieces around it. I covered the soil with moss I picked up on a recent adventure into the wilderness.

It's much nicer to see fuzzy green than brown soil.

Then it was time to bring in some container plantings...

What luck this container slipped right into one of the cut-outs.

I decided to fill this display space with my Aeonium collection. A few years ago Daniel Sparler encouraged me to let these winter-growing succulents stay outdoors on all but the coldest days (he details that approach here) and my plants have responded favorably to that treatment.

Having them right by the back door will make it easy to grab them if temperatures dip. 

I put this particular planting together early last July, using some 2" "plant poppers" (Aeonium arboreum 'Velour' and A. hybrid 'Kiwi') from Little Prince of Oregon Nursery. They've exploded in size...

Being a plant shadow connoisseur I'm loving the patterns these plants make on the side of the house.

The Aeonium aren't the only plants that have moved into this area, see that large plant on the far right?

It's Nerium oleander ‘Hardy Red’ and I got it (and its nice terracotta pot) from Jerry at our last Garden Blogger's plant swap. The Xera Plants listing says: "Full, HOT sun in a protected location. Best against a south or west facing wall- out of subfreezing east wind." That's exactly where it is here, in a corner that faces both south and west. Obviously a plant in a container loses a Hardiness Zone though, so I might end up schlepping it elsewhere if we get a cold snap.

I'm having a lot of fun with this area, and keep making changes, adding and subtracting things.

 Those changes aren't the only ones I've done in the drive though, I also replaced the plants and containers on the front of the garage.

It's a seasonal thing, the metal (they're clamp-on lamp shades) has excellent drainage and can withstand a freeze, where as the pottery that hangs there in the warm months will crack if the soil freezes and expands (ask me how I know).

These Mangaves aren't the hardiest choice for planting, but I had them kicking around (gifts from the grower) and I figured why not try them?

If temperatures really plummet I can always pull them and put them somewhere warmer for a few days.

So... that's my latest change-up here.

Next up, we need to put the walls up on the Shade Pavilion Greenhouse. But that's a task for another day...

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.