Argyle Winery, it's been a minute

I have such fond memories of walking the garden at Argyle Winery, in Dundee, Oregon, that I decided it was a must visit on my way home after stopping at Berry Creek Garden in late May...

My previous visits were in October of 2018, May of 2019, and May of 2022.

The two biggest changes I noticed were 1) the Yucca rostrata were much taller, 2) there were shade sails everywhere.

The rest of the landscape seemed a little less diverse, like some things had died out. Although it was still lovely to wander (original design and plantings were done by Cistus Nursery).

Yucca streetside

Ceanothus sp.

Fremontodendron!

Aka flannel bush...

I don't know the name of the silver leaved tree, but it's rather attractive.

Ditto for the iris.

Looks like a space ready for entertaining...

Astelia (maybe 'Red Devil'?) and Metapanax delavayi.

Agave! Looks to be an A. ovatifolia that's a little shaded out.

Eryngium some-somebody

I wish I knew which one.

Busy patterns with the shade sails, but I like the look. In case you're wondering, no wine for me. It was time to get home.

The Bit at the End

A gift article from the NY Times: As a Sacred Tree Dies, Their Village Loses a Piece of Itself; In a forest in Madagascar, the demise of a centuries-old baobab points to the fraying of a fragile ecosystem. The photos alone are worth clicking over to have a look at.

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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery—or how I rationalize stealing a friend's idea

This corner of my back garden has undergone a few transformations over the years. Back in 2014 the privet was removed and the fence, plantings, and stock tank went in (here). I enjoyed several years with the stock tank acting as a pond and the fun of growing water plants, until marauding racoons continually trashed the pond and took away any and all joy. Last spring I converted the stock tank to a table planting and thoroughly love the new look.

Shifting our gaze just a few feet to the right this is a spot that I've never really been happy with, until now. I am absolutely in love with this vignette and I stole the idea from my friend Denise.

Back in February was when I first took note of the barrel rings acting to define plantings in Denise's Tillamook garden (via her blog). The rings showed up again in April, and they'd multiplied! I saved those images to an inspiration file and periodically looked at them, knowing I'd eventually find a place to do something similar.

In July I visited Denise and finally saw the rings in person, here's a photo from her garden (entire post here).

I was also rather taken with this astelia she planted in a metal tube.

Once I was back home it hit me where I could place a ring, and of course I already had one just waiting to be used. I completely ripped off her design ideas and transplanted them to my garden. Metal ring planting? ✔ A slightly different gravel mix within the ring? ✔ Astelia in a metal tube? ✔

That popcorn cassia that's completely blocking the view of the plants in the ring? It's gone now. I'd already planted it in this spot before I put the ring in place, and since it's an annual in my climate I figured I'd just let it live out the season. Then one day I decided it needed to go, bye bye! It was a good decision.

Thankfully Denise visited my garden a couple of weeks ago and I was able to show her my idea thievery in person. I think she has forgiven me. I tried to bribe her with plant gifts.

This snippet of an article was in a recent Gardens Illustrated and I loved the quote so much that I had to record it (sadly I didn't track which issue, or even what garden Danni works in, my bad)...

Gardening is about the process, and small projects like this are what those of us with a "finished" garden can indulge in to get our creative ideas flowing and feel a renewed connection to our garden.

Thank you Denise for the inspration!

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The garden at the O'Byrne's Northwest Garden Nursery

We're back in Eugene, OR, at Northwest Garden Nursery—Marietta and Ernie O'Byrne's place. Wednesday I shared some hellebore photos (here) from the greenhouses, today we wander the garden...

This is my second visit to the O'Byrne's, the first was way back in 2014. That was also an early March visit—blog post here—back then I made the trek during their Hellebore Open Garden Days, this year I visited after the hellebore madness. 

I can't remember if it was Marietta or Ernie that pointed out they'd let the opuntia lounge out across the pathway (rather than cutting it back) knowing I was going to be visiting—spiky plants and "danger" of course.

The foliage on that Helleborus foetidus is pretty fabulous...

My photos are all kind of jumbled, I snapped as I wandered...

The sun came and went as the clouds passed overhead. 

It really was a delightful day to be outside walking garden paths, especially contrasted against the day before when it rained hard during my visit to Gossler Farms Nursery (photos from that visit coming up for Monday's post).

There were even fancy creatures milling about, peafowl. Both the traditional blue/green coloration and one that was all white. Sadly I didn't get a photo of the white bird.

On Monday I shared photos of two other gardens I visited in Eugene, both with pebble mosaic designs. There were more elaborate versions here at the O'Byrne's garden, these built by Oregon craftsman Jeffrey Bale.

I was glad to see the elevated container with bronze grass was still a garden feature. I loved it when I saw it on my previous visit.

Close up...

I suddenly need to plant yellow/green hellebores mixed with black mondo grass!

Can you make out the elevated platform on the left? It's built on the stump of a tree that was removed and provides a great place to sleep on a summer's night.

Another angle...

Bamboo!

Schefflera delavayi

Looking towards the backside of the O'Byrne's home, with a guest house on the right.

Quercus alnifolia, planted in 2017 and now at a height where the tawny undersides of the leaves can be appreciated from the pathway.

That's a wrap! Since both of my visits to this garden have been in the very early spring I do hope to return in the summer. Fingers crossed!

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