My friend Bridget moved back to Portland and made a great garden...

I met Bridget and her wife Mary when they moved to our neighborhood back in 2012. There was no mistaking she was a gardener and we became fast friends. We stayed in touch even after they moved to Louisville, KY, and Bridget opened a shop, Mahonia. As I’m sure you can guess (if you read the title of the post), they’re back in Portland and there’s a new garden. This visit took place early in October, hence the colorful leaves...

This was what I was aiming the camera at (through the kitchen window). I think Bridget said it was a Microsorum brachylepis 'Datun', although the leaves are much longer than my version of that plant. I love her creative planting!

Stepping out the back door you enter a long narrow garden and a comfy seating area, filled with plants of course.

Bridget definitely loves Mahonia, there are several fine specimens around the garden.

The outdoor dining table is a little further along in the space, making it a destination.

Plants in waiting…

And a most excellent container display by another entry. Bridget has clearly come over to the spiky side with this garden.

Loquat, Eriobotrya japonica.

Looking backwards before we leave the private back garden…

And now we’re out in public area along the side and front of the house. Yucca aloifolia I believe, joined by a couple Eryngium.

The plantings in this area have filled in dramatically since my last visit. I believe the wood rounds came from a tree cut down on-site, they create informal seating area perfect for neighborhood visiting.

Gravel mulch covers the garden and makes for a nice uniform look throughout.

Agave ovatifolia I believe, gorgeous!

Mary and Bridget were hosting a brunch that day, hence the group gathered for plant admiring.

Phlomis some-somebody. I really cannot believe how much this garden has exploded in growth.

Agave ‘Mateo’ along with what I think may be Dorycnium hirsutum.

I recently shared a photo of an Agave ‘Mateo’ in James Andrew Gould’s garden that was pupping, and now we’re seeing the same in Bridget’s garden. Perhaps there’s hope for baby agaves from my ‘Mateo’.

Picturesque fungus.

If you forced me to guess I’d say Arctostaphylos x 'Austin Griffiths', but really this could be any one of dozens of manzanita.

At the end of this post I’ll share a photo from indoors, looking out that big picture window.

But first there’s a little more garden to see.

So many agaves!

And Mahonia, of course. I believe this and the next are seed grown Mahonia eurybracteata [Cistus Silvers].

Everyone loves a blooming sedum, doesn't that just scream fall?

Fantasitc!

And finally, that indoor shot I teased. Doesn’t it look beachy? Thanks for sharing your gorgeous garden Bridget!

The Bit at the End

Another Garden Rant post by Marianne Willburn, but this one is much less wordy: Cultivating Informed Debate on Growing Greener Podcast. 

—   —   —

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. 

Curious about the agaves at McMenamins Anderson School (a botanic garden visit, of sorts)

Andrew and I have been talking about where our next home will be. We bought our current place back in 2005, we've been here 21 years. Back then our realtor wanted us to think of this as starter home, but gardeners don't think that way. We put down roots, real roots. 

We probably only have one move in us, well one active move. Where do we want to grow old? While I love the idea of living in Southern California, I'm aware that's an expensive place to be, plus, I'm a Washingtonian by birth. I was born in Eastern Washington, but my heart is in the Western part of the state, Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area. This is a long way of saying that we've been talking about moving north. So, when we were up in Seattle for the NWFG Fest, Andrew surprised me by saying something about how agaves don't grow that far north. I'm sorry, what!?!

He'd never seen an agave in Seattle, and he wanted me to tell him where they were growing. I started by listing friend's gardens; Scott's, Paul's, and Michelle's. Plus there are a couple agaves at the Amazon Spheres, and lots of them at Tacoma's Pt Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. As I checked off locations I got to thinking that the northern most agaves I knew of in Western Washington were at McMenamins Anderson School in Bothell, Washington, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Seattle. I hadn't been there since 2019 (post here)... so I decided a visit was in order.

I made the trip up on a very rainy day, Saturday, February 21st. Thank god I had an umbrella, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pull out my camera. Check out those very happy Yucca rostrata... 

And the agaves, oh the agaves. These sexy beasts are Agave ovatifolia, probably 'Frosty Blue'.

They were perfection.

As I walked around photographing I realized this visit felt a lot like I'd shown up at a botanical garden. I'd hit a few of my favorite Seattle-area nurseries earlier in the day, but now I was out walking among the plants...

Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica' 

I do love it when a garden maker takes an element and runs with it. The McMenamins chain of restaurants, hotels, theatres and performance venues are also breweries and there are a couple wineries. They seem to have plenty of barrel rings and they're definitely making the most of them at Anderson School.

This was an unexpected bit of fun.

And speaking of fun... there's a pool and tiki bar on the premises.

Of course nobody wanted to brave the rain and sit outside.

Same Nolina as before, just from the other direction.

Lots of February color.

Yep, same Nolina again, but from yet another direction. What can I say, I love them.

This one—also a Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica'—looked like it was blooming thanks to a nearby light pole painted the same green.

Strappy goodness...

More agaves, I think this one may be A. 'Baccarat'.

Agave parryi truncata

And maybe Agave parryi v. couesii.

Pulled back, wide-angle shot.

Spikes! Colletia, maybe C. hystrix.

More barrel ring art...

Loquats (Eriobotrya japonica), are something else you don't see a lot of in the Seattle area. I tried to find one at a nursery once and that was nearly impossible. This one looks fantastic.

Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Prostrata', I believe.

Magnolia laevifolia flower buds.

The wild meadow garden...

Cyclamen coum

Fabulous Schefflera delavayi and fun metal potted "plant".

Another S. delavayi and a blooming Edgeworthia chrysantha.

Daphniphyllum macropodum

Wow, a nice patch of Mahonia eurybracteata.

The stacked urbanite walls and wiggly metal work is such a warm custom touch.

As is this experimental succulent planting.

There are at least two Sarracenia bog plantings, I only managed to photograph one of them.

Oh my gosh! Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' positively dripping with runoff from the roof, it seemed happy in those circumstances.

Okay time to wrap up the visit and head back to my car...

Just for the record. Agaves, growing happy at approximately 47.76° N latitude...

The Bit at the End

Check out this beautiful video of blooming agaves and the bats that seek out their nectar. Bat Conservation International is a group of folks who see agave restoration as an important part of ensuring the worldwide survival of bats—they're such interesting little mammals. 

—   —   —

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.