A stop at Doug and Bruce's garden (it was the agave)

The first text from Doug came in on May 6th, he’d noticed his Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’ was looking a little odd. Then the bloom spike started to grow, and grow. This photo is from June 27th. I kept meaning to stop by to see it for myself.

Sadly, that didn’t actually happen until the last week in July, and when I texted Doug about stopping by, he told me he and his husband Bruce were out of town, but I should feel free to look around anyway. So I did, and I couldn’t resist snapping photos.

I’ve been by this garden a few times, and wrote about it back in 2021 (here), but things have definitely grown in the 5 years since that post. The front garden…

Purple prickly pear in the hellstrip.

I couldn’t resist getting the Hesperaloe parviflora in the foreground of this shot. It’s growing in both the hellstrip and next to the driveway.

Standing in the driveway now.

That’s a people and dog-friendly agave…

That is the largest Senecio candicans I’ve ever seen. Notice the stepped down platforms (stages?) for the pots, what a nice touch (Bruce is a landscape designer).

The private side of the front garden…

At first glance I thought the plant on the table was a begonia. It most definitely is not. It looks like a Euphorbia milii (crown of thorns) to me.

Maybe a Euphorbia milii hybrid, ‘Sunset Splendor’?

The riser for the agave didn’t catch my eye at first glance…

But then I realized it was a piece of diamond plate metal, like something you’d use in a car repair shop. So cool!

On the opposite side of the driveway (still in the front garden)…

Aloe and a smaller Senecio candicans.

Starting down the walkway to the back garden and the reason I’m there becomes visible. Wowsa…

Great match up of container and plant.

Getting closer…

It’s a thing of beauty, even though of course it means the end of this agave (there might be bulbils, tiny agave babies that form on the bloom stem, or seeds).

Doug had warned me that the bloom was starting to wind down. There were dozens of these “ovaries” that had fallen to the ground and were caught in the plants leaves. 

I suppose these are the ones that were not successfully pollinated?

There was still a lot going on up there.

Looking around the rest of the back garden... (the containers were grouped to make watering easier for the house-sitter)...

Melianthus and Nandina? It’s a great color combination.

Tiny palm (Trachycarpus sp.)

And big big palm (also a Trachycarpus)

Yucca rostrata

And a final shot of the main attraction. Thanks for letting me poke around the garden you guys!

The Bit at the End

Did you notice the fabulous understated metal sculpture in the front garden (13th image)? To my eye it was perfectly placed and looked right at home in Doug and Bruce’s garden. That got me thinking about a story I read on Garden Rant a few weeks back; Right Piece. Right Place: Ornaments in the Garden. What a hot-button topic, I’m surprised there were only 28 comments.

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The fluted planter gets a makeover

I shared the photo below in a blog post from early June. The subject was the new pedestal for the dish planter on the bottom left, but when scrolling through the post my eyes immediately went to the fluted planter next to it. How pathetic. What was once a robust planting was now looking rather tired.

There are ferns in the mix that are late to emerge, and over the next few weeks it should have filled out. But why wait? Time for a makeover!

I decided this little Hosta (H. 'Cameo') would make the transition to the new planting.

And divided the Lepisorus bicolor I'd picked up at Secret Garden Growers. It was filling the 4" pot I bought it in, why not make two plants for this project?

A couple tiny Begonia grandis hitched a ride with the fern. I hope I don't regret not pulling them out.

I knew I wanted to make this more than just a flat planting, so I worked in a piece of driftwood to help build up the soil in places. Since I had three metal cylinders, but only planned to use two of them for plants, I added one to the end of the wood to help visually tie it in to the rusty metal. Dorky? Maybe, but it worked for me.

The Hosta peeking through leaves of Bergenia ciliata var. ciliata, also from Secret Garden Growers.

I worked in one other plant from the old scheme, this Begonia U164 or maybe U614. Seed-grown, it was gift from Maggie Soderstrom.

This planter gets tucked under cover over the winter months because it doesn't have drainage, but it does stay outside. Thus things planted here need to be winter hardy.

Rooted babies of my Androsace sempervivoides fill the two metal cylinders. I'm not sure how they'll do in the shade this area gets, we shall see.

Heather kindly divided her Lepisorus pseudoussuriensis 'Taoshan' (on the left) from Windcliff and shared a piece with me. I hope it will be happy here.

I'd sat down on the ground to take these photographs and realized there was a sort of Begonia grandis echo happening.

To my right is the wire basket planter with its Begonia grandis.

Oh and remember the cool cement piece I brought home from Clinton Bamboo Nursery? This may not be its final purpose, but for now it's acting as a nice base to elevate the fluted planter.

From above...

From the side...

Bonus update! I'm sneaking in one more project. If you look at the chair you'll see a small planting next to it.

When I was in Seattle in early June for FernFest I stopped at Bellevue Nursery and crushed on their Begonia 'Cracklin' Rosie'...

I didn't think it was a lasting infatuation, and left it behind. But I couldn't shake it. I looked but hadn't been able to find one in Portland, so grabbed one when I saw it at McClendon's in Tacoma.

I blame this image from hortandpott on Instagram for stoking my obsession. I couldn't stop looking at it. It's not the same Begonia and my implementation is certainly not the same as theirs, but it's what sent me down the path. Isn't it dreamy?

Here's how mine turned out.

At the front is Pyrrosia lingua 'Undulata'.

At the back, yes that's the Pyrrosia lingua 'Tachiba Koryu' I purchased at Dancing Oaks. I thought it and the begonia made a fine pairing.

The end.

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.