An afternoon on the island

Oh for f&ͻ%'$ sake, blogger has done it again. I played by their rules and did all the special witchcraft and salt-tossing to upload photos and yet it uploaded them backwards (after several rounds of refusing to upload at all). All righty, I'm playing along and reporting in reverse of what I experienced. Starting at the end. Ain't this fun?

So last Saturday was a terrific planty/gardeny day. I spent the morning visiting a renowned local garden that I'd wanted to see for quite sometime. I took a lot of photos, so many that it will be awhile before I tackle going through them and editing them down for a post. Later in the day Andrew and I set out for an open garden event that we'd been invited to on Sauvie Island, Linda Wisner's garden. I always enjoy wandering her large garden and this time it was made even better because I knew friends would be there, including Tamara who had asked about bringing me plants (all I offered in return was empty pots for her to reuse). My haul included Dorycnium hirsutum (hairy canary-clover), Agave parryi ssp. neomexicana (progeny of the plants at Joy Creek Nursery which I visited every time I was at the nursery), and Mimulus aurantiacus ‘Jeff’s Tangerine’... thanks Tamara!

Now to wander Linda and her husband Chet's garden... 

In addition to fantastic sit spots like the one above, there was also a huge quantity of photographable crops; vegetables and flowers...

And then there was the tree with nails...

I asked Linda for the backstory... "That was my beloved Damson plum tree, which died of some mysterious disease. The nails went in to give the clematis I planted at its base something to grab onto. But then the clematis died. So now there's an ornamental kiwi from Windcliff that's struggling to take hold. I hope it eventually grows to cover the tree."

 Lots of buzzing and pollinating creatures moving about the garden.

Love the arching allium drumsticks...

Such a super tall gunnera, easily 5ft tall, if not more. I should have asked Andrew to stand next to it for scale.

The "old vegetable garden"...

Brassaiopsis hispida, Linda bought this from me last spring when I was selling at the Dirty Diggers plant sale.

It was so nice to see it happy and know it was living it's best life out on Sauvie Island with a real greenhouse where it would spend winter.

Courtyard tables with food and drink under the grapevines. I love this location so much!

Linda has several large potted plants in the courtyard area, this Manihot grahamii...

A couple of interesting coleus with a dwarf nectarine.

Maybe Begonia T REX® ‘First Blush’?...

Now we're out in the very shady front garden, the first area Andrew and wandered though. I think this is maybe Rhododendron sinogrande?

Plums!

Another sit-spot.

Schefflera delavayi

And the first photo I took upon our arrival at the garden.

Before the garden visit, since we were on Sauvie Island, we swung by Cistus Nursery. I missed their big Summer Extravaganza back in July, since I was in Buffalo. Tree fern! Dicksonia antarctica I assume? Everybody's doing it...

Andrew looked up to the ceiling of this corner pavilion and said "that's art"... I don't disagree.

Several large Hedera canariensis 'Sulphur Heart' for sale. I've long appreciated this plant growing out in the Cistus display garden along the driveway, but don't remember ever seeing it for sale in the nursery. 

I'm growing it under the name Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' having been lucky to receive several rooted cuttings from a friend (AI says: "Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' and Hedera canariensis 'Sulphur Heart' refer to the exact same clonal cultivar of large-leaved evergreen ivy. Botanically, it is correctly classified as Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' (Persian ivy), though it has historically been mislabeled in the nursery trade as a form of Algerian ivy (Hedera canariensis)." Take from that what you want...

Love the combo of swirly metal and serrated Melianthus leaves.

Ferns and cactus! It's a winning combination.

And finally to wrap up this backwards post; I was in awe of this multi-headed Yucca rostrata I saw at the south end of the parking lot upon our arrival. Major plant lust...

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Whit and Mary Carhart’s Garden, take two

Whit and Mary Carhart’s Garden was another garden we toured during the recent Hardy Fern Foundation event on Vashon (and Maury) Island in Puget Sound, WA. This was the second time I'd visited this garden, the first during the 2024 Garden Fling (post here).

If you remember my past visit, then parts of this post may seem familiar—parts but not all—because this time I wasn't held back by a reinjured knee. Nope, I explored up and down all the steep steps of this fabulous hillside garden. 

I believe this beauty was Blechnum novae-zelandiae (Parablechnum novae-zelandiae).

There were several clumps along the steps.

Looking down...

And back up...

The garden description from the HFF tour materials: "This four season 2.5-acre garden features a diverse collection of plants, including unusual and rare woodland plants and ferns set among Japanese maples, species Rhododendrons and conifers. Winding paths afford an opportunity to pause and reflect among the naturalistic plantings of cedars, firs, Stewartias, hydrangeas and shade tolerant perennials. The garden features a waterfall and pond, an antique Indonesian garden shed and the sculptural art of Washington state and international artists."

Woodwardia unigemmata

Rodgersia sp.

Doodia media, aka rasp fern (so called because the fronds feel rough and harsh to the touch, with serrations along the edges).

Maybe Lonicera nitida 'Red Tips'?

There are red tips...

The pond...

The haze of blooms belong to a saxifrage.

There's a nice Pyrrosia sheareri there in the middle.

Cyrtomium macrophyllum var. tukusicola to the left of the Syneilesis (shredded umbrella plant).

One of the painted ferns, Athyrium niponicum.

Coniogramme, likely C. emeiensis 'Golden Zebra'.

This photo was taken down at house level, looking back up to the pond area. I'm about to go up there, but first I have to admire...

...the trough full of Bletilla striata.

So good!

And there's the pond.

Bald cypress, Taxodium distichum.

Hemiboea subacaulis var. jiangxiensis

Yes, that's a Wollemia nobilis (Wollemi pine) on the left.

Looking down on the pond from a different angle.

And now a shot from the far end of the property looking towards the house and the harbor.

Seeing these Eryngium venustum made me realize my plants have been shaded out, disappeared, and more are impossible to find! Please let me know if you see them out there in the nursery world.

This fern table was a favorite feature on my earlier visit and it holds up.

Lots of happy plants squeezed in there.

Quartermaster Harbor as seen from the back of the house.

More ground orchids with hardy begonia.

And another fern (and friends) table.

Ligularia sp.

Saxifraga × geum 'Dentata'

Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'

One last look at the pond, as I pass it by again on my way to the top of the garden.

Maybe Rhododendron pachysanthum...

Same, different angle.

And wrapping up with more Blechnum novae-zelandiae

I'm so glad I got a second chance to see this wonderful garden!

The Bit at the End

Check out the patch of Pleopeltis lepidopteris 'Morro dos Conventos' in this Juniper Level Botanic Garden post. I didn't notice any dry land ferns in Whit and Mary's garden, but this one seems like it would fit right in to their sunny spots.

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