The Wonder Garden at the Hoffman Center for the Arts

As I shared last week, Andrew and I recently spent a little time at Oregon Coast, during that adventure we visited a little garden with a big name; the Wonder Garden...

At some point in the past I'd heard of the garden, but hadn't ever visited and thus forgotten whatever it was that I knew. That is until my friend Denise—part-time Tillamook, OR, resident, part time Long Beach, CA, resident—wrote about discovering the garden. So when, on the first day of our beach stay the sun unexpectedly came out, that was the only encouragement I needed—I went to explore.

This ceanothus (maybe Ceanothus gloriosus 'Pt. Reyes'?) was absolutely covered in buzzing bees.

I risked upsetting them when I pulled the ceanothus back to get a better photo of the Saxifraga cochlearis 'Minor' beneath.

The garden itself is a series of berms, no doubt built to improve the soil quality and drainage, but they also give the flat lot some "topographical" interest. The upended driftwood adds verticality and a sense of place. 

Surely I can't be the first person who yearns to paint the house bordering the back of the garden black with yellow trim ala Derek Jarmon?

Astelia chathamica

Acca sellowiana (pineapple guava) and Callistemon pallidus 'Eleanor'

I would have been feeling extreme plant envy at this sighting, except for the fact I decided to play the odds and once again try to grow Euphorbia stygiana—I purchased a plant at Hortlandia.

I've lost two of these in the past, but what the heck, maybe the third time is the charm?

Blooms! My plants have never managed to get to this stage. We shall see!

The stated purpose of the  Wonder Garden is to "Provide educational garden-based experience: pruning, design, botany, culinary, aesthetic, using spectacular plants to show-case coastal gardening" as such they had a great assortment of arctostaphylos (common name manzanita, which is the name of the town the garden is located in), this one seemed familiar and when I leaned over to see the label it all made sense, Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Harmony'.

Just exactly as low and sprawling as it is in my garden.

Nicely incorporated driftwood.

Bronze fennel, Foeniculum vulgare. So lush, so lovely, so bent on world domination.

Oh! The labels all through the garden were fabulous, and this one had me longing for a plant that hadn't emerged yet! It's been a couple years since I've gown Eupatorium capillifolium but I think I might need to track one down this year.

Succulents out, but tucked in for protection.

Right about now is when I heard a couple of dogs barking nearby. Aware that Ketzel Levine (former Portland resident—I shared photos of her garden here—NPR host, author), is the force behind this garden as well as a dog lover and rescue advocate, I found myself thinking "wouldn't it be great if I got to finally meet Ketzel?"

...and when I looked over towards the parking lot, there she was! You know that moment of indecision? Should I introduce myself? Will it be awkward? Of course it will be, but do it anyway! And I did, and it was, awkward, for about a half second. Then she threw her arms around me and we were talking like old friends. If Andrew hadn't been with me (btw he'd since gotten out of the car and started loving on the dogs) I would have probably joined her working in the garden as it all felt just that comfortable.

Rhodocoma capensis

That looks like a protea! SO many things I wish I would have thought to ask Ketzel about but didn't.

The eucalyptus had been bent and broken but was thoughtfully pruned and carrying on.

Acacia pravissima

Fabulously booming.

You all know my metric for measuring the worth of any garden; "is there an agave?" Well thankfully there was. This agave, Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba', had been overwintered elsewhere, but recently planted back out in the garden.

To it's left was a small, but expanding, patch of Agave parryi.

Pittosporum 'Nutty's Leprechaun', yes, that really is it's name.

What a wonderful spot set-aside for in-garden gatherings, although the Wonder Garden has also had a few online (ZOOM) gatherings as well, read more about those here.

Fabiana imbricata 'Violacea', aka Chilean heather—I might need one of these.

Andrew found a seat from which to consider some garden art, while I finished photographing (Ketzel had been pulled away for a meeting).

As we were leaving he stopped to admire the Armeria maritima 'Rubrifolia', a plant I would have never even given a second look, but once he pointed it out I had to admit the dark foliage was nice.

And I'll end this post with Dyckia 'Burgundy Ice', spiky spiky! Do check out the Wonder Garden if you find yourself in Manzanita, Oregon...

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

The Great Migration, at Dale Latham's

It's not your imagination, you have seen this garden before. Most recently—on Jan 28th—when I shared some images of the steep back garden and it's agaves, at least one of which is visible in this photo. Prior visits have featured photos of the front garden, with it's unique (summer) succulent plantings.

Back on April 6th, Dale—the garden's creator—invited Patricia and I over for a look at his garden on the eve of his version of The Great Migration. This garden undergoes a sizable transition every spring and autumn, one that makes me look like a poser. 

Here's a corner of the front garden with plants that were in place over the winter. A little soil has been disturbed though, in preparation for plants coming out of storage...

Like these, in the "giraffe greenhouse" (storage for tall plants) the on east side of the house.

There's a brugmansia, a couple of palms, and a cycad tucked in there. We'll see the cycad from the other end later in this post.

Back out front we stopped to admire the tall trunking Agave attenuata Dale brought home from SoCal in their RV earlier in the season, just $6! Of course I was also taken with his horse collection (I wrote about Portland's horse obsession here).

Another shot of the Agave attenuata along with the Azara microphylla and a berm of freshly laid compost in the background.

Walking around back now Dale was excited to point out the 8-foot Beaucarnea recurvata that he protects in place, no moving that bad-boy.

We took a short jaunt down the steep back-side of the property, as seen in the first photo at the top of the post. I know Dale built these walls himself, but I should have thought to ask where he sourced all the urbanite.

Sadly the glorious Arbutus (Madrone) is dying. I can't imagine this back garden without it.

There are more agaves visible from above. Dale mentioned he wished you could see them from the street below, but I thought it was kind of nice to have a few that only the homeowners see.

In this shot you can barely make out the large variegated Agave americana that is visible from below.

There are grape vines too!

Looking up at the enclosed back patio of the home, where plants are overwintered behind custom made enclosures.

A narrow planting bed along the back of the house seemed custom-made for a little zone-pushing.

Unfortunately the barrel cactus said no to to the experiment and kind of imploded.

I am a sucker for a fancy fountain. How fabulous is this?

And here's the back-side of the giraffe greenhouse we looked at earlier. Isn't that an amazing cycad? It's just begging to get out in the front garden and start enchanting passers-by.

Heading back around to check out the other plants in captivity...

But wait! What's that stash? A Portland Nursery score on the left, and a trio of Agave ferdinandi-regis Dale brought back from SoCal for just $23ea.

The over-wintering gang...

Pretty amazing right? As I said, Patricia and I were there the morning of April 6th and after we left Dale was going to get started with his Great Migration, as many of these are moving back out to the front garden. I told him how much better this project made me feel about my own Great Migration (set to get started that same afternoon), as his plants were bigger in both size and quantity than mine.

And just when you were already overwhelmed...there was another "greenhouse" to see! Patricia for scale...

Lemons!

Wall planters full of cuttings.

And agaves in the ground.

Here's what the front of the house looked like as Patricia and I wished him much luck with the move(s) and set off to work in our own gardens, after all it was a glorious sunny day headed into the 70's.

But then this happened. Yep. You've seen my snow photos (here), but Dale sent me a few he took on the 11th. AFTER he'd moved tender plants out into the garden.

Dammit!

I did a drive by this last Monday, the 18th (a week after the snowfall), and snapped these last three images. 

Things are looking good Dale, the plants look like they didn't miss a beat!

Those of us crazy enough to garden on the edge are a hardy bunch. I look forward to stopping by in a couple of months to see Dale's garden at it's best...

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.