Author Archives: Denise

two gardens August 2022

Posted on August 22, 2022 by Denise

From August 12 through the 19th I was in Southern California visiting family and checking on the house and garden, so I had the odd, unsettling experience of leaving one garden just hitting its stride and dropping in on one … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

coastal PNW gardens late July

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Denise

Driving north on Highway 101 now is a very different experience than just a few weeks ago. The roadside attractions are no longer mauve foxgloves, which seemed to go on forever, but now mauve fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium (formerly Epilobium angustifolium), … Continue reading →

Posted in garden visit, journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits, pots and containers | 6 Comments

the curvilinear Courtney garden, Banks, Oregon

Posted on July 25, 2022 by Denise

Before starting a tour of the Courtney garden in Banks, Oregon, USDA zone 8b, it’s only fitting to first visit the “engine room,” the workshop of Harlan Courtney that fabricates the idiosyncratic hardscape of Mary and Harlan’s garden. The house … Continue reading →

Posted in garden travel, garden visit, Oregon garden | 9 Comments

the summer I planted pale yellow snapdragons

Posted on July 20, 2022 by Denise

A farm stand was selling six-packs for $3 of these pale snapdragons, bordering on chartreuse. All wonky and swaying, not ramrod straight. Never having grown snaps before, I’m unclear if a lack of basal growth is normal or just a … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits, pots and containers | 7 Comments

bloom day 7/22; dierama drama

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Denise

I admit that there’s a bit of a grudge match component to plant trials in the Oregon coastal garden. There are countless plants I foolishly trialed in my dry zone 10 garden that hated the lack of winter dormancy, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bloom Day, journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits | 8 Comments

herbaceous stuff

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Denise

I admit I’m enthralled by the range of herbaceous plants that can be grown here on the Oregon coast, zone 8b. I should be putting my energies into building up evergreen and woody structure, but for the moment, aside from … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, Oregon garden, Plant Portraits | 9 Comments

full sun near the coast

Posted on July 1, 2022 by Denise

Democracy is a garden that must be carefully tended, said one of our 21st century presidents. (Care to guess which one? Hint: his spouse famously broke with protocol and planted a vegetable garden near the White House. Ah, what innocent … Continue reading →

Posted in climate, journal, Oregon garden, pots and containers | 6 Comments

from Angelino Heights to Turkey and back again

Posted on June 22, 2022 by Denise

Mitch is safely back home from recent travels, with photos of Turkey from the new Leica camera that turned out to be problematic in that it needed a learning curve longer than a few days. Before departure, he took these … Continue reading →

Posted in MB Maher, Occasional Daily Photo | 5 Comments

a visit to the Vetter garden

Posted on June 21, 2022 by Denise

I’ve been religiously checking the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s Open Gardens schedule to see what lines up with my own schedule for the approximate 2-hour drive from the coast over the Coast Range to Portland. And there were a … Continue reading →

Posted in design, garden visit, Oregon garden, pots and containers | 5 Comments

walking the neighborhood 6/12/22

Posted on June 14, 2022 by Denise

It seems at least every house has a specimen rhododendron…or two. Japanese maples and Pieris japonica abound as well. And since the rhodies are just about bloomed out, I grabbed a few photos before the party is over and reduced … Continue reading →

Posted in driveby gardens | 9 Comments