Category Archives: garden visit
revisiting Old Germantown Gardens Portland OR
I visited this garden in 2014 with a group of garden bloggers and didn’t really absorb much of the back story of its creation. Visiting again this May, my knees aching after lengthy explorations along its sloping paths, I researched … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, Oregon garden
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Euphorbia ceratocarpa at Cistus Nursery
An HPSO open garden visit on Sunday took me about 20 minutes from Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island, so I popped in to check on some plants I’ve been eyeing in their catalogue. After parking I wandered into the private … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, Oregon garden, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits
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scenes from May
A few images from local nurseries and garden tours, courtesy of that incredible team, gardeners and the month of May. Every May this perfectly proportionate, quietly elegant iroid lures me in for close inspection. The Tasmanian Flag Iris, Diplarrena latifolia, … Continue reading
Posted in driveby gardens, garden visit, Plant Portraits
6 Comments
Wonder Garden, Manzanita OR May 2026
The Wonder Garden is a volunteer-driven, horticultural branch of the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, Oregon. Since I’ve been volunteering the past several years, the Wonder Garden seems to evolve effortlessly from strength to strength. But having participated … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, Oregon garden
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Presidio Tunnel Tops
I first heard of what has come to be known as the Presidio Tunnel Tops in 2015, when visiting landscape architect Rania Reyes mentioned her involvement in a new Presidio Parklands Project in San Francisco. Rania was being given a … Continue reading
Posted in design, garden travel, garden visit, MB Maher, succulents
9 Comments
some April PDX gardens
(“Oregon Route 6, known as the Wilson River Highway, is a scenic but treacherous 52-mile route connecting Tillamook (U.S. 101) to the Portland metro area (U.S. 26) through the Tillamook State Forest. Completed in 1941, this critical coastal artery is notorious … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit
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microabundance/Granada Coffee Shop
In spring 2025, Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson was published, a nonfiction work examining why we can’t seem to get things built for the common good anymore and the bureaucratic difficulties facing small businesses. Using examples like California’s … Continue reading
Posted in artists, commerce, garden visit
4 Comments
Sherman Gardens & Library under renovation March 2026
With the heat wave mostly over, yesterday I drove south to Newport Beach for some garden time. Bathed in the cool coastal conditions at the Pacific Ocean, the Sherman Gardens & Library are a genteel lunch and garden destination that … Continue reading
Posted in garden visit, journal, plant sales, pots and containers, succulents
4 Comments
O Huntington!
It’s been too long! In my absence the past few years, there are now reservation requirements, QR codes, and repeated checkpoints throughout the gardens to reverify the QR codes. There’s also sushi in the very crowded cafe to refuel after … Continue reading
Posted in agaves, woody lilies, garden travel, garden visit, succulents
6 Comments
touring summer gardens
Lately I’ve been dipping more and more frequently into photos taken while garden touring last summer with the Garden Fling, a highly recommended garden tour group. Compared to what’s being reported in this crazy news cycle, making and caring for … Continue reading