Category Archives: Plant Portraits
coastal PNW gardens late July
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
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the summer I planted pale yellow snapdragons
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
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
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
Grevillea ‘Poorinda Blondie’
One of the so-called “toothbrush” grevilleas, I planted ‘Poorinda Blondie’ in November 2020, and its wingspan is now just over 6 feet. Height is roughly 4 feet, approximating a V-shape. (I can’t remember if I bought it in a gallon … Continue reading
Posted in journal, Plant Portraits
4 Comments
Six on Saturday
‘Eurydice’ lilies opened this week, an asiatic with martagon-esque, downward-facing blooms. Zone 10 gardeners are reminded that lilies do not necessarily return every summer for us, so arborator cave (grower beware!) 2. The echeverias are blooming — the one above … Continue reading
Posted in Bulbs, clippings, journal, Plant Portraits, pots and containers, succulents
4 Comments
dragon trees
A few years ago I had the opportunity to help with a small front garden, that was designed to receive only occasional hand watering. I planted agaves and other succulents, dymondia, some bromeliads, three Hesperaloe ‘Brakelights,’ (all of which withered … Continue reading
the mysterious island in my back garden
One of the movies on heavy VHS-cassette rotation when my boys were young was Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island. Hot air balloon escape from a Civil War-era prison, crash landing near an uncharted island to fight for survival against monster-size crabs, … Continue reading
spring-blooming Aloe camperi
There are so many, many great aloes. A collector’s garden of aloes in zone 10 is a serious temptation. As are agaves. My desire skips like a stone across both these great groups of succulents, trying not to sink into … Continue reading
Posted in Plant Portraits, succulents
3 Comments
April garden journal
Because the Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’ I had previously tried to establish here had failed to thrive, I assumed that it was dead, not dormant, when I replanted this rocky area in November. Which was fine, because I was going in … Continue reading
Posted in journal, plant nurseries, Plant Portraits, succulents
10 Comments