{"id":109781,"date":"2026-07-08T20:30:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T00:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=109781"},"modified":"2026-07-08T20:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T00:30:22","slug":"a-city-gardens-rare-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=109781","title":{"rendered":"a city garden’s rare trees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Newer streetside dry garden planting, which I believe replaces an old hedge. Stipa gigantea, opuntia, agaves, hesperaloe, so many great stalwart plants, the succulents carefully chosen for hardiness in Portland. But what’s that trunk to the right looming behind the fence?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On May 30 I visited another fascinating Portland garden through the Open Gardens program of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. Sometimes the open gardens are closer to me in the farmland surrounding the city, where they of course tend to be much larger. But whether city or exurban, it’s always worth the trip. If I were prone to making assumptions, and unfortunately I kinda am, to my mind a city garden implies small lots with intricate mid-size planting, maybe some screening shrubs and small trees. Well, Pete Eastman and Dayrl Griffin’s garden in a historic district of Portland proves the axiom: Never assume anything<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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surprisingly, this is none other than the Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, looming over streetside plantings, aka the “water pine,” thought to be extinct until a small grove was found in China in 1944<\/a>. Official state fossil of Oregon. A deciduous conifer, a living oxymoron!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These guys on their double lot dream big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this garden, it pays to keep track of the canopy overhead. Golden Honeylocust with I believe a Weeping Alaskan Cedar to its left<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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some of my favorite planting was in this new sidewalk border with retaining wall. That scarlet salvia seemed surprisingly large and floriferous for May<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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salvias, hardy fuchsias, linaria, with hellebores, Japanese forest grass and much more at the base of the retaining wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Strong interactivity with the garden behind the fence and the very savvy streetside planting that’s covering the ground by the end of May<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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the narrow border grew some surprisingly statuesque plants like this cardoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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this Lobelia tupa in Portland was way ahead of mine at the coast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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gunnera in the front entry with water garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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front door to the house, garden entryway is opposite the broken concrete path<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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discussing ongoing recovery of the Wollemia nobilis. Weeping Alaskan Cedar on the right. This area is a woodland garden “filled with daphne, hellebores, hostas, hydrangeas, rhododendrons”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I left the sidewalk plantings and stepped up the walkway into the garden, I found the owners discussing the winter damage recovery of their Wollemia nobilis with visitors. This discussion went on for some time, so I drifted within earshot of the conversation. Garden owners are incredibly generous with their time and energy in opening their gardens, but it must be maddening to answer the same questions dozens of times. If there’s a chance to eavesdrop, I always take it. (I think this is accepted garden tour protocol, right?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wollemi Pine making a recovery, I’m guessing from the ice storm<\/a> of 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like the Dawn Redwood, the Wollemi Pine is another living fossil, one of the world’s oldest and rarest trees. We’re talking dating to the dinosaur era. A theme was emerging. This garden had a lot on its mind and wasn’t just another pretty face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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daphne in the woodland garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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leading out of the woodland garden into the back garden where “sunnier areas are devoted to tropicals, roses, and perennials. Large mature windmill palms and bamboo groves form the backdrop for colorful beds brimming with bananas, cannas, abutilons, gingers, dahlias, and more. 10\u2032 metal obelisks filled with climbing roses are surrounded by colorful beds of summer perennials such as monarda, hemerocallis, salvias, lilies, peonies, and fuchsias.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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axial grass path centered on the house, sitting area under deodar cedar and bamboo on the far right<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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one of a pair of flamboyant urns that flank a path, yellow bromeliads mulched with turquoise glass. Rose is ‘Golden Celebration,’ an older Austin released in the ’90s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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and this is why the garden is called “Musa in the City.” Central fountain with a rose arbor in the distance. Red blooms in the grass corner on the right are phygelius, another plant much further along than mine at the coast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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incredible statement from the hardy bananas (Musa basjoo?) in May when other tropicals are still waking up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The owner mentioned how the roses bridge end of spring plantings with early summer before the tropicals hit their stride <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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the large fountain really holds its own as a centerpiece in the grassed paths. Arbor beyond the bromeliad urns leads to the woodland garden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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roses and clematis on 10-foot metal obelisk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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paved sitting area under the deodar cedar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cedrus deodara from the Himalayas where it’s known as the “timber of the gods”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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palm, bamboo, deodar cedar, banana and festive umbrellas sum up the garden’s eclectic and sassy attitude<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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the “moai” is extremely photogenic and doesn’t have a bad angle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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engulfed in carex and eucomis. Background of burgundy and chartreuse might be loropetalum and Aralia ‘Sun King.’ Couldn’t even make a guess on the bamboo with the spectacular golden culms<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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What are ground covers in Los Angeles become specimen plantings of tender aeoniums in the PNW — it all depends on your POV! But you won’t find martagon lilies in LA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The sunny plantings bisected with grassy paths were impressive feats of horticulture. Meticulously planted and maintained, it very much reminded me of gardens I visited years ago on Long Island in the style of Landcraft Environments. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More from the handout: “We live and garden on two city lots, just steps from the bustling\u00a0Mississippi Historic District. We have been gardening in this space since 1988. In 2003, we purchased the vacant lot to our south and the main garden was created<\/em>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 30 I visited another fascinating Portland garden through the Open Gardens program of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. Sometimes the open gardens are closer to me in the farmland surrounding the city, where they of course tend … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[112,5119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-garden-visit","category-oregon-garden"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNJ2E-syF","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109781"}],"version-history":[{"count":132,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110302,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109781\/revisions\/110302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}