Today I have some questions. Some are rhetorical, some are meant to inform. Others, well, I truly am asking. We'll start here:
I've always read that herbs are best used before they go to flower, when foliage gets all of the plant's resources.
There are a few things I need to remind you about myself before we get into today's post. First, I love big plants. Second, I'm not afraid of vigorous growth or spreading tendencies -- I do grow 30+ types of running bamboo after all. Third, I love flowering vines. Fourth, I often let volunteers grow where they want, which usually means they're not in the best places. With all of that being said, I'd like to introduce you to one of the three main "weeds" in my garden right now:
Last night I was preparing the photos I took recently at the Portland Japanese Garden, continuing my posts about the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling. I wasn't with the group on what should have been the second day of the touring, but my wife and I visited a few of the destinations from the itinerary anyway -- the Japanese Garden seemed like a nice place to spend a couple of hours on this hot morning.
You probably already know about my walkway garden, how I created it a couple of years ago, and just expanded one of the beds this spring.
I'm taking a break from the Portland garden posts to give you an update on my own garden. Last summer I took very few photos of my yard due to the roadtrip and weeks of posts about it that followed.
The last stop of the first day of the recent Garden Bloggers Fling in Portland was another private garden: Westwind Farm Studio. The name is confusing because it's not a farm and I'm not sure what the "studio" designation is for -- I may have missed the explanation when we arrived. (I did find out later that the property was formerly a sheep farm, so that's part of the answer... and their website explains that they have a recording studio too.)
After visiting Cistus and Joy Creek Nurseries, we on the recent Garden Bloggers Fling in Portland were off to a private garden on Old Germantown Road (hey bus driver, the "Old" part of that name is actually quite important!)
After Cistus Nursery, the buses took us through more scenic farmland (did we just pass a field of spirea and roses?!) and on to Joy Creek Nursery. Whereas Cistus has a bit of an emphasis on more xeric and spiky plants (Agaves, Yuccas, etc.) Joy Creek felt like a more "traditional" nursery -- but that is not the right term to use to describe this wonderful place.
The first day (Friday) of last week's Portland Garden Bloggers Fling started with a walk, but then had us on the bus out to Sauvie Island, for a picturesque 15-mile ride to Cistus Nursery.
The first full day of the recent Garden Bloggers Fling in Portland, Oregon started with an 8 AM walk from the hotel to the offices of Timber Press, publishers of so many fantastic gardening books.
Last week/weekend I was in Portland Oregon for the Garden Bloggers Fling, a gathering of about 80 bloggers from around the country (and a few internationals). We toured several gardens and nurseries over three days, but my wife and I arrived a day and a half early so we could check out the city and hang out with an old friend that we haven't seen in at least 15 years.
There are pros and cons to flying into an airport that is surrounded by thunderstorms. On the positive side you get to see some really great, angry clouds. You also get to see heavy rain from a unique perspective -- the "wall" of water was really quite impressive, especially as the plane flew around it, giving be a view from different sides. I also saw that the rain was not falling from the cloud that was overhead, as it was coming from the bottom of the storm at about a 45 degree angle. Really cool stuff!
I've been in Portland Oregon for the past few days at the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling. Three days of touring amazing gardens and a few outstanding nurseries, and my head is almost as full as my camera.
Just a tiny peek at what's to come next week...
One of the new plants I bought this spring was Hibiscus 'Kopper King'. I thought its coppery red foliage would look great at the end of my "prairie" bed, where the 'Grosso' lavender used to be.
If you've been reading my blog for at least a few months, you'll know that this past winter was very tough on most of my bamboos. Although the important in-ground ones leafed back out (whew!) there were several killed culms throughout the garden. In fact, at least four of my less cold-hardy plantings were "top killed", meaning everything above ground died.
One of the things that I've learned over the years is that although there are certainly common problems in many gardens, when it comes to wildlife every gardener sees something different. Climate, geography (both regional and localized), exposure, time of the day and how often you're around -- all of these things play a role in what animals you see out there, and how often. What may be a rare and exciting glimpse for somebody may be an everyday "who cares?" sighting for somebody else.
One of my long-time neighbors has been getting the gardening bug the last few years, and this summer it seems to have reached the tipping point -- and I like to think that my garden has helped this to happen. Although she wasn't able to make it the other weekend when my garden was open for the tour, I had a bunch of extra plants to give away so invited her and her husband over.
I had this old sports jug taking up room in the back of one of the kitchen cabinets. I'm putting its age at 18 years old, and as you can see it's looking a bit horrible.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the chipmunk that lives under my front porch was emptying the walkway bird feeder faster than the birds would notice that it was filled.
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