Portland: Rhone Street Gardens

Back to Portland, to the photos from the Garden Bloggers Fling in July. If you've been reading regularly you may remember that Saturday of the Fling weekend started with the Ernst and Fuller gardens. Next up on this rainy morning was Rhone Street Gardens, the small city garden of Scott Weber.

Scott's blog is one of those that I started reading just after I started blogging if I remember correctly, so I've seen hundreds of photos of his garden already. That just made me even more eager and excited to see it in person!

***

I knew what to expect: lots of grasses, Agastache, Persicaria, and a personality that leans more toward natural than formal. I also expected plants, but was not prepared for how many different specimens Scott packed into his typical (read "small") Portland lot.

As usual with these visits, I spent the first part of the tour just walking around with the camera down.

Only on my second pass did I start taking photos. This gives me a chance to just enjoy the space without the pressure of getting the best photos. In the larger gardens we saw this weekend it was a bit of a challenge to do this, but at Scott's this was a snap! (Although avoiding inadvertently elbowing blogger photographers was more difficult at times.)

Pretty much every inch of plantable space contains a plant -- just my style!

Have you counted the grasses yet?

I didn't, but I'm guessing at least a dozen different species, with multiple instances of several of those.

Speaking of multiple instances...

...I couldn't decide which of these shots I liked better, so here are both!

Once I stopped taking the wide shots and switched to the macro lens for closeups, I decided not to switch back. The adapter lens on my older-than-me macro lens was tightening each time I put it on, and it was getting more difficult to remove the lens each time. Scott's partner Norm even found me a pair of pliers so I could attempt to loosen it up, but it wasn't happening.

So we'll focus on the details from here on out...

Did somebody mention Agastache?

What about Persicaria?

I didn't photograph every variety that Scott grows, but I do know that I need to add more of this genus to my own garden!

Scott's was the first garden of the weekend where I really saw a wide variety of insects:

Sure I had seen plenty of bees at the other places, but that's all I remember. Maybe I just wasn't looking closely enough at the other gardens?

Finally, lots of metal mixed in among the plants, which is always a beautiful thing in a garden I think:

Are only pink, red, and purple blooms allowed here, or was that just a coincidence?


I'm so glad I got a chance to see your garden Scott! Now when you say that you're moving a plant because it needs more room, or removing something to make more room I understand why!

.