As a younger person I traveled extensively, backpacking as a student in Europe, living in London for a little while after graduating where part of my job was to take small graduate student groups on tours of western Europe, visiting friends in Costa Rica, and traveling to India a couple of times for work.  My ex husband is from Scotland, so we also made many trips there and took advantage of the proximity of Europe to explore while visiting his family. Since moving to Portland, however, my travel schedule slowed down because a couple of super cute dogs (Gus & Ernie) joined my life, and it’s never felt right to leave them for long periods of time.

Gus & Ernie

Since the divorce, I know I can leave the dogs with my ex and that they’ll be well cared for and loved, and that allows me to take off for parts unknown. So this trip was my first trip to Europe in about decade.  I’d been to Barcelona in Spain a couple of times before, but never Galicia, and I’d never been to Portugal, so all of it was new to me.  Luckily, my co-leader, Lois Moss, is a seasoned tour leader, had done a scouting trip to many of the places we visited about a year earlier, and was happy to be my mentor.  Like I said, lucky me!

A learning experience for me was in my arrival time for the tour.  I should have arrived an entire day early to give myself time to adjust a bit, catch up on some sleep, and recalibrate… instead, due to overestimating myself, I arrived around 5am the morning of our first day.  I did have the entire day to myself, because our first joint event was a dinner that evening, but it would have been nice to get a full night’s sleep before diving in.

The mist on the river in Porto just after arriving in town.

Our hotel the first night in Porto, the Pestana Vintage.

The buildings along the Douro river in Porto.

This bridge, that we walked over later in the evening to get dinner, is the Maria Pia Bridge. It’s a railway bridge built in 1877 and attributed to Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame).

I did some exploring with Lois and one of our group members, Doris, that first day and we saw some great cathedrals and lovely architecture. Here’s the walk up the hill from the hotel at the river.

Lots of the buildings there are covered in beautiful tiles.

Here’s the bridge up close as we walked over to get dinner.

And here’s the amazing view from the bridge looking back over Porto and our hotel.

As you can tell, I’m going to share more than just the gardens we saw, but there are great gardens coming, I promise.  There were just over 30 of us in total on the tour, and we traveled by coach (aka: bus).  It was a sweet ride, very comfortable, and piloted by a lovely driver, Arturo.

Arturo.

Inside of the coach.

The first stop on our first full day was Guimarães, which has a hilltop castle with sweeping views, and a lovely, walkable town center.  This seems like a good time to introduce, Gavin, our guide.  He gave us amazing history and context while on the bus to prepare us for what we were seeing each day, and coordinated our visits with the local guides at our stops.  He speaks fluent Portugese (and many other languages) and is exceptionally good at his job.

Gavin, our guide, coordinating things on his mobile from atop a rock in Guimarães.

Exploring Guimarães.

A local seed supplier.

Beautiful balconies that seem well utilized and loved.

Exiting a cathedral with some impressive door decoration.

The kind of architecture that’s been around for awhile. Everything there is built of granite.

A courtyard garden in Guimarães.

The gardened balconies of Guimarães.

More gardened balconies.

The trip took place during Camellia season, and Camellias are a big deal there because the conditions are perfect for them to thrive.  I’m going to be honest with you, I think Camellias are just an okay sort-of plant.  I can think of lots of things I’d rather have in my own garden, because it’s a bit of a one-trick pony, but I can still appreciate how beautiful they can be. They also do well in the PNW because we also have the kind of climate (and soil) that they thrive in, but now when I see them I get to remember this trip, so they’ve taken on a new dimension for me. Our next stop (after lunch) included a beautiful camellia garden at a castle, and had us crossing over the border into Spain.

It’s easy to see the visual connection between Galicia and Ireland and Cornwall, and why the Celtic people must have felt so at home there. This is Castillo de Soutomaior.

The fallen petals of Camellia japonica.

There were also a surprising number of tree ferns in many of the gardens, showing just how mild and damp their winters are.

The view down into the valley from Castillo de Soutomaior.

Leaving Castillo de Soutomaior, we headed to Pontevedra (which means old bridge) for the night.  In my next post we’ll see one of my favorite gardens from the trip, do our first wine tasting, and visit a Camellia show.  Stay tuned!

The post Visiting the Gardens of Portugal & Galicia: Part 1 appeared first on Cultiverity.

Something wonderful about the garden in winter is that with much of the exuberance of the warmer months gone, it’s easier to see what’s there holding it up the rest of the year. That foundation upon which everything else is based.

Of course it’s easier to spend less time on it too, if you want. The winter garden requires less of you because its changes are more subtle and often slowed down. Cold has a way of putting things in stasis and inviting reflection.

So that got me thinking about how easy it is to just enjoy the winter garden. To simply be with it in those times when it’s not raining around here. And, of course, that also got me thinking about how I could make that possible the rest of the year too. Those times when I feel like a bit of a slave to it.

There are moments you need to dive in head-first into your garden projects — to get big changes made, or to do a big seasonal cleanup. But my propensity to never be without a big garden project is starting to feel exhausting, and rather like missing the point.

A day’s garden work is rewarding, and fun, and good exercise. But it starts to feel less that way when it’s not balanced with days of enjoying the fruits of your labors. Or when all you can see is what needs to be done.

Now, I’m not saying it’s bad news to have aspirations and dreams, but to have your garden be a solace, you have to treat it that way. You have to allow yourself to see it as a solace rather than a project.

When I think of the places I find most restorative, there’s very little about them that’s tied to ambition and perfection. Nature is powerful, but its beauty is in how it just is.

So my challenge for myself for the next year of gardening is to stop interfering so much. To stop seeing what could be, and instead enjoy what I already have. Isn’t that the key to a happy life in general?

I’m sure I’ll still be tempted by a new plant, or a different arrangement of existing plants. My goal isn’t just to let everything revert to chaos, but instead to provide more of a guiding hand rather than a sledgehammer.

Perhaps I’ve reached this point in my life in general, or perhaps this is only possible because of the work I’ve put in already, but it feels like a welcome change in perspective nonetheless.

Life isn’t always reasonable, or fair, or what you expect. Just as your garden isn’t that way either. But the lesson of the garden is that it’s enjoyable anyway if you choose to see it that way. It keeps evolving and demonstrating new beginnings regardless of what happens to it. It’s a patient teacher, the garden.

The post Embarking appeared first on Cultiverity.

1. The Water Right Garden Hose

A few years ago I switched all my hoses over to this kind and I’ve never looked back. They’re light-weight, rarely kink, safe to drink from, and come in great colors.  As someone who has purchased many hoses over the years, I can say with confidence that these are my absolute favorite.  I got mine via Amazon.com.

2. A Gift Certificate for a Beautiful Container

Most gardeners will tell you that there’s pretty much always room for another pot in their garden. Either to add to a growing collection, or to replace something old and lackluster. And this is even true if your garden is inside your home! I suggest you look for a local retailer who gets their pots from a reputable source — which also likely means they’ll have a selection of things that will be safe outside no matter the weather — and get a gift certificate there. Then when planting season comes upon us in just a few months, your gardener will be ready. I’m lucky enough to live right up the road from Contained Exuberance, my friend Bob Hyland’s shop*, here in Portland where there are some particularly gorgeous options.

3. A Wheelbarrow

If your loved one regularly walks by lugging flagstones, or bags of mulch, or arms filled with cuttings, it might be time for a wheelbarrow. Gardening can be really hard work, and it’s important not to make life more difficult on your body by treating it like you’ve got a spare lined up when this one gives out. Wheelbarrows come in handy for so many lugging activities!

4. Some Really Great Hand Pruners / Secateurs

You know how in the kitchen if you work with a dull knife there’s a much greater risk of injury? Just ask anyone who has used a knife in a vacation rental kitchen to do a basic task and nearly lost a finger. The same is true in the garden — if you’re using tools that aren’t sharp and ready for the task ahead, you’re going to struggle unnecessarily. A good pair of hand pruners not only fits nicely in your hand (whatever size it is), and is ergonomic so you don’t tire quickly, but can also easily be cleaned and sharpened to keep it in peak condition.

5. Rubber Soled Slippers

Most gardeners I know will take every opportunity to run outside and commune with their garden, even in dreary weather. If the sun comes out for a bit here in winter in the PNW everyone knows it’s time to go outside and see what’s happening out there. So make it easy on your gardener by giving them some great rubber-soled slippers they can quickly run outside in without hesitation. Having to pause to change your shoes ruins the magic just a little bit.

6. A Hori-Hori Knife

Before I had one of these I had an old bread knife that I’d sacrificed to garden tasks. This is far superior having been designed for those kind of jobs. You can do some quick sawing (especially underground roots), dig some quick holes to plant bulbs, weed, and countless other tasks with one of these. It’s the multi-tool for the gardener.

7. A Haws Watering Can

It’s more difficult than you might think to find a good watering can. Sometimes they’re poorly balanced, sometimes the water comes out terribly, and sometimes they leak. This watering can won’t do any of those things — it’s truly a delight to use, has an adjustable rose (where the water comes out), and the copper version is really beautiful.

8. Beautiful Botanical Art

Most gardeners I know don’t limit their horticultural love to what they plant outside and inside, but what else they surround themselves with. Botanical curiosities come in many forms, and something that compliments just about any interior display is some beautiful botanical art. My friend Kate Blairstone* creates gorgeous work inspired by her garden and the plant world in general. Any gardener would be delighted to own some of her gorgeous illustrated pieces.

9. Last, but certainly not least, MORE PLANTS!

Many gardeners have a list of plants they want to acquire. It’s often a constantly evolving list, with new things being added on a regular basis. And then there are the impulse buys that every gardeners succumbs to — the beautiful specimens that you just can’t pass up, especially early in the growing season. There’s a reason your local nursery has overflow parking in April — spring fever hits gardeners hard. So you can never go wrong with a gift certificate to a local nursery. If there’s one that you know your gardener frequents, then get it there — and if you don’t know, consider mail order! You might not think plants come in the mail, but they do, and often it’s the only way to get some rare things that are difficult to find in person. I live in Oregon, and we’re lucky to have loads of specialty nurseries here, but if you live elsewhere just do a quick Google search to see what you come up with in your region.

The post Gifts for Gardeners appeared first on Cultiverity.

It was a warm, clear summer day for a garden visit, and since the garden was open for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, we were greeted by a beautiful, handmade sign letting us know we were in the right place.

One of the first glimpses from our arrival point is a view of their house near the top of the property, and much of the garden unfolding down below. The house itself is designed to minimize maintenance chores like house painting and re-roofing, which leaves the homeowners much more time to spend on the garden I imagine. It’s important to note that they only moved into this house just under 3 years from when these photos were taken. What they’ve accomplished beyond planting the new gardens themselves is simply staggering — they’ve fenced the space, moved lots of earth, brought in lots of gravel, removed trees, built structures, hauled away debris, improved structures, host bees, have taken in a turkey that needed help, and care for a flock of chickens. And they do all of it themselves. If I ever question what can be accomplished when two people put their mind to it, I just think of them!

We decided to go clockwise around the house at the suggestion of David (aka: Facilities Manager), the co-owner of the garden, who greeted us as we arrived. There’s a gorgeous rock garden set in the sunny portion of the hillside above the house, and it contains one of my favorite types of plants: ground cover. One of them is a great plant Tamara introduced me to via her blog, our native buckwheat, Eriogonum.

Farther up the hill, along the property line, is a shade garden set under a glade of mature conifers. There’s a woodland walk through this space.  On a hot day it was lovely to escape the sun for a bit of cool meandering.

If you follow the path along, it connects up to the garden by their porch and you eventually land at the chicken enclosure.  If you look closely you’ll see there’s also a turkey, Sweet Pea, who they rescued.  Tamara tells me that the flock used to have free reign over the garden, but they were causing havoc, so they now live in a very generous corner of the garden where they can live a happy life of contained destruction.

From this point we headed down to visit the bees and the veggie garden, but not before getting a glimpse of part of the garden’s operations space.  I love seeing these kind of spaces in other people’s gardens, especially ones where the number of nursery pots indicate just how in love with plants the owners are.

I love the tiny bee-sized bowl of water adjacent to their hive.

The vegetable garden is extensive and so impressive.  This time of year helps to show just what can be done to feed yourself if you know what you’re doing.

The veggie garden is near the bottom of the hill so you get a good look up at the house.  You can also see the beginnings of their fruit orchard.

From here we headed up to what they call the Labyrinth Garden — when they purchased the house there was actually a stone labyrinth here that they dismantled to reuse the stones to help build the new gardens.  I have seen many photos of this space and knew it was going to be beautiful, but there’s nothing like seeing it in person with the sun, shade and breeze in place.  It’s just stunning.

Prior to moving here, Tamara & David had a standard city lot here in Portland, and you can see their joy in having space to stretch the garden out in the plantings.  This garden has the feeling of a meadow, but with more structure, which is a favorite style of mine.

It’s filled with drought-tolerant plants, and the palette is so wonderful, and evolves from one space to the next while all existing harmoniously together.

I’m sure it has a very different feeling in spring, and even early summer, but I feel lucky to have seen it during this time of year with the grasses in bloom.  The design of meandering gravel paths slows you down and lets you get lots of different vantage points across the garden and down the hill.  This garden fits so nicely into its landscape.

It was also filled with pollinating insects and birds, which is one of those things that gives you a little bit of hope for the world — one of the things gardening is good at: hope.

Tucked into one of the top corners of this garden is a fire pit with plenty of casual seating.  I love that it’s set into the ground so that nothing is sticking up to block the view.

As we finished up our circle of the property we admired the gorgeous container plantings on their back deck.  The larger plants are underplanted with drought tolerant ground cover, which I love to see.

And we’ll end up with our gracious hosts — look at how cute they are!  Such a good team.  Hats off you two for the creation of a truly magical space.

The post Visiting Chickadee Gardens appeared first on Cultiverity.

The conservatory began in 1914, when Pierre DuPont owned the property, but really found its feet when the more modern version was built in 1919 and opened in 1921.  There are more than 4600 types of plants within its glass walls, and about 4 acres (ACRES!) of space in which they house various collections.  Let’s explore…

Before we enter the building, here’s my lovely traveling companion, my mom. You’ll see she’s been saddled with both of our rain coats as I kept getting distracted and forgetting I had said, “Will you hold this for a second while I take a photo?” Thanks, mom!

Once inside the scale of the place hits you immediately, and it’s clear you’re in for a treat.

There are sweeping vistas, and also little vignettes of plants you can enjoy up close.

Everything is insanely lush and beautifully grown. And there are plants on every surface, and added via pots.

They had gorgeous hanging plants throughout the space and the scale is just immense.

There are plants from all over the world and it all feels very Victorian & civilized. It’s clearly influenced by some of the great conservatories of Europe from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Some of the plantings were a bit gauche IMHO, even though impressive. But venturing further inside there’s enough of everything to keep just about anyone, including plant snobs, happy. I imagine designing public gardens spaces can make it tricky to walk that line.

Softening the airport-hanger sized space in this room with plants on things like concrete support posts made it feel gracious, and that the building is there to serve the plants, rather than to just house them.

This Trachelospermum jasminoides (aka Star Jasmine) is so beautiful with all of its nearly white foliage. And it’s flowering! For years mine has grown lots of new stems but never flowered. Clearly I need a conservatory.

The passage ways between glass houses were spectacular with plants trained up and over, plus hanging containers punctuating the space above you.

I believe this room can be rented for events. So grand.

They had plants trained as espalier that I never even considered treating that way, but will front now on.

The orchids were literally just hanging all around the orchid room. This room was quite crowded so I didn’t get many good photos, but one of my favorite things about it was the paint color & the patina.

Now we head into one of my favorite spaces in the entire conservatory, the Silver Garden.

Not only is it filled with majestic specimens that help give perspective on your own life on this planet, but it’s set to a backdrop of glass and black trim. It’s just divine in there.

I have a thing for vintage zinc containers. There’s something about them that I find really elegant and timeless. My budget hasn’t allowed me to start a collection (yet!) but these are quite inspirational.

There’s something really great about seeing your house plants grown on a scale like this.

I mean, just look at this! Perfection.

As we segue back into more grand, tropical areas, there’s this lovely, small room with a planting scheme that could be recreated in a small, residential garden. I love that.

It was great to be able to both look down and up on these plants. Such a different feeling in both cases.

On the way to the epiphytes there was a hallway of bonsai, some of which were much older than me. This one is from 1988 — I was in middle school likely being subjected to “The Heart of Darkness” in English class.

Besides the silver garden, my other favorite was the fern house. So peaceful, and again has that prehistoric feeling.

Big and small.

And I’ll wrap up with this, including my (sadly blurry) mom enjoying herself as much as I did.

If you ever get a chance to go, I cannot recommend it highly enough!

The post Visiting Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania / Part 2 appeared first on Cultiverity.

So with this break in the heat I get to spend more time out in the garden enjoying what’s happening…

This (above) is the view outside one of our basement windows.  It’s against the fence on the north side of our property, and in the additional shade of a Trachycarpus fortunei.  This is the second season these plants have been in the ground after the basement project, and I look forward to the Athyrium taking on a bit more size.  It’s a blend of Epimedium, Heuchera, Athyrium, and Adiantum venustum.

I do love a Hydrangea quercifolia — not only for their flowers that start out white and fade to pinks and taupes, but also for their amazing fall foliage color.

Looking into the northeast corner of our property, I’m considering that I might like to add some more Persicaria to the garden next year.  Maybe Golden Arrow to complement the nearby glaucous foliage?

This Cup & Saucer Vine (Cobaea scandens) has yet to produce a flower, but it is growing like crazy.  Here it’s nestled up to the leaf of an Amaryllis I’m attempting to keep around until the holidays — the Amaryllis is on the railing of our deck outside the back door so I’m afraid there’s no where else for this vine to go vertically beyond this point. Time for a trim.

I finally remembered to get my lily stakes in the ground just as they started to grow in the spring, but a couple of stems were too tall and toppled over.  I brought them inside and placed them on the dining room table where they’ve been perfuming the house for days.

The Chocolate Cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) is such a great plant and I don’t like to be without it.  It’s covered in blooms and they’re being added to every flower arrangement I make these days.  I love to share them with people who aren’t familiar with them who can’t get over their scent.

The Persicaria ‘Painters Palette’ is positioned so that it’s backlit by the evening sun making the whole plant glow.

I love this Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’, and the bees do too.  Watching the bumbles trying to land on one of the swaying flowers is a treat.

And the ground covers are working extra hard to shade the soil these days and keep the moisture in when I add it via the hose.  Here we’ve got Sedum palmeri, Dianthus ‘Tiny Rubies’, and Sedum ‘Cape Blanco’.

This Wisteria ‘Amethyst Falls’ is having a second flush of bloom right now — it’s native to the USA and grows about 1/3 as vigorously as its Asian cousins, often flowering much sooner.

In the front of the house I have a bed temporarily planted with Dahlias and Nicotiana, both for the evening scent (Nicotiana) and to create flower arrangements (Dahlias).  This space gets some pretty hot sun, but there’s a soaker hose on a timer over there that is really helping to keep things happy.

This Billardiera longifolia is sharing this part of the arbor with a winter-blooming Clematis.  I love how its fruits look like little, purple elongated pumpkins.

This sedum is new to me: Sedum ‘Touchdown Teak’.  It has a really upright growth habit, and a beautiful color, and I look forward to spreading it around a bit next year.

So far this is the only bloom on my Achillea millefolium ‘Sonoma Coast’, which is from Annie’s Annuals.  It has a low & tidy growing habit that I’m really enjoying.

This little bee is enjoying the pollen on our massive white-flowered dahlia, which benefits from the warm exhaust from our water heater.

This Petunia axillaris has an incredible fragrance (evenings especially) and is the ancestor of modern Petunias.  It’s perennial in Zone 9 and tucked into a protected spot in our garden — will it overwinter?  Only time will tell.

This is the much anticipated bloom of the David Austin rose, ‘Carding Mill’, which they promised would smell of myrrh.  I haven’t smelled much myrrh in my time, but it does smell lovely.

This Abutilon ‘Lucky Lantern Yellow’ isn’t my favorite right now. It’s a bit one-note for me and I’m considering whether I keep it or give it away this autumn.

I love these flowers!  Tricyrtis (aka Toad Lily) is so unassuming until these blooms appear then it just knocks you out with their delicate complexity.

Scent is important to me in the garden, and these lilies have perfumed the whole back yard delightfully.

I recently discovered these antique ceramic marbles.  I love how inconsistently sized and shaped they are, and the variations on the color of the clay.  I’ve decided to fill this little stone pocket with a whole collection of them, and my husband recently came inside to say, “there are these huge, weird round eggs in the garden outside!”  It wasn’t until he showed me that I put two and two together.

The hips on Rosa glauca are just outstanding.

Coleus back lit by the evening sun.

The blooms of Crocosmia ‘Solfaterre’ are everything I’d hoped they’d be.

The lavender of this Sempervivum is so beautiful, and I love that the color has stuck around through the summer.

Before the Actaea simplex flowers open, they look like little purple quinoa attached to the stem.

I’m enjoying the single bloom on the Ornithogalum saundersiae (aka: Star of Bethlehem or Summer Starburst or Giant Chincherinchee or Ivory Coast Lily).  I planted a handful of bulbs, but only one bloomed, so I’ll lift them this autumn and try again next year.

And finally, I share this mushroom because it marks the spot where there was once a lovely variegated Acanthus (aka: Bear’s Breeches).  You can actually see the blurry remains of the stems just to the left of the mushroom.  Something obviously thought they were SUPER tasty because they disappeared in only a few days.  This is my second attempt to grow this plant, and will likely be my last.  Some plants just aren’t meant for your garden, you know?

The post Our Portland Garden in the Beginning of August appeared first on Cultiverity.

This summer I’ve also installed my first drip hoses on automatic timers for the newly planted garden beds. I’m a hand waterer from way back as it gives me time to really check out the entire garden, but the ease of this new system is wonderful. The more established garden spaces are still watered periodically (and deeply) by a sprinkler that I move around. But based on the success of this drip hose trial, one day we might have a drip system for the rest of the garden too — we’ll see. The ability to go away in the summer without asking friends to spend a great deal of time managing the garden in my absence will be great.

So, what’s happening in the garden in July?…

I love the blooms of the Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Pee Wee’ and the bees love them too.  They’re both congested and airy at the same time, and they fade so beautifully as the season progresses towards this plant’s gorgeous autumn display.

The Garrya elliptica has put on some good growth this year, and I’ve attached a trellis to the fence to better support its ascent.  Eventually this will block the large window of our neighbor’s newish ADU to give us some privacy back in the garden.

It’s definitely warm enough that “Water for Your Dog” is back in play in our hellstrip.  It’s well used by neighborhood dogs.

I’m smitten with the seed heads of this Gaillardia — at least as good as the flowers.

This Salpiglossis has the most lovely colored flowers — it’s on the edge of magenta & burgundy — and its velvety texture make me happy.

Over on the north side of the house the shade border still looks relatively lush.  When the neighbor’s giant, dying cherry tree is gone (Aug 6!) it will feel even more so because there won’t be dried, crispy leaves constantly falling all over the ground.  This side of the house is also having gate envy as the other side of the house was just updated.  It’s not in the budget to do anything about this gate this year, however — but in the future I’ve been sketching out some metal gate options that might be nice.

Here’s the other side for context.  Next up for over here is a path with a bridge over a bioswale.  My neighbor and his crew built this gorgeous fence, gate & arbor out of reclaimed cedar and redwood, and it will frame a joint garden we’re going to plant together on the property line this autumn.

I’m continually in love with sedum of all shapes and sizes as they’re such a reliable, beautiful, hearty ground cover. And many have the most dainty flowers.

This combo of sedum and Loropetalum ‘Jazz Hands’ is making me happy.

And I include this photo because this fountain has been a night-time playground for raccoons recently.  Many mornings when I venture out with my coffee it’s nearly empty despite being full the night before, and the telltale signs of their adventures surround it — flattened plants, a completely eaten variegated Acanthus (which is the end of my attempts to grow this plant, which have always ended in disaster), and disturbed gravel.  There’s a mama and 2 babies living nearby, so I blame them.

The hardy succulent bowl has a new addition of some amethyst for sparkle.

And the first of the Lilies has opened!  I’ve got a small collection of white-flowered varieties, and I’d like to find and add a white Tiger Lily next year.

This tiny Sedum is nestled up to a tiny Saxifraga between two stones and I’m looking forward to them both filling in.

I rarely get super crafty, despite being a potter in my home studio, but I kept seeing these terra cotta pot wreaths and was captivated by them.  It looks a bit new at the moment, and once it has some age on it I suspect I’ll like it even more, but I love seeing it out the living room window.  It replaces a section of a wooden barrel that we had hanging as a wreath on the fence that had totally disintegrated.

This was supposed to be a photo of a plant combo that’s making me really happy — and it’s still that — but it’s also a sad display of what I think is verticillium wilt on the Cotinus.  It has already claimed a Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’ in another part of the garden many years ago, and I had hoped that this Cotinus ‘Grace’ might be spared, but it appears not.  I’ll give it a good root drench with mycorrhizal fungi and we’ll see what happens.  If not this, then I guess I’ll be looking for another, less susceptible purple-leaved shrub for this space.

This is the annual Rhodochiton atrosanguineus (aka: Purple Bell Vine), which is putting on a good show despite getting potentially too much morning sun.  Its neighbor, a Cobaea scandens (aka: Cup & Saucer Vine), is grower like the clappers but has yet to flower.

Here we see the replacement for one of our losses two summers ago from the house lift project, a Euphorbia rigida — an odd plant to lose, but it was crushed under a steel beam for a bit so it’s understandable.  I’m happy that its replacement is starting to fill in a bit.  You can also see the advance of the aging bark of the Lagerstroemia ‘Natchez’, which until recently was only just getting started — I’m looking forward to seeing much more of it as this tree gets older.

And the blueberries are continuing to be delicious.  This variety is ‘Spartan’ which has massive berries.  And I love how their bunches fade from deep blue to light green as they mature.

And a plant that is new to our garden this year has just begun to flower, Crocosmia ‘Solfaterre’, which is supposedly less enthusiastic than varieties like ‘Lucifer’ (which is good) and has that gorgeous bronze cast to its foliage.

And the noid Clematis is still weaving its way through the conifers delightfully.

I have some Nicotiana every year, and primarily it’s been outside of our bedroom window for the evening scent, but this year I’ve added some next to the front porch so we can also enjoy that scent (one of my favorites) up there in the evening too.

I’ve got some tender succulents that I’m hoping to over winter in my pottery studio under a grow light, and they’re currently thriving in the sun outside.

I haven’t had the best luck with Canna in my gardening life but this Canna ‘Durban’ has a lovely bloom stalk.

Out front I’m delighted to see that a Eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy’ that I thought had kicked the bucket last year has made a triumphant return, and I’m hoping it won’t flop so much this year.  You can also just see in the background that we had our front steps & path replaced with concrete recently.  The previous steps were rotting (they were wood).

And we’re delighted by the new ones. This photo is just after they were poured, and they’ve lightened up a bit since then.  I’m also going to replant along the path section this autumn.

I might be getting into fuchsia?!  Here’s an annual variety that’s making me happy.

And a wide shot of the back garden where we have yet to put up the restoration juniper 4×4 retaining wall along the back border bed.  It’s on the list for this summer but I just haven’t been overly enthusiastic about actually doing the work.

Here’s the Dahlia that overwintered in the ground — it has lovely dark foliage and white flowers that fade to a very pale pink.  Around Thanksgiving last year I put a large plastic saucer over the ground where it lived and removed it in May.  I think it also benefitted from the heat of the water heater exhaust.

And finally, the chocolate Cosmos have started blooming, and I love them with the backdrop of the dwarf purple barberry in the front garden.

The post Our Portland Garden in July appeared first on Cultiverity.

Before we jump into the gardens, here’s what the dogs looked like after we got home:

Gus

Ernie

So I think the mission of tuckering out the dogs was accomplished! On to the gardens…

Purple house with purple Buddleja

A glorious balance of creating a bit of privacy with a welcoming & neighborly front garden.

These fabulous house colors with the front porch plants are magic.

A nice bit of rainwater management.

This is one of a series of gardens in front of townhouses — each is slightly different, and all are lovely.

Happiness in a low-maintenance flower bed.

This Clematis climbing up to the glass and metal trellis on the other side is sweet.

This is one of my favorite front walls, although I reduce points for use of the dreaded Bishop’s Weed.

This is just a few feet from the sidewalk, which I consider brave given all the nearby dogs, but it really looks beautiful & well tended.

I think that little lantern on the front porch is the icing on the cake.

That Daphne is scenting about half of this block and I love it with the weeping Cedar.

This shady approach to the side garden is soft & inviting.

Confession: sometimes roses aren’t my favorite because they can be leggy and awkward-looking, but I really love these peeking over the top of the fence.

There’s lots of sculpture in this garden, and I think it’s well matched with the house colors & fence.

(Slighly overgrown) Business in the front. Party in the back.

I love that Fir anchoring the corner.

I love pretty much everything about this except that it looks lackluster in wintertime.

This church seems straight out of somewhere else, which I love.

This gorgeous fence with the relaxed planting is great.

I love how the color of the door combines with the yellow flowers/foliage and that purple Cotinus.

Each year this vine drapes this building like a cloud on a mountain and it’s lovely.

I cannot get enough of this wall design!

I remember when this hellstrip was newly planted… it looked great then and it still looks great now.

Each of the four corners of this intersection has a utility pole with a flower on it that coordinates with the road painting, and barrel planters. It’s a joyous statement of community for this neighborhood.

And there you have it; some of my favorite nearby garden spots to visit on a walk.  There are lots of others in different directions that we’ll likely visit at some point in the future!

The post Southeast Portland Gardens in June appeared first on Cultiverity.

Lots of things are going on in the garden, of course, like the Alstroemeria are all in bloom. We have 3 variations on orange, one is a (welcome) invader from the property behind us…

Also, the Clematis viticella are in full swing.  Below are ‘Prince Charles’, ‘Etoile Violette’, and an unknown variety from the discount section of the grocery store.  More than ever, and also because our trees have grown, they are scrambling up into conifers and apple trees, and it’s delightful.

I added a new skinny wire trellis up which to grow Chilean Glory Vine (Eccremocarpus scaber).  This is just next to my office window so I’m hoping for some hummingbird sightings when it grows tall enough.

The front garden has entered its purple phase, with a little apricot thrown in for good measure along with all the burgundy foliage.

And specific plants are having really good moments, like the aging Hypericum berries, and the new flowers, foliage, and fruit of other beloved plants.

Happily, the two Clematis vines (Clematis cirrhosa – right & Clematis fasciculiflora – left) growing on the arbor at the corner of the house have finally reached the top!

The terra cotta pot collection in the back is all planted up.  Succulents in the front, herbs in the back.

I did a little “Chelsea Chop” to the Chocolate Eupatorium to see if it’ll bush out a little. I’m concerned I wasn’t ruthless enough, but we’ll see.

And the back border is leaving the Dianthus phase, and is primarily foliage until later in the summer, which I really enjoy.  I guess it’s time for the annual Dianthus “hair cut.”

Here’s a wider shot where you can see where the established part of the bed meets the part that was renovated earlier this year.  Soon we’ll be adding a low, juniper retaining wall here.  It’s also nice how the evergreen privacy screen has grown so tall — fewer occurrences of naked neighbor sightings in our future!

Two of my Dahlias are planted out, and two are still in a pot.  One is putting on steady growth and will be planted out in about a week — and this little guy only just poked his head above the soil!  I was about ready to give up.  This (hopefully) means some great bouquets in our future as we’ll see the return of Mrs. Kennedy + 3 other (new to me) varieties.

And finally … I don’t have many roses in our garden, but I’ve just increased our collection from 3 to 4.  Please meet Rose ‘Carding Mill’ from David Austin.  The tag says it smells like Myrrh and is a repeat bloomer, and I can’t wait to find out.  I’m going to plant it between the exhaust pipe for our furnace and the exhaust pipe for our water heater so it’ll get a little extra warmth to boost it along.  I’ve been composting last year’s leaves in that spot in a wire hoop, so hopefully the ground is nice and friable and ready for its new tenant.

This is one of the others, which starts out with yellow buds and fades to creamy white flowers.  I can’t remember the name offhand.

And the hips of Rosa Glauca, which are far better than the flowers IMHO.

And, lastly, the tiny bloom of this miniature rose, which was given to me as a gift a few years ago, and is actually doing okay for the moment out in the garden.  It succumbed to fungus last year, so we’ll see what happens this year.  It is lovely, though, at the moment.

The post The Garden in Mid-June appeared first on Cultiverity.

One of the places we visited was Longwood Gardens, in the Brandywine Creek Valley, which is is a huge display garden founded by Pierre S. Du Pont.  Prior to that it was the land of the Lenape Tribe, then farmed by the Peirce family, which started an arboretum there. In 1906, at 36-year-old Du Pont saved the arboretum from logging after it had fallen into disrepair.  After a few years of owning the property, he set his sights on expanding the arboretum to create a place he could entertain friends inspired by his trips to Europe, and particularly Italy.  His showmanship inspired many of the ornate structures and fountains throughout the site, and his vast wealth allowed him to create one of the most spectacular horticultural displays in the USA, including 4.5 acres (!) of conservatory.  Upon has death 1954, the Longwood Foundation (with Du Pont’s foresight), ensured that the gardens had sustainable funding into the future as a public garden.

When I say the garden is huge, I really mean it — it’s over 1077 acres, or 1.6 miles of garden.  We spent most of a day there and didn’t even get to see everything!  But what we did get to see was amazing.  So amazing that I’ll be splitting this post in two — this first one will be about what we saw outside (and also the original farmhouse), and the second post will be only about the main conservatory.

This part of the country had a particularly cold, wet spring, so it had really only burst into bloom in the few weeks before our arrival (May 20).  That meant that many things were happening simultaneously outside, but also that the staff was still busy planting out some of the beds with seasonal displays.

The day we were there was quite warm (and I always forget about the impact of humidity!), but there were lots of shady spots to escape the sun and fountains everywhere to enjoy.

There was a whole garden dedicated to Wisteria with many varieties and various states of blooms.

Even the entrances to the bathrooms were planted up with beautiful displays.

The Sarracenia were blooming and I’m sure they enjoy the extra humidity.

The large pond was surrounded by woodland gardens and laid out so that you could view it from multiple points across the water.

The Cinnamon Fern was having a great moment and looked wonderful in this open glade.

And throughout the woodland I kept catching this amazing scent on the breeze, which it turned out to be Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus) — new to me and totally intoxicating.  Now to find room for one in my own garden!

We got to see the original farmhouse of the Peirce family, enlarged many times by Du Pont, including the amazing conservatory added in 1914.

There are a series of gorgeous floor drains throughout the conservatory that add to elegance of the room.

If only everyone could have a space like this to enjoy when winter is getting you down!

Back out in the open we explored the pump house and its surrounding fountains.

Then made our way to the bell tower, where there was a musical interlude ringing throughout the area.

One of the last gardens we saw on our way out was a topiary garden.  You can just make out the main conservatory in the background, which is where we’ll pick up in the next post.

It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say the large conservatory was my favorite of the entire day!  Just walking in there felt like being transported to another universe.  Can’t wait to show you!

The post Visiting Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania / Part 1 appeared first on Cultiverity.