Dirt Therapy

Just after you enter the gates of The Oregon Garden , the first thing you see on your left is The Gordon House, one of the last Usonian houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was the only house designed by Wright in the state of Oregon. It was commissioned by Conrad and Evelyn Gordon in Wilsonville, Oregon. Wright designed the house in 1957 and it was built in 1964 after his death. The Gordons lived in the house for the remainder of their lives and it was then donated to the Frank Lloyd Wright Convervancy, who meticulously dismantled the house piece by piece and relocated it to The Oregon Garden location after it was donated by the Gordon heirs. There is also a Frank Lloyd Wright home less than one mile from our former home in Florence, Alabama. I visited it twice and wrote about it in this post from 2012 . Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Last week, on a cold, sunny day, I drove about an hour south of Portland to see the Conifer Garden at The Oregon Garden in the town of Silverton. It was interesting getting out of the big city and seeing some of the Oregon countryside and the smaller towns. In many ways, it was reminiscent of the Alabama countryside with one exception - I have never seen so many nurseries, farms and orchards. An immense blueberry farm was impressive and I wished I had stopped and taken some photos. During this eternity of waiting for the house sale to close, I have immersed myself in books about gardening here in the Pacific Northwest. (Note: The end is in sight. We should have the keys next week, it would have been today had it not been for our local Alabama bank being unyielding in wiring our funds - a story that I will not go into).  But back to the gardening books.  I have learned a lot already. I know now that soil ammendment is a big deal (most of the soils in this area are clay)....

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Our temporary home (in Portland) After the deluge of rain that hit Portland in December, there was a period of sunny days and brisk, frigid winds. The clouds returned Saturday night and we awakened to a beautiful blanket of snow on Sunday morning.  The Portland and Vancouver area sits in the Willamette Valley, which is a bit insulated from the rougher weather that surrounds us. Snow events are infrequent (the last significant one was almost 2 years ago) and it pretty much the same scenario as happens in Alabama - schools close, grocery isles are invaded and cars spin and slide.  Last night, freezing rain replaced the snow. This morning there has been little traffic on our street, so far no garbage and recycle pick-up, but the sun is peaking out from behind the clouds and the ice is melting. Michael banished me from the house while he mopped and vacuumed. I grabbed my camera and took a walk around the neighborhood. Everything - plants, sidewalks and streets - is encase...