Skip to main content

Featured

Swapping Huckleberries

Himalayan Honeysuckle ( Vaccinium glauco album)  Himalayan Honeysuckle ( Vaccinium glauco album) has been an attractive feature along our north-facing foundation since I planted it in 2016. You will have to take my word for it since I cannot locate a photo although I know one exists somewhere in the realm of the Internet or floating on a cloud somewhere.  I did locate a photo of how it looked when it was first planted - It took a few years to fill out but it did so nicely to an attractive mound about 2 feet high by 3 feet wide.  Last year, it started to look bad.  I cut it back but it had not improved and this is how it looked a few weeks ago - I decided to rip it out and plant another huckleberry - this time Vaccinium ovatum , more commonly known as the "Evergreen Huckleberry".  This is a plant that I've wanted for ages and kept putting off getting one because I could not find a good place for it. By most accounts, this is an amazing plant, a native one and excellent for

Open Gardens: The Hardiman Garden

hardiman-garden-5

I was very excited to see the garden of Lucy and Fred Hardiman. Lucy Hardiman is a garden designer at Perennial Partners. This garden certainly did not disappoint. Full of vibrant rich colors (purples, blues and pinks, a favorite combination of mine) and accented with artistic architectural structures and art pieces, as well as some favorite plants like hydrangeas and lilies. Note the big crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia 'Zuni') in the above photo. They do grow here!

hardiman-garden-10

hardiman-garden-11

hardiman-garden-4

hardiman-garden-3
Just look at these lilies! I was intrigued by the blue flower and she told me that it is a perennial that she herself introduced to Joy Creek Nursery. It is Galega 'Lady Wilson'.

hardiman-garden-8
It was near sunset when I toured the garden and the diminishing light gave it a magical quality.

hardiman-garden-6
Perfectly placed art pieces

hardiman-garden-7

hardiman-garden-9
Yarn in the garden? Why not?

hardiman-garden-2

hardiman-garden-1
This is the front entryway garden that leads back to the main garden.
A big thank you to the Hardiman's for including their garden on the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Open Gardens Tour. It was wonderful!

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. Nice photos. Thank you for sharing. I bet the bees and hummers love this garden too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You caught Lucy's garden in its prime! Not that it's ever lacking for charm, but I've never seen it so floriferous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! That's an incredible garden but one would expect no less from the amazing Ms Hardiman! Love the tree with all of the glass spheres!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've seen Lucy's garden a bit later in the year, it's looking just beautiful in your photos. It's a very colorful garden. Now I know what those large shrubs are that I saw in D.C. whose flowers reminded me a bit of lilacs. They must have been blooming crape myrtles.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful photos show her incredible color discipline which gives such a dramatic effect. This looks like an entirely different garden than the one I saw almost 10 years ago, which I remember as a shared space among neighbors (?) or maybe it's just been completely reworked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am not sure but her neighbor's garden next door was also open. It was very small but fantastic. I plan to post photos of it next.

      Delete
  6. An eye candy this garden is. Every picture is perfect and screams Summer.
    You say: Yarn in the garden? Why not? and I say Why Knot :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Riffing off of Denise's comment, this garden strikes me as a fantastic mix of whimsy and color discipline. Thanks for sharing it with us virtually!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for showing this beautiful garden

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my that's so lovely. My kind of garden.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You captured much of what has earned Lucy her big reputation. We (Joy Creek) had Galega 'Lady Wilson' for sale at Hortlandia but because it was not in bloom at the time, it flew under the radar. Right now, everyone is exclaiming "What's That?!" when they see it in the garden.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts