Dirt Therapy

' Climbing Pinkie ' rose and Japanese Maple ' Geisha Gone Wild ' Our HPSO ( Hardy Plant Society of Oregon ) Open Garden Tour scheduled for tomorrow is cancelled so they are encouraging us to do a virtual tour. I am still experimenting with making a video and may try to do that this weekend. Of course, I have many photos to share. One of the hardest things about agreeing to be on the tour was choosing a date. After scouring through photos from past years and comparing dates, I finally chose the last weekend of May. I think it is a good time to see the garden. Of course, predicting the weather is impossible. Alas, it turns out that tomorrow's forecast is less than ideal for a tour. After 3 days in the 80s, the high tomorrow is 63 and rain is forecast. We are also scheduled to participate in the Clark County Natural Garden Tour in late July but from what I am hearing, that too will be cancelled. Hopefully we will be around to do it next year and let's hope the soc...

'Percy Wiseman' I am behind on my blog posts. So much work to do in the garden this time of year and so much to see. The rhododendrons are fading but they have all performed nicely this year. Here are some of the late blooming ones from the past weeks - First up is one of my favorites - Percy Wiseman. This is a color changing rhododendron that "emerge in shades of peach, pink and cream before fading to creamy white" (the nursery description). I think it is just stunning. A very popular red variety is 'Jean Marie de Montague' - 'Jean Marie de Montague' Don't ask me how to pronounce 'Oudijk's Sensation'. I purchased this one last year based on the foliage alone. It has very pretty rounded leaves. The flowers have now faded and I've noticed that the new growth has a reddish tint. 'Oudijk's Sensation' The rhododendron below came with the house and I don't know the name. It is on the west side of our house where there are...

Dogwood 'Celestial Shadow' Greetings from the May garden where there are so many blooms at the moment, I'm not sure where to begin. I think I will share the miscellaneous blooms for now and save the roses and rhododendrons for a future post. The weather has been cool and wet for the most part although we did have a hot weekend one week ago. I know I said I would save rhododendron images for a later date but I have to share azalea 'Mandarin Lights' - it has been spectacular - Azalea 'Mandarin Lights' An unknown columbine A good groundcover for hot and dry spots - Helianthemum 'Henfield Brilliant' (Sun Rose) This little plant came from Far Reaches Farm last year. It is Horminum pyenaicum , aka "Dragon's Mouth". Libertia 'Amazing Grace' (New Zealand iris) Parahebe perfoliata Lithodora - a true blue groundcover. When this is blooming, we cannot keep it in stock at the nursery. A native plant - Salal ( Gaulthoria shallon ) Geum ...

Although the COVID-19 crisis has allowed many gardeners to enjoy more time in their own gardens this year, it has been a bummer for gardening tours and events. One of the biggest events is the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon' s Open Gardens Tour which features private gardens in Oregon and Washington every weekend. This year it was even more exciting because we were scheduled to be on it. Our date was May 30th and although it looks like it will be postponed for a while, we are still open by appointment. We had scheduled our date to coincide with two other gardens near us, the Clark and Andrews gardens. I first visited Ruth and Gary's garden last year and was excited to see it again. Their garden is also open by appointment (for contact information and details, see the Open Gardens booklet). This is a large garden so social distancing should be no problem! Look at this space! As Hyacinth Bucket would say, "There's room for a swimming pool and a pony" - The garden is ...