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Clark County Mini-Tour

It is a rare rainy day here in August (or more accurately, a wet, drizzly day). That means a break from watering and a good chance to catch up on blogging and other computer-related tasks. Before I continue with my England tour highlights, I wanted to share photos from this past Sunday's mini-tour of four gardens here in Clark County (an event sponsored by HPSO - Hardy Plant Society of Oregon). I saw three of the gardens on Sunday. I had already visited the fourth one, Lynne Heidsiek's native habitat garden, when she was part of the Study Weekend tour that we were on.  Our first stop was the marvelous shade garden of Margaret Stapenhorst. A bluestone patio is surrounded by towering mature trees that shade a woodland garden. There was a fern table and a moss garden, as well as garden art by Steve Farris. Loved, loved the waterfall. This is what I'd like to do in our front garden, but I don't know if we have the room. Just a few streets over is the garden of Eloise and Bo...

A Visit to Lux Perennials



I've been wanting to visit Lux Perennials for years now and finally got a chance last week. In a word - Wow!

The nursery is located at the owner's home, located west of Portland, up in the hills on Skyline Blvd. The property is breathtaking with fantastic views. A small nursery features perennials propagated from plants in the garden. There were also some plants from commercial sources, notably Proven Winners.

I mainly was interested in the display garden but of course I did end up buying some plants. Of course!

The nursery is located on the front side of the house and the garden is behind it. Taking the path leading back to the garden, the first thing I spotted was this stunning Monkey Puzzle Tree. Michael has wanted one of them for ages. I finally bought one last year and have it in a pot. I have no idea where such a thing would fit in our garden. Fact - the first time I ever heard of the Monkey Puzzle Tree was in one of my all-time favorite films (and one of the few films that makes me cry) - "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947). 

The phenonemal Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana). This view is looking back toward the nursery, located left of the greenhouse. The pathway I'm on leads back to the garden.

A very friendly employee greeted me and told me how to get to the garden with the request that I lock the gate so that the chickens did not get out. Now that I think about it, I never saw a chicken. My attention, however, was riveted on the English-style garden.

The garden is beautifully laid out and filled with things that I love - terraces, stone steps and a rill!


A wisteria-covered pergola separates a grassy pathway to a circular perennial garden.






The pathway leads around a pond. I think the tree on the left is a Corkscrew Willow. 

Winding around the pathway, you come to the bottom of the property. This view is looking upward toward the house.


Coming back around to the opposite side. The curved wall at the bottom surrounds a fire pit.


What a rill!

At the top of the rill. 







Back on the nursery side, a shade garden sits on a low hill. 

The dark-colored trees in back are Chocolate Mimosas.

A view of the nursery

So, I know someone will ask what I got -

Caster Bean 'New Zealand Purple' (I've wanted this for ages and always forget to buy seed)
Amaranth 'Red Garnet'
Euphorbia Robbiae - A groundcover euphorbia? I had never seen it before.
Chinese Foxglove 'Rufus'

I don't know why it took me so long to visit but I'm happy I did and would love to return at different times of the year. The nursery is open on weekends. Check their website for more details. They are also on Instagram and Facebook.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. That's one spectacular garden! And it looks like the nursery offers interesting plants, although I suspect I might find half the plants in the PNW different and interesting...I was thinking that I'd love to have a groundcover Euphorbia and then it occurred to me that I already have one that would qualify on my back slope, E. 'Dean's Hybrid'.

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  2. Holy cow, this is unreal. *Thanks for the movie recommendation, I hadn't heard of it and just watched a trailer on Youtube. Beautiful garden and crazy spectacular views here, the chickens have it pretty good!

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