Dirt Therapy

I was not interested in watching the debate last week, so I decided to get out of the house. I've been wanting to visit the Fort Vancouver Garden for years and decided to go on the spur of the moment.  Once I got there, it occurred to me that this was not the peak time to see a vegetable garden but what I did see was interesting and there were quite a number for visitors milling about.  This garden once comprised eight acres and the food grown there fed the Hudson's Bay Company Fort's  residents. Today's garden is a smaller version and the vegetables and flowers grown there are some of the same varieties found in the fort's records. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

This is David and Greg's garden in Woodland, Washington. I work with David at Yard n' Garden Land and it seems like it was just yesterday that they built their house and started their garden. I'm sure they would disagree.  Actually - hold on to your seat - this is only the second season for this garden! Amazing! David says that credit goes to 500 yards of "magic volcanic Columbia River bottom/former dairy farm soil". It was used to build the slope that dips down behind the house. He wisely decided to put in low-growing perennials and grasses which doesn't impede this view - This is a big leap from their formal residence which was a small rental house in Vancouver. At that time, they grew everything in pots. Plus Greg is an orchid grower and has quite a big collection. Now they have enough room (40 acres) for everyone. There are expansion plans brewing. A greenhouse is going to be built for the orchids. A courtyard in front of the house is already partly plante...

Hibiscus 'Midnight Marvel' Last night our weatherman said that from here on out, we would have fall weather. Summer left with a bang with an almost 100 degree day at the end of the August. The heat fluctuations are a nuisance, and I miss the days of consistent temperatures. There doesn't seem to be a happy medium anymore, it is either at one extreme or another.  The older I get, the more sensitive I get to cold temperatures. This creates major conflict in our household with Michael being hot all the time. I swear he freezes me to death. So I celebrate the end of the noisy air conditioner kicking on right as I sit down on the deck for quiet reading and the constant drone of fans inside the house.  I'm hoping for a mild autumn where temperatures hover around the low 70s. Is that too much to ask? I love the fall season - the colors, the brisk clean feeling in the air and the way the sun starts casting odd shadows.  Canna 'Panache' Hydrangea 'Lemon Wave' Als...

I made another visit to the Wildlife Botanical Garden in Brush Prairie, about 15 minutes from our house. We had visited earlier in 2018 . Since that time, it was not surprising to see that things had really grown. I was looking over the photos from my earlier post and I didn't even see certain plants this time (for example, the Mimosa tree).  Fall flowers, like rudbeckia and asters dominated - Most of the plants were labeled but not all. I would like to know what this plant is - an aster I'm guessing but not sure which one. Also, this beautiful pine. Plants that I did recognize - Pearly Everlasting ( Anaphalis margaritacea ) Abelia 'Frances Mason' Bluebeard ( Caryopteris ) Red Bark Dogwood ( Cornus alba)   Dwarf Red Osier Dogwood ( Cornus sericea 'Kelseyi ) Cockspur Hawthorn ( Crataegus crus-galli ) Hydrangea paniculata Sweet Crabapple ( Malus coronaria ) Persicaria but not sure which one it might be Highbush Cranberry ( Viburnum trilobum ) Scouler's Willow ( S...