GardenBook

 Such an unworthy emotion, envy. So small ,so futile. Technically, I can grow Hostas here. They are sold in garden centers and are sometimes seen in local OPG's.  I've bought them and planted them only to watch them either completely disappear or turn into fishnet.Now in full retreat, I was conquered by the slimy mollusks -ingeniously they simply moved in and set up housekeeping in and on the Hostas;they never had to visit the ground beneath where my penny rings , Sluggo pellets and in dire emergencies, Corrys Slug and Snail Death lay in wait.   So, admitting failure,  I travel to places where they thrive and take pictures, swallowing my envy. Little and Lewis gallery, Bainbridge Island Washington Kinzy Faire , Estacada Oregon Private garden , Bainbridge Island Private garden, eastern Massachusetts Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, Boothbay White Flower Farm, Litchfield  Conneticut  I have a spot open. I really could ...

 Shrub-ish or tree-ish, Banksias are beautiful and striking, and regrettably a Sunset zone or 2 removed from my  growing conditions. A member of the Proteaceae family , Banksias are evergreen , native to Australia and way way cool.  This is Banksia marginata, and according to my faithful Botanica is highly variable in it's growth habits, depending on the site.    Banksia integrifolia. I love the grey reverse on these leaves... These photos were taken at Berkeley Botanical Garden .

 There wasn't much going on in the California zone at Berkley Botanic Gardens this past weekend. Except for this, Garrya elliptica , the Silk Tassell Bush. Quite large for a bush, but some nice dimensions for a small tree, in the 15' range according to the California Native Plant Society. How about these oustanding blooms ? And just when one needs it most, this is a winter/spring bloomer. Native to California and Oregon, the population in the wild seems concentrated around more coastal environments, though it is not unknown  inland. It surely stuck out the hook as I passed by , a detour from my route through the garden.    

 Oh, I mean Swan Island. So if you have to drive from Portland to Ashland, and it's August, and you see the Canby exit, and you don't really have a schedule because you (foolishly) aren't seeing a play when you get to Ashland ( http://www.osfashland.org/ ) you may want to turn off the interstate and pay a visit to this storied Dahlia grower. Theres nothing quite like motoring down a bucolic Oregon back road and coming across acres of Dahlias in full bloom- the high calorie dessert course on a vacation that has featured daily plant-related activites.

  The childhood, teenhood and macro-adulthood all took place in zone 10, and the lowly zonal geranium (Pelargonium hotorum ) was religiously snubbed throughout. They were every bit as ubiquitous as Stella de Oro and Agapanthus. Snails set up condos under the dense foliage, and since no one ever seemed to deadhead them , late summer found a cluster of canes sticking up with brown-ish red fading flowerheads and shiny mollusk trails criss-crossing across the leaves. I despised them.  At some point , I began to have an interest in the scented -leaved versions.A garden centers' thumbs-up rating could be determined in the scented geranium section- if there even was one. The collection has expanded and receded over the years;   I lose a couple every winter as I turn  my attention to the protection of succulents and cane begonias, sadly neglecting the Pelargoniums, whose needs are  easily forgotten when the gardener is distracted by the look-at-me drama of the Aloes, Cr...

Collecting seems to just happen to me in a spontaneous way-I perform a 'garden audit' and find that I have 7 varieties of Penstemon, 14 Salvias, 10 Euphorbias ..you get the picture. Space is always an issue, thus no trees or large shrubs are collected -though I confess to the ownership of 60 plus roses. Starting last autumn I have fallen prey to every Oregano that has crossed my path. I already owned the basic culinary form , the golden model (which has colonized the lawn-but who needs lawn anyway ?) and Kent Beauty--oh, and a Hopleys Purple which was naughty and has been banished to an area surrounded by concrete where it can flop and spread at will.