GardenBook

  If I lived in Portland and was in the market for garden design services  the living portfolio that is the private garden of designer Darcy Daniels would be a strong argument in favor of her firm Bloomtown Gardens . Ironically it wasn't the blooms that were the big draw for me in this garden. It was Darcys' skill at combining foliage shapes, textures and color in both shade and sun.I found it particularly inspiring and wished I had had more time to take it all in. I still have my photos to refer back to, and those of others as well including several on the Bloomtown website . Since I am embarking on yet another renovation  of my front garden in the next few months I've been paying close attention to details of gardens I've liked this year, especially those that feature plants that I can grow here in mine.  Streetside approach. I wish I'd taken more photos of the robustly planted hellstrip.  A sidewalk strollers view. The hellstrips in this Portland n...

  In June, just a couple of weeks after Garden Bloggers Fling, I set off again to attend the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Study Weekend in Portland Oregon. This was my first time attending this event and I can surely recommend it. It was informative, fun and the chance to see some great private gardens will always seal the deal. Study Weekend kicked off on Friday evening, with a welcome reception, plant sale and the keynote address by Tom Fichser of Timber Press. Early arrivals and the local folk also had the opportunity to visit a few gardens in NE Portland before the official opening. I drove to Portland that morning from Grants Pass and arrived in time to catch 3 of the 6 gardens on the roster.    I started my tour at the garden of Jeffery Bale , designer and mosaic artist. The garden is a refection of both his design aesthetic and the influence of his extensive global travels over many years. As you enter along the shady path through the front and side garden you a...

 If I ruled the world, Marin County Open Gardens would commence at 7:am and end at 11.  There was no heatwave for a change (that event happened the following week)  but the only year I have been able to capture decent images was when the gardens were on the coast-Bolinas and Stinson Beach specifically. That tour was posted about here and  here. The sun is not soft in our Mediterranean climate,   I visited four gardens on this June Garden Conservancy tour, and batted 500- two were good one was ok, just not to my taste , and one was well, kinda bad.I won't include the latter two in this post .  First ups is the garden of Roger-all owner IDs on this day were first name only . There were areas of deep shade and full sun and they were adjacent  so I didn't come back with many usable photos. I found this garden to be extremely pleasant to be in. The low profile of the house never intruded and there was a nice mixture of colorful areas and artful c...