GardenBook

  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...

 My borrowed view is unfortunately the featureless rear stucco walls of the two homes that back up to mine. Mary and Larry Scripter can claim fields, farms and prairies unfolding west to the Rocky Mountains. The peaks are the ultimate  geographic focal point as the backdrop to their Lauren Springer/Scott Ogden designed meadow. The Scripters are native to the prairies of the Midwest-Larry grew up in Kansas and Mary in South Dakota. They began the process of creating this Niwot Colorado  garden in 2011, and in 2012 completed it-planting a mind-boggling 1800 plants in three weeks. The result is a dynamic living theater where birds and insects thrive  and the rhythm of life unfurls with the seasons. The gently triangular shape of the mown fields outside the border of the cultivated garden  points the eye west to the mountains.   Bloggers headed out to the meadow , but there seemed to be an enthusiastic mosquito population to greet us-th...

 There are a handful of private gardens that I visited often through the internet; gardens that seemed almost as familiar as my own. The opportunity to see some of these places  'in person' have been some of my favorite horticultural travel experiences, and Pam Pennicks' Austin Texas garden is among this select group. Pams' blog  'Digging ' is one of the first I read regularly before I took the dive into garden blogging myself, and her admirably detailed  posts invited us virtually into her property to hang out with her as she developed her Austin-style garden.  As with all the gardens on my internet orbit , the approach as the bus arrived  was "oh yeah, this is Pams' house" and the move from virtual to live was pretty damn exciting. Pams' garden was our 1st stop on day 2 of Fling. The morning sun was expressive, filtering through the oaks creating pleasant shadows. It was easy to see how compelling this garden would be in the oppressive hea...