On Saturday Peter
The Outlaw Gardener and I started once again touring open gardens in Washington, hosted by the Northwest Perennial Alliance. This weekend featured 7 gardens in North Seattle (we saw 7 gardens and two nurseries in 6 hours). One of the first that we visited was Shelagh Tucker's.
I first visited this garden in 2011, on the very first day of the Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling, and I remember being blown away by it. I was still a fairly new gardener to the PNW, and there were so many plants that were unfamiliar to me. I remember that weekend asking over and over, "What plant is that?" Actually, to be honest, I ask that over and over at every Fling. I was excited to share this garden with my friend Peter, I just knew he would love it (he did). You can read my post about my 2011 Fling visit to Shelagh's garden
at this link.
Shelagh's garden was both inspirational and aspirational. It was one of the reasons I installed a gravel garden here the next year. It's still an inspiration. Some things have remained the same and some have changed. Some plants are flowering now in May that weren't flowering that weekend in July, 2011.
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| No more Mexican feather grass, but plenty of self-sown poppies -- and it's a different pot on top of the pedestal |
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| Grevillea victoriae 'Murray Queen' |
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| Parahebe perfoliata -- Seeing this plant massed like this has made me realize I need more than my one paltry plant |
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| Iris |
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| A wall of Rhodies behind the pond wasn't flowering in 2011 |
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| Wisteria wasn't flowering in 2011 either. |
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| Shelagh has decorated her garden with architectural fragments from Seattle's old Music Hall. |
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| Peter told me what Clematis this was, and I immediately forgot |
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| Wonderful old gnarly branches |
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| Clematis on the back fence -- Wish I knew what variety (EDIT: Shelagh emailed me to say this is Clematis montana 'Marjorie') |
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| Lovely, sweet, streaky-pink flowers |
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| Fountain made from architectural fragments wasn't running in 2011 |
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| Peony seed pods |
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| New growth on Callistemon |
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| Kitty cutouts in the shed window |
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| Flowering Leucothoe |
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| I love how the Sedum 'Angelina' under the pot looks like it has grown from fragments that have broken off over the years |
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| There was a different plant growing with this Hosta back in 2011, but this fern is much better matched -- one of Shelagh's skills. |
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| Love it! |
Here are other posts about Shelagh Tucker's garden from the 2011 Seattle Fling.
The Shovel-Ready Garden
Digging
Danger Garden
Toronto Gardens
Rock Rose
Victoria's Back Yard
Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog
And you can read an article from Pacific Horticulture about the garden
here.
