Gardening on the Bleeding Edge

The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions. Alfred Adler
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alfredadle122754.html?src=t_danger

The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions. Alfred Adler
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alfredadle122754.html?src=t_danger

For today, the first day of spring, I've decided to take a look back to last summer -- to a dry, warm day when I visited a fabulous Portland garden. One of my greatest regrets about not attending the 2014 Portland Fling was that I missed seeing fellow garden blogger Loree's Danger Garden. I had seen it once briefly on a spring day that year, when Loree was still in the midst of sorting out her many tender pots for the year. (She keeps a large number of potted plants that aren't hardy to our climate, which she overwinters every year.) But that wasn't the same as seeing it at the height of its summer glory.

So when I heard that her garden was going to be part of the 2015 Green on Green Garden tour, I knew I had to get myself down to Portland to see what I had missed.

Here's what the blurb in the pamphlet said: Loree's edict is "bare ground equals room for another plant." Hardscape helps to control the "chaos." Few elements of the original garden remain, especially in the front garden where plants are chosen for minimal reliance on water and maintenance. A shade pavilion doubles as a greenhouse in the winter. Featured plants include dozens of containered succulents.

A talented hand at pruning has turned an Arctostaphylos, with its lovely red branches, into the sculptured centerpiece of the front garden

And the foundation plantings are definitely not the same old, same old

I was captivated by this stunning arrangement to the right of the front door

I'm hoping some day to have fruit on one of my own cactus (I have two Opuntias that were gifts from Loree)

This enormous Tetrapanax is another cornerstone of the front garden

Loree keeps her edibles in the driveway in containers, along with several of her signature Agaves.

Now we've gone around the corner into the back garden.

Loree's clever husband created this container with bits and pieces from the hardware store

This bed in the back garden is a riot of spiky, prickly foliage, anchored by a tall, stunning Yucca rostrata

A closer look

It's mesmerizing!

A glimpse beyond at the patio

Every tiny detail, like this set of containers, was impeccably groomed and curated

Every corner of the patio has its own arrangement of containers, organized by color -- lime green, orange, black, turquoise, gray and metallic silver

A stock tank "pond' houses a lily with a mottled leaf and a pale yellow bloom (I don't know the other two plants)

Interspersed throughout the garden are several of these narrow pedestals with funnel containers on top

Peter The Outlaw Gardener also keeps most of his Podophyllums in containers, where they thrive like this one.

This year I might dig a few of mine up and keep them in containers, where I can more easily control the amount of water they get. Mine always do fine in the spring, but by the middle of our dry summer, no matter how much I water the beds they're in, they start to flag and die back prematurely.

An overturned bucket with a hole in the bottom houses an Astelia

A lime green circle pot from Potted hangs from a bigleaf Magnolia, with Hostas and a crowded clump of Syneleisis at its feet

Metapanax delavayi further along in the same bed

Loree, the queen of spiky plants, and her sweet dog Lila

Lila, the true queen of the Danger Garden

I was lucky enough to come at the very end of what must have been a long day for Loree and Lila, but they were very gracious hosts and didn't mind me staying past curfew. Fortunately, that also meant that I got to see the garden without a crowd.

Thanks so much, Loree. I know your garden this summer will be just as glorious!

Wednesday Vignette and Foliage Followup

Last weekend Peter The Outlaw Gardener and I went to the Bellevue Botanical Garden to shop for plants at the Northwest Perennial Alliance's March Mania Plant Sale. It started out a cold, wet day but for a short time just after we had finished our shopping, the sun came out and we decided to take a little walk around the garden.

The NPA manages a very large border built into a slope at the BBG, an impressive display of shrubs, trees and perennials that work well here in the PNW. You can read about it here. I'm sure any bloggers who attended the Seattle Fling will remember it well. I don't remember seeing it this early in the growing season, and hadn't realized it looked so good in the late winter/early spring. I was impressed with the swaths of Hellebores growing there, but what really impressed me and Peter both was this set of three Nolina 'La Siberica.' I've seen them before, but I don't think Peter had. He exclaimed quite loudly when they first came into view.

The big, mature clumps of strappy foliage make an effective vertical statement amongst the flowering Hellebores

The same 3 plants from a different angle

I'll be sharing more photos from that day in future Wednesday Vignette posts.

Anna at Flutter and Hum hosts Wednesday Vignette. You can see her current post here. This post makes a great Foliage Followup too, hosted by Pam at Digging. Her current post is here.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day -- March 2016

Welcome to my first GBBD post for 2016! Here's what's blooming in my garden right now. Our recent weather has been so rainy and windy and cold, getting photos was a challenge. But I managed to get out there in two or three runs, coming into the house in between to take the chill off, and upload what I had captured to see if any of my photos were worth sharing.

Dicentra 'Gold Heart'

Dicentra 'Gold Heart'

Pulmonaria

Pulmonaria

Epimedium

Epimedium

Epimedium

Brunnera

Brunnera

Trachystemon orientalis -- Aren't those curly petals cute?

Trachystemon

The curls remind me of Aunt Pittypat from Gone With The Wind

Trachystemon

Trachystemon foliage, which lasts all summer after the blooms fade

Variegated Stachyurus praecox (possibly 'Magpie')

I already shared some Hellebore pics in my last post, but I thought I'd share this Hellebore "hedge" that I put in last year around this time, to line the edge of a path. I'm pleased with how it turned out, but I did intend to intersperse some Fritillaria bulbs in there. Unfortunately, I never got around to planting them. I wonder if it's too late?

It's rare to find a common Primrose bloom this undamaged by slugs, most look like the bloom on the lower right

I shared this Erysimum 'Winter Sorbet' in my last post too, but I love it so much I'm showing it again.

There are a few bulbs blooming in the front garden.

Daffodil

Daffodil

Chionodoxa

'British Gamble' Daffodil about to bloom

Two-tone Muscari

There's not much blooming in the greenhouse. Most of the plants out there survived being neglected terribly while I was ill, but a couple succumbed.

'Old Lady' miniature cactus

Echevaria

I didn't take photos of the dandelions and the millions of shotweed growing out there with impunity. I could feed a small army with them (they're both edible weeds). I hope there's plenty of flowers in your garden, and very few weeds.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Check out her March Bloom Day post here.

Back In The Saddle Again

I've been absent from the blogosphere for a couple of months. Did you miss me?

I've taken short breaks from blogging in the past, not usually for longer than two weeks or so, and it's always hard to get going again. In the winter it can be hard to come up with topics to write about, but I can almost always find something, even if it's just "My Garden Puts the Ugh in Ugly." During the winter months, with our short, dark, wet days here in the PNW, it can get depressing too, which really saps your energy.

After eating like a pig for two weeks at Christmas (OK, that's a lie, it was more like 4 months of unhealthy chowing-down), I was determined to get healthy for the New Year, a goal that was very short-lived, not because of a lack of will power, but because my body got rebellious on me.

I got sick. A visit to the doctor resulted in two possibilities -- it was either a stomach ulcer or gall stones. After a couple of tests, we had a diagnosis.

I had both.

Long story short, after a couple of weeks of massive doses of antibiotics, the ulcer got better. And the gall bladder full o' stones got yanked out through a tiny hole in my abdomen. I'm getting better now.

Anyhoo. Here are some pretty pictures of flowers.

Hella large Hellebore

A variety

Erysimum

Black pussy willow

Forsythia 'Fiesta'

Hepatica

Primula veris

Hope you're having a better year than I have been. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

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For your entertainment here is Aerosmith singing Back In The Saddle Again...