In January at the Tacoma Home and Garden Show, I bought a bunch of Tillandsias, my first try with them. Most of them are still alive! I posted about making a holder for one of them here.
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| Tillandsia in a birdhouse |
In February, the big news was that the entire front garden got redone, including a greenhouse and the strange copper pergola that Nigel christened Alison's Folly. I posted about the greenhouse here, and continued to post about it on a semi-regular basis all year. I had great success using it for my tomatoes over the summer, and right now it is stuffed to the gills with all my tender plants. It's much more crowded now than it was back in February.
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| My greenhouse will never look this tidy again |
In March, I went to Portland for the Yard, Garden and Patio Show, and posted about it here. I met my friend Peter The Outlaw Gardener there, and we had a great time.
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| No, that's not Peter! It's a Buddha dressed in an orange scarf at the Yard, Garden and Patio Show in Portland |
In April, the spring Portland Garden Bloggers Plant Exchange took place on a Sunday at the home and garden of blogger Jenni, the Rainy Day Gardener. Nigel came with me and I posted about it here.
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| What a group! |
May was a very busy month! I met blogger Emily Khan who writes All Things Emily, and visited her sweet garden in Seattle, which I wrote about here. That was a treat! I also visited the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden for the first time with my new friend Annette, which I posted about here. I revisited the garden of NPA member Shelagh Tucker, a garden I first experienced during the Seattle Fling. I was thrilled to share this garden with Peter, which I wrote about here.
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| Emily and her husband sliced up their concrete patio and relaid it in strips |
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| Trillium and Hosta at the Miller garden |
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| I fell in love with this blooming Clematis montana 'Marjorie' in Shelagh Tucker's garden |
What happened in June? Well, I attended the NPA's Hardy Plant Study Weekend, which entailed attending classes in the morning, and touring gardens in the afternoons. I posted about some of those gardens in my blog.
Bob Barca's Hummingbird Hill
Susie Marglin's Garden
Millie Livingston's Garden
Denise Lane's Garden
In July, I traveled all the way across the country to visit my son, and while there I visited the fabulous garden of blogger Deanne Fortnam in New Hampshire. I posted about it here (she writes the blog Fortnam Gardens).
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| Deanne's hot tropical border in New Hampshire |
In August, the frantic pace of garden visiting slowed down. I wrote about my trip to Tacoma's Point Defiance Zoo, which has a fabulous garden, here.
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| Great foliage combos st the Tacoma Zoo |
In September, I wrote about visits to two local gardens -- PowellsWood and the Soos Creek Botanical Garden.
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| Bench in the lower garden at PowellsWood |
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| Reflecting pond at Soos Creek |
In October I hosted the Garden Bloggers Plant Exchange right here at my garden. I posted about it here, and my friend Peter The Outlaw Gardener also wrote about it here and here. Boy, was that an exciting get-together!
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| Portland bloggers contemplate plant offerings |
In November we had our first frost and our first snow, and for once I actually posted some pictures of my own garden. We've had plenty more frosty days and nights since then, in fact, we're in the middle of another freeze right now. But fortunately, there has been no more snow.
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| Frosty leaves in my garden |
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| Snowy conifer |
While perusing the various posts on my blog for 2014, I couldn't help noticing that except for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and Foliage Followup, and a handful of Favorite Plant in the Garden posts, it seems I post more about other gardens than I do about my own. One of my resolutions for 2015 is to post more about what's going on right here! I have plans for more changes in my garden that I'd like to share with everyone.
Here's hoping 2015 is a great year for all of you.