Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Seattle, quick

I recently made the trip up north, first for a Garden Bloggers meet-up and plant exchange at Allison’s in Bonney Lake, WA, and then on up to Seattle to spend a couple of days with friends. It was a quick trip but naturally there are photos, first of Alison's garden. This is the only one I managed to take in her big, open, back garden.

But I snapped many more in the front garden. What I found most interesting (and I should have realized from the photos I've seen) is the containers and decorative touches I know from her blog are in the front garden. The opposite of what most people would consider the norm. Usually those things end up in the back (a more private) space and the front garden is a little less "personal." Maybe Alison is just more of a sharer! Her color scheme was right in line with what one expects to see in October (yes Alison, I spotted the mouse ears)...

An excellent use of tall castor bean plants, they provide a screen separating the drive from the front garden.

And I covet her culvert planters.

As well as this beautiful aloe.

Which was blooming a gorgeous bloom...

With another in the making. When Alison placed a small pup from this aloe in the plants up for grabs during the swap I wasted no time in grabbing it. (Alison do you know which aloe this is?)

I loved her solution to flopping Chasmanthium latifolium, tie it up with a bow!

She has high hopes for the Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea' in such a big pot, and so far they look to be paying off. That's a very happy plant.

I couldn't help but snap a photo of these glasses perched on a leaf of Agave bovicornuta. The eyes were delightfully creepy (they sort of followed me)...

I was pathetic when it came to snapping photos of my fellow bloggers at the swap (Peter did a better job) but was happy I captured this moment between Jane and Matthew. Jane looks so suspicious and Matthew looks quietly confident that he's going to convince her to take that cutting home...

Onward! Now we're up in Seattle at University Village, a mall (I know, the horror, but I wanted to visit Ravenna Gardens and Fireworks). I don't think I've ever been here at the right time of the year to see the tall grass in bloom, I love how it divides an ordinary parking lot and makes it interesting.

Yep, it's a good thing.

At Ravenna Gardens, maybe because I was just a Flora Grubb a couple of weeks ago, but I had to wonder, who did the Fermob wall first?

Elsewhere I appreciated the planted up containers all around the outdoor mall. I wonder if Ravenna Gardens has a contract to do them all? They're better than average, in fact look...Stachys 'Bella Grigio'!

And there were more...

Finally...my friends Steve and Ken were game for a trip to the UW Arboretum...

and the Pacific Connections Garden.

This was my primary reason for visiting the garden. I discovered this patch of Grevillea x gaudichaudii last year, 2013 and was horribly curious to see if it made it through last winter. It did!

And it was looking fabulous. There were two other new, smaller, patches so obviously someones been propagating it.

These vertical rusted panels were also of interest to me last time. I questioned their purpose.

Now I know.

Finally I was thrilled to discover this large shrub off a lower path.

It's got to be a Daphniphyllum macropodum, yes? It's beautiful.

It was another lovely trip north. I long to live in California, I love my life in Oregon, but my heart will always be in Washington...

All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

18 comments:

  1. I love the plantings at U Village--both the containers and the landscaped areas--they are lovely all year long. Nice pictures of Alison's garden!

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    1. Off plant topic at U-Village...OMG! That new parking structure is ginormous, and not in a good way. I remember before the make-over when U-village was just a sleepy little neighborhood mall. Such changes.

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    2. I know! I used to enjoy the view from 45th across the mall and that is gone, now. And the street/shops below the parking structure sort of feel like they are at the bottom of a narrow canyon.

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  2. You got some good shots of my garden, thanks for avoiding the less well-groomed spots. The Aloe is Aloe glauca, believe it or not bought at our local Lowes. I'm doing something right with it, but it beats me what that is, other than pretty much leaving it alone and watering it occasionally. There is a third flower coming on it too, but it's going to have to wait to be seen whether that actually blooms in the greenhouse this fall/winter. I hope the baby thrives for you. I love the University Village mall. And some day I have to make it to the Arboretum.

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    1. Less groomed spots? I don't remember those...

      Aloe glauca, thanks! I will do my best to leave it alone too. And yes, you do need to make it to the Arboretum. Of course as I type that I feel like a hypocrite since I've only visited a tiny portion of it.

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  3. A couple of my colleagues funny enough have just said to me recently that Washington is their favourite state :) great to see your take on Alison's fab garden and dos you manage to acquire that Grevillea as well? Hardiness is very promising!

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    1. Yay for Washington! Did they say why? I'd love to know.

      I have a tiny start of that grevillea I got from Ian at The Desert Northwest nursery. It's in the ground in a (hopefully) good spot. We shall see!

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  4. Oh my, since your heart will always be here, perhaps you should move on up! That Grevillea x gaudichaudii looks great! Did you have some scissors in your purse perhaps? Glad you enjoyed your trip to Washington!

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    1. I do, but I did't snip. It would be just killing it anyway since it's a tough one to propagate and I have no skills. I'm just glad to see it's growing because maybe, just maybe, that means it will one day be more widely available.

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  5. daphniphyllum is fabulous.You always make me wonder why we do not travel north more often. That

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    1. Why don't you? Perhaps for the NWFG Show in February?

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  6. Alison's garden is really beautiful, isn't it? The Aloe might be arborescens, as it is the right time of year for it to be blooming...

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    1. Do you disagree with it's Aloe glauca label (from Alison's comment above).

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  7. It's great to see segments of Alison's garden I haven't seen before. I love the bug-eyed Agave and that Aloe. And you clearly made good use of the rest of your WA visit.

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    1. There was so much more I wish I would have had time to do...

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  8. I'd never have guessed there were port-a-loos behind those screens. Very effective. And your caption for the photo of Jane and Matthew looks spot on, haha. Love the A. bovicornuta, too.

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    1. I appreciate their concern for the aesthetics of the park, I wish the city of Portland had the same for the port-a-loos (love that phrase) they drop of at the park by my house...

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  9. I like parks where plantings are an important part, not just play areas and how many trees can be over-packed into a space. This post will help me get through a design for a city park here... The porta-potty screening idea is clever!

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