Agapanthus, Eunomis and Others in August's Windcliff

There was  a precious, long-awaited  piece of mail yesterday in my mailbox, the NPA Open Gardens 2020 catalog. Opening it was exciting and sad. 

Will we have a chance to visit, to thank garden owners for allowing us to browse, stroll, photograph, peek, observe, survey their gardens and to get new ideas for our own gardens?  Maybe or maybe not.

After looking through the catalog, I went back to my pictures of last year's open gardens, and before last year, and before-before last year's pictures. How many of them do I have?

Thousands... "Your computer is running out of space..."

It led to an urge to show those pictures. It also led to the conclusion that if I'll try to write a post, it will be a slow process. It's more realistic for me to let pictures, not words, lead the trail.

So, excuse me for the briefness of  my comments. 

Windcliff, the garden of Daniel Hinkley, naturalist, gardener, writer and Robert Jones, an architect. Indianola, Washington state.

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Here are the pictures, in no particular order.

Luxuriant  Hedychium

 Cautleya spicata Robusta

Description fromWindcliff's website:

 For our climate there are fewer plants better equipped to bring the garden to life in August and September than this with saucy orange flowers emerging from burgundy stems.

Widespread and variable this is a wee bit larger to 2 ft spreading to 4 ft. Full or part sun in more moist than average soils.

Click below to read more

 Verbena bonariensis

 Daphniphyllum macropodum 

Description from Windcliff's website:

Tough as a street thug, brutally handsome, bold foliaged evergreen shrub to 15’, with handsome red petioles and curious axillary spring flowers resulting, on females, lovely crops of blue fruit. Unsexed seedling, Hinkley, S. Korea, 1997.

 There are 18 Agapanthus varieties listed on the Daniel Hinkley Windcliff website. 

August was definitely the month of Agapanthus. And, Eucomis, too!

 Did I take too many pictures of Agapanthus?

 What is the plant tickling those gorgeous blue spheres?

 Look at those dancing stems with pink flowers in the background!

 Lobelia tupa

 Eucomis, Pineapple Lily

Fuchsia magellanica (Windcliff Flurry?)

 Seattle's skyline is seen over Puget Sound

Pacific Madrone, Arbutus menziesii (top right of the picture), was on Dan Hinkley's  25 Favorite Plants List.

 I have a feeling that Pacific Madrona is more happy when it grows closer to the water in an open space. Maybe, I am wrong, but almost all the trees in my area, further from the water and mixed with fir trees and alders, often have their leaves covered with brown spots.

Dierama (Angel's Fishing Rod, Fairy Wand) left a single flower for us to see: 

 Pittosporum tenuifolium 

Did I tell Agapanthus was a star in this garden in August?

The pure blue color of Salvia patens was mezmerizing...

 ' Patens', said  Mr. Hinkley,  'it's easy to remember - like patents, but without a t'.

 Romneya coulteri looks like a white butterfly here 

 Cotinus in this garden looks very dramatic!

Breathtaking views...

 Yucca rostrata, one of my favorite plants.

 Last fall, on our way home from Eugene, Oregon, we visited several nurseries looking for the yucca rostrata that would love to come to our garden with us.
There were two big plants in Cistus Nursery, but I wanted a small plant so that I could watch it growing, developing a trunk and turning to such a beautiful tree under my loving watch.
No success. Then, in October, my husband flew to Phoenix, AZ, and I suggested he check a couple of garden stores to find a baby yucca for me. I pictured a little cute plant like some of those succulents or cacti that they sell in stores here.
Well, he called soon and informed me that he got my dream-plant! I went to bed that night happy and several days later was eagerly waiting for its arrival.
How surprised I was to see him getting from the car with a big box, or rather two boxes taped together. Inside, was a 5-gallon heavy nursery pot with not a baby but a toddler-plant with foot-long leaves. The pot was covered with another pot to protect those leaves, and there were newspapers and other materials to keep the plant safe.
Of course, that piece of luggage was opened and checked by airport security.
Picturing my husband hauling that bulky load from the car to the shuttle bus, then to the airport, then getting it at Seatac and carrying it to his parked car made me ask him: You love me, don't you?  :)

The whole winter I was nervous about its survival. I kept it on the covered porch, but drug it inside on colder nights. The yucca survived, outer leaves dried up, but the center has fresh new green leaves. Hooray!

 Arctostaphylos densiflorus

I remember the NWFGS seminar in 2014 when  Arctostaphylos densiflorus HE McMinn Manzanita was said to be among Dan Hinkley's Several Favorite Plants

 I look forward to seeing this amazing Agave every time when visiting Windcliff.

Clay sculptures by Marcia Donahue, a sculptor and a gardener. 

Do you see a dinosaur's spines here?  :) 

Do you like the idea of growing a maple this way? I do.

Thank you for visiting this fabulous garden with me!

And, of course, sincere gratitude to Mr. Hinkley and Mr. Jones for opening it for us!

***Copyright 2020 TatyanaS