The Garden of Mary and Whit Carhart - Pacific Northwest Style

Vashon Island NPA Tour. July 2019.

I love this garden. It has everything to be excited about - amazing variety of plants, including those not widely used, calmness of a shade garden, lushness of a sunny garden, harmonic coexistence of natural and man-made beauty, garden art, harmony of the house and surroundings, combination of serene spots and vibrant, cheerful areas, and  the most important - the garden owners' love for plants and nature which is shining through the tapestry of foliage and flowers.
I've visited this garden several times and still have its pictures from 6 years ago. There are so many changes and additions. Everything has grown so much!

Garden  is cultivated on 2 1/2 acres and is surrounded by Stewardship forest.

Fencing is a must to keep deer away.

 The tour starts at the top of the property.

As realtors say, location, location, location!

Following a winding path down a pretty steep hill.
Strolling through the woodland garden with Japanese maples,  hydrangea, species  rhododendrons, stewartias, oxydendrons, Jacquemontii birches, locust, dogwood, ferns, shade-tolerant perennials, groundcovers (cyclamens, trilliums, violets, hepaticas, etc).... the variety is amazing.

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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.

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NWFGS-2020: Christianson's Nursery Display Garden

These are some pictures from the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival (Seattle, Washington State, February 2020). 

 Christianson's Nursery and Greenhouse's  Display Garden won Founders'Cup (Best in Show) and Fine Gardening Magazine Award, Professionals'Choice Award, People's Choice Award and Garden Creator's Award.

The following is the Garden's official description from the NWFGS site :

HILL TOP FARM The two-time “Best in Show” winner Christianson’s Nursery takes you to a farmhouse garden in the English countryside with this floral and fragrant display. As seasoned veterans in restoring buildings and greenhouses at their home base in Mount Vernon, Washington, it’s clear their expertise carries over to this garden. Spot the antique tools and lighting that harkens back to the 1920’s, which might make you feel like you’re in the middle of an orchard taking a breath of fresh air. Using perennials and plants adaptive to the Pacific Northwest, this garden features vegetables, peonies, lilacs, iris, rhododendron and azaleas, among other plants surrounding the farmhouse facade. Take-home ideas: Protecting your vegetables from the cold and hungry critters; use of edible plants and fragrant plants   Garden Creator: Christianson's Nursery & Greenhouse; Mount Vernon, WA christiansonsnursery.com Designed by: John & Toni Christianson

Many of the objects (garden tools, rhubarb and kale forcing domes, etc.) are vintage.

Garden includes three types of English fences.

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Garden Memories From Last Fall

I realized that if I don't post anything right now, I hurt this blog's feelings... Four months with no posts... it's bad!

So, let me post some garden pictures from last fall.

I am looking at September pictures and can't believe that this is my garden. I spent the whole day cleaning, pruning, weeding and raking the garden, and it's difficult to believe that it will be as lush as the pictures show.  Many plants are showing up from the ground, I see many buds and new growth, but oh, my, what a difference between the September and February garden!

There were several significant projects in the garden last season.

The major change in the front garden was removing one of our fir trees and two cedars belonging to our neighbors. Additional sunlight and less competition from the big trees' roots gave a push to the plants growth on the small hill. Previously, they had stunted growth. Aralia Sun King was a big winner! It bloomed for the first time since I planted it.

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My Summer Garden-2019

Blogging was not a priority during the summer for a very clear reason - gardening!
Fall is also busy, but at least I can choose some pictures of my summer garden, in chronological order.

 Poppies are my love.

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My Visit To the Enchanted Garden of Patricia and Scott Bergford in Olympia, WA

These are the pictures from my visit to the beautiful garden of Patricia and Scott Bergford in Olympia, Washington state. I'm grateful to the Petal Pushers Garden Club that arranged the visit and kindly invited me to join it. 

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May 2019 My Garden Pictures

Just pictures today. 

Pictures are taken on the May 1st, 9th, 11th and 13th. The same corners of the garden might be shown several times on different dates. The garden participated in the 'NPA Open Gardens', May 11-12.

Front Plant Bed at Its Best in 2018

I'd like to share the views of my Front Plant Bed that I think was in its best shape ever last gardening season. And, I know exactly what gave this plant bed its luscious, best ever look.
Of course, many plants reached substantial size and several new important plants have been added (among them, Japanese maple 'Autumn Moon' and Hydrangea 'Oregon Pride').
But, there were two more important elements which I added to this central bed in 2018.

First, one of my potted Red Banana plants (Abyssinian bananas, Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii') was placed here.
Starting from the spring when I got it out of the garage, tall Red Banana instantly added dramatic effect to the Plant Bed. In summer, when it unfurled its gorgeous dark leaves, it became a star of the Front Garden. What a gorgeous architectural plant it is!

Second, several containers with annuals were placed in the front of the Plant Bed. What's important, those were relatively tall containers, which allowed their flowers to 'float' and fill otherwise empty or dark spaces. For two of these tall pots, I bought hanging baskets and just plopped them into the pots (instant gratification!). From afar, the pots are almost invisible and the flowers look suspended in the air.

Only the central front bed is shown in this post, but the second Banana plant and several identical pots were located  further to the right, on the opposite side of the driveway. It provided a sense of unity and rhythm to the entire front garden.

Abyssinian Banana, big bush of Hydrangea macrophilla 'Oregon Pride', Phormium (New Zealand Flax) and Japanese Maple 'Autumn Moon' are striking plants defining the look of this Plant Bed

It's difficult to overestimate the impact of the Hydrangea macrophylla 'Oregon Pride' in this Plant Bed. 
It's not just the large bright flowerheads that can differ in color on the same bush, but its big leaves and striking burgundy stems that attract attention. 

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