Old House Dahlias

I LOVE dahlias. I spent the morning of my wedding day happily cutting dahlias at a you-pick farm and stuffing buckets and buckets full of them for the party later that day. I adore all the different shapes, textures, and shades of happy colors--a bouquet of dahlias is like a bunch of happy faces smiling at you.

My Mom and I took a little field trip to Portland's Old House Dahlias recently--we didn't have to go far as the garden is just a few blocks from where she lives. I've grown bulbs from Old House the last couple of years. I can't resist their varieties. Last year I grew the charming collarette Giggles which I subsequently lost when I was too lazy to dig it up for the Winter even though I knew it was planted in a particularly water-logged area of my garden. This year I'm growing Lambada which is the lavender flower above with the ruffly cream center. It's really a knockout. 

Old House Dahlias is run by Mark Harvey who started the company 7 years ago as a way to make some extra money by growing dahlias at his N. Tabor home. You can't pick the flowers at his home-base garden but you can walk around and admire the flowers which are conveniently labeled and there are buckets of refrigerated dahlias for sale that have all been pretreated with hot water to help them last longer.

When we visited, Mark was just loading up a bunch of flowers for one of his accounts, the terrific nearby Observatory Restaurant. Mark told us he not only supplies them with flowers but also bulbs which they use in a salad. Whoa! What do they taste like? A bit like carrots, he says.

I was charmed by the hand-made funky signage around the garden. One of the things that first converted me into a customer of Old House Dahlias was their cute packaging and logo.

While you can't pick your own flowers here you CAN pick to your heart's content if you head across the river where Mark now has a large u-cut garden on the South waterfront. That will be a field trip for next year.
 

The fiery Ruskin Gypsy dahlia is going on my wishlist.  I like to imagine that it was named after the artist and art critic John Ruskin, but who knows.

And WOW, check out this "orchid" style dahlia called Verrone's Obsidian. It might be the darkest dahlia I've ever seen. Incredible.

I highly recommend a visit to Old House Dahlias in Mt. Tabor--I guarantee all the beautiful colors will put you in a good mood. I love the pairings of colors here with the explosion of exuberant yellow flowers next to the neighbor's periwinkle house and the vivid blue sky.

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Garden Tour: JJ Trips The Light Fantastic

The HPSO garden tour fun continues! This one was so good that my Mom visited three times in a 24 hour period--the first time on her own, and then the next day when she had to bring me twice so we could see if before and after dusk. You will see why the after dusk visit was important in just a moment.

I think every garden should have a greeter and nobody gets the job done quite like a gurgling Easter Island statue.

This is the Mt Tabor garden of JJ who owns the wonderful garden store Digs on Alberta. You will likely accumulate a wishlist of cool things for your garden as you see the photos, and much of them can be found at her store.

Take note of the GIANT red containers holding a pair of windmill palms. As if they weren't already exciting enough, they have another surprise up their sleeves...

It's easy to spend ages wandering through JJ's garden because there are SO many details to admire. Bright crushed orange glass turns out to be the perfect foil for some cool blue-green succulents.

You can see right away that this is the home of a gardener with a sense of humor and an outsize sense of fun. JJ was also the most gracious host--when we arrived she was holding court at a table under an enormous umbrella but managed to holler out a warm welcome to everyone who entered and make sure they were invited to a glass of vodka-spiked lemonade. You really wanted to hang out all day. And night.

As a lover of orange, this place was heaven for me. JJ really has a knack for creating fun little vignettes around the garden--so many good ideas at play. 

For some people a giant pair of malachite green foo dogs would be the centerpiece of their garden, but this was just one of many jaw-dropping tableaux. Aren't they incredible?

It's a totally cross-cultural environment here where the Chinese foo dogs, Easter Island dude, and Virgin of Guadalupe all party amongst the succulents.

This should really have been the first photo of the post because this is the entry in the front of the garden. A bright orange carrot gate really signifies that this way fun lies.

Bold and striking color combinations were present in the accessories but also in the plantings. I love this dark begonia mixed with coleus and creeping jenny.

When we returned after dinner, the garden had transformed into a magical light show.  There were lights drawing you towards the back garden gate.

You can nap, read, eat, and party here--there is seating for 60 people. JJ's use of light was to me the most extraordinary thing about her garden. There were all sorts of lights, from small fairy string lights, to lanterns, to...see below.

Remember those planters from before? BAM SHAZAM!  Turns out only the upper portion of the pot held dirt (giving you a sense of their size) and the body was hollow creating a stunning illumination after sunset.

Holy agave! Just too much gorgeousness. I'm getting a lot of ideas for plantings that will match my orange house.

And finally, my personal favorite, these punched lanterns are on my wishlist now. I'm told they come from Digs. They remind me of Indonesian batiks and the light they put out is really magical.

Three things I learned from JJ's garden:

1. I'm an orangaholic, through and through.
2. More is more fun.
3. You need a lot of different wattages of light in your garden so it doesn't look like an airport runway.

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Garden Tour: Danger Garden

I can't tell you what a thrill it was to get to visit the garden of one of my home-town garden heroes, Loree Bohl of Danger Garden. Loree's stylish garden blog was one of the first I discovered and remains one of my eagerly awaited regular reads. I have since had the chance to meet her in person and on the hottest day of the year here in Portland got to have my own visit to her garden which she opened up for a group of us Oregon garden bloggers. Thank you Loree for a peek at your amazing world and for the cool cherries and kind hospitality!

*My photos really don't do this garden justice and I focused more on plants rather than the very impressive landscaping. Check out Loree's recent feature on Apartment Therapy and Loree's terrific blog for a better look.

Warning! The "danger" in Danger Garden is three-fold:
1. A blog full of sharp and prickly plants.
2. A blog with a bad case of zonal denial where plants are living on the edge of survival.
3. A blog full of plants so covetable that it will have you pulling out your credit card like Betty and Wilma on a shopping spree. Charge it!

Oh, and speaking of Plant Lust, Loree is co-founder of that wonderful site that helps you research and locate plants, especially the type that make your heart race fast--you know, the dangerous type.

Danger! Danger!

A delicious combo of "Sparkling Burgundy" Purple Pineapple Lily and Black Mondo Grass lines the walkway up to the house.

High Drama at High Noon. Loree has painted her house a dark chocolate brown which is the perfect backdrop for her plantings. So striking.

I believe this is the purple prickly pear cactus that I bought this Summer. Mine is just one small Mickey Mouse ear--can't wait until it grows up to look like Loree's.

I love Loree's thistles! Pretty sure this is

Eryngium giganteum 'Miss Wilmott's Ghost' which is one of my favorite plant names ever. The thistles looks almost better dead than alive.

Here's another one that really knocked my socks off--it's actually a rose (Wingthorn rose) with glowing red thorns that look like stained glass. Wicked.

Some charming, hanging succulent planters guide you towards the tropical paradise which awaits you in the back garden.

 It can get HOT with all those hot plants in The Danger Garden. You need a cool drink of blue here and there and Loree obliges. 

My latest plant crush. I can't remember the name--anyone lend a girl a hand? Isn't it incredible? As flat as a pancake and as intricate as a Spirograph design.

Another unidentified plant straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. 

One of many knock-out plant combinations. 

There are so many wonderful pots scattered around The Danger Garden. I won't divulge how many here, but trust me, this is not even the tip of the ice berg. I will tell you how many different varieties of agaves Loree has though. Are you sitting down? 58! Different varieties. I bow down.

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THE GARDEN MY GARDEN WANTS TO BE WHEN IT GROWS UP

My Mom and I joined the Hardy Plant Society this year and one of the funnest parts is getting to go to open garden days to view Portland-area gardens. A couple weeks ago we lucked into seeing the garden of Lucy Hardiman, aka my dream garden.

Located in inner S.E. Portland, this place has everything I love in a garden: lots of little nooks and crannies each with their own mood, a unified color palette, a touch of whimsy, a mix of tropicals balanced with English formalism, and loads of chartreuse.

As soon as we pulled up across the street, I knew we were in for the treat. The parking strips were bursting with colorful plantings and walking up to the house my eyes fell on these amazing magic carpets made of stones. I suspected that they were the work of local magician Jeffrey Bale, and a little subsequent research has confirmed that.

You could tell by the turn-out that this was a hotly anticipated event of the year for garden-oglers. Lucy was there, very graciously answering questions and chatting with people, but there were just SO MANY plants I wanted to know about that I am fantasizing about offering my weeding services just so I can go hang out in her garden and hopefully learn more about her plants.

I'm sorry for the lousy photos--I didn't bring my camera, not knowing what a treat I was in for and had to rely on my iphone. Another reason to go back to Lucy's!

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The Lilac Lady

For years I've noticed a sign on I-5 near Woodland, Washington for the Hulda Klager Lilac Garden and always made a mental note to come visit when the lilacs are in bloom. Of course I always forget, but this Spring I was lucky enough to have a friend invite me along for a little drive up from Portland to check it out.

The Lilac Days run from mid April through Mother's Day and are the only time the house on the estate is open to the public, though the grounds can be accessed any time. You can also buy plants during the Lilac Days. 

It was an immensely beautiful day. The skies really were that blue! It's a perfect place for a picnic. The grounds surrounding the old white house are a mix of brick pathways and green lawns. Of course the lilac trees are the star attraction but there are also lovely mixed beds near the house and a lot of impressive rhododendrons.

I haven't seen it stated as such, but my guess would be that Hulda Klager was the world's foremost lilac breeder. She developed over 250 lilac varieties in her lifetime. She held her first open house in 1920, a tradition carried on today by the Hulda Klager Lilac Society. 

A couple varieties that really caught my attention were this double, dark purple variety called Adelaide Dunbar--the unopened blossoms actually looked red. 

Alexander's Pink Lilac had vivid pink blossoms with a unique, more upright habit, reminding me of a butterfly bush. So pretty.

It was fun to see the inside of the house which is full of memorabilia and family photos of the farm. The house was built in 1889 and seems to be mostly in it's original state, though I spotted some modern light fixtures (circa 1920's!). 

It really is a bucolic setting. I love that the paint isn't in perfect condition. Things are ever so slightly rough around the edges. There was an assortment of wonderful old floral wallpaper throughout the house. You really get a sense of what life was like for Hulda living there most of her 97 years.

Somebody was painting en plein air in the front of the house. 

Out front there was a magnificent Monkey Puzzle Tree with cones in full, fuzzy, chartreuse glory. 

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