Blog

Stars of September – asters, zauschneria, valley pines

A clear yellow leaf shows like a portal through the green, heavy-laden branches of the fig. It’s going to be good year for figs, plump ripening with the season’s change, with the waning sun. Black beauty lilies are done blooming, giving way to the pink wonder of Amaryllis belladonna, she of the … more

Roses in Five Senses

  “Recently, I spent a day at the cottage where I used to live, and noted with a pleased surprise – to be exact, it was a feeling of having done good unconsciously – the progress of the things I had planted nearly 10 years ago.” George Orwell   Arms heaped with … more

The Allure of Forest Gardens

A forest garden, no matter how small, can be an opportunity to create a garden architecture that invites you to stay awhile. There can be many ways to wander through the trees and even more places to sit. If you watch a frisky dog in a forest garden, you quickly see that … more

May Muse – candy flower

Claytonia sibirica Early morning traffic streams by on 1st avenue. The dog reads the morning news, sniffing mown, tightly edged grass and rank, pollen-scattering grass with equal attention. We pass creosoted utility poles, auto service lot / squat, one lone tent on the roadside, men in muted colors shouldering their few possessions, … more

Remember Willow

  driving north on I-five, Mount Hood out the passenger side window– awesome– but it’s the budded willows that draw me again and again, in road side ditch, furred golden-gray bright against the bleak stems of winter scrub, a small bird alights from one, later, a plump red-tailed hawk and my attention … more

Honored by Morpholio

I was honored as a top landscape designer by the good people at Morpholio. And they made this for me!

Some new ideas for garden ‘screens’

I recently published an article in Pacific Horticulture about “screens.” What is a screen? It’s a display as well as a boundary that hides what’s behind it. If you crave organized beauty and privacy, you may need screening to fill in — sooner rather than later. Check it out here: “The Solution Sparkles … more

Celebrate the Pleasures of February with Osoberry Ecology at Home

Oemleria cerasiformis – Plant of the Month     Celebration In bleakest February a vigor entered my life, no, it was a cucumber. The scene is fogged, speared by low-angled light igniting small flames of vegetal green. A zig right and up, switchback, engage legs, strength to propel away from lawn, parking … more

I discovered a flower one nimbus-mooded day

1. What plants go here? Imagine the rare valley snow has thawed and the garden shows it’s face again—the crisp leaves of fall long-turned a sluggier shade of brown, the ground sodden, muddy. Imagine a new blue-sky day with long, low rays of warm sun. What plant catches that light and reflects … more

Plant of the Month – Oregon White Oak

when I describe the limbs as muscular, do you see it? the oak, the Oregon White Oak, standing solitary in its golden savanna? or if I say scrub, do you know you’re on lean land and the oak grows to fit? a tree that makes its home from Southern California to Vancouver … more