flashback: 19 July 2009 — Astoria garden tour, Millpond Village

The little townhouse gardens of the Millpond Village, east of downtown Astoria, were also on the tour…One could have browsed around them on any day, but the tour gave the opportunity to get up close without feeling nosy and to walk around the private sidewalks of a couple of the houses.

tiny townhouse garden

narrow curbside and sidewalk gardens

sidewalk garden

corner garden

escallonia, lavender, lavatera, artemisia….

I would have wanted a corner house so I had just that bit more room to plant.

We got to walk the private path around one of the townhouses where the owner had tucked in a potting bench and a driftwood birdhouse.

a semi-private oasis

birdhouse

The views might make it worth giving up a big garden space.

Columbia River view

the River Walk and the famed Big Red old cannery, now art studio

the Astoria-Megler bridge

The old mill pond itself, once contaminated and abandoned and now reclaimed and restored

and best of all, the adorable old Astoria trolley with a conductor who will wave and smile…

The gardens, while small, are lovely.  A larger garden between the pond and the main highway, with a vine covered gazebo for gatherings, and some of the sidewalk plantings were originally designed by Ann Lovejoy and Cannon Beach’s Beth Holland.

I could imagine living here and peacefully contemplating the pond and the river…

Millpond Village

Perhaps I could find satisfaction in a tiny garden of my own, and express larger ideas in other people’s gardens.  But then I remember the conclusion I’ve reached time and again:  I would rather have a view of my own little pond in my own private garden, or even a whiskey barrel full of water and bog plants in my secret sanctuary, than any vasty view of river or ocean.