overseas to a favourite nursery

In our life, a trip overseas is not as exotic as it sounds.  That’s what someone told me that oldtimers call a trip across the Columbia River to northwest Oregon (about a twenty minute drive to Astoria).  I have never found an oldtimer to confirm this since I first heard it somewhere.

Due to cold rain, our mission was to visit our favourite north Oregon coast nursery, Back Alley Gardens in Gearhart.

As always, they had some excellent plants from Xera.

plants from Xera..

and from Blooming Nursery, and more

desirable plants, as always

I got myself some violas with faces….

violas

And a peachy apricot primrose for a friend who adores such colours:

primrose

I saw the same primrose later in the day at Fred Meyer, the only really cool plant there.  Such is life sometimes!

I got myself a ‘Golden Rocket’ barberry (love gold foliage) and some little violas with faces and a burgundy coloured Garrya.

The indoor part of the dual business, The Natural Nook, had luscious gardenesque things to offer:

shelf

plants

blues

orbs

mini glasshouse

In their  friendly and welcoming way, the owners told me friends of mine had been in recently, but I soon learned my name had been bandied about by folks I definitely would not call friends.  Shocking, shocking I say!  And might I add that contrary to the tale of my faux friends, no other local gardens had anything remotely like the 500 visitors that ours and Judy’s had on garden tour day.  Indeed, most definitely not.  There’s nothing like a little scandal to liven up the day, and I was somehow reminded of Mr. McGregor, a garden mystery by Alan Titchmarsh, or perhaps the new and rather shocking  village life novel that I am presently reading, Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.  (Who knew she could use such language!)    Even the gentle Miss Read ventured into the darker side of village life at times.  I idly wondered if I should devote my garden blogging time to a small town garden mystery novel…but no, I think that this year I should focus on keeping my commitment to blog on a regular basis.  And yet…if I only I had the skill to write a garden mystery, I would have plenty of material.

Meanwhile, all winter I had had in mind a re-visit to one of my favourite gardens of the Astoria garden tour of 2012,  the Westbrook garden at the Mill Pond Village.  I wanted to see how full Ms. Westbrook’s dry creek bed and pond got in winter rain, and we were having plenty of rain today.

When we got there, I poked around the edge, taking photos, not wanting to be too intrusive although it is sort of a public garden  between two sidewalks, in a lot between townhouses.

front of townhouse today

Look how good the bones are of the garden along the street!  It looks as good today as it did last summer.

Westbrook curbside last summer

the garden between townhouses, today

dry creekbed

and pond swale

Then the owner of this lovely garden, Ms. Westbrook herself, popped out, and we had a lovely chat.  She said we looked familiar, and rather cold in the chilly wind.  (I thought later how nice it is to hear that someone is so interested in one’s garden that she comes to prowl it offseason!)  She told us that this year, the pond never overflowed with seasonal water because she had dug it out a little deeper.

the pond

pond and late winter sky

same view last July

Now that we had conversed with the owner, I felt that I could actually walk through the garden and take more photos.

crocus patch

How well it looks in winter!

the same wooden house from a different angle last July

The townhouse complex is right by the Columbia River.

view across a common lawn to the river

The homes right around the reclaimed Millpond have always intrigued me, and I would love to live in one if only I had a vacant lot as well to make a garden in.

The Millpond with a lot for sale!

On the way home through Chinook, we saw sure signs of imminent spring:

flowers for sale along the sidewalk

narcissi border and a beautiful clematis arbour