Sunday, 31 July 2016
We had been joined by expert gardeners Pam and Prissy from Seaside, Oregon. We’d had lunch and then Allan drove us all to Steve and John’s bayside garden. There, we rendezvoused with Pam and Prissy’s friends Sean and Jim, who had been brunching chez Steve and John.
The Bayside Garden
When Pam was a co owner and Prissy the plant propagator of Back Alley Gardens in Gearhart (north of Seaside), it was an amazing plant collectors paradise. Steve and John had bought a number of plants from her and she enjoys checking on “her babies” to see their progress.
Getting out of the van, I saw a little art piece new to me, although it has been there all along.
approaching the house in the glow of Chamaecyparis ‘Vintage Gold’
I feel I have not noticed this kitty before, either.
between the two wings of the house (Allan’s photo)
in Steve and John’s kitchen, a bouquet from Prissy
Pam and Sean and Jim (whom I was meeting for the first time and immediately liked) and John and I were chatting in the house, when I looked out the north window and saw that Allan, Steve and Prissy were already touring.
dahlia bed and green roof from north window
We all joined in.
dahlias and gladiolas
dahlias and the green roof
I like this one very much.
a lovely edible pea
flowers of the palest blush
north side of driveway
north side of driveway
a true collector’s garden
John and Ulmus x hollandica ‘Jacqueline Hillier’ (Pam Fleming’s photo)
Rhododendron yakushimanum ‘Mist Maiden’
another foliar treasure (Pam’s photo)
An area recently freed from salal, with much effort.
It gives me joy to see salal gone.
We all admired the pleasing contours of the newly revealed planting bed.
touring the new rhodie plantings
My favourite of all their rhodies, glistening white in spring time” Rhododendron degronianum ssp. yakushimanum x pachysanthum
Allan’s photo
the admiration of rhododendron leaves. Tomentum is “a layer of matted woolly down on the surface of a plant” and indumentum is the velvet fuzz on the underside of the leaves.
the ever expanding garden
Jim and Sean by the irrigation pond
Pam visits one of her babies.
Our Pam (Allan’s photo)
on the north side of the irrigation pond
prostrate genista (broom) (Allan’s photo)
working our way back toward the house
Pam, Steve, Jim, Allan
Steve, Pam, Sean, Jim (Allan’s photo)
detail
Pam’s photo, with Sean and Jim’s snazzy kicks in the background.
Pam, Steve, Sean, Jim, and plant talk
Crisp lawn edge on the beds!
How often, I wonder, do Steve and John just sit without leaping up to do some gardening?
We love plant talk. The tall pink one is Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) and to the right is purple spikes of liatrus. Odd I don’t have it, because I like spikes.
Prissy and Steve (Allan’s photo)
foliage study (Allan’s photo)
vivid blue lacecap hydrangea
purple lace cap with shiny rhodie foliage
the house next door, once part of the Clarke Nursery property, with Hydrangea paniculata by the porch.
It is strange that I have no hydrangea paniculatas. I must remedy this soon.
the upper driveway garden again
We had not discussed and examined every plant yet, but we had to go. Prissy had her horses to feed, and part of the day’s plan was to also take Pam and Prissy to see the Oysterville garden…next!
Tangly Cottage Gardening 
I would say that Joe Pye Weed is the best instance of that plant I have seen. It is such a lovely plant, and I used to try to find it to buy. Its name tends to put people off. This is quite a year for the paniculate hydrangeas. Even mine escaped the usual munching by the deer because I think it has outgrown their reach (fingers crossed). Some people have used it as a hedge, and those hedges are certainly in a glory they have not heretofore achieved because I never noticed them before. The subtleties of that garden abound. Never have I seen such unusual plants gathered in one place. What adventurous, discerning gardeners.
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They have the best plant collection on the Peninsula, I believe.
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We often read advice in gardening books about planting multiples of the same plant in drifts and to avoid ones and twos. Wow does this garden ever break those rules in a spectacular way! The photos of these plant combinations are worth taking the time to study. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this garden.
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“Planting in generous drifts of one” in collectors’ gardens is what one gardener called it. (I wish I knew who.). Steve and John know how to do that and make it work.
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