Tuesday, 2 September 2014 (part one)
Steve and John’s most amazing bayside garden deserves its own separate post, so I’m dividing today into two parts.
After dining with them last Thursday night at the Cove, we were invited for a garden tour and lunch at Steve and John’s bayside home, where all is soothing and uncluttered.
We took some tomatoes and a bouquet of flowers and foliage from our garden; the bouquet went into the most perfect vase of wood (with a water holding insert).
in their kitchen
Plant lovers that our hosts are, we spent quite some time discussing the various plants (including one I had to look up later, Clematis heracleifolia ‘New Love’ to the right, and Rubus lineatus, a few types of boxleaf honeysuckle, Hypericum (maybe ‘Albury Purple’), sanguisorbas, etc etc. Just the sort of conversation I love to have, although of course my mind went blank on some plant names till later.
the bay view (east) from the house
and the north view to the flower and kitchen garden with the newly planted green roof (which we will examine closely later).
The window reflection above shows the bay and a good architectural feature: the opening into the lower level of the house has cross pieces like a window frame; Steve and/or John’s idea to enhance local architect Eric Fagerland’s design.
Allan’s photo
Allan’s photo
I wish I had taken a photo of the luncheon table, a few steps down from the kitchen. Sometimes it seems intrusive to take photos showing the inside of friends’ houses, so I tend to avoid it even at moments when it would be appropriate.
Allan did take this photo in the kitchen.
I hope I am counting and not pointing. (On an earlier visit, I did point at the drawer and cupboard handles, whose shape is the shape of a wave, so perfect for a home by the water.) The book is Eden on Their Minds, which I took to show them.
I did (of course) photograph Chef Steve’s delicious food.
the salad, with greens picked from the kitchen garden
mushrooms in sauce on polenta cakes
so delicious
After lingering over coffee, we went out to tour the garden. To Allan’s and my surprise, a very light mist had begun to descend. Before we went to see the new green roof on the pumphouse, John showed us the diagram he had made on his computer.
I wish I could remember how many inches each layer represents. It is a very exact diagram.
The view from John’s computer desk would prevent me from getting much done; I would just gaze.
Then outside and to the north of the house…
…to the patch of dahlias by the kitchen garden.
the renowned dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandalf’
dahlia with a glimpse of Willapa Bay
an extra that the catalog added to the order
a dahlia guest
The dahlias came from Old House Dahlias (Mark Harvey) in Portland (purchased at the Portland Home and Garden Show).
We turned to a close examination of the newly planted green roof of the pumphouse with its collection of succulents generously sent by Garden Tour Nancy’s friend Mary from Pasadena. Mary had been here for Music in the Gardens and clearly appreciated Steve and John’s garden.
green roof
John gives a sense of scale.
succulent forest at eye level
Pink salvia by the pumphouse with Cuban oregano
Now began our walk through all the borders.
a hydrangea flower on one long sideways stem
Hydrangea fading into subtle autumn hues.
It had been bright blue like this…
The subtler colours have their own beauty.
Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Lemon Twist’ (Lemon Twist Hinoki Cypress)
Salvia guarantica
This plant was from Seaside gardener Pam Fleming.
Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Little Goldstar’ backed with Salvia guaranitica
red fountain grass backed with Salvia ‘Black and Blue’ (backed with Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)
red fountain grass, a dahlia, and a dwarf conifer that looks like a fern
Senecio greyii with leaves edged in silver
dahlia
Asclepias by the pond
Caryopteris ‘Blue Balloon’
Genista: I like the airy appearance without the flowers.
a bright pink hebe
pond garden; the pink phlox is ‘Sherbet’
Coronilla valentina variegata (with the pale foliage, had bright yellow flowers, common name scorpion vetch!)
the pond garden from the other side (with rain making splashes in the water)
The spruce (left) will get outsized and will be removed soon.
On the other side of the entry drive, we took a close look at Hydrangea ‘Plum Passion’.
Hydrangea ‘Plum Passion’
delicately fluffy lacecap flowers
Pittosporum, love the black stems
The bench may get an arbour soon.
As the rain became a bit harder, we strolled on up the driveway.
On the left of the driveway is a new bed, created with painstaking effort to get the native meianthemum (false lily of the valley) out, at least for awhile. The exposed root reminds me of the stone crevice garden at the John Kuzma garden in Portland.
new bed with new species rhododendrons
looking east toward the house
young species rhodo with old snag
We all wondered at this red rhododendron blooming now.
seems odd!
an impressively large fungus at the base of some salal
with Steve’s hand for comparison
an offshoot of the fungus
on up the drive to the house
Hebe ‘Quicksilver’ to the north of the driveway
Steve and John’s ladies in waiting section is admirably small. They had just been to Whitney Gardens and Nursery and returned with a few treasures (limited by plant hauling in a Prius).
Pinus densiflora ‘Golden Ghost’, stunning
Just gaze upon that foliage.
and look some more
Rhododendron ‘Cherries and Merlot’
along the front of the house
the drainage swale between the wings of the house; water from the roofs drips into here with a pleasant sound.
With the rain coming down in earnest now, we prepared to leave, although we were not sure if we were going to be able to work or not.
Rain or not, we had to examine the upper garden more thoroughly.
the form of the almost human, huggable tree
Steve says “The huggable tree is:
Xanthocyparis Nootkatensis ‘Green Arrow’ (Green Arrow Weeping Cedar)
The foreground shrub in the same shot (to the left) is:
Ulmus x Hollandica ‘Jacqueline Hillier’ (Dwarf Elm ‘Jacqueline Hillier’)”
the clearing of the white hydrangea
a kiwi among rhodos seeks hosts on which to climb
a bank of heather dating back to the old garden (pre Steve and John)
I was still taking photos after we got in our van to drive away.
looking north from the parking area
and northeast back to the house
This spectacular garden will be on a Water Music Festival rhododendron garden tour next spring; I will let you know as soon as the date is set.
For our previous visits to the garden, see:
our first visit, Sept. 26 last year
the garden on tour day, July 20
I want to live a long life to see young parts of this garden mature over the years.
Tangly Cottage Gardening 