Sunday, 3 September 2017
We left on our day trip before 10 AM, along with a bowl of tabouli and some chocolate cupcakes for a potluck and open garden over two hours inland.
My next door neighbour, Royal, saw us off.
Our route: We had another 15 minutes still to go when we got to Castle Rock.
The first part of our drive, east of the Astoria bridge: The Columbia River abounded with little boats fishing. (Taken while on the move; we were on too much a mission to stop for better pics)
As we passed through Castle Rock, I glimpsed some enticing public gardens. We will visit those in tomorrow’s post.
Our destination was the garden of Evan Bean, who has worked at Longwood Garden, Plant Delights (with our friend Todd), Cistus, and now works for Plantlust.com. His garden, at his family home about 15 minutes east of Castle Rock, was open for garden bloggers and friends.
When we arrived, met by heat in the high 90s, a few other guests had already arrived, including Sean, owner of the fabulous Cistus Nursery and Jane of the Mulch Maid blog.
Allan’s photo, as we approach the kitchen door
Needing to adjust to the heat, we indulged in the delicious potluck offerings before touring the garden. In conversation with Evan’s mum, Nancy, we learned that the two headed calf in Marsh’s Free Museum (Long Beach, home of Jake the Alligator Man), belonged to her grandfather’s side show. Her father, “Pony Bill” Giberson, had pony rides where the Long Beach carousel now sits. (I thought I had this right, but Evan has clarified that “my mother’s father, Leonard, donated the two-headed calf. Her grandfather, Bill, had the pony rides.”) Nancy herself has had a career in forestry, and encouraged Evan as a child to appreciate nature.
Fortified and refreshed, we plunged into the heat and a full tour of Evan’s garden.
the impressively small ladies in waiting collection
Garden writer Amy Campion in the greenhouse, with Evan reflected in the door
The greenhouse has a mister for the plants that Evan is propagating. I am pleased and hopeful that Allan took an interest in how it works.
Allan’s photo
Allan’s photo
Allan’s photo
Allan’s photo
plant babies
treasures
Near the greenhouse, Nancy showed us a stump that had resisted digging out, so they burnt it to represent nearby Mount St Helens and planted a Mt St Helens azalea in it.
burnt stump
Jane photographing the circular front garden bed.
Allan’s photo
The round bed was Evan’s high school senior project, on which he spent much more time than most seniors did on theirs. He has enhanced and improved it since then. (He’s now in his almost-late 20s.) It had much plant interest to offer us. We walked around it admiring everything.
Sesli gummiferum (Moon Carrot), which I very much wish I had.
Notice all the pleasing rocks in the garden.
Jane noticing the details
continuing around
two kinds of ornamental oregano
Allan’s photo
The garden bed seems round but is actually more complex.
Allan’s photo
Having made it all the way around, I turned my attention to the bed by the house.
some form of Melianthus next to the house (Later: Evan says it is Melianthus villosus.
easy access and I like the railings
The shade of the lower garden enticed me and others. The rest of the garden that we will see is less than a year old, except, says Evan, “a section of the rhododendron border behind the hakonechloa bed, and a scattering of trees through the rest of the garden”.
the hakanechloa bed
By now, our friend Ann (the Amateur Bot-ann-ist) had arrived, with Paul Bonine, owner of the glorious Xera Plants, from whom I would buy one of every Xera plant if I lived in Portland.
Ann in the red checked shirt
The dry creek was installed to solve some drainage problems.
starry detail
sunny wall of house
In Evan’s words: “The annual wildflowers, and even some of the fast-growing perennials and subshrubs like Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’, and similar plants, were mostly put in place to fill in space and cover the ground to help reduce weeds while longer-lived plants grow. They were plants I could obtain cheaply and easily propagate more of. In some cases, I’m not even sure yet what the longer-lived plants should be, so they obviously haven’t even been planted. In most of the garden, the longer-lived plants will have to be ones that can adapt to dappled shade as the cork oaks and other trees grow. I picture layers of relatively drought-tolerant evergreen shrubs like Elaeagnus, Choisya, Mahonia repens and nervosa, mixed with a few tough, easy-care evergreen herbaceous plants like various carex for textural contrast, and here and there some deciduous perennials or ephemeral plants for added seasonal variation. Some of those plants are already in place. Some have yet to be selected and planted.”
the path back to the shady patio
As I knew it would be, this was the sort of garden where I could not identify a fair number of the plants. Any mistakes are mine from when I was too shy to ask.
Tricyrtis ‘Blue Wonder’ (I asked Evan for IDs on some of these plants.)
Allan’s photo
heading into the sunshine
looking back from whence I came
The fence encloses about two acres and keeps the deer out. Evan’s mom, a forester, says that our west coast deer are lazy and that a six foot fence is enough. She also said they have a fear of breaking their legs. Other species of deer WILL jump a six foot fence.
A group of gardeners clustered around this plant pronounced it some sort of gentian. Evan later IDed it for us: Gentiana asclepiadea, the willow gentian.
a young castor bean
seed heads of Dranunculus vulgaris
Dranunculus vulgaris
Mimulus cardinalis
Calceolaria arachnoidea
I am smitten with this plant.
Evan recommends orange Calceolaria ‘Kentish Hero’.
kniphofia
castor bean with beautiful airy coreopsis
Brachyglottis greyi, or it might be Brachyglottis ‘Otari Cloud’, says Evan.
These beds which are full sun will eventually have a bit of shade.
Allan’s photo
more lovely free flowing coreopsis
Heptacodium miconioides, which I knew, because I have one, thanks to my friend Debbie Teashon of Rainyside Gardeners.
This little guy got lots of attention.
Evan says, “”The wildflower look is sort of nice, but really not my style. It’s a planned successional stage in the gardens development, filling in space while the real garden grows.””
I must have been mad during my phase of not liking rudbeckias.
This poppy got lots of attention.
Allan’s photo
new growth. Later I got the ID from Evan: Glaucium flavum var. aurantiacum
The shady patio is where we would soon be sitting again.
Zauschneria
Allan’s photo
a hardy geranium of some sort
the path back to the shady patio
looking out from our shady chairs
Allan’s photo
patio corner
outside the kitchen window
When we walked down to our van to depart, Nancy walked with us and, because we showed interest, took us to the kitchen garden. It is located below the garage because the rest of the property used to be so shady.
tomatoes
yacon
That was a fine day out, with more to come, as we will tour some Castle Rock gardens on the way home.
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Tangly Cottage Gardening 