2 October: Steve and John’s bayside garden

Sunday, 2 October 2022

The garden of John Stephens and Steve McCormick, on Willapa Bay

We had a lovely afternoon walk though the garden with Steve. The home and garden may have been sold…so this may be our last visit to this rhododendron paradise, created on part of the former property of Clarke Nursery with some older specimens of rhododendrons and with many additions by Steve and John, who cleared yards and yards of salal and scrub to expand the garden.

We brought a bouquet and a couple of books to donate to the next meeting of the Portland, Oregon chapter of the Rhododendron Society. I’ve been freeloading by virtually attending their monthly meetings while they were presented on zoom; they are back to in person meetings in Portland now.

We strolled down the south side of the garden, past the tree around which they had their driveway built, to the cryptomeria grove.

By the house, Rhododendron pachysanthum

Acer palmatum ‘Ukigumo’ (Floating Clouds Japanese Maple) between the two wings of the house

Gardens beds near the house, north side

The pittosporum on the left is ‘Tasman Ruffles’. I took some cuttings, wish me luck!

Going west along the road

The thujopsis around which the driveway was built

My favorite of all the rhododendrons

Rhododendron degronianum spp yakushimanum x pachysanthum

Rhododendron ‘Cherries and Merlot’

deer ferns reseeding into path

Rhododendron edgeworthii with Cryptomeria japonica ‘Araucarioides’ 

Cryptomeria grove

Cryptomerias ‘Sekkan’ and ‘Black Dragon’

Rhododendron makinoi

I’m fond of Hydrangea ‘Lemon Daddy’

We then walked to the north across the big lawn, past the irrigation pond, to the sunny lawn beds.

South side of road

Irrigation pond

clipped escallonias

Steve and Athrotaxis laxifolia (Tasmanian pencil pine)

Escallonia ‘Gold Brian’

at the north edge of the property

Leptospermum (tea tree)

Thuja ‘Forever Goldy’

hesperantha

We then explored the woodland paths leading back to the house…

…and walked to the bay to the east of the house.

Dahlias by the pump house

At the north edge of the property

We departed with a sense of poignancy, as this could be the last time we visit this paradise.

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5 June: Mid-Spring at the Bayside Garden

Friday, 5 June 2020

At last we managed to visit Steve and John’s garden by Willapa Bay. Although (due to the second spring clean up at work after our non-essential weeks and to the emergency building of our coyote-proof catio and then the time-consuming plant sale prep) we had missed the peak rhododendron bloom time, this garden has much to offer at any season.

When we arrived a few minutes early, Steve was tidying the garden with bucket and picker-upper.

Let’s walk through through the garden with Steve and John, enjoy the vistas, and give the plants some individual attention…social distancing, of course.

In the upper beds near the house:

Acer platanoides ‘Rezak’, “the only plant on the property with a tag”

Allan’s photo of an unidentified acer

Steve and John (Allan’s photo)

I tried to take good notes, but had forgotten a clipboard, so many rhododendron names were illegible.

As always, Steve and John helped via email with the identifications.

Rhododendron ‘Ring of Fire’

Rhododendron ‘Ring of Fire’

I was overexcited by the purple stems and my photo is blurry…

Rhododendron loderi ‘Venus’ (highly fragrant in its pink bloom)

enviable hostas

Hosta ‘Madame Wu’ (Allan’s photo)

more perfect hostas and proof that we had missed peak rhododendron bloom time

grassy paths down the north side of the property

The rhododendrons with white tomentum, the powdery substance on top of the leaves, are my favourites. Rhododendron sinofalconeri Vietnamese form

emerging into sun on the north side, as we amble westward

left: ‘Orange Rocket’ barberry, which we all expected to be more columnar. Right: Drymis winteri

A few more rhododendrons had kindly waited for our visit.

R. ‘Anna’ in front of R. ‘Leo’

Rhododendron ‘Mango Tango’

Many in this collection had leaves that, to me, are as good as any bloom.  Visits to this garden have been a revelation from the standard rather boring rhododendrons that I had been familiar with before.

R. ‘Sir Charles Lemon’ with R. ‘Lissabon’ in foreground

We now cross the driveway to the shady south beds under limbed up trees.

looking back north across the driveway

south side of driveway: a grove of rhodies original to the property, which was a rhododendron nursery at one time.

Allan’s photo

R. ‘Cupcake’

Rhododendron degronianum ssp yakushimanum x R pachysanthum, my favourite of all

Cornus canadensis, a groundcover that I love.

In the ferny beds…

cinnamon fern

Allan’s photo

Rhododendron ‘Jan Dekens’

the cryptomeria grove

Crinodendron hookerianum (Chilean lantern tree)

R. ‘Yaku Princess’

the glorious variety of rhododendron leaves

Allan’s photo

Rhododendron macabeanum

Rhododendron sinofalconeri

Allan’s photo, Steve and a few remaining blooms

R. quinquefolium

Rhododendron lepidostylum

Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’

and its flowers

Rhododendron ‘Starbright Champagne’, Steve’s favourite

R. pseudochrysanthum

Hydrangea ‘Lemon Daddy’ which I love and keep forgetting to look for…maybe I can beg a cutting later this year.

looking north across the irrigation pond

We crossed over there, but I got too busy chatting about plants and only took one photo.

Allan’s photo: Leptospermum lanigerum ‘Lydia’ from Xera plants. Woolly tea tree, comes from New Zealand. Genista in the background.

John had left us to prepare some tea and cake.  We walked up the driveway…

…around the south side of the house…

…to …to the sheltered sit spot at the southeast corner of the house, where this was our view:

We had walked here to start our tour and to admire a little rhododendron growing in a stump on the north side of the lawn.

R. keiskei ‘Yaku Fairy’. What a little cutie.

We sat for tea and cake with this backdrop.

Allan’s telephotos of an interesting vessel…

…and of Baby Island.

We had tea from Beach House Teas...

…and observed proper social distancing.

John had baked a dessert of Dutch Spice Bread (Ontbijtkoek, aka Breakfast Cake). Delicious.

(Steve, with a bouquet I brought)

Allan’s photo

It was our first social outing since the stay at home order expired.

We were serenaded by birds…

Allan’s photo

…and visited by Mr. Towhee, a special friend of the family.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

As we departed, we further admired the entry garden.

Allan’s photo

If you would like to visit this garden in other seasons and earlier years, just put “bayside garden” into our search box, and you will get a wealth of posts.

You can see a drone video of the garden (which also shows inside the house) on this realty listing…which also means you could dream of living here yourself.

Steven and John were organizing the big 2020 conference for the American Rhododendron Society, when the coronavirus reared up and postponed it till 2022. If you live in the US and all these amazing rhododendrons inspire you to become a collector, joining that organization would be a good place to begin.

 

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18 July: Bayside Garden and more

Thursday, 18 July 2019

Our company arrived from Canada: Kilyn and Peter.  They came bearing gifts of books, a box of Builders Tea, some British throat lozenges for winter ills, some pastries from the local bakery and some British biscuits.

You may know Kilyn as the reader who comments as Steveston Gardener.  Her spouse, Peter, is a delightfully droll Australian.

We had our own garden as ready for touring as time and energy allowed—pretty good, if I dare say so, and the unweeded parts can be called “rewilded”.

Our Garden

We’d had this much rain in the past two days, giving us the gift of this day off.

In the back garden, I immediately realized the Cripps Pink apple tree was half its former height.  Rain, wind, and the weight of too many apples had snapped off the top.  Peter demonstrates how heavy with apples the snapped trunks are.  What a shame.

When Kilyn took a photo of the little pond, I saw that raccoons, or perhaps Skooter, had knocked several blue pottery pieces into the depths. Allan fixed it.  We were all excited to see the one fish. I had assumed it had been eaten weeks ago.

Those are the sort of things that would be a disaster on a garden tour day but are just fine with good friends.

By going garden touring in Ocean Shores this weekend, I will miss three days of lily-opening time.

That timing proves the wisdom of anyone setting a garden tour date for this weekend as peak lily time reliably begins now.

After touring into every corner and path of the garden…

followed by some sitting in the shade…

Peter (Allan’s photo)

…we needed to pass another hour or so before the main feature of the day and so we repaired to

The Boreas Inn.

After touring the entry garden and the west lawn beds…

…we had a tour of the inn…

(My favourite is the garden suite.)

…and a visit with Susie in the west-facing sunroom.

We then were off…

…for an afternoon at

The Bayside Garden.

Upon arrival, Peter said he almost cried on the way up the driveway “because it is so beautiful, and,” he added, “I’m not a gardener.”

Kilyn is the impassioned gardener and garden blog reader.  She faithfully reads (among others) my two favourites, The Tootlepedal blog and The Miserable Gardener.

We both best like blogs that show imperfections rather than, as she puts it, carefully curated photos.

Kilyn, Peter, and John with his garden notebook

A trio of Rhododendron pachysanthum was first to be thoroughly admired.

We viewed every part of the garden.

Kilyn’s photo

Kilyn’s photo

Kilyn’s photo

red stems of drimys picking up the color of Orange Rocket Barberry.

We all expected Orange Rocket to be columnar.  It is not.

Thuja ‘Forever Goldie’

Kilyn’s photo

“mosquito grass” (Allan’s photo)

Rhododendron ‘Sinogrande’

Allan’s photo

Steve, Kilyn, ‘Cryptomeria ‘Black Dragon’

in the Cryptomeria grove

blue-silver Rhododendron lepidostylum

Rhododendron edgeworthii

deer ferns on the move

Kilyn’s photo

Rhododendron quinquefolium

Rhododendron sinofalconeri

Rhododendron ‘Cherries and Merlot’

We visited my most special favourite pet of a rhododendron:

Rhododendron degronianum subsp. yakushimanum x R. pachysanthum

Hydrangea ‘Lemon Daddy’

Rhododendron makinoi

Rhododendron ‘Ever Red’

How to hide an ugly electric box:

Steve says he’d now choose something other than laurel, and the vine to the right is fatshedera.

Kilyn and the evergreen huckleberry glade

Kilyn’s photo

kayaks passing by on a high tide

We closed our tour in the kitchen with coffee and homemade muffins and some garden talk.

from inside the house (Allan’s photo)

John’s garden book (Allan’s photo)

Later in the evening, we met again with Kilyn and Peter for dinner at

The Depot Restaurant.

steak Killian

Prawns Bangkok

After feasting, we walked west one block to tour

The Sou’wester Lodge and trailer court.

 I do believe that the next time they visit, Kilyn and Peter will be parking their caravan here.

We suggested the Peter “place a call” at the phone booth and could hear his laughter.

Kilyn tried it next.

vintage trailers for rent by the night (known as “Trailer Classics Hodgepodge”)

Jessica Schlief is doing a spectacular job on the Sou’wester gardens.

Tomorrow, the four of us leave to take two different routes to meet again at Saturday’s garden tour in Ocean Shores.

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24 Sept: The Bayside Garden

Monday, 24 September 2018

McCormick-Stephens garden

We ended our garden tour day with Beth and Ketzel at Steve and John’s garden.  I always like to save it for last, because it is the biggest, because each specimen plant needs proper attention paid, and because a visit usually involves some pleasant lingering and a nice cuppa.

I had learned earlier in the day that Ketzel is an aficianado of species rhododendrons.  I’d had no idea.  This was the perfect garden to show her.

an exciting start by the front door

All day, she had been “flying under the radar”; either our earlier garden hosts were playing it cool or they did not know that she is a BNG (Big Name Gardener).  Steve and John did know.  Beth, renowned Cannon Beach and north Oregon coast gardener, had met Steve, John, and our earlier garden host, Ed, when she had attended the annual garden tour this past July.

John had his binder full of garden maps and names to identify the plants.

Ketzel asks for the names of the blue leaved rhododendrons.

upper garden near the house: left to right) R. ‘Senator Henry Jackson, unidentified, R. degronianum ssp. yakushimanum ‘Ken Janeck’ Form

Allan’s photo

I am RESOLVED to do a notebook like this for my garden.  (As I have said for the last two years.)

dahlia and kitchen garden by the pump house

We walked down to the bay side of the house, where two small rhododendrons tucked into the mound of an old stump were petted and doted on.

R. keiskei var ozawae ‘Yaku Fairy’

(neighbour house in background)

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

R. degronianum ssp. yakushimanum ‘Yaku Angel’ Form

Steve and John’s house, by local architect Erik Fagerland.

the evergreen huckleberry dell

Beth knew from having been on the recent garden tour that there are 80 huckleberry balls.

variegated eucryphia at the SE corner of the house

We returned to the west side and began our walk through the several acres.

north side of driveway near the house

Pittosporum ‘Tasman Ruffles’ (left)

Steve and Ketzel

My favourite rhodie, Rhododendron degronianum ssp yakushimanum x R. pachysanthum.  I do not have that memorized.

Rhododendron ‘Cherries and Merlot’ (Allan’s photo)

We moved across the long driveway from the woodsy garden into the sunshine.

looking south across the irrigation pond

golden textures

looking south

Beth, Ketzel, Steve

Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Rotundifolius’

textures in burgundy

John’s notebook

one of the dahlias listed in the notebook page shown above (Allan’s photo)

(Background wooden boxes are on property next door.)

Allan’s photo

on the return walk up to the house

between the two wings

early evening light

Allan’s photo

We gathered in the kitchen for tea and biscotti.  Steve and John had Ketzel’s book ready for her to sign, with a pen made from the wood of Rhododendron ‘Duke of York’ and a photo of said rhododendron.

perfection

This interesting book was also on the counter and well recommended.

We lingered till an hour before dark and then departed because of the long(ish) drive back to Cannon Beach and Manzanita.  All were in agreement that it had been an excellent day.

 

 

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5 August: a “do” at the Bayside Garden

Sunday, 5 August 2018

Steve and John of the Bayside Garden had invited a group of working gardeners for lunch and an afternoon in the garden.

John and a bouquet that we brought (Allan’s photo)

some flowers from my garden

and sweet peas from Todd’s garden

We had Todd Wiegardt of Willapa Gardening, Pam Fleming of Nature’s Helper in Seaside, Dave Van Domelon representing Sea Star Gardening, and Ed Strange, who has just this past week retired and passed on his business, Strange Landscaping, into new hands. (I wonder if the new owner will change the name?)

We started with mimosas. Pam, Todd, Dave (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

Todd had brought carrots, beets, zucchini and lettuce from his amazing family veg garden (Allan’s photo)

As always at Steve and John’s, the food was delectable.

Allan’s photo

Dave, Pam, Steve, me

Ed, Todd, and John (Allan’s photo)

After a good long lunch and chat, Ed departed because he had much to do.  He has started a new business doing estate sales, at which he will excel.  The rest of us went on a tour throughout the garden, starting with the Willapa Bay (east) side.

the view from inside looking east

and the view to the north

There are about 80 clipped evergreen huckleberries in this bayside dell.

Hydrangeas ‘Bombshell’ and ‘Endless Summer’ at the north edge of the bayside garden; low tide on the bay.

We walked around the house to the driveway garden on the south side.

Here is Corokia x virgata ‘Sunsplash’…

which I know because John had his database notebook with him.

…which is something I keep meaning to do for my garden.

Allan’s photo

Allan’s photo

west side of the house

looking west down the south side of the driveway

As we continued our walk, I resolved this time to try to photograph the views of the garden as a whole rather than focusing so much on individual plants.  (It also takes less brain power, which is waning in August.)  The bright sunlight was not entirely conducive

looking across to the north side of the driveway

north side

north side

north side: Pittosporum ‘Tasman Ruffles’

Ulmus ‘Jacqueline Hillier’ demands a close look.

looking west down the driveway

We proceeded through the newest planting areas under the limbed up trees on the south side of the driveway.

the joy of plants (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

further along the south side, in a newly planted area (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo

A merged trunk to puzzle over (Allan’s photo)

A ruffly ligularia (farfugium) reminds me that I used to have this plant…(pretty sure)

a rhododendron with a mind of its own

my special silver leaved pet

Rhododendron degronianum ssp yakushimanum x R. pachysanthum

Rhododendron ‘Cherries and Merlot’, another one I especially like.

Podophyllum ‘Spotty Dotty’

right: Rhododendron sinogrande

Allan’s photo

all beautifully mulched

a young Itea illicifolia (Allan’s photo)

cryptomeria grove

Dave, Todd, John

Pam wanted to get into the sun (I liked the cool shade) and she and Steve went to the other side of the irrigation pond to the sunny borders.

a look back at the blissful shady cryptomeria grove

looking east toward the house

a frog in the irrigation pond (Allan’s photo)

Allan saw “hundreds and thousands” of tadpoles in the pond.

the north side of the pond

Monarda and Todd (Allan’s photo)

rudbeckia by the pond (Allan’s photo)

a young Camperdown elm

Pam, John, Steve, Todd, and a Berberis ‘Orange Rocket’ that was supposed to be columnar

Allan’s photo

a sit spot as we walk east toward the house

a sunny border

(The wooden boxes above are on the next door property.)

another sit spot

enviable hostas as we near the house

a gorgeous old hydrangea

a prostrate golden yew wending its way among rhododendrons

kitchen garden by the pump house

We had completed our tour, and the party dispersed because Pam needed to be in Astoria soon.

more garden talk before departing (Allan’s photo)

Allan’s photo: Steve, John, Pam, Todd, Dave, me

I wouldn’t have minded staying for cocktail hour! But we did want to show Pam our own garden, since she only makes it up here a couple of times a year.

postscript at our garden

On the way south, Pam stopped for a 20 minute tour at our place.

Allan’s photo

That was a good day out and inspired me to make some further plans for the shady bogsy wood at home.

 

 

 

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July 4: Bayside Garden

Wednesday, 4 July 2018

We continued our garden tour day with a relaxing late afternoon and evening at

The Bayside Garden.

Here is their map of their garden.  You can see this park-like collectors’ garden on July 21 when it is on the local garden tour; tickets available here.

rhododendron trio by the front door

The new boxes right along the property line are in the next door garden, which will also be on the tour.

John

the irrigation pond

After the earlier part of the day had been hot and muggy, we now had a cooling and quite pleasant rain.

There are many plants from Xera Plants in this garden, and Xera owner Paul Bonine got to see how they are faring at the coast.

John and Paul

Evan, Paul, and Ann

deer protection

Evan botanizing

Steve says “Bartlettina sordida (Dirty Thoroughwort or Blue Mist Flower) — Mexico native;  Rare in cultivation!”

This shiny little fellow is R. ‘Rwain’ (rhododendron without an important name)

Paul, Steve, Ann

R. sinogrande

Allan’s photo

R. rex ssp. fictolacteum

dogwood by the pond, close up

R. ‘Grandma’s Hat’

That’s Hydrangea ‘Lemon Daddy’

R. makinoi

my favourite: R. degronianum ssp yakushimanum x R. pachysanthum

newly planted area

Rhododendron ‘Cupcake’

other side of tidal stream

Acer platanoides ‘Rezak’

ladies in waiting

on the pump house roof

We repaired to the east side patio and sat.

our view

a gift from a friend

Ann and Paul

delicious morsels. The flower pot arrangement was also a gift from a friend.

martinis

Ann, Evan, and Paul were going to see the fireworks in Long Beach at dusk, and we had been touring for so long that they did not have time to go back to Ann’s family vacation house in Naselle (half an hour away).  Steve and John kindly rustled up a delicious pasta dinner to keep us all fortified.

photo by Ann Amato (Evan, John, Steve, Paul, me)

The end of a perfect day:

Steve’s photo: me, Allan, Evan (Plant Lust), Paul (Xera Plants), John (Bayside Garden), Ann (Spiffy Seeds/Cistus Nursery)

 

 

 

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