Meet Darcy Daniels, garden designer and creator of eGardenGo, a resource she created to help gardeners easily choose beautiful plant combinations to reflect their personal style.  Darcy gardens in NE Portland, USDA Zone 8b, and we are excited to feature her profile on the HPSO blog so we can all get to know her better!  How did I become involved in gardening professionally? I’d always loved plants when I was growing up, but it wasn’t until I bought a house in 1998 that things changed. The house is a small bungalow, and when I moved in, it had no garden… 

What do you get when a meticulous gardener with an eye for color teams up with a master craftsman? A truly one of a kind, unique garden bursting with personality. Mary and Harlan Courtney started gardening on their property in 2015 and as they gave a tour during their HPSO Open Garden day in August 2021, their excitement and love for the garden was obvious. Perched in the hills in Banks, Oregon, stunning views of the forest surround Mary and Harlan’s gorgeous garden full of fun. The Garden Layout & Design You won’t find straight lines in the garden –… 

The easy answer to creating a garden that looks just as good in January as it does in July is to plant more evergreens. But the skill comes in designing an evergreen garden that you want to enjoy for several months of the year without turning your backyard into an arborvitae-filled parking lot. Pomarius Nursery in Portland, Oregon, is a testament to that skill. The nursery is a prime example of how to use both tried-and-true evergreens and unique varieties in garden design to keep your garden looking fresh and modern – even through the winter. The wide range of… 

ARTICLE BY: LOREE BOHL Loree Bohl is an HPSO Board Member and the lady behind the blog Danger Garden, she’s a freelance garden writer and a spiky plant lover who grows desert loving plants here in Oregon. This article originally appeared in the Rock Garden Quarterly, the journal of the North American Rock Gardening Society, it is republished here with their permission. *** Summers in Portland, Oregon, are the stunning reward for our long, wet, grey and cool winters. Summer days are sunny and the weather is warm (some would say hot, and after the temperature records set this last summer I… 

ARTICLE BY: Françoise Weeks Françoise Weeks, born and raised in Belgium, has infused her work with a quintessential European reverence for flowers and nature. Combined with creativity and mechanical ingenuity, she has crystalized her singular style of Textural Woodlands and Botanical Haute Couture pieces, garnering a global following. Françoise’s studio is located in Portland, OR. She teaches workshops in her studio, out of state and internationally; she offers online courses and Skype classes as well. In January 2019 her book The Herbal Recipe Keeper will be published by Timber Press. *** In 1996 I started my flower business. Eleven years… 

Just because the trees are not from Japan, it doesn’t mean the integrity and taste of the Japanese garden are compromised…thinking like a Japanese gardener, practicing the composition of Japanese garden design, applying the practice, and the consistent fostering of the garden are what keeps the authenticity. –Takeshi Kato, garden craftsman, Ueyakato Landscape Co. Ltd, Kyoto Visitors to the Portland Japanese Garden frequently ask whether all our plants are Japanese natives. The answer is that many are, but some aren’t. The Pacific Northwest Japanese garden is an original form with its own history and identity, and not merely a piece… 

ARTICLE BY: JEANNE DEBENEDETTI KEYES Jeanne DeBenedetti Keyes is a member of the HPSO Board where she is on on the Gen(I)us Series Planning committee. *** Why do we decide to create a garden? Are we tired of looking at the same, overgrown shrubs that seem to suck precious free time in summer with trimming projects? Do we want to remove invasive plants that just spread seed around, producing millions of little seedlings? Do we want to provide habitat for birds, bees, butterflies and other creatures large and small? Do we need privacy from the street and pedestrian traffic? How… 

ARTICLE BY: VANESSA GARDNER NAGEL Vanessa Gardner Nagel, APLD, NCIDQ is a member of HPSO, and a Nationally-Certified Landscape Designer, Author, and Lecturer. She’s served as a Design judge for Garden Design Magazine at 2018 NWFGS, and the upcoming 2018 APLD International Design Competition. She owns Seasons Garden Design, an award-winning, sustainable landscape design company serving the Portland, OR and SW Washington regions. *** Sometimes designers have to travel far away to discover great garden ideas. A few years ago while visiting Rome, I saw an intriguing soil retention method on the Palatine Hill. There, 5” diameter logs were driven… 

ARTICLE BY: LOREE BOHL Loree Bohl is a HPSO Board Member, Pacific Horticulture Society Board Member, the mastermind behind Danger Garden, a garden writer, and a spiky plant lover. *** I’m a firm believer in bringing the garden indoors whenever possible. Before they’re tossed in the yard waste bin prunings are evaluated for vase-worthiness. During the winter months it’s even more important, if you can’t be out in the garden then bring the garden indoors! Fallen leaves, cones, bits of moss — all fair game for displaying on the mantle. I typically decorate for the holidays on the Friday after…