February in Oregon is often a dreary time. There are signs that spring is on the way – daffodils and tulips poking out of the ground, a few brave early blooms. While we may be itching to get out in the garden, there’s still a couple months before the risk of frost is over. However, there’s no better place to be in February than in Tamara & David’s 2-acre garden in Saint Helens. Tamara documents her garden on her blog, Chickadee Gardens, and plans to open their garden for tours this summer for HPSO members. Put it on your list…
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…
**Please note: The photos from this garden visit were taken by HPSO member Hayden Brown in February 2020, prior to COVID-19 restrictions. For more information on Northwest Garden Nursery’s restrictions due to the pandemic, visit their website at https://northwestgardennursery.com No matter what 2021 brings, we can count on our gardens to be there for us. Beyond the confines of our homes, nature’s cycles of death and regeneration continues. The seasons change, flowers bloom and fade, and our gardens need our attention. Personally, nothing gets me through this isolating, post-holiday slump better than the anticipation of a new gardening season. Most…
ARTICLE BY: Barbara Blossom Ashmun Barbara Blossom Ashmun is the author of seven books, most recently Love Letters to My Garden. *** When I first began to garden in the 1970s all I cared about was summer. Give me roses and peonies, cosmos and cleome, salvias and sunflowers. I lived for the culmination of color and fragrance. But as time went by I noticed that winter was when I craved color and fragrance the most. There was so little of it in my February garden that I drove to the florist and bought bouquets of cut flowers to cheer up…
ARTICLE BY: JOANNE FULLER Joanne Fuller is an HPSO member and volunteer who gardens in NE Portland. *** When I moved to my home in urban NE Portland 27 years ago I was not a gardener. I’d had house plants, and had gardened as a child, but I never owned a home or had a space to garden outside. The house was dark, the house plants began to die, and I turned my interest to the “yard” which consisted of long-neglected juniper, scruffy grass and sick trees. I don’t remember how I found the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, but…
ARTICLE BY: BETH HANSEN-WINTER Beth Winter is a HPSO Board Member, Photographer, Book Designer, and Hortiholic *** After 20 years of collecting, my husband began to chide me for having “too much” garden art. I must confess that when there are no leaves on the deciduous trees and shrubs to block the direct views, the garden IS a little bit crowded, but honestly, I don’t think one can have too much garden art! There are two things a garden needs in the winter when trees are bare and perennials are nonexistent: structural plants and garden art. Hardscaping defines a garden,…
ARTICLE BY: SEAN HOGAN, Originally Published in the HPSO Quarterly in Winter 2016 Sean Hogan is a HPSO member who most recently presented the lecture at Plantfest 2017 & owns Cistus Nursery *** Nearly 20 years ago I wrote a small article for a very good newsletter published by the late plantswoman Stephanie Feeney. Jeez, TWENTY years ago! Anyway, I had just come back to Portland and was frustrated by the overwhelming commercial availability of so many plants grown en masse here for export to points east like New Jersey, Denver, and Bend—you know, the whole east coast! Little in the…
