Wordless Wednesday: The House & Garden of My Childhood

Penny the guard dog.

Mom the Estate Gardener working hard to finish her latest project—a tile deck.
If interested in how she did it check out: http://www.gratedex.com/ 

Growth Takes Time—At Least for Me

I used to tell people jokingly that our house just happened to be in my garden. This is no longer a laughing matter though as I enter into that next phase of deciding what to do with my life and my belongings—even the green ones. 

Yes, divorce takes time. I see that now. It's not like I will wake up tomorrow and the instant nearly overnight beauty of the mature Japanese maple and some choice tulips will be what my life will look like. I think my current new growth will take some time. 

As I grow I will observe, and not judge. Like a gardener tending to a new plant, I will decide what kind of growing conditions are needed and I will watch and wait. If I need to be moved somewhere else to flourish, I will be moved. 

Recently, as I've been walking around Portland I've been thinking about the similarities and differences I have with plants, and the activity has been more informative than I'd imagined it would be and so much more positive than several of the alternatives...

The Laburnum tree that I grew from seed didn't take long at all before it started to put on its show.

I won't grow at that rate though and I am alright with that.

For those who know me you're bound to agree that I can be as tacky and as flashy as the hot pink Azaleas people are always trying to get rid of in the FREE section of Craigslist—at least they do this in the Portland area.

I am part Italian after all and I do love to be a bit over the top at times.

Then there is a lot about me that needs to be looked at closely to be examined and I have to examine it regularly myself. Sadly this does make me a bit of a ruminator, but just so long as my illness stays in remission and I can take that ruminating behavior to the streets, it's not at all the issue it can become when I am required to be physically inactive due to my health problems.   

I know this now and it is the teeny bit of green I'm currently proud to wear. (At least here I have seen growth—lots of it!) 

There are also those dainty girl moments which I've been having far more of recently. They don't need to be discussed here necessarily, but let's just say that my friend pampered me and she took me to have a mani/pedi in California and it was great fun for a change. I had no idea either that an eyebrow waxing could be as exciting as pruning a shrub but there you go. I learned something completely new!

Overall I do feel like the special plant, unusual, hard-to-find, maybe a bit damaged and bruised on the sale rack right now. I am that item most gardeners will pass up because I cost too much, or look a bit odd and my novelty may not come in the correct color for their garden. Ok, I might even need a bit of extra care and attention.

Looking at my illness this way has been a relief. Honestly it has been because I think all of what I just wrote is very true for many of us living with chronic illness.

Sometimes I burst open at the seams a bit and explode like my Clematis did while I was in California. That's ok too I think, and maybe it makes me more common, and less likely to be as delicate as I sometimes think that I am. 

Things I will never go without though as I change and grow will be my tall boots and my odd choice of hot pink luggage with polka dots. Life is too short to be dull and colorless.

This is at my core. These items will remain at my center. They are part of what identify me as who I am.

My humor is also at the center of who I am and remembering why I'm called Annie, and how much I love hearing it with an Irish brogue. This too is part of where I come from and I am proud to have known some very amazing Irish priests.

Lastly, to help me as I grow I will not miss out on my deepest and darkest of treats. There are many foods which I love, but my love of pommes frites with truffle oil, parmesan cheese, and squid ink aioli reaches such depths that I truly would be lost without them. 

So yes, it's an in between phase for me. I am growing but it is slow and as I do so I am noting what characteristics define me and where I am best suited in the design of things. In all seriousness, thinking like this has been far more beneficial than any book or online posting I've read about the divorce process. I guess I really do just see things through nature and plants, and yes, I really do still believe that the house just happens to be in my garden. 

I just don't know yet if I can grow here anymore.

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden (Portland, Oregon)

Ever since I can remember I've been visiting what my family always referred to as The Rhododendron Garden, though nowadays, I've finally started calling it by a name others actually recognize: Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. 

The garden was started back in 1950, when my dad was a boy, and not long after my Grandfather Salvatore, aka Sam, had returned home from World War II. Situated at the southeastern edge of Portland, it sits right in the middle of my Portland universe. 

For about a decade or so I didn't visit the garden at all. Instead I was spending more time with friends, and less and less with family, and now that I have been gardening for about 10 years, I love to visit there more. 

With over 2,500 Rhododendrons, azaleas, and other plants, the setting is idyllic. 

The garden is great if you need planting ideas. 

Fringe Cup. Tellima grandiflora. 

Wood Anemone. Anemone nemorosa 'Flore Pleno'.

It is also a great place for some color after all the grey rain. 

Not long ago this retaining wall with ferns was added. I have enjoyed watching it grow and change but part of me really wants them to add a stumpery just so I can say that we have one here in Portland. (I know they are all over the place in the woods, but to have an official one would seriously crack me up.)

I have one of these in our garden but it's barely alive. Ours has been broken, stepped on, and tripped over, and it's alive, but it doesn't look this nice. 

Spider Azalea. Rhododendron stenopetalum Linearifolium.

To see a Rhododendron tree in bloom in the middle of the woods is a sight to behold.

Nearby, the carpet of primroses was breathtaking and it was great to see an art class painting en plein air. I want to draw again so badly but I simply have too much to do. Maybe that will be added to my long list of things.

Primula pulverulenta.

Then there are those azaleas!

There are a lot of reds in the Crystal Springs garden, and I know that not everyone loves red, but I am fond of the color. 

Rhododendron ibex.

These colors work too. 

There was no tag on this one, but I found the lighter green foliage rather interesting with the pale violet blooms. It must be an early bloomer since it's already beginning to fade. 

Here is a Cercis in bloom with an accompaniment of Rhododendron. 

Have you ever seen a purple like this reaching for the sky? Neither have I. 

I added these two reds because I grew up with them. The big bloom in the middle is the hybrid Rhododendron 'Jean Marie de Montagu' and the smaller bloom in the back is most likely a Hino-Crimson azalea. The only other classic crimson combinations would be a Rhododendron 'Vulcan' and a Wards Ruby azalea. I only know these because my mom stuffed her acre sized garden with them and I loved red so I was kind of all about those blooms each spring. 

(As a kid, I would sit on my thick fuzzy red blanket in an ocean of lawn at my parents' house for hours and hours at a time. My mom didn't need to put me in a playpen since I wouldn't touch the grass. I know. I was a weird kid.)

Here is another bank of azalea blooms. 

This is my favorite yellow Rhododendron.

Rhododendron lutescens.

Beside the lake, after you cross the bridge to the island, you'll see a weeping cherry tree. 

On the return trip back, this is the same bridge. Even when packed with folks during the springtime, it is enchanting. 

The other bridge is back at the entrance. This is the Moon Bridge as seen from above. It was also at the beginning of this post, but from below. 

 

Before I go though, I should mention the birds. There are a lot of birds, but most of all, there are water birds because the garden is both surrounded by, and is full of, water.

Pair of Mallard ducks sleeping in a tree. 

Geese and a gosling. 

The garden sits across the street from Reed College—a fine institution of higher learning. Though I never attended the school as a student, I did spend a lot of time on the campus with two of my best friends during their years as undergraduates. That was a long time ago though.

Due to the busy season at the garden, and because the small lot was reserved for a film crew, I had to park in the school's parking lot. So, on my way back to the car, I noticed these gorgeous Ceanothuses in bloom and the short walk was worth it!

Back at home I worked on my pile of plants this afternoon. Funny I hadn't noticed that a Candelabra Primrose was beginning to bloom, but I sure noticed it today! How rewarding to see this after having cared for it for a year or two. It is another primrose I've grown from seed and I cannot wait for it to give me more babies.

Primula pulverulenta.

My native Rhododendron occidentale has not yet burst open, but I am watching it closely. This is one of those plants that your nose may notice much sooner than your eyes. 

Lastly, if you made it this far, the American Rhododendron Society will be in Vancouver, Washington this week for their convention. So if you have the time, you should check it out:
American Rhododendron Society Presents The World in Your Garden May 11-15, 2011
Heathman Lodge, Vancouver, WA