Fall Round Up

Our summer was a bit of a dud here in the NW due to El Niño. What's funny is that I remember another summer like this during the 80s when I was a young girl. My family lived on a medium-sized creek and each summer I was able to purchase a new raft for my own use. Usually I just tied it up under some overarching bushes, and with my trusted radio by my side, I'd read all day. That summer, it was just too cold to hang out in the creek all day, and I feel the disappointed feelings of that memory creeping over me as I write this. I don't think I like El Niño a lot.

Yesterday, while cleaning up my overgrown jungle with a weekender foster child, I saw these blooms and I knew what they meant. Ah, how I adore my Cyclamen, but they are the bellwether of autumn whether I like it or not.

Cyclamen hederifolium

This little darling popped up and I have no idea what it is, but I would love to find out if any of you have and idea. I am sure that I planted it, and that it is in my database, but I just need a hint to figure it out. There are at least 729 entries in my spreadsheet now. Yikes! 

Sedums and the like are some of my favorite little garden friends. This is an image of Old Man's Bones. 

Sedum globosum

Another thing I have become more and more proud of are my ivy topiary items. Since ivy is considered the ultimate evil in these parts, even if you just have the completely non-agressive type, I keep it around just in case. The leaves on this are the tiniest I have ever seen. 

Hedera helix 'spetchley'

I only have one of these that's made it through my neglectful care this past season. I purchased the seeds from Thompson and Morgan and I intend to grow more of these next season. I have never seen such amazing dark leaves on an annual snapdragon. 

Antirrhinum majus nanum 'bronze dragon'

The last single specimen plant in my garden that I am showing is my dwarf pomegranate shrub. I am really sad that it did not make it very far this year. We have tons of blooms, but nothing resembling a small fruit is anywhere near making it. It is a true perennial in this climate though, and I don't regret planting it at all. Last year I had two small pomegranates so I can wait another year to try again. (I have harvested about 50 figs from my dwarf fig tree so I am quite happy with the fruits of my labors.)

Punica granatum var nana

Here is the pomegranate in context. It is to the bottom left in the corner of this picture. The grapes are escaping their supports in this picture and are about to reach out to strangle their neighbors. (These are Italian wine grapes. I planted them to remind me of all the hard work my husband does making wine down in California.)

This picture is meant to show how unremarkable our porch is this year. Typically, the porch would be lit up with late summer color. I have color, but it just didn't really grow enough. Better luck next season. I WILL be back.

Here is the cleaned up front area. In my mind, it is the least attractive area in our garden. I think it is due to the heat during the summer. The Provence lavender was finally harvested at least for crafts and gifts. It had eaten the sidewalk and folks would walk around it to avoid it. Now I will be able to watch more neighbors walk by since they won't avoid our side of the street anymore. 

The backyard and I have a love/hate relationship. The greatest accomplishment back there this past season though was the additional growth of items that block our view of the small apartment building behind us. I have hated the view of this building for some time, and I really don't like the walkway that is frequently used by the tenants and their continued curiosity, as well as their loud cell conversations. Maybe I should add that I would also like a sound buffer from the busy street a house away from me, and that maybe next summer, I might like to have an outdoor movie setup but I have to protect them from my noise then too so it is a two-way street, right? I want to be a good neighbor, really I do. 

Oh, and this is my big boy Maurice. He has had a rough summer with the foster kids and has taken to living privately in the basement with his friend Mona. He has been mishandled by too many kids these past few months and today we spent several hours alone together in the garden. He was very happy.

The Front Porch Makeover

This is probably not the best picture of the porch at night, but it was the best I could do since it was so cold and wet out this evening that I was shaking too much to do the night scene setting on my camera justice. (I am not a tripod as much as I'd like to be sometimes. NOTE TO SELF: purchase the silly tripod already!)


Ever since we moved in several years ago the front porch has not really been used in the way I would have like for it to have been used. Most notably, I've wanted it not just to be used by cats, and I wanted as much sitting space as could be possible comfortably since it's rather small. Last year I purchased a bench without a back, but this year, thanks to our local IKEA, I was able to purchase the perfect white folding bench with a back for those of us with bad backs. Now I can sit in peace, even when I am experiencing a great deal of pain. There is room for a foster child, my husband—if he could only return home from that vineyard in California!, a cat or two, and even a niece or neighbor on the railing that cannot be seen in the picture. (It's one of those old concrete stucco balustrades.)


My advice to all homeowners is to do up your porch when you move in. This way you can meet your neighbors, find summer homes for your houseplants, and have a tiny bit more space. (More to follow since I have a lot of special plants out there so that I can enjoy them on the porch too.)

Les Trois Petits Cochons

So here is my story of Les Trois Petits Cochons. In my past life as an uptight overachiever, I never would have imagined that these would have ever ended up living here with us, but I was drawn to them by the touching story that brought them into my family's possession.


One day, after work, my Great-Grandma Lucy walked home from the diner she owned to get my Grandma Ila, who at the time, was her next door neighbor. She told Grandma Ila that she had a surprise for her, and that they needed to drive back to pick it up. 


When she saw the pigs, Grandma Ila was overcome with emotion. Her mother had replaced the three little pigs she'd been forced to leave behind as a child when they left the Great Plains during the Great Depression. After all that time, her mom had remembered! 


So now, maybe 40 years later, they are city pigs, living on my tiny stage.


Obviously, I'm not afraid to call a pig a garden pig, but in this case, these pigs have a new life as Les Trois Petits Cochons for a reason. My husband (the Chef)—after we'd both noticed that the pigs were 100% male from behind—chose to name them after three famous French chefs. Having them here with us assures me that all of our parties will have only the finest food, and the best of company. The garden cats aren't too bad either for company though. This is Meng (a neighbor cat) trying to teach his friends to walk.

Good Shrub Cut, Bad Shrub Cut

Here are a few ideas for those of you out there who have the patience to train shrubs, and for those with a sense of humor, I've included the last example.

This is an amazing yew I found one day when I had to park and then walk to a nearby pharmacy for a special compounded medication for my swelling disease. To say the least, the charm of this bush dismissed my irksome mood concerning the steroids. It is simply an area most people would ignore, on the north side of an old auto dealership building, and this is what they've done with it. It still makes me smile.

This little archway has amazed me for years. I first noticed it when we moved to the neighborhood almost 6 years ago. Again, this is a yew, but this time the front of the building is facing west so it gets more sun than the dealership. I have yews in my garden, and it is likely that I will do this with my narrow yews someday, but it will have to be added to that long list of things to do. Lucky for me they are still large enough for me to move with ease, and I'm young-ish. Yews do grow slowly.

Lastly, there is this yard. It too is in the neighborhood and is down the block from the last one. Why would you do this, right!?! This has to be one of the lowest maintenance looks I have ever seen, except those trims probably take awhile. The shrubs are never allowed to grow together and are trimmed so that there is always space between the bushes. At least it's drought tolerant.

Spring Plant Sales

It is that crazy time of year again. There are tons of plant sales, so many poor plants out there in search of a home, and here I am pining away—as usual. I don't even know what I want, but I know that I want it. This pain inside of me is so bad that I love it when I can share it with someone else who feels the same burning need themselves.

My current plant obsessed gardening partner is out of the country right now, but that did not stop me from asking her what she wanted. Her distance did not stop her from giving me a short list of things to look for this upcoming weekend. What I didn't tell her is that this weekend will be amazing. (She is still new to the area.)

So, to all those who may care, here is the list of Spring Plant Sales:
Sat & Sun: HPSO (Hardy Plant Society of Oregon) sale at the Expo Center
Sat: Villa Garden Club Plant Sale, a local plant club sale at a local church on top of Mt Tabor on SE Stark
Sat: The annual Leach Botanical Garden fundraising sale
Sat: Earth Day at The Oregon Garden
Sun: Beginning of the Berry Botanic members' sale as they clear out their nursery

I Moved a Garden

Several years ago, when we moved into our first home, I moved all of my plants from our rental home over to this one. Of course, there were a few improvements which I left behind, but, for the most part, I dug up at least 100 plants with the help of a friend from Poland, family, and my husband. The neighbors later told me that they weren't sure if I was a homeowner or a landscaper. I still laugh about that to this day. When I think of all of the crazy things I have done, this was certainly one of the funniest.