2014 - Garden Bloggers Fling - Portland Japanese Garden

Our first stop on the second day of the 2014 Garden Blogger's Fling was at the Portland Japanese Gardens. It was another warm, sunny morning so the photography was a challenge again. Thank goodness for Photoshop.

With the challenging light, I stuck to the shadows and focused on the details. And of course those wonderful details were plentiful in such a well-designed Japanese garden.

Just as at the Lan Su Chinese Garden, I really enjoyed the pathways. While the Chinese Garden paths were composed of intricate stone mosaic patterns, the Japanese walkways appeared much more natural and embracing of the imperfect. The Chinese garden paths are all about pattern and geometry while the Japanese paths exemplify the concept of wabi-sabi, or that of embracing imperfection. I have to say I enjoy both styles equally.

Other constructed elements were beautifully integrated into the landscape - from the tree-framed gravel garden to the simple linear bench perched upon a rock wall.

Even natural parts of the landscape like the ponds and plants benefit from a bit of human touch such as some well-placed rocks or smoothly clipped azaleas. Even though Japanese gardens are high maintenance, those that maintain the gardens respect the wildness of nature and attempt to allow us to see that wildness more clearly by offsetting the perfect with the imperfect.

That contrast creates a beautiful tension at the Portland Japanese Garden. 

2014 Garden Bloggers Fling - Old Germantown Gardens

By the time we got to Old Germantown Gardens I was hot and tired. And I'm afraid my photos reflect it. I've posted the least bleary looking ones. Old Germantown Gardens is an amazing place - an expansive garden, sloping away from the house, quite sunny at first and increasingly shady towards the borders. I naturally headed to the shadiest spot I could find as soon as we arrived. 

Eventually I emerged into the light, central garden space. The beds were bursting with profusions of color. I'm afraid the strong light was unflattering to my photos and I didn't linger in the heat long enough to get many decent photos. 

This tree caught my eye, or maybe I should say caught my nose. I could smell it's deliciously scented flowers throughout the garden and finally tracked the fragrance to the creamy blossoms of this fairly tall tree. The bees had obviously tracked it down too and its canopy was vibrating with hundreds of bees. I asked the owner the name of the tree and wrote it down but have misplaced my note somewhere. If anybody recognizes the tree let me know! 

To the side of the garden was the dry garden, even hotter, but full of well-drained-soil loving plants like Penstemons and Yuccas. I tend to like those scrappy, tough plants so I throughly enjoyed this section despite the heat. And the well-placed water fountain was a nice touch too. 

Just up the hill from the dry garden was a seating area with a fairly tropical feel. It was a nice contrast to the dryness below and quite refreshing. 

Closer to the house I found the greenhouse with lots of botanical treats inside. Some amazing old specimens looking fantastic against the clever, blue-walled backdrop. 

I'd love to visit Old Germantown Gardens again, preferably on a cooler day. I feel like there were so many lovelies I missed. Such a spectacular garden, I would have had so many more photos if the weather had been kinder. 

2014 Garden Bloggers Fling - Cistus Nursery and Joy Creek Nursery

After visiting the Lan Su Chinese Garden, we headed over to Cistus Nursery and Joy Creek Nursery. I've always wanted to go to Cistus so I was very excited, practically pushing people out of the way to get off the bus when we arrived. We only had an hour at Cistus, which really wasn't enough time (grumble grumble) for me to look at the plants for sale and to check out the gardens. By the time I'd selected my purchases it was time to go so I don't have many photos of the garden. I was trying to photograph on my way out as danger garden was (politely) yelling at me to get back on the bus. 

By the way it was pretty hot out. This poor doggie in his heavy fur coat managed to find the shadiest, dampest spot he could. 

They have a fun system at the nursery that helps you locate fragrant plants. 

I picked up a younger version of this wide-leaved fern. It's doing just fine with my rather forgetful watering. 

This was a pretty nifty Acanthus I'd not seen before. A little too prickly to take home on the plane though. And this giant duck I did not notice until I was leaving the nursery. I must have had my nose stuck down in the plants the whole time. 

I need this for my house. 

After Cistus we headed over to Joy Creek. We had more time at Joy Creek since we were also having lunch and presentations here. The gardens were lovely. I'm glad I had time to roam. 

Of course a lot of the gardens are used as growing grounds for material for propagation. 

Kate Walz of Gardening and Gardens perfectly matched one of the fuchsias. 

There was lots of drama too (thankfully just by the plants).

I loved this Viburnum. Anyone know which one it is? 

The shopping area was over by a neat, big ol' barn. 

Next we'll head on over to Old Germantown Gardens and then end the day at Westwind Farm Studio. See you soon.