GardenBook

  In January I typically try to work on my  ever burgeoning photo files; adding keywords, deleting the crappy images, mapping and editing , and it was during this process I realized I had many photos of gardens I had never  shared on the blog. Since it is apparently never going to stop raining this winter I plan to put together a few Throwback Thursday posts featuring some of these past garden visits.   In the summer of 2012 I and a group of gardening friends toured the Pacific Northwest . It was a memorable trip that included among others, the garden of Little and Lewis (since closed to tours) Dan Hinkleys' Windcliff ( no photos allowed in those days) the Danger Garden and a visit to the iconic private garden of Linda Cochran. How we managed to score a private tour of Lindas' garden I can't recall, but I do know I can't take credit for it. Nevertheless it is all the more a significant visit to me now; this home and garden were sold and Linda has started a new, s...

 Les over at Tidewater Gardener posted a gentle challenge for fellow bloggers to post favorite images of 2012. This seemed like a fun and easy exercise, until I delved into my image files and found I had over 3,000 from 2012 alone. Part of my problem is the inability to dispassionately dispose of the marginal shots, and after installing new photo editing software this fall, I am using these to practice my still novice editing skills. At some point the external hard drive will run out of space and decisions will have to be made. For the time being I wallow in my crop tools, clarity, contrast, noise reduction etc.  I took several road trips this year , and have selected photos from each. My spring road trip was a short journey to UC Santa Cruz Arboretum. I took a couple hundred shots there, but I'm partial to this one.   In February I took  a Sunday morning drive to Bodega Bay, and as luck would have it , the skies were fairly clear and the Echiums ...

  The first chapter of  George Little and David Lewis's iconic book "A Garden Gallery" is titled 'Gardening from Within'  -such a simple phrase but infused with the truth of what gardening truly is for many of us. Visceral , and from the gut, bathed in emotion. Joy, frustration, serenity , anger, fatigue-it's all there. My friends and I entered the gate of the Little and Lewis garden on Bainbridge Island and stepped into an intimate world of plants, art and water created by these 2 artists , drenched in atmospere , the canvas for their art. The artists eye and intuition is a wonderful gift when making a garden.  The water features they have created are here are quite lovely, and they were kind enough to explain the how-to  of a few of them, including their wintering over strategies. This serene moss-infused number started it's life as a humble galvanized stock tank. Simple but beautiful . The rain tree ! Signature concr...

 Such an unworthy emotion, envy. So small ,so futile. Technically, I can grow Hostas here. They are sold in garden centers and are sometimes seen in local OPG's.  I've bought them and planted them only to watch them either completely disappear or turn into fishnet.Now in full retreat, I was conquered by the slimy mollusks -ingeniously they simply moved in and set up housekeeping in and on the Hostas;they never had to visit the ground beneath where my penny rings , Sluggo pellets and in dire emergencies, Corrys Slug and Snail Death lay in wait.   So, admitting failure,  I travel to places where they thrive and take pictures, swallowing my envy. Little and Lewis gallery, Bainbridge Island Washington Kinzy Faire , Estacada Oregon Private garden , Bainbridge Island Private garden, eastern Massachusetts Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, Boothbay White Flower Farm, Litchfield  Conneticut  I have a spot open. I really could ...