Flinging at the Risdahl-Pittman Garden (my second time)

It's time to dip back into the gardens I visited as part of last summer's Garden Fling up in the Puget Sound area. The long weekend was a mix great of gardens I'd previously toured and ones that were new to me. This week I thought it would be fun to write about a few of the private gardens that I'd visited before and link back to my first visit, maybe compare and contrast. I'm starting at the Risdahl-Pittman garden...

My first visit to this garden was in June of 2022 (here), it was part of the Northwest Perennial Alliance Study Weekend—an event that rotates between different cities and groups in the PNW (this year's event will be in the Portland area, hosted by the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon). 

That first visit was on an overcast drippy day and I think there was one other person in the garden while I was there. This visit was sunny, warm, and the garden was full of people.

The consistent factor was the fabulousness of the garden.

Attention to detail...

And excellent plantswomanship ("Plantsmanship is knowledge of the diversity of plants and their cultivation..." source), I make the distinction because I believe Susan (rather than Guy) is the primary gardener here. That lady in pink—who so nicely brings out the pink of the hydrangea—is Janet Davis of  The Paintbox Garden.

While Susan is the gardener, Guy is the hardscape guru, and builder of their fantastic greenhouse. 

Which sadly I only got a couple lame photos of. There are definitely better greenhouse photos from my last visit.

Daphne x houtteana

I was thrilled to see there plant is still alive, as mine sadly is not.

Off in the distance is the tool shed and storage space.

Our first peek at the interesting pond and surrounding hardscape.

When chatting with Guy during my previous visit said the pond and it's surrounding features were there when they bought the home. Flinger for scale...

Here's more of our group, that's Tamara (Chickadee Gardens) in the pink, the two fellows across the planting island are Justin (microbotanica) and Max, the lady with the striking white hair and black top is Denise (A Growing Obsession)...

I definitely took fewer plant focused photos in the garden this visit, it goes to show you what happens when your chatting up your fellow plant people!

Fancy rhododendrons, Perhaps R. 'Golfer' in front and R. orbiculare at the back.

Rhododendron orbiculare (?)

Athyrium otophorum

This area was under construction, or just completed, during my previous visit. It's definitely in full-swing now.

I'd just purchased a Parthenocissus henryana at our Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden stop earlier that day, so it was fun to see this one looking good against the dark wall.

Then again everything looked good against that dark wall!

Hmm, I have no idea what this beauty is.

And I'm definitely out of order now, as I can see the pond area in the background—it just goes to show you how I wandered around the garden enjoying it all.

If you can swing it it's a great experience to visit private gardens repeatedly over time and see how the plants grow (or not) and how the areas change as a result of that, or the owners desire for something new. Susan and Guy if you're reading I guess that means I'll be back again in 2026!

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

The Kuzma/Halme Garden, 2024 visit (Part Two)

Okay, here we are again, in the back garden at the Kuzma/Halme home as seen last August (Part One of the tour here). Isn't that blooming agave a sight?

Aerial lily pads of blooms, that's what I see.

The bees were working their way around those lily pads and making them vibrate a bit. A spent bloom dropped to the plant below as I stood there watching.

Over to the sad Jubaea chilensis now, which is pushing out new growth (this is a different plant than the one I showed Wednesday). Last week John Kuzma sent me a photo with crown protection in place around the top of this plant, for winter. It's gonna take awhile, but it will be beautiful once again (fingers crossed).

Around it's base. I assume those are babies from the mama plant?

There was a lot of color in the garden during my visit...

Looking back across the back courtyard...

John has left the wind-damaged, cattywampus trachycarpus fronds in place, which is what you're supposed to do (the old fronds help to feed the new growth). I just couldn't take looking at them and pruned mine off early in the summer. John is a good palm daddy...

Notholithocarpus densiflorus, I think?

It's really time to give Melianthus major another go in my garden. That foliage is just fantastic.

So many colocasia!

I think that's a new Aloiampelos striatula / Aloe striatula planting, or maybe John pulled and protected it.

I have one tiny (2" tall) plant that's attempting to regrow from the roots of the plant I lost in my garden.

The anigozanthos / kangaroo paw were lush with blooms...

Same for the Erythrostemon gilliesii, the garden really was looking fantastic!

Positively dreamy...

The size of the datura is pretty amazing isn't it?

I think this abutilon is my favorite in the garden.

I didn't manage to capture anything for scale but the gunnera was enormous.

This orange/red urn is such an iconic visual place-maker in the garden. I looked back to see if it showed up in my first post from 2011 and it did not. It was there in 2012 though, and has been every year since. 

I remember first seeing these palms as little short things dotted around the garden in (what felt like at the time) odd places. Now their trunks are all I could get in the photo and they set the tone for this whole section of the garden. Oh, and they look fabulous with the Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Theta' established on their trunks.

A new plant to me during this visit (which I've since bought and hope mine looks this good next year), Hemiboea subacaulis var. jiangxiensis.

Another good-looking abutilon.

Ferny goodness with a few arisaema mixed in.

And with the fabulous foliage of a variegated daphniphyllum, this year's visit comes to a close. I can't wait to see what the garden looks like this summer...

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.