Hortlandia Fling Garden Tours / Day Three, Two Gardens (that's a wrap!)

By the time the third day of "Hortlandia Fling" garden touring came around I was whooped and didn't take many photos. Thus today's post includes both of the last gardens we saw, my friend Heather's garden (she of the blog Just a Girl with a Hammer) and my friend Eric's garden, the one with that amazing greenhouse. We start at Heather's and her VERY SPIKY front garden. Look at all of those agaves!

Maybe because it was early April (the 5th) and some of the bloomers weren't up yet, but her garden seemed so much spiker than I've ever seen it. Heather is usually more of a flower floozie.

I love the spikes, so I was in awe...

Yucca linearifolia

The first wide shot at the top of the page was taken looking east, this one is looking west. The leafless tree in the background is a dogwood (pink blooming, they're EVERYWHERE in Portland) in the neighbor's front garden.

Check out the bent tips on this agave...

Gerhard said it was something he'd seen in tissue cultured agaves.

One last front garden shot, and it includes a palm. Heather has gone off the deep-end and fully embraced her love of palms. I forgot one had made it into the front garden, its friends (and there are many) are all in the back.

Sadly I only took photos of two plants in the back garden, first her Arisaema ringens, which were so much more BOLD than my plants.

And then a container of strappy ferns, Lepisorus bicolor and L. pseudoussuriensis 'Taoshan'. I oohed and awed over the L. pseudoussuriensis 'Taoshan' enough that kind Heather divided her plant and shared a chunk with me, thank you Heather!

Off to Eric's, where he'd warned us the garden was in spring project mode and not looking it's best. Uhm, right. We were all blown away.

Inside the spectacular greenhouse, which he built himself, making every stained-glass windowpane, cutting, hammering and staining every piece of wood...

Sourcing, wiring and installing the cool light fixtures...

And then of course adding all the plants...

Many (most) of these spend winter inside the greenhouse...

Another shot, because that thing just begs to have it's photo taken.

"When pigs fly"...

Okay, on to the plant pics!

At least a couple of those Yucca rostrata are from the same rescue where I ended up with Holman.

Opuntia growing ON the rock fireplace... (also built by Eric).

The variegated Agave americana looks like it's in a banana cage.

See what I mean?

The agave in the large pot is the only one that made it from the epic agave rescue I wrote about back in 2023.

Sadly the huge one didn't make it.

I do love a magnolia...

I wish I remembered which one this is.

Okay, wrapping up this post, and the Hortlandia "Fling" Tours with another greenhouse shot, it seems fitting...

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Hortlandia Fling Garden Tours / Day Two, Garden Two; Bella Madrona

The next stop on Saturday of our Hortlandia weekend adventure was Bella Madrona, aka The Garden of Sampson and Beasley, aka the home of Caper and Olive...

These two have been a constant for me since my first visit to this garden back in 2013 when the team was planning the Portland Fling. My heart broke a little when I learned this would probably be the last time I got to love on Olive, the black pug. They are such soft sweethearts.

Gerhard had requested this visit (he was one of the 2014 Fling visitors, and also did a great write-up on this visit, here) and I was thrilled when Geoff Beasley said yes to my request. This shot is looking back at the entrance, sans Caper and Olive.

This is the third spring in a row I've visited (2024 here, 2025 here), there's a certain kind of comfortable thrill (I know, that doesn't seem to make sense, but just go with it) when you visit a garden consistently enough to really know it. You know what lies "just around the bend", you anticipate favorite spots and vistas, and you are jolted out of that ease when you see something new. 

Marcia Donahue, Gerhard, Geoff.

This visit, on April 4th, is the earliest in the year I've been in the garden. Thanks to a mild winter, established plants, and tons of interesting hardscape and artistic elements it didn't feel early at all.

It was fantastic.

Marcia was right next to me when I paused to appreciate her face sculptures...

Melianthus major blooming, thanks to our mild winter.

I love this fountain!

Here it is in motion...

Gerhard, Max, Jerry.

Looking up at the waterfall.

And another view with the water in motion... (that's Jerry and Jeffrey Bale at the end)

Oh! Man down!

Bowling? Shot put? (sports never was my thing)

Yes the gnomes were out...

And the trees were in bloom.

Such a great visit...

Caleb, Jerry, Geoff and Max...

Our merry band of garden travelers continued on to a stop at the Kuzma/Halme Garden (I was playing garden tour guide and didn't manage many photos, so there will be no post) and then to Cistus Nursery and a gathering at Rancho Cistus, the home of Sean Hogan and Preston Pew, where I also did not take photos. I suspect Gerhard will have a fabulous post though, so I will link to it when I can. Just one post left in this series for me! (it will be up next week)

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