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

It was a partly cloudy morning last August when I made my annual pilgrimage (dating back to 2011) to John Kuzma and Kathleen Halme's SE Portland garden.

As we walked the garden John pointed out losses and damage from the epic storm of January 2024. I remember the mood being a little somber as we compared notes and discussed how bad it was. However with one notable exception (which you'll see at the end of this post) my photographs didn't capture much of that. Instead you see the same gorgeous garden we've come to know and love. 

Looking towards the house across the front garden courtyard.

I don't remember, but suspect this Agave ovatifilia must have been protected during the cold.

Yes, there's a house back there!

I've been rather vocal in my dislike of Fatsia japonica 'Spider's Web', but here it actually looks really good.

It sets off the rhododendron (might be R. pachysanthum, but I don't think so) perfectly.

The tree ferns! They're really gaining some size, those trunks are impressive.

John is a lover of abutilons and he grows them well.

Those Yucca rostrata! It's a family photo with crazy personality.

Something is missing at the fence line (it's a little more open), but I can't remember what.

This guy definitely got protection! Doesn't he look like an octopus slinking across the ground?

The sun was moving in and out of the clouds during my visit, so the lighting is all over the place; bright, then cloudy then bright again.

Into the back garden now and the chalky trunks of the eucalyptus...

Underplanted of course!

It's always temping to head up those stairs, but I rarely do. I have my usual route, and those stairs are the exit—although on this visit I walked down the stairs and then promptly turned around and did the pathway in reverse.

Several of the palms in the garden were hit hard. I know one of the Trachycarpus princeps has pushed new growth, I think that might be it in the center there, with the furry trunk.

Aren't these colocasia fabulous?

And I never tire of the water feature and it's colorful cannas.

Turning around towards the back of the house, we see a very sad palm, this was a beautiful Jubaea chilensis. John reports that since I took this photo it's been replaced with a Butia x Jubaea cross "that is apparently hardier and faster growing."

 

Euphorbia stygiana.

I was thrilled to see the Passiflora 'Fata Confetto' was still alive and blooming. I love this plant!

Sadness and beauty. This shot of a blooming Agave ovatifolia and another suffering Jubaea chilensis (but this one is pushing out new growth!) wraps up Part One of my visit. Come back this Friday for more.

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control. 

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

Up on the mantel, once Christmas was cleared

After the extravagance of Christmas decor I do enjoy a palate cleansing clean sweep of all that is merry and bright. Except for when I don't. A few things from the previous season's abundance made the transition to the New Year.

The protea flowers in the brass "vase" were past their prime, so I kept the evergreens and added dried fern fronds and bits of Disporum cantonese ‘Night Heron’ from my garden.

Always a sucker for more light this dark time of the year I pulled out a few taper candles but quickly remembered why I don't use them as often as I do pillars or tealights... they're messy! One quick puff to put out the flame and wax went everywhere. Plus their wicks are much more exposed, they feel a little dangerous—especially when I move about the house and forget they're lit.

Thus... I went the flameless route! I know...it's cheating but I love them (I bought these). I can set the timer and they come on and run for 2, 4, or 6 hours and they flicker a bit. I see them as lights that look like candles, rather than thinking of them as candles.

Anyway, back to the plants!

I love this mossy tray...

I took an enameled metal tray and mounded soil around the root ball of a few plants, then covered it all with moss. There's a tillandsia tucked in there...

And a fern that was labeled with the super helpful name "pteris fern," never mind that pteris genus of about 300 species of ferns...

False aralia, aka Plerandra elegantissima. Check out the spots!

Polystichum tsus-simense, commonly known as the Korean rock fern.

Turns out this one should be hardy in the garden, so when I get tired of this scheme (and it's warmer outside) I can plant it out.

Can you make out the warm glow behind the plants? I'd bought a pack of flameless tealights pre-holidays and discovered they're handy for adding a little extra light even when the votive holders have been put away for the season.

Really I based the whole mantelscape around this mantel clock I inherited from my grandparents several years ago (it originally belonged to my great-grandmother). I remember thinking it was about the most fabulous thing ever when I was a kid and it sat on my grandparents mantel. I've displayed it here once before, but it has been in basement storage for several years. Having a small house with limited horizontal surfaces means that things I love aren't always visible.

The columns are almost convincingly marble, but they're actually plastic.

The details are pretty fantastic.

I bought the glass domes at IKEA several years ago and was happy to pull them out of storage for use again.

Inside the largest dome is another Plerandra elegantissima along with a small Adiantum raddianum ‘Fragrantissimum’. Another of the adiantum is in the smaller dome. After I planted the ferns I read they want moist soil but don't respond well to misting. We'll see how they do in this terrarium-like environment.

I picked up this piece of bark on a walk, and planted it with a third Adiantum raddianum ‘Fragrantissimum’. 

Hello in there...

At the far end of the mantel is a grapevine wreath I wove pieces of holiday eucalyptus into.

This arrangement should see us through until early spring when I'll lighten up the mood...

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control. 

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

#fernsarethenewsucculents

Thursday, January 9th I'll be giving an online talk/webinar for the Hardy Fern Foundation (HFF) called—yes, you guessed it—#fernsarethenewsucculents.

When they asked if I would consider giving a talk I remember laughing at the idea, the only people I'd seen give talks for the HFF were Richie Steffen (co-author of The Plant Lover's Guide to Ferns, and past HFF President) and a handful of international scholarly type pteridophiles. In other words, people who know things about ferns. People who at the very least know the names of ferns, can identify them in the wild, and can even pronounce those names. Eventually they wore me down though (*they* being Camille Paulsen, she's very persuasive). 

Here's the talk description: Succulents have been the “it” plant for years now, however, ferns are experiencing their own huge surge in popularity—thus the Instagram hashtag: #fernsarethenewsucculents. In this talk Loree shares favorite garden-worthy ferns—both in her own garden and ones she’s visited—and shows how she grows species that aren’t quite hardy in her Zone 8 garden. Just as varied and spectacular as succulents, ferns can be grown in the ground, in containers, and yes, epiphytically. Loree approaches ferns from a plant lover’s perspective, not a professional one—she promises to butcher many of the hard to pronounce fern names! It is my hope that I'll share my enthusiasm for ferns in a way that has you feeling the fern fever!

Speaking of... if you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know I am a sucker for pyrrosia. Imagine my excitement when my friend Ann (the amateurbot.ann.ist) shared this photo recently and identified the plant as Phlebosia ‘Nicolas Diamond’.

What is a Phlebosia you ask? A cross between a Phlebodium and a Pyrrosia, what!? Yes! And furthermore that's what this feathery beauty I saw at The Tropics Inc. is! I had a new fern crush...

According to Little Prince (which grew it in the past, but not currently) "Nicolas Diamond Fern benefits from the fast growth of its parent Phlebodium and the cold hardiness and drought tolerance of its parent Pyrrosia." 

And guess what, I found one! On a whim I stopped at Arium Botanicals and they had one (kinda sad) little plant sitting on the shelf.

It became mine.

There are new fronds in the works.

I continued on to Urbanite (my actual destination that day), and wouldn't you know, there were more ferns! Ferns really are everywhere these days (= #fernsarethenewsucculents). I think this hottie is a Polypodium fallax...

It's one of those ferns that's right on the edge for me. I love it, but it also makes me want to grab the salad dressing.

This one made me laugh. Hello 1970's Fern Bar

If you're a fern lover, or fern curious, I hope you'll register for the talk, and heck while you're at join the HFF to save $5 on registration and enjoy upcoming free talks with the HFF/British Pteridological Society Joint Winter Lecture Series. 

I'll leave you with a Google search result. I was checking to see if I spelled pteridomania correctly and found this. Really Collins Dictionary, excessive? Who are you to judge?

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control. 

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