Friday, January 10, 2025

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

Okay, here we are again, in the back garden at the Kuzma/Halme home (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...

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.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

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 SW 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.