James Andrew Gould's garden, last September

Here's another garden visit from late last summer that I'm finally writing about. James Andrew Gould is a serious plant geek (in the best possible way), this is the second time I've been to his place and the changes were staggering. Things have grown and filled in and he's been busy with projects. Let's have a look...

Go big or go home, it's not a bad garden philosophy and James seems to be embrace the idea, especially when it comes to Sinopanax formosanus, he has several.

During my visit they were starting to throw up their blooms, ones that confirm they're in the Aralia family.

There were also several Echium, E. pininana...

Same

And Echium wildpretii.

Another view up the front sidewalk, this one a little closer and a little wider.

The Yucca rostrata claims this shot, with a Eucalyptus on the left and a Lyonothamnus floribundus peeking in on the right.

Phlomis ‘Sunningdale Gold’, I believe.

Agave 'Mateo' (with pups! rather unusual).

James has the happiest Grevillea x gaudichaudii I have ever seen.

Insane (and be warned, there is another!)...

Hmmm, what is this? I should know. A myrtle of some sort I think...

Hi spiky beautiful!

A happy restio, in what is a fairly small garden. James is brave gardener.

Damn fine spines.

Sedum confusum, I believe.

I think (gawd I'm stupid when it comes to Eucalyptus) this tree is getting it's mature foliage?

Meanwhile there were fabulous blooms to appreciate at eye-level (from another).

Here's the second off-the-charts amazing Grevillea x gaudichaudii.

And a peek at one of the carnivorous plant bogs.

Berkheya purpurea

Fatsia polycarpa, maybe 'Needham's Lace'

Yucca schottii, I think?

Another Sinopanax formosanus.

Thinner leaves point to this yucca as Y. linearifolia.

Drimys winteri

Wollemia nobilis

Perhaps another Yucca schottii? But the main reason I included this image, is that I failed to get a shot of the almost finished sunken patio area. It was pretty fantastic, but you'll have to be content with a view through the yucca leaves.

Walking back to my car now I had to get a shot of the expired Berkheya purpurea blooms...

And a spiky yucca (maybe Y. aloifolia). So many cool plants!!!

The Bit at the End

Here's a long post over on Garden Rant that I had to read through a couple times to really make sense of: In Defense of The Gardener’s Voice (on the natives or nothing movement). Gardeners like James, and myself, are plant lovers who fill our gardens with things that bring us joy, pique our curiosity, and that we just want to watch grow. Even things that are not native to our part of the world. Does that make us bad gardeners? Some would say so.

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Renee Moog's garden, an HPSO open garden

For this garden visit we're time traveling all the way back to last August 17th. There were a few Hardy Plant Society of Oregon open gardens that day. I already wrote about the first one I visited, Jeanne DeBenedetti Keyes' garden, but somehow I never got around to posting photos of Renee Moog's garden. So today is the day!

I started my walk around the garden right here by the front door to Renee's home.

The wire trellis, vine, and ceramic birds were a great introduction to the creative garden I would be touring.

Purple ruffles basil and nasturtium make a great combo in the edible garden. 

Goji berries, I believe.

From the garden description: "Renee likes to tell people she has a 2-bedroom house and a 12-bedroom yard! A ½ acre stand of western red cedar directly behind her property serves as “borrowed landscape” to a heavily planted 1/3 acre. Large scale artistic installations include a 4’ stacked stone sphere fountain, a 50’ long bottle fence, oversized birds nests made with kiwi vine and a 15’ natural wooden arch. Native plants share the stage with a colorful array of perennials, over 30 kinds of interesting small fruit like medlar, paw paw and goji berries and a growing collection of shade loving ferns, rodgersia and mayapples. Whimsical garden art, large ceramic pots and found object sculptures are scattered throughout. Foragers will find something to tickle their tastebuds from wasabi to cornelian cherries; the plant lover will find treasures from hardy orchids to a bog full of sarracenia, the bird lover may catch a glimpse of a heron on its way to nearby Johnson Creek and the permaculturist will appreciate the use of natural materials throughout."

Into the back garden...

Bottles are used extensively throughout this garden.

And the mulch is full of interesting bits...

Steps up to the deck off the back of the home.

And that 4' stacked stone sphere fountain mentioned in the description. I immediately fell head over heals in love with this...

So simple, so perfect.

A video so you can see just how wonderful it was...

More bottles! This is part of the 50' long bottle fence...

Everything's better with grapes.

A bottle patio in front of the garden shed.

A work in progress.

There were interesting plants throughout the garden, I had to keep reminding myself to photograph them too (not just the creative building projects).

On the right, Asplenium scolopendrium (hart's-tongue fern)? 

If so it looks better than any I've seen before.

The garden description notes: "Last year a crew installed an integrated drainage & irrigation system which includes a French drain and percolation pond for the overflow of a 3,000 gallon water tank feeding a timed drip irrigation for the veggie beds."

On the right is a rebar dome shelter covered with hardy kiwi, I wanted to take close-up photos but there was a group enjoying the space (with wine, crackers and cheese) and I didn't want to invade their privacy.

Along the side of the property was a box car with these treasures leaning against it. I wonder what was inside! 

Thanks for opening your fabulous garden Renee!

The Bit at the End

Need more garden fabulousness? A link to another dreamy garden, on a Gardenista post: Garden Visit: A Wooded Wonderland in Western Hills Garden

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.