This roadway improved by sedum and conifers...

Driving around Portland you may encounter a few sections of unimproved roadway. No pavement, no sidewalks, no rhyme or reason as to why the pavement stops, just gravel. There is usually a sign that reads "this roadway unimproved." This garden is on one of those blocks.

I visited the garden at Jeffrey Bale's suggestion. He described it as having an assortment of conifers and at least one of every sedum, that it did! As I walked up I thought the light-colored gravel was a pathway...

But the fact it ended with tall rocks, and appeared to have lights sunk into the gravel at regular intervals, I decided it was a visual break, or maybe a maintenance pathway, rather than a sidewalk substitute. 

Let's look at the modified hellstrip along the paved road first...

Interesting how the plants are inside a wooden frame, giving them a sunken look. It should keep people from trampling over them, plus maybe it will decrease pets using the area as a toilet (both issues I've delt with in my hellstrip).

Cool cones.

I wonder if the rocks are purely decorative, or helping to keep the boards from flopping?

Cornus kousa fruit.

Curious. Multifamily? Why is there a key there?

Okay let's look at the garden proper.

While there are a few other plants this garden really is primarily conifers and sedum. I don't know if I've ever visited a garden with such an on point planting.

Inside the fence...

More cool cones...

So fluffy!

This is one of the nicest unimproved roadways I've encountered. Frequently they include car-swallowing potholes.   

So many sedum!

I really am curious about the tight planting palette, it's almost like a display garden for a nursery that specializes in sedum and conifers.

Oh! This was unexpected, an Agave geminiflora I believe (only hardy to 25-30F... an odd agave choice for our climate).

So densely planted too...

It sort of has the feel of being newly planted, yet patches of things like the delosperma (ice plant) have obviously been bulking up for awhile.

The elephant in the room that I haven't mentioned, the rocks! There's a small fortune here in rocks.

I was tempted to pull on the chain to see what happened. I did not.

What an interesting drive by!

The Bit at the End

A must watch garden video, it's only a little over 6 minutes, and it's so good! The Story of a Garden.

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

Back to Beth's garden in the country

I first visited Beth Winter's garden in 2015, I was so struck by her style and dedication to gardening her way that I included her garden in my book Fearless Gardening. Several years have passed since I'd last visited, so when I received an invite for a Happy Spring Garden Party at Casa Invierno (Winter home), I was thrilled.

The party was also an opportunity to celebrate the fact Beth is in remission (she's been fighting a cancer diagnosis for a few years) and is able to get back out in her garden and work on a few renovations. I know that has got to feel good!

Beth's garden is mostly shade, with a few sunny areas (more sun towards the end of this post). It's also full of cement garden statuary, metal odds and ends, and containers, so many containers.

The greenhouse was being guarded by this little fellow. I think he lives next door?

Enter, if you dare...

Hold my hose!

The moss man! I remember him from my previous visits and was glad to see he was holding up.

The stairway up to Beth's home, imagine the lantern collection all lit up.

The next series of photos were all taken on the deck around her home.

Back down on the ground now.

Passing by the spiky containers again...

Love the terracotta tree necklace (hat tip to Marcia Donahue). 

Out into the sun now...

And more spikes...

There were even some colorful bloomers...

Thanks for the garden party invite Beth, it was wonderful to see you in your garden, I just wish I would have thought to take a photo of you!

The Bit at the End

I've followed Marie Viljoen and her blog 66 Square Feet (Plus) for years now, as she's bounced around different NYC apartments. As newly published posts on the blogs I read grow fewer and fewer I wonder just how much longer this blogging thing will be viable. A recent post of Marie's Forage kitchen and the politics of information assures me that I'm not the only one thinking about these things.

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