MY GARDEN, ESTABLISHED IN 1996
WESTERN OREGON * [OR' ee gun]
ELEVATION 540 Feet * 44th PARALLEL N. LATITUDE
USDA HARDINESS ZONE 8
MARITIME INFLUENCE WITH RAINY WINTERS, DRY SUMMERS
135 LONG by 40 WIDE

Monday, August 30, 2010

The Oregon Garden: Part III

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This lovely flouncy Hibiscus begged to be photographed. Again, thank you to you nice well-wishers.

Steve and I were both delighted and inspired by the multitude of water features here at the The Oregon Garden. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the photos turned out despite what was mostly hot afternoon sunlight. 

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All that’s needed here is the arched bridge to complete the Monet feel.

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I want these arrowheads in my pond.

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Bufo the ginormous! I’m glad he wasn’t real. 

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Water, stones and purple Lobelia.

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Without any promptings on my part, Hubby Steve has been thinking about how to build a creek in our garden. YES. Connect my two ponds? How cool that would be!

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Shady, naturalistic water flow… the perfect antidote for the annoying heat wave.


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Does anybody know the name of this fern? It reminds me of candle burning at both ends.

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Bliss!
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Another unidentified aquatic love. Anyone?

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And lastly, a granddaddy koi who had no problem putting on a show in the shallows.

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On to dry land... The sign next to a smaller specimen of what I’m pretty sure was the same tree as this one was labeled: Aralia elata ‘Variegata’ or Japanese Angelica Tree. I left scratching my head, wondering how I could fit this class act into my garden.

And now, what I quickly discovered to be my favorite part of the garden.
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Kudos to the Roth Family. The Children’s Garden was my favorite of all the themes within the garden which, I suppose just proves that I am a really immature kid at heart. I’ll show you why I loved this area so much.

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  The garden had me at “Hello” with this cool, rusty gate with attached goodies.

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Then kept me with this blue “bathroom”…

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“Kitchen”…

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“Living room”…

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More “Living room”…

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“Bedroom”…

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And '”garage.”  The only room missing is the dining room due to my crappy photography. The feature was a really cool wire table and chairs topped with a sedum garden.

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The very cool vine Mina lobata was growing throughout the garden. It was used to create a hideaway teepee for youngsters to call home. Sharon, you would have loved it and I’m sorry my photo turned out to be unfit for publication. 

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Mr. and Mrs. Potts seated on the throne within their own restful arbor seemed to enjoy keeping watch over their little paradise.

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Within the children’s garden was the display of “Weird Plants” such as,

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Juncus

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Aeonium. Notice that tiny spot just to the left of the center of the plant? This is a NORMAL SIZED fly and is here for the sole purpose of providing a tangible scale on this stately Aeonium. I’d say it was at least as big around as our computer screens. It was growing in a pot submerged in the soil. I’m sure it goes into the greenhouse come winter.

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Weird plant? Cool plant!

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A child-sized stone bench.

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Clemmies left to seed. What child wouldn’t love this?

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I think there is a miniature train park in my garden’s future. Hubby Steve loved the The Oregon Garden's rendition.

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Always on the lookout for a good sign, I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of this cute but scary warning posted at the outdoor seating area of The Oregon Garden Resort’s, Garden View Restaurant. Thankfully the bees were not in attendance during our visit.

thanksforvi