With a full time work schedule, hours of labor spent keeping weeds from taking over the garden, and frequent hikes in the nearby Blue Ridge mountains it is difficult to arrange visits to the many local public and private gardens that I enjoy so much. When I can get out, I’m inspired by all, which inevitably results in additional plantings that my wife reminds me there is no room for. Everything will fit, I assure her, though this often entails a bit of rearranging to be certain newly acquired treasures are as ideally situated as is possible. Rarely is this truly ideal, but most everything works out.

This week I’m called by business to visit the Portland, Oregon area. I’m headed west a day early to climb some west coast mountains, but also to visit a garden or two, a yearly joy that has been interrupted the past two years. The climate in the northwest is ideal for many of the plants I enjoy, with low humidity and somewhat cooler temperatures, particularly nighttime summer temperatures that often stress east coast plants.

Much of the northwest coast is dominated by towering evergreens, so varying sizes and textures of foliage are often emphasized in the shaded gardens, with fewer flowers by necessity. The few sunny gardens are dominated by conifers, a look I enjoy and once preferred, but now my preference is for large leaves and varied textures (above and below).