Saturday, September 20th
Hardiman Horticultural Haven
A playful, well-crafted garden finishes our tour today, with mixed borders, strong yet harmonizing colors, and plentiful use of decorative found objects intermingle with the shrubbery and perennials at play. Three terraces offer places to sit and enjoy (as if gardeners actually have time to sit. Still, the thought is there.) As with Laughing Spirit Garden, there are plantings along the street intended for the neighbors and passersby to enjoy.
Splayed palm fronds wave from near the house, creating an oasis in front of the Victorian duplex.
(There's also a Craftsman four-plex on the property, linked by gardens and hardscaping.)
Embellishing the pebble mosaics Lucy Hardiman calls her "flying carpets" are drought tolerant plants.
Used in the street-side, Mediterranean gravel gardens, they reduce water usage and simplify maintenance.
It's in the more private enclosed gardens behind the house that whimsy comes to play,
as here, where brightly painted squiggles flaunt themselves amongst perennials and roses.
If I'm right, they're made from the metal bands of rotted out half whiskey barrels, twisted,
welded to a length of rebar, and painted in strong hues of chartreuse, yellow, blue.
And while the paint is in play, even the plants had better watch out.
Here, the dried flowers of Allium schubertii are recipients of a makeover,
courtesy of cans of spray paint. In the previous image it's Allium aflatunense.
Better wait for a still day, and wear your jacket inside out! And
be prepared to explain you're not tagging a building or a bus.
A witch hazel festooned with small gazing balls, like soap bubbles
rising amid two columns painted a glowing blue. The gazing balls in colors
that pair off with the earth-bound fuchsias, dahlias, and phlox.
So much to see, enjoy, and remember. But for playback, that takes a camera.
When all goes well, that is. Yes, digital cameras don't need film. But batteries
can run out of juice and need to be recharged. The cameras still require memory cards,
which fill up. I came prepared with two 4 gig cards. And needed them both, as
by symposium's end I had taken over 1,200 images. Though Mark Turner,
professional photographer and one of our lecture presenters, mentioned
to me that he only uses one and two gig cards. That way, if something
goes wrong, or if a card gets lost or damaged, all is not lost along with the card.
Remember the house colors in the first image? Here that are reprised,
a little richer, somewhat more saturated, in the deep blue cushions on the metal bench,
blue-glazed pot, and the rich rose pink leaves of the ti plant, Cordyline terminalis.
Fluted glazed aqua pot, seashadow blue glazed pot next to it.
An agave, mulched with tumbled green glass in one, and in the other
succulents, accesorized with some pieces of glass, like solidified water.
A balancing act. A blue glass tumbler and gazing ball,
a small decorated pink china tea bowl and a checkerboard vase.
Transparent pebble-y glass sphere. Right side up, upside down.
What fun!
We know the routine. Queue up and get on the bus. This time though,
it won't be off to another garden. It's back to the hotel for another visit to
the trade show, a reception hosted by Corona Clippers and then
an evening on our own in Portland. But I have other plans.