A quick trip to the beach and a walk through the Wonder Garden

I almost called this post "21 hours at the beach," because yes, that's how long I was there.

A plant talk at the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita was the reason for the trip, but time at the beach is always a good thing, so I took advantage and spent the night (2 hours drive time each way made it an easy choice).

A walk on the beach before my talk gave me time to check out the area's architecture.

It's always nice to see what the locals are building.

Since the Hoffman Wonder Garden (a small garden filled with plants that thrive in this location, a sort of demonstration garden) is right across the street from the Center for the Arts, there was time for a walk there too... 

On the left, Arctostaphylos auriculata 'Diablo's Blush'... 

Arctostaphylos 'John Dourley' 

Arctostaphylos silvicola 'Ghostly'

Arctostaphylos densiflora

A pulled back shot of the Arctostaphylos (manzanita) border and the Hoffman Center in the background.

That euphorbia is one I covet...

Is it E. stygiana or E. mellifera? I'm not sure anymore but since I love them both the coveting goes on.

The restio (Rhodocoma capensis) does well in this garden.

Diplarrena latifolia, a new to me plant that Ketzel (as in Ketzel Levine, former NPR correspondent and their "Doyenne of Dirt"—now the force behind the Wonder Garden) pointed out.

Those flowers are pretty sweet.

I look at this structure and think it's calling out for a vine, but then again with a vine you wouldn't be able to see it as well.

An eryngium with very thin leaves, perhaps E. paniculatum?

Another euphorbia, this one (with the orange blooms) I think is E. griffithii.

Acanthus sennii (so spiny!)

Yet another eryngium there on the lower left, maybe E. guatamalense?

Pretty fabulous, am I right?

This one is definitely Eryngium guatamalense.

One of mine is just starting to push out a bloom spike, I look forward to watching it grow.

I didn't get a chance to ask the origin story of this raised trough planter, it's all sorts of fabulous don't you think?.

Agave americana var. medio picta 'Alba' gets protected in the winter and planted back out again when things warm up and dry out.

There were folks relaxing here just moments before, it looks like a great place to kick-back and soak it all up.

Melianthus major (perhaps 'Purple Haze') and Dodonaea viscosa var. purpurea.

Leucadendron galpinii 'Silver Cone' and...

...Acacia pravissima show just how mild this area's climate is compared to mine here in Portland.

Close-up of the acacia's fabulous foliage.

There's a eucalyptus towering over a corner of the garden.

And I was thrilled to catch Fabiana imbricata 'Violacea' in bloom.

What a stunner!

Chondropetalum tectorum (Small Cape Rush)

Astelia chathamica 

Back-lit callistemon buds.

And my final Wonder Garden photo (succulents as summer annuals)...

...before returning to the hotel and a gorgeous sunset.

The moon!

The next day was misty moody.

But of course a beach-walk was in order before I left.

At first I thought this was a fish sticking out of the sand... (just a piece of wood).

Finally, I couldn't resist stopping to snap photos of a couple gardens I passed by on the 101 between Rockaway Beach (where I stayed) and Manzanita.

That's a wrap on this beach trip!

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Dancing Oaks Nursery and Gardens, a long overdue visit

It's hard for me to believe, but my last visit to Dancing Oaks Nursery in Monmouth, Oregon, was way back in 2021—and it took place in April! Hardly prime gardening season. Back then I broke my visit report into two parts, the plants and the garden. This time there will be just one post, but it's a long one!

I visited on June 19th, the first plant I stopped to swoon over was this, Daphne x burkwoodii 'Briggs Moonlight'. I had one of these briefly, mine never looked this good.

Agave 'Blue Glow' and friends...

The extensive gardens at Dancing Oaks are used for many events, in fact I attended one back in 2018 when the Salem Study Weekend held a dinner party in the garden. While exploring the far side of the garden on this visit, I came upon this low stacked wall with it's planting pockets and a tall pedestal at the end.

Here it is again, but from the opposite side. Hard to get a good photo of, but really interesting to me.

Based on the bloom spike I think this is a Nolina of some sort.

But I can't ID it any better than that.

Such a happy patch of purple oxalis, which always reminds me of Austin, TX, where this plant seems to be growing in every garden.

The tall planted up containers dripping water in the display garden/pond just beyond the greenhouses are a favorite of mine, although they were hard to photograph in the bright sunny conditions on the day I visited (Tamara got much better photos during her visit in May, here).

I have no idea what this candy-cane colored flower is, but there was no missing it's colorful display...

Happy plants are swallowing the containers here...

When I walked around to the backside I discovered gunnera tall enough to stand under.

Spiky plants in containers on the other side of the pathway.

Puya × berteroniana

It was good to see the clay planter "wall" was still in place.

From the other side...

I would have thought xeric plantings would be at home in the clay pockets but this combo with Maihuenia poeppigii was the only such plant I saw in the mix.

There were multiple poppies in different colors and shapes but I loved this one best of all.

Cephalaria gigantea, perhaps? 

Arctostaphylos 'Elizabeth McClintock'

And a very low hanging Magnolia macrophylla flower.

To the dry garden now...

I was surprised the ghostly corpse of their bloomed agave was still there. I'm glad though, as it's pretty fabulous.

It's brothers and sisters (still very much alive) need to be freed from the overgrown euphorbia...

It's such a beautiful sight to see tall Eremurus in the landscape.

Pineapple broom, Argyrocytisus battandieri. It smells delicious!

Rhododendron 'Ebony Pearl' in great light.

Kalmia latifolia

I'm not fan of pink flowers, but this was hard to not photograph it looked so happy and abundant.

And there they are, my yucca friends!

Finally, it was time to shop...

I had completely forgotten about their greenhouse that collapsed during the January storm, here it is being rebuilt.

And here's a photo of it in January, photo borrowed from the Dancing Oaks Facebook page.

All but two of my purchased plants came from this greenhouse, signed as Jurassic Park.

It's also where the temping off-limits plants live.

Pteris wallichiana, still with it's Far Reaches Farm label stuck in the soil. I have one of these, also from Far Reaches, but it's just a tiny thing. Fingers crossed it might someday stand this tall.

Some folks claim the best way to grow Pyrrosia is in moss-lined hanging baskets, those plants weren't looking great though.

Ah! I was tempted, Microcachrys tetragona, the creeping strawberry pine. I love this plant so much, but I already have a couple so I didn't really need more.

Their stock plant of Parablechnum novae-zelandiae was a beauty.

The final shot I took during my visit, as I left the nursery...

I wish you could see all the mountains I saw. There were four of them off in the distance, all so big and white. Here you can barely make out Mt Adams (in Washington) above the metal fence post on the far left. I was also able to see Mt Hood, Mt Jefferson and what was probably Three Fingered Jack. It was an epic view.

Here's my haul, which also felt pretty epic.

Russelia x 'St. Elmo's Fire', aka firecracker plant. This one's only borderline hardy here at best, but I'll enjoy it as an annual cascading over the side of one of the driveway stock tanks.

Aristolochia sempervirens, evergreen Dutchman's pipe.

Aristolochia fimbriata, white-veined Dutchman's pipe.

A pair of Adiantum aleuticum 'Subpumilum'.

I may have squealed out loud when I spotted this one, Pleopeltis lepidopteris 'Morro dos Conventos', aka Brazilian hairy sword fern. I have one from Plant Delights (thanks to Heather who let me piggy-back on her order last year) but there's no way I was going to divide that plant to experiment with it in ground. Now I have three (3!) plants to play with and see how they do in my garden.

Lastly (but not leastly), a Parablechnum novae-zelandiae which is already in the ground. I've wanted one of these ever since seeing it at the Miller Garden north of Seattle. Fingers crossed it likes my conditions here in Portland.

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