OREGON'S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE
voices
MAY 6. 2011
Gardening Visions & Letting It Be
The garden I have now began 13 years ago,
when my partner and I bought our Craftsman
house in North Pordand’s Portsmouth neighbor
hood and put down roots— literally. The house
had been on a double lot, and what had been the
garden would eventually, over the course of a
year, become our neighbor’s house. Living next
to a year of construction is not something I’d do
again. But this first year gave me the opportunity
to see how we traveled through the house, how
the light shone on parts of the expansive lawn
and where rain fell and puddled in areas around
the house. I had big dreams. A garden full of
blousy flowers, romantic scents and frosted with
blooms. Green grass paths that wandered
through a lush oasis, birds everywhere and space
to play, entertain and relax.
I recently dug out those plans, pieced to
gether with graph paper and taped-up photo
graphs. The street trees we wisely planted that
first year, thanks to Friends of Trees (friend-
softrees.org), are tiny, spindly things in those
photos. We had planted them both in celebra
tion of Portland’s legacy of wonderful street
trees and to be a part of the urban canopy, and
because the majority of our garden could use a
buffer from the hot, relentless exposure on the
west side of the house. The only things that
were surviving out that way were heat lovers
like lavender, and the vision of oasis would
need some help.
the sassy gardener
BY LEANN LO C H ER
3 5
_ J 0
bination of echiums from Cistus Nursery (cis-
tus.com) or a wine bottle art tree? W ho knows?*
My vision may change, and that is quite all
right— I’m letting it be.
Get garden inspired:
G a rd e n in g requires flexib ility b e c a u s e and never be completely successful in the end
product. Gardening requires flexibility because
This month brings a couple opportunities
fa c e it: You c a n ’t co n trol nature. ...
face it: You can’t control nature. You can’t con to get inspired in the garden. (You just missed
T here are th in g s ab o u t g ard en in g that trol if the summer is going to top out at a few the Clackamas County Master Gardener^
80 degree days (oh lord, let this summer not Spring Garden Fair; learn more year-round at
sim p ly require p atien ce, and an ability be like the last) and you can’t control a bad clackamascountymastergardeners.org).
outbreak of powdery mildew covering your
Visit an open garden: LoneSomeVille Stu
to “let it b e .”
squash, cucumbers and roses. There are things dio Spring Open Gardens and Studio Sale.
I look out the window today at those street about gardening that simply require patience, Portland’s most romantic and private garden
trees, Pacific Sunset Maples. This time o f year and an ability to “let it be.”
opens once a year. Stroll the acre garden and
they are beginning to leaf out, and it looks like
I’ve been stepping back from the garden and get first dibs on sales from their garden-inspired
this is the year they’ll become as tall as our looking at it with a new eye lately. Through pottery. Sat., May 28,10 a.m.-4 p.m.; 5006 SE
two-story house. The grass pathways I had en time our garden beds have become garden Long St., Portland; lonesomeville.com.
visioned turned to mud as the shade began to rooms, built on year by year but disjointed from
Visit one o f our amazing public gardens:
creep in from our plantings, and this year they each other. This has come through a passion Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. It’s
will all be gone, replaced with a cedar chip and excitement of trying new things but, in the the time o f year when azaleas and rhododen
pathway. This pathway now leads through what end, it’s not particularly pleasing. This year, the drons begin to scream with color, and there’s
I call “the woodland garden,” and thinking unifying aspect will be the winding woodchip no better place to take it all in than this
about how it was originally the hot dry magnet walk, and flower beds with enough stepping Southeast Portland public garden. April
makes me laugh a little.
stone pathways through them to allow me to 1-Sept. 30, 6 a.m.-lO p.m.; SE 28th and
Not being afraid to change it up some— get to the plants and weeds for tending. The Woodstock Blvd.; $3 admission from 10 a.nfl
whether if it’s because your tastes and visions lawn will finally be shaped into a beautiful oval, to 6 p.m. Thurs.-Mon., March through Labor
change or because there are changes in your the front will finally have an entrance from the Day; 503-771-8386. J f l
landscape such as new buildings or growing street to the front walk without having to tread
trees—is something I’ve come to embrace across grass and errant dog poop, but every L f .A nn L ocher is an O SU Extension Master
more and more the past several years. It’s so thing else may be up for fresh thinking. W hat Gardener who loves to dig in the dirt and talk all
easy to hang on to a vision that’s unattainable to put in the front corner? Either a crazy com things gardening. E m ail sassygardenerdPgmail. com.
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C IST U S N U R SER Y
botanica:
22711 NW G HUMAN RD
SAUVIE ISEAND, OR 97231
F L O R A L D ES IG N
503.621.2233 w w w .cistus.com
open daily 10am to 5pm
5 0 3 .3 5 8 .4 6 8 7
www.F3otanicaFloralPDX.com
feed tSEED
HOME SUPPLIES ; . !
> 10920 NW
Portland, O R 972
Phone: (503)286-1291
t
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# 104
P o r i i a n d , OR 97227
503-249-1432
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