Art in the garden
Horticulturist and garden designer
Becky Graham has passion for making
things better, brighter and beautiful
B
ecky Graham eats, sleeps and dreams
plants — to say she is a gardener only
hints at her story.
She will share her talents (the plu-
ral is correct), including her extensive
knowledge of plants, landscape de-
sign, containers and the ongoing nur-
turing of things that grow, at the Astoria Co-op
Grocery’s next food and wellness lecture series,
Beers to Your Health. Mark your calendars for
7 p.m. Thursday, May 14, and head to the Fort
George Brewery’s Lovell Showroom.
Graham’s landscape business, Harvest Moon
Design, has been showing and growing itself in
Astoria for over seven years. Fondly labeled
“the parking lot gardener” by the Astoria Co-op
crew, Graham has transformed the store’s entry.
“Somehow she makes it really beautiful. Our
customers love looking at the different plants
that she rotates seasonally. We get lots of pos-
itive feedback,” says Astoria Co-op Grocery
General Manager Matt Stanley.
Another of her projects involves the healing
garden at Columbia Memorial Hospital. And
over at Astoria’s Hotel Elliott, John Nelson, the
hotel’s general manager, says, “We constantly
get compliments about our entry boxes and the
Submitted photo
The Astoria Co-op Grocery’s parking lot garden is one example of Becky Gra-
ham’s skills of creating beautiful container gardens in unusual places.
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on Trip Advisor. Becky’s skill has led her to oth-
er clients in the neighborhood. In my opinion the
whole area is looking better because of Harvest
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would be the envy of most people.”
That passion began when Graham was 19
and living in Portland. “I was and am fascinated
by plants. I nurture them, and they nurture me,”
says Graham. A career in health care paid her
bills while an amazing but small home garden
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rate Jungle, fed her enthusiasm.
When her incoming-earning employment
became just that, a job, she left. A secure position
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ends off was history. She’s never looked back.
“I took the master gardener’s program, got a de-
gree in horticulture from Mt. Hood Community
College and enrolled in any plant class I could
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7 Dees in Portland — working every weekend,
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I loved it — I had a blast! I got another couple of
jobs on the Mt. Hood college campus working
on the grounds with the horticulture department.
I had so much fun. Everyday work felt like play.”
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buyer in Portland at West Coast Plant Compa-
ny; a high-end haunt for unusual and the unique
plants. “I had the greatest job in the world. I
brought in tropical plants from Florida and Ha-
waii, or got in a pickup truck and headed way
out in the country discovering wonderful plant
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“I don’t call myself an expert at anything, but
plants are my strong point.”
One day, an online ad for property for sale in
the Astoria area caught her attention. “It was for
an acre of land; more or less a dump with a run-
down manufactured home and some boulders
out in front,” Graham says. “It spoke to me. I
had a growing passion to live in the country and
have a large garden to call my own. The layout
Beers to Your
Health: The Art
of Gardening
with Becky Graham,
of Harvest
Moon Design
7 p.m. Thursday, May 14
Fort George Lovell Showroom
426 14th St., Astoria
Free
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Becky Graham waters plants in her front yard garden in Knappa.
was perfect. I wanted a small home and a large
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to grow my own food. And I wanted to be able
to afford it. It was wonderful. So, she bought it.
Located in Knappa, a few years of owner-
ship and lots of grunt work has turned Graham’s
dump into something to behold. Like a cover on
a home and garden magazine, the garden bursts
with cascading colors. Multiple raised beds in-
clude an artful mix of harmony and harshness:
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complementing each other. Bees buzz, birds
chirp and Graham’s two beloved dogs reign over
it all.
“When I’m designing or gardening, I feel like
I’m playing. I call my garden my playground,
my classroom and my sanctuary,” Graham says.
“I hunt and gather things that make me weak
in the knees. I have an old copper washing ma-
chine, and I know I’m either going to make a
Photo by Joshua Bessex
Graham repurposes various metal pieces she recovers from
scrap yards to use as planters, decorations and stepping stones
in her garden.
water feature out of it or a planter.”
In the mean time, she’s got a full spring plant-
ing schedule in Astoria that she’s ready share
with an appreciative audience.
the arts
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Story by MARILYN GILBAUGH
May 7, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 9