4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM CLOSE TO HOME For the love of gardens These gentlemen are green-thumb pros, and their garden is diverse, exceptional and lovely. They have also dedicated thousands uch of our great wilderness has of hours to their passion. been despoiled. A pioneer must Steve talks of the pleasures of planting be content with bits and pieces seeds and watching “what they do.” These of primal forests and free-rushing rivers, are men with scholarly and exploratory the shadows of what was, in older times, an personalities. They enjoy challenges. environment that remained stimulating and John and Steve are deeply involved mysterious. in the American Rhododendron Society. As one might learn from the diaries of Their property unfolds like the blossoms Lewis and Clark or early environmentalists on their varieties of Rhodies, plants, such as John Muir, primal dangers often trees and flowers (another 1,500 or so), a lurked in the deep abiding green, as did the display borrowed from around the world. opportunity for inspiration. This includes a bridle vale Nowadays, one may choose of indigenous plants they have cultured and sustained. another option. GARDENS And one giant redwood to Wander into the backyard ARE SIMPLY boot. and lay a garden. Sculpt a A CANVAS. The garden of these two green and nurturing environ- ment. Contentment comes FRUITING WITH men tumbles through a stand in many shapes and sizes. BLOSSOMS OF of Sitka Spruce, weaves The best rise like the plants along the shoreline and up COLOR, THEY themselves and evolve into their driveway, a collage INFATUATE. buds of beauty. of colors and serpentine OF COURSE, Last month the Long arrangements, offering an Beach Peninsula offered invitation to what a visitor VEGETABLE another tour of some of the GARDENS CAN perceives as a path into rich best gardens in the area, an territory. Manicured ALSO SUSTAIN fertile event called “Music in the trails meander through it. THE HEART, Gardens.” And wonderful shrubs, more BODY AND Seems as if I’ve always than I am capable of listing. SOUL. been a bit too busy with this Those plants, evergreen and that. With at least a par- trees and a vast array of hu- tial retirement facing me, my man and God’s handiworks, family — led by my wife, Laurie Anderson, enhance the shaded and delicate light that and my son Jed Campiche — began to plan swoons over Willapa Bay. To see is to a garden, both with flowers and a smaller believe. plot with vegetables. Susan McCash — the ‘Natural high’ head gardener at the Shelburne Inn, our What is it about a fine garden? Is this beloved property of 40 years — helped with an art or a hobby? Is gardening in the big dedication and skill. leagues an obsession or a raison d’être, To see is to believe a passion unleashed? And remember, we But when I walked through the six can travel a simpler path; we can become properties on the garden tour, I realized that followers of an indigenous landscape, fol- lowers of the Tao of nature. Or, like Steve I was playing softball in the minor leagues. and John, we can combine both and double I simply had to stop and marvel. our pleasure. Let’s focus on just one, a property of several acres owned and manicured by Continued on Page 16 Steve McCormick and John Stephens. By DAVID CAMPICHE FOR COAST WEEKEND M DAVID CAMPICHE PHOTOS Portland property of Hank Langfus. A koi pond in Portland.