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Postcards from Eugene
Hardy
Plant Study Weekend in Eugene, Oregon June 18-21, 2004 - theme “Cool Plants
Hot Borders” – 6 cool Vancouver members (4 from the Sunshine Coast!) caused
much hilarity & not a little irreverence – weather hot but never much
over 90ºF - Friday night the “Canadian ladies” invited speakers Roger
Gossler, Keith Wiley & Timothy Walker for wine & cheese
& a private audience – imagine sitting on the bed chatting up the Director
of the Oxford Botanical Garden!
Exciting
tour gardens – Ginger & David Stark in Creswell – an acre
under firs with about 1000 species of trees, shrubs, and perennials –
fearless use of groundcovers – many golden-foliaged plants used exquisitely.
Yummy! - Young designers Buell Steelman & Rebecca Sams’
tiny modern garden – corrugated metal fence, brown pea gravel mini-orchard,
strong geometry and fabulous plants. Stunning - Double Yum! And of course
the pilgrimage to Marietta & Ernie O’Byrne’s display garden
at Northwest Garden Nursery - dazzling use of the best plants, sculptures,
and of course shopping.
Ahhh, the lectures – every one a treat – here are my personal favs:
Timothy
Walker (that Oxford guy) – powerful, fast-paced, engaging, inspired,
wide-ranging, convincing, entertaining – The Healing Power of Plants –
the importance of evolutionary taxonomic study, recording & testing the
traditional herbal knowledge the world over, the sustainable growing of
healing plants, maintaining a diverse biology – “Be good ancestors.”
Keith
Wiley, author of On the Wild Side: Experiments in New Naturalism
– a brilliant introduction to gardening by interpreting naturally occurring
wildflower compositions into inspired free-form garden scenes, especially
(but not exclusively) featuring bulbs and native plants in expansive drifts
– in his rainy Devon garden, he used 18” of humus-enriched soil topped
with 6” of sand on a slope as perfect medium for combining nutrition and
good drainage – the results shown in his excellent slides were spectacular.
Richard Hartlage’s lecture “The Art of Planting Design” – a modern
history of major garden design influences – despite disappointing PowerPoint
visuals that robbed his photography of its impact, the wide-ranging subject
an intellectual delight – “It is crucially important to make every effort
to go and see these gardens that have become icons,” he urged us – iconic
gardens include PNW garden makers Hobbs & Beatty (Vancouver), Hinkley
(Heronswood), Whithey, Price, Lilly & Becker (Belleville Botanical) plus
Ganna Walska’s Lotusland (Santa Barbara); Martha Schwartz (El Paso, TX);
Marco Polo Stefano at Wave Hill (NY); Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter
(UK), and gardens by Piet Oudolf, Topher Delaney and Roberto Burl Marx.
A formidable must-see list! Must get started on it…
Eugene nursery owners Marietta O’Byrne and Rober Gossler
gave lectures highlighting plants they passionately recommend; Judith
Glattstein (NY Botancial Garden & Rutyers) gave us “Japanese Plants
for American Gardens” including history, folklore, Haiku, and cultivation
of terrific plants. A most satisfying study weekend. The Vancouver delegation
ended by inviting everyone to next year’s Study Weekend to be held in
Vancouver June 24-26, 2005.
~
Paddy Wales
The
Stark garden in Creswell (below) was a stunning collection of rare and
familiar plants wonderfully grouped. David Stark confessed to partial
colour blindness, and said it accounts for his particular fondness for
golden foliage.
Photos
courtesy of Paddy Wales
Click
here to see the O'Byrne
garden.
Click
here to see the Steelman-Sams
garden.
Click
here to see the Hargreaves
garden
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