A garden lives on for the next generation: Heronswood Open

This weekend marks the 2nd open house for the world-renowned Heronswood garden in Kingston, WA.

Once a famous nursery introducing some of the newest, most unusual garden plants from around the world, it is now in the hands of the native S'Klallam Tribe who are preserving the garden and its botanical treasures.

Created and planted by plantsman extraordinaire, Dan Hinkley, with his partner, Robert Jones in the 1980's, it brought it thousands of gardening enthusiasts world wide, the gardens are being restored with their guidance and input and we are fortunate to have an opportunity to visit a landscape that ignited many people's, including my own, passion for plants and gardens.

So, I got together a team of young friends and avid plant lovers who have never been to Heronswood and made a day of it.

We arrived to hoards of crowds ready to shop from top specialty vendors including Dan Hinkley's selections from his garden Windcliff.

Entering the woodland was absolutely a memorable experience as you noticed one exotic plant after another, left and right.

Fellow garden professional, Meghan Fuller, was simply taken away by the incredible plant palette.

From shade to sun, it has got it all. The former residence had wonderful entry gardens and the rarest of the rare.

With various microclimates that exist, even these luscious tree ferns absolutely thrive!

The formal layout of clipped box makes this edible garden absolutely gorgeous.

Young friends learn about the details of a fern.

Being that it was only May, the gardens, especially these stunning mixed borders, were just starting to put on a show!

The famous Hornbeam hedges and archways were absolutely stunning and leafed out to perfection.

Admiring the fine details of the rare Tetracentron sinensis.

The garden is still chock full of lessons in design; composition, use of color and focal points, etc.

It's all still a work in progress to get it back to its full glory, but there's still glimpses of brilliance and ingenuity.

So there's another open coming up this Saturday, July 6, 2013 and you can learn more about it on their website: www.heronswood.com

Bring your wallet for the most remarkable line-up of plant vendors and I'm sure the garden has gotten even more spectacular since this past trip!

Not only did I get to see Heronswood again, it meant so much to be joined by friends who are avid gardeners and share in the same line of work and are simply passionate about what they do. I'm glad I'm not alone in this endeavor!

Justin Galicic, Terry Huang, me, Meghan Fuller, & Dustin Schulte

Thanks for the group pic, Mary!  =)


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Building a Show Garden: Bringing in the young guns: Terry Huang

One of my objectives ramping up to the show is assembling a team that reflected my mission in representing the next generation of avid gardeners. It’s so important in this industry to network and gain work experience wherever they arise. Jobs are very scarce so your skill set has to be broad. One of my installation and design leads for “The Lost Gardener” is a young man my former professor, Dr. Sarah Reichard, insisted that I meet. He was taking her plant indentification course and showed the interest and enthusiasm that Sarah saw in me when I took that course 10 years ago! Terence Huang and I shared a similar path as undergraduates at the University of Washington.

We had retail experience working at a nursery, took in any bits and pieces of cool plants we would attempt (and often succeed in) to grow on and propagate and sell and, of course, we made the botany greenhouse on campus like our second home with ongoing projects and volunteering our time when our schedules would allow.

Also coming from a culture that demanded so much that you excel at everything you do, he was able to pursue this strong interests in plants and capitalized on the various opportunities that allowed him to grow both as a horticulturist and as a person. He’s travelled to Iceland, interned at the Smithsonian, grew orchids in a lab in his native Taiwan, and now, he’s praying to the heavens that he gets an interview for a prestigious fellowship through the infamous Kew Gardens in the UK.

Terry admiring the details of a lovely fern at UBC Botanic Garden in Vancouver, B.C.

Terry has a natural eye for placement. His close connection and open understanding of nature allows him to effectively create compositions both in a garden setting and also on paper as he’s also a skilled illustrator.

For my display, not only is he is helping out with installation, writing out the labels for the plants, and creating the artwork for our brochure, his most important role is simply being a friend and sharing in a valuable experience that will take him wherever he wants to go in the plant world.

Check out Terry's blog here.

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Building a Show Garden: It's the little things - Bouquet Banque Nursery

There are several specialty nurseries contributing to "The Lost Gardener" and I took some time to pay Bill Roeder and Judy Zugish a visit at their small nursery and studio (yes, they're renowned basket weavers!)!

Bouquet Banque has made an appearance at most of the major plant sales over the past few years offering wonderful, unusual perennials, but the past few seasons have concentrated their efforts in producing hardy Cyclamen (ie C. hederifolium and C. coum).

Photo from Thompson & Morgan

 Most of you are probably familiar with the florist Cyclamen that everyone sees in the flower shops and garden centers all around. These are usually hybrids derived from C. persicum. They come in a multitude of colors and leaf patterns and make wonderful houseplants, but they do not tolerate deep freezes.




While not as large as their highly bred relatives, the species and selections of hardy cyclamen, meaning they will withstand cold, are truly outstanding as garden plants. They are exceedingly tough for such delicate looking plants and thrive in difficult conditions in the garden. They're also very sweet and charming little things to bloom so very early in the season. Cyclamen hederifolium flower in the fall, while Cyclamen coum are just beginning to open and will look absolutely stunning as a mass drift at the flower and garden show.

My friends, Terry (who you'll meet in a few weeks) and Tina joined me as we drove up to Marysville, WA (about 35-40 minutes north of Seattle) to pay Bill and Judy a visit. It was my first time visiting Bouquet Banque and, being the plant geeks that we were, had a pleasant and worthwhile visit as their season is just starting and I'm super anxious to show off their fabulous selections!

Here are some photos from out visit:

Here's Judy sharing with us their wonderful selections and qualities that they look for.

Here's how they start. All of their plants are seed-grown and carefully grown and selected.

Cyclamen coum just starting to pop! Look at the diversity of foliage patterns. Bill says both coum and hederifolium hold their foliage well into April before they go dormant for the rest of the season until fall.

Stunning contrast in foliage coloration and lovely colors on the flowers.

Silver/pewter forms are much sought after and they have a amazing selection!

The "Christmas Tree" patten is also very popular

Here's Bill showing how he prepares willow for weaving.

A basket in progress

They have some upcoming open houses (ONE THIS WEEKEND) and their plant sale schedule posted for 2013, so do visit their WEBSITE:

It was such a fun visit for all of us and what kind folks to share their love and passion for what they do with the next generation of avid gardeners! I'll be seeing Bill and Judy again in a few weeks to get their plants all groomed and, hopefully, blooming for the show!




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