Fling Preview: Bella Madrona

Bella Madrona began forming in 1980, at an 1892 farmstead. It was named for the madrones growing naturally here, in gravelly soil formed by the ice age floods. Over the years, garden rooms were added, surrounded by hedges. We began having large parties and benefits, which required that crowds could move easily from room to room, and that large open spaces be included.


The plant material, though special from the beginning, was chosen to complement the overall space. Now that the garden is 34, and the gardener is 64, the prime focus is keeping towering hedges sheared, pruning trees and shrubs to allow some semblance of light in, and repairing crumbling infrastructure. The garden has directed its own maturation, with some editing help from the aging gardener.


As a result it has taken on a personality and possesses a sense of place that is to many visitors alluring, eccentric and magical. The lower area, essentially a bog, with its metasequoia grove and large bald cypresses, is a world apart, belying its proximity to the urban growth boundary. It is, along with the garden as a whole, home to a great variety of wildlife, and, indeed, the place is as much for them as it is for the humans who live here and who visit.

Fling Preview: John Kuzma Garden

This half-acre garden designed by Sean Hogan of Cistus Design Nursery is entering its fourth year and emphasizes Mediterranean acclimated plants. The front entry garden, with nolina, agave, arbutus, arctostaphylos, Dickonsonia antarctica, and several large Quercus suber, surrounds a decomposed granite courtyard.


The back garden has a reflecting pool facing a broad, graveled courtyard flanked by trachycarpus and several Jubaea chilensis. Wide gravel paths lead to broad leaved evergreen trees and shrubs, several tropical areas; and several large succulent beds with a rock crevice section. The green roofed garden shed is adjacent to various eucalyptus varieties and several beds of bamboo.


This winter, with an arctic event in early December (I estimate 10-12 degrees low in my garden, at 600 ft elevation) was challenging. I lost some zone 7 plants that had not hardened off due to a mild fall. Many thanks to the Portland Garden Bloggers Fling Committee for including me in your tour and I look forward to meeting you all.


Here are Blogger posts about this garden!

Tangly Cottage •	13 July: John Kuzma Garden
Chickadee Gardens •	Garden Blogger's Fling, Portland: Kuzma Garden
Succulents & More •	#GBFling14: John Kuzma Garden
Descubriendo hojas •	El jardín de John Kuzma en Portland, Oregon (parte I) #gbfling14
Descubriendo hojas •	El jardín de John Kuzma en Portland, Oregon (parte II) #gbfling14
Digging •	Rocking a gravel garden in the Kuzma Garden: Portland Garden Bloggers Fling

Submit your link to Scott Weber at scottweberpdx@gmail.com

Fling Preview: Floramagoria

Three years ago, we removed our beloved 10-year-old garden to make way for new hardscape and outdoor living opportunities. Concrete walkways lead to the covered bamboo dining pavilion, fire pit, gunner fountain and bogs.


Painted concrete walls frame the garden beds filled with unusual plantings with a tropical flair. The part of the garden nestled under the giant sequoia is filled with a unique collection of shade plants celebrating the diversity of foliage. A blue concrete wall and raised pond separate the shade bed from the other textural elements at play in the Mediterranean and cactus/succulent beds.


This year, we also added a partially enclosed structure over our deck allowing for another area to rest and enjoy the garden. Throughout the garden, you will find interesting artwork, a custom metal fire pit, a one-of-a-kind floral chandelier in the dining area and an amazing colorful insect tile mosaic.

Fling Preview: Rhone Street Gardens

We moved into this house 5 years ago because we loved the close-in neighborhood with its tree-lined streets. While I dream of a cottage in the country with acres to plant, learning to garden on this 50’ x 50’ lot (half the size of a typical Portland lot) has been a fun and rewarding challenge.


While I’m not attempting to mimic nature, I’m inspired by natural plant communities, and I’m always working to emulate the same feeling of lushness, abundance and spontaneity. This garden is short on style, heavy on heart.


I sort of imagine my garden as a stylized meadow of sorts, which fits our location, being a clearing amongst tall trees. I’m a lover of plants that are fairly close to their natural state, closer to the look of the species, rather than extreme and over-bred hybrids.


Of course, my greatest love is of grasses. Late summer and fall are the highlights of the year in my garden with winter interest provided by the bleached, structural sheaths of grasses and black, graphic stems and seed heads of various perennials.


This past winter we endured repeated flooding, so the garden isn’t quite as lush as it was in the past...but it’s slowly recovering...and, of course, always changing!

Fling Preview: Joanne Fuller & Linda Ernst Gardens

Linda Ernst: My lot-and-a-half city garden hosts several garden ‘rooms’ and a variety of garden art, with a bit emphasis on fused garden glass, which I craft in my garage-turned-studio.


The front garden features plants for winter fragrance and hydrangeas for summer interest, anchored by a huge swath of Hakenenchloa macra. The side yard features a patio and fire pit; mixed borders; a small dry garden; clipped euonymous, berberis, taxus and juniper; and a small raised-bed kitchen garden with interesting solutions to the problems of hiding the less attractive bits of garden reality.


The backyard is a gravel dining courtyard with stainless steel fountain and stacked stone seating wall, and a stucco wall sparkling with a colorful window of fused glass tiles. Bends are a mixture of crisp hedging and billowing prairie plants. A bluestone and steel mantel is adjacent to a new steel and glass gate leading to Joanne Fuller’s garden next door.


Joanne Fuller: This small urban garden continues to evolve. I love big bold leaves, strong colors and quirky plants. These passions create a retreat filled with texture and form in a small garden where thereis something interesting at every turn.


Sit under the Japanese Maple and take in the newest arrangement of shade plants, or lounge in the tropical corner under the banana. Art continues to be a theme with glass, metal and stone artwork throughout the garden. Down the street, a whole different low-water, high-impact scene is emerging.


This garden is a great place to come learn about how you can have high impact with a regular city lot. Come, relax a while and enjoy.