I’m lucky to live in a city filled with wonderful gardeners, and my own neighborhood of southeast Portland is filled with some lovely gardens. When I walk the dogs, I plan my route based on what gardens I want to visit that day, and this last time I brought along my camera so I could show you some of my favorites along a particular route.
Before we jump into the gardens, here’s what the dogs looked like after we got home:
Gus
Ernie
So I think the mission of tuckering out the dogs was accomplished! On to the gardens…
Purple house with purple Buddleja
A glorious balance of creating a bit of privacy with a welcoming & neighborly front garden.
These fabulous house colors with the front porch plants are magic.
A nice bit of rainwater management.
This is one of a series of gardens in front of townhouses — each is slightly different, and all are lovely.
Happiness in a low-maintenance flower bed.
This Clematis climbing up to the glass and metal trellis on the other side is sweet.
This is one of my favorite front walls, although I reduce points for use of the dreaded Bishop’s Weed.
This is just a few feet from the sidewalk, which I consider brave given all the nearby dogs, but it really looks beautiful & well tended.
I think that little lantern on the front porch is the icing on the cake.
That Daphne is scenting about half of this block and I love it with the weeping Cedar.
This shady approach to the side garden is soft & inviting.
Confession: sometimes roses aren’t my favorite because they can be leggy and awkward-looking, but I really love these peeking over the top of the fence.
There’s lots of sculpture in this garden, and I think it’s well matched with the house colors & fence.
(Slighly overgrown) Business in the front. Party in the back.
I love that Fir anchoring the corner.
I love pretty much everything about this except that it looks lackluster in wintertime.
This church seems straight out of somewhere else, which I love.
This gorgeous fence with the relaxed planting is great.
I love how the color of the door combines with the yellow flowers/foliage and that purple Cotinus.
Each year this vine drapes this building like a cloud on a mountain and it’s lovely.
I cannot get enough of this wall design!
I remember when this hellstrip was newly planted… it looked great then and it still looks great now.
Each of the four corners of this intersection has a utility pole with a flower on it that coordinates with the road painting, and barrel planters. It’s a joyous statement of community for this neighborhood.
And there you have it; some of my favorite nearby garden spots to visit on a walk. There are lots of others in different directions that we’ll likely visit at some point in the future!
What a great post! I’ll look at the places I pass daily in a different way now.