In the Garden with Grace
Grace Peterson
50plus Magazine
Spring! My favorite time of year. It’s so exhilarating to amble along my garden paths and behold the daily, subtle changes. Witnessing the tiniest of buds opening to reveal chartreuse-green baby foliage, made more fabulous by the crisp, blue sky. My old garden friends are back!
If I’m lucky, I can get an entire day to play in my garden, tweaking problem areas, weeding, spreading mulch, digging holes for new plants. My vision for perfection feeds my energy to forge ahead, knowing full well it won’t be perfect, but maybe this year it’ll come close. I’m sure you know the feeling!
Sometimes a certain spot needs something — like a tree to replace one lost last winter. However, for plant lovers like us, it’s often more like we’ve found a new must-have plant and then figure out where to put it. This can be tricky, so until inspiration comes, into a bigger pot it goes.
Happily, in the Northwest our plant options are prolific and diverse. But the many choices can also be daunting! With a nursery, chock-full of tantalizing plants, how does one decide?
Fortunately, asking ourselves a few questions can help:
- Does the space call for a tree, a shrub or something smaller?
- Is the area full sun, full shade, or a combination?
- Does the soil get dry there, and if so, can we easily
keep it watered?
- Conversely, does water pool in that area in winter?
- Finally, do we want year-round interest, say to block an
eye sore? Or…?
A couple of great online resources can also help. Search “Great Garden Picks.” At the Oregon State University Extension Service site, search “landscape plants for Oregon” for site-specific plants and categories such as native, drought tolerant and varieties of plants.
Here are a few plants I love in my mostly sunny yard:
Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia) is a fantastic small tree. A fast grower topping out around 15 feet, it blooms in late summer and has lovely pink, purple, red or white flowers. The small, glossy leaves turn red in fall before dropping, exposing brown, pealing bark.
Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) is an unbeatable shrub. There are many species and cultivars of this easy-to-grow native. My biggest is the small-leaved “Howard McMinn.” Its pinkish-white bells in spring attract bees and hummingbirds. The bark is a dark burgundy/purple. It needs no summer water and always looks superb. Do check varieties, as not all Manzanita are suitable for the Northwest.
Perennials return every year, and hundreds are suitable for Northwest gardens. One of my favorites is the floriferous Coreopsis Big Bang “Mercury Rising.” It blooms May through fall with dark red two-inch flowers. It’s low growing, so perfect for border fronts or containers. It never begs for water, though I do water mine occasionally during the hottest months.
A favorite vine is Clematis. I grow an embarrassing number in my garden because they occupy little ground space. From winter blooming species to large-flowered spring bloomers and even smaller-flowered summer varieties, they’re all special in their own way. One
of my favorites is the long-blooming, reliable “Ville de Lyon.” Showy red sepals with pink edges bloom in profusion during the warmest months, smothering a trellis in beauty.
There are a few basic rules to successful gardening, but the most important thing is to just get out there and enjoy.
Grace Peterson is a lifelong gardener here in the Willamette Valley. She has written a gardening book and authored a garden blog for several years.