And now, from the NE Pacific Inland Valley Region

Summer On The Famous Oregon Beaches

Oregon has really crowded beaches, and it is very difficult to find a place to lay one's blanket or towel in a nice and quiet area, without having a kid run by (with their dog) kicking sand all over as they try to catch an errant frisbee that sails past.

And now, a walk through the garden:

One of the causes of much angst, sniffling noses, itchy eyes, lumpy throats and for some of us; the need to keep the inhalers in the jacket pocket.

We decided to trim back one of our 4 huge photinias in order to shed some light on our deck, and to clear some room for our greenhouse that will soon be constructed there! The photinias were in full bloom, but 3 were left; much to the bees happiness and their need for pollination. Well, by then the 3 remaining photinias decided to pass out when the cutting started. The next morning there were leaves dropped all over the deck under all the photinias, as though they were crying for their newly shorn partner (now all wood).It will all happily grow back to crowd us once again. Just wait until it is time for all of them to get their trims, now that the flowers are spent and the bees happily off to a new flavored pollen.

Separating the backyard from the front yard.

Our Banks rose, now 3 years old.

This was a Father's Day gift for Danny, all growing from an 18" 1 gallon plant that Sarahbushka gave him. He planted it in one of those desert-dry strips of clay soil that extends along the edge of the driveway, next to our fence and directly in line with the gate when it is open. Ha, it never gets opened all the way, as it is an RV drivewayand opens the backyard to the frontyard, and we don't have an RV, so this gate has become a perch and a catwalk in which one of our kitties uses to view her world.

Our Banks rose, perhaps a little too close up.

Under the Veil

We even have a hidden Rhododendron, the best one we have. Our others are not nearly as pretty as this one who stays hidden under her green chiador of sorts only allows herself to be seen once a year.

A Hebe and a weedOur Happy Hebe.

We love Hebes. They are such a uniques group of plants, and I believe that most people ignore them as though the were some itchy juniper or a nondescript arborvitae. But if one looks at them up close and personal, expecially some of the larger leaved varieties, they might see some really interesting plant growth, like say, perfectly aligned and alternating leaves that grow in a beautiful pattern. These hebes are golden green and have a pretty growth pattern, then once a year, we get surprised with gorgeous little white flowers. This only happens when they are very happy.

Our now well known red Japanese Maple freshly laden with seed pods.

There is always that "one" the crowd

Some of our Bearded Irises.

The "Stand Out" in our crowd It's always interesting to see which of our bearded Irises
will bloom. It seems that every year our Iris patch has a new and varied display.

We didn't see the white and gold violet mix this spring. Our red/violet/gold ones also were quite shy. Our bright yellows always flourish, but this gold one (above) was a nice surprise mingled in with our violets and white/violet mixes.

The Ripening

Korean Dogwood - done to Medium rare

My birthday present from Sarahbushka this year is a Korean Dogwood.
In May, when I received it, the flowers were just barely opened, and they were green with little stamens and pistals showing. Later, they became almost pure white, just before they started to tinge with a bit of pink.

blushing

Korean Dogwood- done to medium

ripe

Korean Dogwood, well-done

my favorite variety of Violas

Thanks for walking through my yard with me today.