Design

I love sharing the Garden (where I work) with folks keen on plants -- and especially with a group of gardeners volunteering at another botanical garden . They're an invaluable group -- thanks to all of you who volunteer, in whatever venue!  We had a great time ( click to see the post on the Garden's blog ) . We visited the Garden's newly renovated dwarf conifer garden, and I happened to mention the Iseli Nursery plants that I'd acquired at the Garden Writer's Association annual meeting in Portland a couple of years ago. They've been the stars of a sunny window nook in our small mountain house since. Dwarf conifers in the window This isn't the best photo (click on it to get a better view), but they're three of the original plants I brought back from Portland.

We have an unusual window nook in our small house in the mountains.  The designer (and previous owner) of the house didn't have anything in it, as far as I remember, and there was an code-required (but easily removed) stair railing that was visible beyond the window nook, creating a odd horizontal focal point. Dwarf conifers and succulent We've had succulents, dwarf conifers, and a Madagascar palm in the pots; the latter succumbed to cold winter temperatures, so the pots were down to three. My gardening companion just added back a dwarf grey-foliaged pine that had been part of the original four brought back from the Garden Writers conference in Portland a couple of years ago (from Iseli Nursery). It had been in the ground near the big scarlet oak, but looks much more appropriate in the window nook. The Heucheras, Celadine poppy, and sunflower are doing well along the house's edge, too.