The Miller Garden, part 2

Yesterday we started our tour of the Miller Garden, located just north of Seattle. Today we continue the adventure starting out in the small parking area and then wandering down towards the Puget Sound.

Any notion I had that this wouldn't be a garden for me was instantly dispelled when I saw this yucca, isn't it hot?

And these sexy Arctostaphylos remains. I believe this was once an A. 'Howard McMinn'...while I certainly don't want any of my Arctostaphylos to pass on it's not so bad to be left with this right?

This stone patio and seating area overlooks the lower garden. We'll start off down the stairs in a minute (just out of frame to the left) but first let's look around the parking area.

Do you spy the Echium (E. pininana I believe) on the left? Front and center is a huge Corokia Cotoneaster...

I wandered away from the group to snap this photo, and then I forgot to inquire what this amazing specimen might be.

Aesculus hippocastanum 'Wisselink'

I thought I'd got the name of this one (on the right) but sadly I didn't. Anybody know?

Quercus pontica with a fabulous trough.

Quercus pontica close-up.

Trough close-up.

Richie Steffen, our guide for the day, had a story about the origin of this magnificent stone container. All I can remember is it came from China.

Adenanthos sericeus (Woolly Bush)! It was blooming with it's teeny tiny little red flowers but I couldn't capture them. Thankfully my plant has since bloomed and I'll be sharing them tomorrow for Garden Bloggers Bloomday.

I think that must be another Adenanthos...

Oh my...instant plant lust! Quercus dentata 'Pinnatifida'...I will find a space for this plant.

I'm thinking maybe where the Privet is now. I need one of these...

The garden even had a small collection of carnivorous plants...

And a Schefflera!

Schefflera delavayi

I believe this is Fokienia hodginsii. Richie didn't touch on it during the tour but I swooned and Fokienia hodginsii is on the handout of memorable plants.

Gotta be Wollemia nobilis

We've made our way down to the overlook. A nice large wooden deck that overlooks the Puget Sound and is filled with a potted plant collection.

What a view...

The blue foliage plant is one I really wish I would have remembered the name of.

Wow...that' a field of rodgersia!

And how I would love a greenhouse like this...wouldn't you?

And what about a propagation area? Nice huh?

Here we caught a glimpse of the neighbors house. Not quite the understated abode which the Miller's called home.

I believe the plant on the right is a heather, but I don't know which one.

So that's that and we're back at the bottom of the steps which lead up to the parking area.

I'm not wanting to leave.

Another Wollemia nobilis?

I could easily get lost here but I don't think we've come back around that far to this must be a second one.

So ends a lovely adventure. I want to again mention my visiting the Miller Garden would have never been possible if not for the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon. If you're anywhere near Portland, Oregon, you really should consider membership. After this July tour just a couple of weeks later (in August) I was able to attend a lecture by Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones of Crug Farm Plants and I've visited multiple open member gardens. Next month I'll be attending a lecture by Fred Weisensee of Dancing Oaks Nursery called "Tropicalismo Lives"...(hardy plants that give a garden that tropical look). Heck I even know of people in California and Washington that are members of the HPSO...it's that good!

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. If this post appears anywhere but danger garden it has been reposted without permission.

I finally got to see the Miller Garden!

One of the gardens I was really hoping to see during the 2011 Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling was the Elizabeth Miller Botanic Garden. At the time I didn’t realize they require reservations, reservations that typically “sell out” the same day they are made available. Only 500 visitors a year are allowed access to the garden, and no tour buses thank you very much.

Why is it so hard to see the Miller Garden? It’s located in an exclusive gated community north of Seattle. As you might imagine the neighbors aren’t thrilled with the idea of garden tourists overrunning their well paid for peace and quiet.

The garden is the creation of Betty Miller (who passed away in 1994). The Millers moved into The Highlands in 1949, their lot occupies 5-acres and runs all the way to the Puget Sound. The Highlands was an Olmstead designed project and the first gated community on the West Coast. All reports are Betty Miller planted with zeal, not caring if the million dollar view was obliterated, the garden has a strong framework of native plants, and not your typical ones.

The tour on which I was finally able to visit the Miller Garden was arranged by the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (HPSO), Richie Steffen (curator at the Miller Garden) kindly agreed to take a dozen HSPO members through the garden. So on a cloudy Wednesday morning in July (during the tour titled ‘Rare and Choice Plants of the Miller Garden’) Richie charmed us all with tales of the garden, it’s creator and of course the plants!

One of my favorite stories was of the rivalry between Betty and a friend. They were always in competition to see who could have the newest, rarest, most desirable plant in their garden. Afternoon tea parties became an opportunity to show off their latest acquisition. I believe that friend was Ione Chase, of the Chase Garden, however I am relaying on a foggy (month old) memory and poorly scribbled notes so I could be wrong.

I do remember however that Richie credited Betty with the introduction of my beloved Hakonechloa (Japanese Forest Grass) to the United States. Thank you Betty!

What follows are my (greatly whittled down) 40 photos from the area around the house and woodland garden behind. Tomorrow I’ll share an even larger group of photos taken on the sunnier west side of the house facing the Puget Sound. Sadly I won’t have plant i.d. on every beautiful specimen. If I don’t mention a name and you’re curious please ask in the comments and I’ll try to track it down.

Here Richie is pointing out the beautiful (and late, in July!) bloom on a Rhododendron glanduliferum.

Betty Miller desperately wanted a stone driveway from the main road down to the house but once the bids came in it was deemed too expensive and regular old asphalt was used. However anytime a pothole developed the maintenance guy was instructed to dig it out large enough that stones could be used for a patch.

If my notes are correct that is a Blechnum novae-zelandiae (fern) next to a fabulous rhody ("teddy bear" is the only name I can seem to find for it).

This is the largest Rhododendron stenopetalum 'Linearifolium' (Spider Azalea) I have ever seen. It was breathtaking.

I've forgotten what tree Richie said these huge cones came from, aren't they amazing?

Woodwardia unigemmata

Serious plant lust...

And of course every amazing garden has to have a drool worthy stand of Impatiens omeiana...

Finally we end this part of the visit with a plant in a container up near the house. It was one of the first plants I noticed when I arrived and I hadn't recalled ever seeing it before. I fell hard and fast. I asked Richie about it and he confirmed it was a ginger (Zingiber malayensis). He even mentioned where he'd bought it, just up the street. Sadly I didn't have time to visit that nursery but managed to locate one in Portland the week after I got home. Thank god, this one could have caused me sleepless nights.

Tomorrow we return to the Miller Garden and visit the sunnier west side of the garden...

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. If this post appears anywhere but danger garden it has been reposted without permission.