Portland, the city of gardens?

On last Friday’s blog post Gerhard commented saying: “looking at Portland through your blog gives people the impression that *everybody* is a gardener, but still, Portland does seem to have a disproportionately high number of stunning gardens--and nurseries/garden centers.” I agree, with both points. We do have a huge number of stunning gardens and nurseries/garden centers. I think both our climate and an active gardening community are to thank. With the wealth of gardens here in Portland I have a never ending supply of beautiful gardens to photograph and share with you all, I could keep the illusion going for quite some time. But instead I've got to answer the question, is everybody in Portland a gardener? No. No no no no and no. This is a fairly typical parking strip in my neighborhood.

And a gardened front yard...well, okay not really. But you see a lot of yards just like this.

This home shows signs of a gardener having once lived there…

But now the weeds have control.

In the interest of full and balanced disclosure it's time I do some drive-by shots of my non-gardening neighbors. Non gardening in the front yard that is. Of course we really have no idea what’s going on in their back yards do we?

And in order to give you a well rounded sense of things I share this garden...perhaps we've finally stumbled back into gardening Portland? Well as we all know, looks can be deceiving.

Surely a gardener lives there, right? Nope. I’ve never once seen these people in their garden. It’s all done via their checkbook. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they enjoy it, and I’d much rather someone see the value in hiring a gardening service rather than just letting their front yard be full of weeds.

One other photo before we go. Here’s multifamily housing (apts or condos?) with a garden many home owners would be proud of!

So there, I’ve torn the cover off and exposed the real Portland. Can’t have you thinking everyone here is a gardener, it’s just most of us!

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.