A new angle…

Any guesses as to where this landscape is?

Maybe this view will help?

Yes that’s the impressive crop of moss growing on our roof!

Inspired by Alan at It’s Not Work Its Gardening, who took advantage of gutter cleaning day to snap some photos of his garden from above, I handed the camera to Andrew when he was up on the ladder taking care of our gutters. This was actually the first photo he snapped, of the sedum growing on our fireplace. I still wish I knew how it got there.

Here he’s captured the front garden, all but the large planting area against the house where the Bishop’s Weed used to be (on the right side of the sidewalk where you can't see). The space is actually a little bit larger than it looks, since the slope down to the street is all but lost from this angle.

Next he turned the camera on the back garden…

Looking at this photo a couple of things caught my eye, first how shapely Clifford (the leafless Magnolia tree on the left) is. And secondly just how big those houses behind us are. When you're on the patio they disappear behind the bamboo and laurel, thank god! In case you're surprised  how small it looks our lot measures 45.38 ft by 111.2 ft, just a slight variation from the Portland standard 50 x 100 lot.

He was quite taken with the different colors on the Hydrangea...

From the "spring-green" leaves back near the garage to the yellowing leaves toward the front, the rose colored blooms, forest-green of the clematis leaves and the sprinkling of blue blossoms...

Looking to the north. This is a shot that would have been great for my "backyard project" post.

These do make a nice pair...

And the different textures in this photo are lovely. Heck happy banana leaves the 3rd week of December! Who'da thought?

Inspired by those banana leaves I did a little research on frost dates here in Portland and discovered my memory isn't as good as I thought it was! Here are the dates of our first frosts at the Airport (4.9 miles from my house) and Downtown Portland (5.5 miles away) starting in 2004, the year we moved to Portland...

2004 
Airport: Nov 5th, at 31F
Downtown: Nov 28th, at 32F
2005 
Airport: Nov 20th, at 31F
Downtown: Nov 21st, at 31F
2006 
Airport: Oct 30th, at 32F
Downtown: Nov 28th, at 29F
2007 
Airport: Nov 2nd, at 32F
Downtown: Nov 25th, at 30F
2008 
Airport: Dec 5th, at 30F
Downtown: Dec 14th, at 26F
2009 
Airport: Dec 2nd, at 31F
Downtown: Dec 4th, at 32F
2010 
Airport: Nov 21st, at 32F
Downtown: Nov 21st, at 32F
2011 
Airport: Nov 2nd, at 30F
Downtown: Nov 20th, at 31F
2012 
still waiting...(although we did briefly have snow yesterday still no freeze!). The latest frost date on record at the airport was December 25th 1966, with 1934 beating that since there never was an autumn frost that year.

Winterizing

I've had a few people ask me to share the steps I go through to get my garden ready for the winter. Even though it feels a little “Jerry Springer” (you know like I’m airing the most eccentric parts of my personality to the world) I will oblige.

The first step took place back in October, the 10th, 11th and 12th to be exact. I know that sounds early but the forecasters were all in agreement that as of Friday the 12th our streak of sunny dry days was to end, and not in a subtle way but 3 days of soaking downpours (and get this...we've received over 13" of rain since that day just shy of two months ago). It was time to start taking the containers of non hardy succulents inside for the winter. The temperatures were still fine but a dry container weighs a lot less than a wet one. And these plants will winter over with greater success if they don’t head inside soaking wet. Plus it’s nice to work in the sunshine right? I cleaned up each plant and container before hauling them down to the basement…

There are a couple of plants here that are pretty much hardy in Portland, but I’m not sure their container could withstand a freeze, so those come down here too rather than staying outside.

For the same reason I also started to move the really large containers that will spend winter outside from on the patio to up, under the shade pavilion. Not everything, but at least the ones that really want to stay dry. And finally I dug the few in-ground Agaves that aren't hardy in Zone 8…

And potted them up for indoors.

They were in the ground because they weren't looking so good and rather than toss them I gave them a second chance. So far this technique has always worked for me, let them spread their roots a bit and they eventually perk up, even if they have to return to a container later.

So that all happened the 2nd week in October, after that I ignored my garden responsibilities until November 3rd, that’s the day we wrapped the shade pavilion turning it into a makeshift greenhouse. I was dreading this.

Not because the process is difficult, it’s actually rather simple…thanks to my problem solving, component thinking, husband.

No I was dreading it because it’s finally admitting there are no more days to be spent outside enjoying the garden. Oh I’ll be out there, working and studying the plants, but there won’t be any relaxing on the patio or lying in the grass. Not for months...

Okay snap out of it! Summer's over and winter is on the way, time to fill the shade pavilion greenhouse…

And move a couple of tender things right up near the back door so they can come inside when the temperature drops.

All that heavy lifting and no visit to the Chiropractor! Yay!

The next thing on the list was to take cuttings of the tender succulents planted in the ground.

I’d been doing this in small increments up until the week of Nov 15th but since we were predicted to get a freeze on the 15th and 16th I went into overtime and cut cut cut…(the freeze didn't happen)

Wow. That’s a lot of plants, especially considering I’d already done about this many earlier. The thing that really amazed me was most of these I overwintered last year on our bedroom windowsill. Things grew a little over the summer. Now they’re cut back, potted up and ready for another winter.

Finally I moved some of the containers that I would like to get a little protection from the wind and rain up against the shade pavilion.

And I stopped to look at the empty patio.

So you can see there are a few steps that I go through. Some just precautionary, some very necessary, but when you spread them out over a month and a half it isn't that much work. Or so I tell myself. And lest you think I've completed all my chores there are still a few stragglers. I still haven’t done anything with the “pond” plants, other than sit them down further in the tank when the wind got out of control crazy.

And I realized the other day I haven’t taken any cuttings from this plant. Guess I better get busy...

When’s the deadline?

If you've been reading my blog much you've no doubt gathered that the weather here in Portland, Oregon, has been nothing short of glorious for 3+ months (my definition of glorious, not everyone’s).

In previous years the “end of patio season” deadline has been defined by the coinciding of our fall vacation and the return of the rains. And in fact most of my tender succulents and dry-loving plants were already tucked away in the basement by this time last year.

This year is different. We've already enjoyed our travels and the sun just keeps on shining! However a few forecasters are predicting rain for as soon as the end of this week, I’m left wondering when exactly the deadline is. Many of my fellow zone-pushers have already begun the great migration indoors and undercover, I know I need to get going...

So before it's all torn apart, I thought I'd take a few pictures of how the garden looks in early October…

So much growth has occurred here since these were planted last spring. All the Agaves and the purple Dyckia will be staying put for the winter.

This variegated Agave attenuata will definitely be pulled before the temps dip into the mid 30's. We'll see how I'm feeling about the Euprhobia 'Sticks on Fire' then, right now I'm thinking I may let them pass on. It's a sickly little thing.

Nasty winds over the last few days have taken a toll around the garden, this Eucomis couldn't withstand the force and nearly got punctured on some wicked Agave spikes.

Here's the surviving branch of my Echium x wildprettii 'Rocket' after the other one bloomed. Will it live through the winter to bloom in 2013? Only time will tell...

From newly planted to overgrown in just four and a half months!

Ditto. Can you make out the sort of tangley growth in the lower middle, it weaves around, over and under it's neighbors? That's my Banksia marginata, it's grown a lot, I just wish it were a little "sturdier"...

Thousands of potential babies atop the leaves of this Kalanchoe. I'll take cuttings to overwinter inside.

Inside with these Graptoveria too...

This corner of the garden is showing the signs of not enough water. With so many dry-loving plants I sometimes forget about the ones that get thirsty.

Guess what? The trellis has been purchased, Hydrangea is coming out. Now it's just a matter of when.

This Acacia pravissima was planted in the summer of 2011, just a small 4" plant I thought it might die over the winter. Instead it's now taller than the house. Only marginally hardy here (it will live for a few years but inevitably there will be "that" winter) I wonder how long it will last?

Let's take a peek at the front garden too shall we?

Does everyone else see a big empty space here too? (to the left of the Yucca rostrata) I finally dig out the Verbascum olympicum...luckily I've got several plants ready to go into that spot. I just have to decide which one!

One of the huge and amazingly spiky Opuntia pads sent to me by the Desert Dweller last spring. The other one has produced a couple of new pads but this one remained solo. I love those big white spikes!

Another "empty" spot where a 3-armed Verbascum olympicum came out. Unfortunately  it grew, and took over, and the Ceanothus 'Joyce Coulter’ suffered a little deformation in the mean time (you can see two bare branches in the middle of the photo, with big massive green growth at the end). Dorky, I think it's coming out.

But that's a job for another day, right now I need to start cleaning up and hauling containers. I wonder if I should just make the Chiropractor appointment now?