The May 13 meetup was on Saturday, spurred on by a Yutsano visit to Seattle.
Attending
Dan B.
Yutsano
BeautifulPlumage
Thalarctos Maritimus
Mike
Dan B, Yutsano, and BeautifulPlumage all sent proof-of-life photos from the Seattle meetup on April 13. Sounds like CaseyL wasn’t able to make it. But most of the proof of life turned out to be proof of a beautiful garden, with maybe a stray photo of people here or there!
I’m gonna let you guys ID who is who people-wise, and I’ll add names when you do.
And here’s what I know about the plants and flowers.
The variegated plant is a variegated Mock Orange (Philadelpuus) the mass of white flowers is a Mock Orange (Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl) both are fragrant and not remotely related. The Rhodies are 12 feet tall.
I’ll let Dan B. ID any other plants or flowers you guys are interested in. :-)
Open thread.
Dorothy A. Winsor
What a gorgeous garden. The jackals aren’t so bad either! Did you call one another by your nyms?
Baud
I appreciate the proof of life because you never know with Beautiful Plumage.
JPL
What a wonderful meetup. The photos are awesome and the company moreso.
zhena gogolia
Lovely
Dan B
From left to right it’s Thalarctos Maritimus, Dan B, Beautiful Plumage, and Yutsano.
Casey L had an exhausting day and OpieJeanne had grandkids. Yutsano called Casey L as we were leaving and we said hello.
eclare
What a beautiful garden, I can’t imagine the work it took to get it started. Looks like a fun group!
Dan B
@eclare: It was fun. I got to hear great stories and we did a bit of politics as well. Beautiful Plumage has had many different jobs and Thalarctos is a scientist. Yutsano is hoping to move to Seattle from Richland, WA, home of Hanford.
JPL
So jealous. What a beautriful setting and wonderful and ful loving group. btw grand imps always come first though.
kalakal
Oh what a great way to spend a day. A beautiful garden and good company.
You can call me jealous
Ohio Mom
That’s a gorgeous garden. I always like being surprised that no one looks like how I pictured them from their nyms.
Yutsano, Good luck with your moving plans!
Baud
The garden is lovely.
MagdaInBlack
Dear lord! What a gorgeous garden! Nice to see you all together enjoying it.
Taphozous
I am sorry I missed it. Looks like a beautiful garden and great company. I’m in Olympia and just couldn’t swing this one.
MomSense
Look at you beautiful jackals in such a beautiful garden!
Dan B
@eclare: Mike bought the house in 2000. It was 1/4 acre with sloping lawns, mostly dead, a couple Junipers and sick Roses. The master bedroom had a window that had been a tiny vent. We moved 150 cubic yards of soil to create level areas. People won’t stand on a slope that is more than 2%. Then we blew in aged bark to amend and break up the gummy silty soil. We planted and then Mike spent the year installing the terrace, entry pond, and stone retaining walls. In one picture I’m pointing at a blue flowered Rhody. It was supposed to top out at three feet. It’s over 8 feet. Yikes! The amendment worked.
Dan B
I designed the garden to have spaces for 3 to 8 people. That’s a conversation size group. The first party everyone was outside in groups exactly that size. And … The entry pond had cats sitting on the edge – double win if cats like it!
Joy in FL
That garden is stunningly beautiful.
MagdaInBlack
@Dan B: It really is stunning. I am just in awe ❤️
mrmoshpotato
That’s considered a garden?!
No. Just no. Hot diggity dog! No.
A-where’s-the-hedgemaze-ing!
eclare
@Dan B:
That was a lot of work, but the results are worth it. The photos are so soothing. So jealous you can grow rhododendrons, they won’t grow in Memphis.
HinTN
@Dan B: You drove me from the hotel to the meet-up last time, all those pre-COVID years ago. Next time I want some of that garden! What a lovely space.
PS: HiYa to BeautifulPlumage
PPS: Amazing Mountain Laurel. I didn’t know you had it there.
Dan B
@eclare: Rhodies are happy here but need lots of water in the summer. We get about 7 inches of rain between May 1st and mid October. Mid July to September 1st is 1 1/2″. Memphis gets over 45″ between May 1 and mid October. Fortunately we had good snowpack this winter.
Dan B
@eclare: Rhodies are happy here but need lots of water in the summer. We get about 7 inches of rain between May 1st and mid October. Mid July to September 1st is 1 1/2″. Memphis gets over 45″ between May 1 and mid October. Fortunately we had good snowpack this winter.
Dan B
Thalarctos Maritimus lives between Mike’s garden and my house. Who knew?
Dan B
@HinTN: If the weather’s good it’s a deal. It was 89° and it was very nice to sit in the shade.
Ken
I can’t find the frog in any of these pictures.
WaterGirl
@Ken: Funny.
Dan B
@eclare: I lived 70 miles west of Memphis when I was a kid. There wasn’t much gardening except vegetables and Pecans. There’s that guy near Lityle Rock who has a big garden, P. Allen Smith, or something.
Dan B
@Ken: There were goldfish in the pond for many years and Great Blue Herons are big especially looking out the window from the dining table three feet away. Frogs nada.
Kristine
That garden is jaw-dropping. 😍
eclare
@Dan B:
There are lots of flower beds in my neighborhood, but nothing like what you have. And pecans…my yard is ringed with them!
Dan B
@eclare: You have topsoil. Seattle’s got scraped away by 3,000 feet of glacial ice. Conifer forest doesn’t build topsoil well. Oregon got Eastern Washington’s topsoil. In Portland the topsoil is 25 feet deep. But when I first moved to Seattle u was amazed at the complexity of plants and then realized that it’s very mild, Zone 8b which is like central Louisiana. Plus there are 100+ days when it’s nice to be outside. Ohio had 50 days at most.
eclare
@Dan B:
My grass, El Toro Zoysia, does grow really well. Speaking of rain, I haven’t watered it in well over ten years, it just keeps plugging along!
CCL
Wow! Beautiful gardens.
Tenar Arha
hello!
also, beautiful garden photos & arrangements!
Yutsano
35 comments in and no one is as stunned as I was over the hellebore? I’d never seen it before and I pestered the bejeezus out of Mike until he identified it. What a remarkable flower.
(It’s the very dark purple one in the garden pics. I’m still in awe of it.)
opiejeanne
Oh, I’m so sorry we missed being there and seeing everyone, and I really wanted to see this garden. Wow! Glorious Garden.
BeautifulPlumage
Hi all, the garden is as lovely in person as the photos suggest. Looks like we missed the water feature, though. TM was excited by the pitcher plants, and that area was cool and serene. Thanks again to Dan B and Mike for hosting!
BeautifulPlumage
@Baud: I heard that!
BeautifulPlumage
@opiejeanne: we missed you & CaseyL. Also, has anyone heard from MikeJ recently?
Miss Bianca
Such a lush, gorgeous space, what a pleasure it must have been to meet up in person there!
cckids
What an amazing garden! Some day I will make it to one of our meetups here in Seattle. It looks like a fun time.