“Gardening is not a straight line. There are many detours along the way, and thankfully, you never actually arrive at the finish.” This is a motto of Loree Bohl, a Portland gardener and author of “Fearless Gardening.”
Bohl’s garden typifies this thinking with many, quite non-traditional plants for a Pacific Northwest garden. She is not afraid to try new things and regards the failures as lessons to be learned, and perhaps to be tried again. It might work this time!
Among her favorite plants are Agave, Yucca, and Opuntia. She is another big advocate for using pots: on the ground, amongst the garden plantings, and hanging off walls or the rafters of a covered, outdoor seating area.
She credits her inspiration in part to two noteworthy and innovative West Coast, women gardeners of the past: Ruth Bancroft, who lived to be 109, and Ganna Walska, who lived to be 96. Each crafted gardens very unlike their neighbors, starting at an age when many would be beyond new projects. They are models of how the creative energy of gardening can lead to a long and happy life.
Bohl also profiles several Washington and Oregon gardens that have stretched the plant palette. These include the McMenamins Anderson School garden in Bothell, the Point Defiance Zoo garden in Tacoma, and the Amazon Spheres in Seattle.
Her own garden is another fine example. I was part of a tour led by the Northwest Horticultural Society in 2017 to Portland area gardens that included hers. In an essay titled “Successful Gardeners Kill Plants and So Will You,” she describes how the day before we arrived, despite it being late July, a large, established Grevillea victoriae ‘Murray Queen’ suddenly died. She was horrified, but what could she do. For us visitors, committed gardeners all, it was an excellent lesson and opportunity to commiserate.
Excerpted from the Spring 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin