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Garden Tour 2007

Enjoy a sneak preview of the beautiful gardens selected for the 2007 Seeding Our Future Garden Tour & Art Show.

Purchase Garden Tour tickets for $20 each.

Sixteen years ago, this 1.5-acre property went largely unnoticed. Luckily, its current owners saw its potential, and had an abundance of energy to realize that potential. Today, the 100-year old log cabin and its grounds are a community treasure. The “farmette,” as dubbed by its owners, lives up to its name with an Angora goat farm (the owner spins, dyes and knits the wool) and an abundance of delectable edibles. The remainder is filled with ample lawns, lushly planted garden beds, and winding gravel paths. Rustic objects and garden art share space with maple trees, dogwoods, hydrangeas, ferns, roses, daylilies and an ancient Douglas fir (recently designated a Heritage Tree by the City of Tigard). A cedar-shingled outbuilding (formerly the pump house) anchors an island bed with a pocket-sized waterfall and pond.

Wheelchair accessible

Within this small garden, the homeowners carved out intimate garden rooms. A magnificent Japanese maple, rhododendrons, azaleas, ‘Skypencil’ Japanese holly and waist-high trellises screen one cobblestone courtyard from the street. Cushioned seating tempts guests to linger and listen to the bubbling fountain. Agastache, hardy geraniums, purple coneflowers, hydrangeas and roses provide summer color and perfume. Hanging baskets filled with geraniums and petunias line the overhang over the front walk. Additional baskets and a rooster sculpture greet guests at the front door. A rusty metal arbor, hung with baskets of begonias, straddles the path to the back garden where raised beds and perennials, including geums, daylilies, daisies, nasturtiums, lobelia and mallow, form a living curtain between another courtyard and the adjacent golf course. Leafy canopies of stately oaks offer cool shade on hot summer days.

The owners originally dubbed their property “A Secret Garden” because it was so overgrown—its riches were hidden. Pruning uncovered the trees’ structural beauty, and careful planning enhanced the English garden feel. Now, a dry streambed weaves through Japanese blood grass, coreopsis, and ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum. Shade-lovers thrive in beds next to the house: Fatsia japonica, hostas, wax-leaf begonia, maidenhair ferns and hardy fuchsias. Water spills over falls and burbles from a fountain; ‘Evergold’ Japanese sedge and deer fern drip over the pond’s edges. An umbrella pine and a red lace-leaf Japanese maple complete the tableau. The deck, built around a mature vine maple, yields bird watching and views of ‘Brise d’Anjou’ Jacob’s ladder, hydrangeas, corkscrew willow, Jackmonti birch, ‘Sunburst’ honeylocust, cape fuchsias and iris. Climbing roses scale an arbor while more roses fill a sunny corner.

This garden’s gems are the Craftsman-inspired cedar deck and adjoining potting shed. Beneath a white-painted pergola, cushioned seating, abundant colorful containers, and heady star jasmine create a space suitable for intimate or larger gatherings. Nearby, a tiny water garden whispers delicate musical notes. In the potting shed the gardener can daydream while puttering among treasured objects. This garden includes a variety of plants, too. Rhododendrons and hostas revel in a shady garden while evergreen clematis, vine maples and nandinas soften the edges of the front porch. A path leads past variegated dogwoods, bright pink Maltese cross, heathers, ‘Sundance’ Mexican orange, a tricolor beech and a Jackmonti Himalayan birch. The back garden, planted with hydrangeas, ferns and colorful perennials, waits beyond a vine-covered arched arbor and gate. Edibles fill raised beds in a sunny side garden.

Beneath towering Douglas firs, this romantic cottage garden offers respite among favorite old-fashioned plants such as delphinium, phlox, fuchsias, mop-head hydrangeas and lavender. Foliage and flowers are predominantly pink and green, punctuated by purple and white. Birdhouses, worn white picket fences, wrought iron pieces, and garden art provide shabby chic accents. A stream meanders along the fence and under an arched wooden bridge before tumbling into a pond overhung by a red lace-leaf Japanese maple. Window boxes drip with 'Marguerite' sweet potato vine, coleus, impatiens and petunias. Sitting in the white wicker or chartreuse Adirondack chairs, visitors can enjoy the views of the gaily-planted back garden. Containers of pink geraniums complement a cloth-covered table. A wrought-iron tea cart stands nearby, ready for a favorite pastime: tea in the garden.

Exuberant plantings against a cedar and copper fence hint at the treasures lying within this 2/3-acre garden. These gardeners fashioned a whimsical space chock-full of plants, family history and found objects. They painted a worn wooden chaise bright purple and placed it among yellow flowers and foliage. Old fence sections found new life as wavy-edged backdrops to roses, daylilies, peonies, and irises. Bricks rescued from a Newberg theater demolition became a patio under a Wisteria-clad pergola. Mature trees (many were originally Christmas trees) and shrubs provide the bones for themed gardens, including an Asian garden, tucked along winding paths. A waterfall spills into a large pond, stuffed with water lilies, papyrus and sedges, that is home to goldfish and frogs. Hydrangeas, hostas, astilbes and ferns brighten a shady corner. Colorful “beachfront” cottages hold garden supplies and carpentry tools.

A steep, shallow backyard did not daunt this gardener when she and her husband purchased their home five years ago. Instead, she turned it into a beautiful tapestry of foliage, flowers and water. Passing by front garden gems such as hebe, spirea, and purple smoke-bush, and through a wooden arbor, a winding path delivers you to a lovely, all-season garden. Water tumbles past basalt boulders, driftwood and plants before cascading into a pool filled with water lilies, pickerel-weed and other aquatic plants. Conifers, including weeping Atlas cedar, weave among dogwood trees and shrubs, Japanese maples, ornamental grasses and sedges, and perennials such as purple coneflower and daylilies. Grape vines scramble along the fence, while heuchera, Japanese forest grass and hydrangeas nestle against the house. Containers of sedums and succulents decorate the patio.

Inspired by Thomas Hobbs’ “The Jewel Box Garden,” these gardeners used boldly textured, colorful foliage and artful flourishes to imbue their small garden with grand stature. The west-facing front garden, designed by a friend, features heat lovers: sedums, grasses, hebes, ceanothus, euphorbias, purple smoke bush, evergreen magnolia, and lavenders. The front courtyard offers visitors seating among lush containers and a tiered fountain. In the back garden, ‘Tropicana’ canna, variegated yuccas, ‘Siskiyou Pink’ gaura, winter daphne, ‘Angelina’ sedum, and black mondo grass stand out against an evergreen privacy screen. Water ripples from two fountains. A natural gas fireplace warms those seated on the cobblestone patio. Neoclassical statues abound and colorful, glazed containers overflow with plants, such as ‘Blackie’ sweet potato vine, blue fescue, New Zealand flax and windmill palm. Raised beds in the sunny side garden hold edibles.

A gracious entrance invites you in to the romantic garden that surrounds this house. Deep garden beds filled with shrubs, boxwood, old roses and classic perennials mirror the charm of the Queen Anne Cottage home. Sweeping lawns, mature trees, formal statues and fountains lend an air of reverie to the garden. White wicker furniture and concrete benches beckon to you to pause and drink in the calm of pastel hues and lush foliage. A lawn tennis court, carriage house, horse pasture and pond seal the illusion of stepping into another era. Lovingly restored by the homeowners, the 1906 home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They received the National Trust’s “Great American House Award” in landscaping in 1995. Back by popular request from the 2006 tour.

Gardens Wanted for 2008 Tour

If you know of a garden that is too lovely to keep secret, including your own, please tell us about it! Gardens must lie within the 97223, 97224, or 97062 zip code areas. Chosen a year in advance, gardens are selected to ensure representation across the district, showcase a variety of garden features, and represent gardeners of all ages and skill levels. Download the 2008 application form here.

Please contact Lisa Albert at 503-431-4024 or info@foundation4smartkids.org.

Greeting Cards

Greeting Cards featuring gardens from the previous years' Tour are avaialbe for purchase. Photographer and retired principal, Gordon Hicky, has captured themed sets of 6 cards for only $10/set. Cards will be available at the Garden Art Show or by visiting the School District Office throughout the year. Gardens from the 2007 tour will be available in October at Art in the Burbs.

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• Yesterday and Today
• Intimate Spaces
• A Secret Garden
• Contemporary Craftsman
• Romance and Ruffles
• Joyful Abundance
• Hillside Beauty
• Mediterranean Delight
• Flower Farm
• 2008 Tour
• Greeting Cards
• Back to Top