Gail Barnard's Oregon garden respects the nature that surrounds it.
"I garden in Lake Oswego, Oregon. My garden backs up to a large state park so the goal has been to create a garden that blends naturally with the natural setting yet showcases my love of texture and form. Some of the garden is 7 yrs old while other portions are newer-it has been a work in progress."
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Comments
well, the comments section opens for me but no photos are showing up. this is not a good omen for an early morning rainy monday
No pictures? Well it's Monday….
Oops! Little technical difficulties - coming shortly! (Happy Monday!)
OK, gang, I'll share a picture...here's the size portion I deserve to eat after all my pigging out over the 4 day Thanksgiving eatathon.
Good one! Thanks for our morning chuckle!
Mike, I was good this year. no sugar, no carbs that just left turkey for the dinner plate
Wow, Jeff, who the heck are you??? Was there an outer space invasion of aliens who body snatched folks in Kingsport and gave them superpowers of self control?? Is this going to continue on through Christmas? Will you be able to resist all those delectable dessert goodies that you and your wife have baked in years gone by?
That's about the right size for me,too!
So funny.
Wow! that looks SO delicious. I could consume that right now. Yum!
This gave me a good laugh.
No pictures today but this is an opportunity to wish all of you Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Your comments , gardening advice , and garden photos are a bright & cheerful way to start the morning . I wish you all good luck & can't wait to see what you guys come up with in the spring.. Joe
Lol! I hope I can meet all of you someday!
A Garden that Blends into the Fine Gardening page.
Very Good, Chris!
The ultimate camouflage garden...maybe Fine Gardening will start a new trend. I can imagine it catching on...just think, we wouldn't even have to weed the garden that can't be seen!
Hahaha! Puzzled by missing photo(s) but had lol moments reading comments. Good one, meander1!
Haha, right there with you meander:) I'll share a photo of our spectacular moonrise on Thanksgiving.
Beautiful photo!
Thanks. New camera for my birthday so maybe next will be garden photos.
Love the photo.
Thanks
I wish I had taken this one!! Beautiful capture!!!
Wow!
Just beautiful, Linda...I should hold on to this for those moments when I come home from shopping and feel a little frazzled...like now. This is a picture worthy of that "Calgon take me away" feeling...ha, only those over a certain age will get that reference.
Isn't there a song out there about finding a way?
No, pictures, no problem - we still get to visit the GPOD coffee group. Weill just use our imagination - plenty of that around!
wowza, all that in 7 years or less. it looks GREAT and you have really put forth a lot of work and effort. beautiful
thank you Jeff-it's been a labor of love converting this garden from being a rental house garden to my own!
Gail, your garden is a show-stopper. From the stone wall to the stone paths, from the gorgeous Hakonechloa to the Callicarpa, it's wonderful! Keep sending in photos! What is the shiny-leaved plant in the lower right of the photo with the Callicarpa berries? At first glance I thought it was a Pyrossia, but now I see stems and some fall color.
Gorgeous garden Gail. Love the pathways and walls. Love to wander with you and I am sure it blends in well with the State Park. Hope the others get to come back and view your garden.
Okay, you Northwest gardeners just stop with all the beauty already! :) Your fall color is stunning. I am in love with Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra) and yours is definitely a testimony to why. Is that a Japanese maple (red leaf) and Oakleaf Hydrangea in the last picture? And your "puppy" in the picture above that is so precious. Thank you for sharing and thanks to Fine Gardening for another year of beauty. Vikki in VA.
hi Vikki-yes you are correct about the Acer and Oakleaf hydrangea. Thank you so much for the nice words.
Gail, your garden has a great sense of naturally occurring order that is very appealing. Love your J. Forest grasses. Unfortunately, the rabbits like mine as much as I do. Thanks for sharing on this frosty, turkey hangover Monday.
hello Linda-we have been live trapping the occasional rabbit that finds it's way into the garden and then relocating them far far away
Yeah, photos! and worth waiting for. This is a very thoughtful transition to nature. Good job. I couldn't help but wonder how attractive your garden is to the forest critters. Have you found that a problem, or did you bear that in mind when designing?
hello quilting mamma: yes the forest creatures enjoy my garden too. I use no chemicals, pesticides nor herbicides and only live trap and relocate the bunnies. I have erected tall deer fencing on top of existing fencing as well. In the front garden I try to select deer resistant plants and encourage neighbors to plant roses to keep the deer in their gardens instead of mine-hahaha-just kidding.
<> Smart plan. Sometimes it is a fine line between having the garden we want, and the garden nature allows us to have. Love that purple berried bush. Can't remember the name, but I know I can't grow it here :-(
I love the Beautyberry too! where do you garden quiltingmamma?
Gail, I now garden in Ottawa, Ontario Canada. I grew up on the West Coast and still adjusting to a much colder climate. No Beautyberry for me.
Funny... I got to GPOD late today and looked at the beautiful photos of Gail's garden, then I started to read the comments and it seemed very odd that Michaele posted the little tart photo and didn't mention Gail's shots at all??? It wasn't until I had read several other chit-chatty posts when Susan mentioned technical difficulties. The AHA moment finally occurred!!! Obviously, not only is my tummy still full, but apparently my brain is a little slow on the uptake as well ;)
Back to your gardens Gail, they are a texture and form lovers dream, and you definitely succeeded in marrying your beds with the surrounding forest. Just lovely!
thank you Sheila!
Hi Gail! Iam so glad you shared your gardens with us! They are so beautiful and a lot to see! I love your touches of colors in there as well. But I really love your rock wall and the new rock on the path! Gorgeous!!! Thanks!
thank you Jeanne but my garden pales in comparison to yours!
Jeanne, I thought of you when I saw how purple the beautyberry seemed and the purple gazing ball just visible in the upper lefthand corner.
Gail, I am so glad that your pictures have overcome the initial technical glitch and are now here for all of us to enjoy. Sorry I succumbed to silliness and filled the void with the miniature food pix.
Your garden has all the elements that I truly love...impressively well done hardscape, beautiful and wonderful plant selections and fun pops of color here and there. Your mounds of Japanese Forest grass are positively voluptuous ..sigh...I will try to control my envy. What is the tree in the first picture with what looks like super "curly" dark cinnamon exfoliating bark? A paperbark maple? A madrone? It's so textural!
Your comments are so funny and well written. I love to read them.
You're sweet to say so, Lillian. This gardening community brings out the best in me.
thank you! that tree is an Acer Griseum and one of my favorites! Another that I have is a Hydrangea Aspera
Oh, we're almost neighbors! I have many of your plants in my garden. Looks like yours is on level ground whereas most of mine is on a steep hill. I'm trying Forest Grass for erosion control on my steep paths. Yours also look like you get more sun than mine does and mine is also about 7yrs old and is a work in progress as yours.
Nenita my garden is almost completely on a gentle slope with a few less sloping areas like the patio
Since I am late getting here today, no problem with the pictures. I love a natural looking garden, and yours is gorgeous, Gail. Love the purple Beautyberry and the "pup" - is he an Afghan hound?
thank you Shirley! Dillon is an Irish Setter and my garden helper
A really beautiful blending of all your trees, bushes and forest. Stunning colors and wonderful selections throughout. Thanks for sharing your gardens.
Details like that stone in the center of the wall make the garden that much more personalized and so special. I'll bet there is a story or design/build memory that goes with it. Beautiful fall color, too. Thanks for sharing.
so nice of you to say Tia!
Gail, your garden's informal style is a natural match for the park next door. Love your choice of flagstones and bark mulch for your paths and the use of billowing grasses to punctuate the woodland look of the shrubs and trees. The fall colours are beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
Gail, your colors are beautiful. The mixture of contrasting hues makes it vibrant and peaceful at the same time.
thank you!
Glad I checked back. Your garden is beautiful, Gail.
thank you Chris!
Gail, Thank you so much for the pictures of your beautiful gardens. I just took a seminar on color an texture and the teacher really could have learned a lot from you! It was such a disappointment. You have now brought joy to my eyes!!!
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