Garden Photo of the Day

Through the Year in an Oregon Garden

Judging from these photos, it certainly was a pretty year

Today’s GPOD comes from Nancy Sarpola:
"We have been gardening on a steep 1/4 acre in Corvallis, Oregon for about 25 years. I enjoy seeing gardens on the GPOD and have sent photos in several times before. Here are a few of our garden from 2017."

We had a March snowstorm, unusual in the Willamette Valley.

Epimedium 'Orange Kognin', lungwort (Pulmonaria), and daffodils bloom in April.

Midsummer blooms include Liatris and shasta daisies (Leucanthemum).

This picture is taken down toward the house from our upper pathway in late July.

More midsummer with Agapanthus and Helenium.

Toward the end of summer, the asters, Actaea, and hardy begonias bloom

Have a garden you'd like to share? Email 5-10 high-resolution photos (there is no need to reduce photo sizing before sending—simply point, shoot and send the photos our way) and a brief story about your garden to [email protected]. Please include where you're located!

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Comments

  1. frankgreenhalgh 12/05/2017

    Hi Nancy - Wonderful photos of your garden during the year. Lovely backyard and beautiful dark blue agapanthus. Nice colour combinations throughout your garden. Cheers from Oz

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks Frank! Wish I could jump on a plane and visit you in Australia this time of year!!

      1. frankgreenhalgh 12/05/2017

        Why not throw caution to the wind and jump on that plane, watch a few videos and touch down in Oz, Nancy! We will make sure you have a good time.

        1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

          Maybe some day! I would love to see Australia!

  2. user-3565112 12/05/2017

    Good morning Nancy, Your plant combinations are beautiful & brightened this dreary morning in Maryland. Is the daffodil in photo no. 2 Aketa? I have those in a hospice garden & they look similar. Thank you & good luck, Joe

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Hi Joe, I believe it is probably 'Jetfire'. Quite early and fairly perennial here in the Northwest. Foggy here in the Northwest today.

  3. tennisluv 12/05/2017

    What a wonderful way to start the day. Nancy, to repeat what Joe and Frank have already said, your plant and color combinations are beautiful. The play of the blue, orange and yellow dainty blossoms in pictures 2 & 5 are so pretty together without overpowering their playmates. Love the pop of purple of the upright Liatris juxtaposing the flat-topped, yellow kissed snow white of the Shasta Daisy. What a great, multi season garden.

  4. user-4691082 12/05/2017

    Good morning Nancy. You have created a beautiful garden. I really enjoyed these photos on a dreary PA morning ? to Joe in MD! That first image of those beautiful azaleas with snow on them! I hope they weren’t harmed. I’m actually looking forward to our first snow! Thanks for sharing!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks Rhonda, It's not raining here for a change, but quite foggy. The camellia was fine. Snow does less damage than all the rain we sometimes get!

  5. user-4691082 12/05/2017

    I just realized the first photo is of camellias, not azaleas! My bad!

    1. tennisluv 12/05/2017

      I first thought they were roses, then realized they were camellias. Still pretty.

      1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

        I should have labelled it. It is Camellia 'Donation' - one of the best at least for the Northwest.

  6. user-7007498 12/05/2017

    Good morning, Nancy. I have enjoyed your photos this morning. You have done a great job working with your garden challenges (small lot and hillside). I have always struggled with orange in the garden, but you have done a masterful job combining it with blue.

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks Kevin. The small size of my garden is a blessing in disguise. I always want more space but wouldn't have the time and energy to maintain it.

  7. Jay_Sifford 12/05/2017

    Hi Nancy. What a lovely garden you've created. You apparently have the knowledge and talent required to combine and peacefully juxtapose flowers and foliage in a masterful way. Happy gardening!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks Jay!

  8. Chris_N 12/05/2017

    Hi Nancy. I'm going to ditto what everyone else has said. Beautiful garden. And I love the epimedium, lungwort, daffodil combination set off by the dark red shrub behind.

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thank you Chris!

  9. chelleisdiggin 12/05/2017

    Beautiful and refreshing, Nancy! And yearning for winter, I really love the picture of your blooms in the snow!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thank you!

  10. User avater
    Tim_Zone_Denial_Vojt 12/05/2017

    Nancy, it's great to see your sumptuous garden again. Every single thing is so perfect in every photo. The camellias in snow photo is outstanding, but heck, every photo is outstanding. I really need to grow that Begonia, but I don't think I can get it to look as marvelous as yours!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks Tim. It's Begonia 'Heronswood Pink'. A little too easy to grow here. Some of the pink flowers you see are actually seed pods and I do get quite a few seedlings into the rock wall.

  11. User avater
    meander_michaele 12/05/2017

    Sigh, Nancy, I get lost (in the best possible way) in your garden photos. As I gaze upon each picture and then go to the next, I feel like I am flipping through the pages of a very expensive garden themed calendar. And, since it is raining outside, I decided to treat myself to a walk down memory lane and pull up your previous sharings...each one is sublime. You have a genuine artist eye for composing your photos... but, then again, the talent in your vision for planting the combinations that came before they were camera ready is undeniable.... so I am in humble admiration of both your gifts...ha, you are probably also a fabulous cook!

    1. Sunshine111 12/05/2017

      How does one find previous sharings on this website?

      1. user-6536305 12/05/2017

        Go to very top of this page. In the search bar, copy and paste Nancy Sarpola and then hit the search button, you could find several Nancy's previous posts. Hope this helps.

        1. cheryl_c 12/05/2017

          Wow, thanks, Lilian! I always wondered how people did that!

        2. Sunshine111 12/05/2017

          Thank you I tried that but it didn’t work for me. It was more of a Google search and brought up a whole bunch of Google results instead of results from the website for some reason

          1. user-6536305 12/05/2017

            Go down that google search page, you will find the following. Hit on that, you would fine Nancy's post.
            Scenes of October and November in Nancy's Oregon Garden | Fine ...
            When you finish, on the top left hand-side, use <- to go back and find another Nancy's post.

          2. User avater
            meander_michaele 12/05/2017

            Great guidance, Lilian...you make a super helpful internet sherpa!

          3. Sunshine111 12/05/2017

            I’ll have to try it on my desktop at some point because it is not working on my iPhone. Thank you for all the tips

          4. user-6536305 12/06/2017

            I have tried to search Nancy's garden posts on both of my Samsung cell phone Galaxy J3 and Galaxy Tab A. Both work. I will try on a friend's iPhone and let you know later Lily.

          5. user-6536305 12/05/2017

            It looks like this, made way you could see several of Nancy's post.

    2. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thank you! You have a gift for writing encouraging comments!

      1. User avater
        meander_michaele 12/05/2017

        And a thank you from me to you... although garden pictures like yours make the words flow easily. PS...What about your cooking skills?

        1. OregonGardenGal 12/06/2017

          Well, I am a pretty good cook but the motivation is different. I garden because it makes me happy! I cook because it makes the people I love happy!

          1. User avater
            meander_michaele 12/06/2017

            That's a great answer about the cooking and I know just what you mean.
            It's kind of amazing how easy it is to spend literally hours working away in the garden and the time passes so quickly. Making dinner at the end of the day is what I do out of love for my family.

  12. User avater
    LindaonWhidbey 12/05/2017

    Hi Nancy. Absolutely lovely photos this morning but as Michaele said so well, first you had the creativity to plan this garden. Your combinations are some of my favorites, especially the epimedium with the pulmonaria and the agapanthus with the helenium. It’s always nice to see your garden.

  13. NCYarden 12/05/2017

    So neat and tidy, Nancy. Quite simply a splendid garden. I love the nod to perseverance with snow-covered camellia blooms. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks so much for commenting.

  14. mjensen 12/05/2017

    beautiful, love the plant selection/

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thank you!

  15. Sunshine111 12/05/2017

    I love how those colors really pop! The snow on the roses is divine. I Really liked all of it. Do you know what variety or cultivar of agapanthus that is? It is such a royal deep blue. I’d love to find some for myself .

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Hi Lily, It's Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud'. I have grown several, but so far it's my favorite for the dark blue color.

      1. user-6536305 12/05/2017

        Is Agapanthus hardy in your garden? Thinking to get some for myself if they are hardy. I am in Vancouver, BC.

        1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

          Hi Lilian, Many are hardy. I visited Vancouver this summer and I think your climate may be a little milder than ours judging from what I saw growing. I have had 'Storm Cloud' for many years. It survived our 0 degree (Farenheit) night 5 years ago with a stack of leaves on top of it.

  16. poest 12/05/2017

    Beautiful combos!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks so much!

  17. NWAgardener 12/05/2017

    Good Morning Nancy - your home and plantings combine to create the quintessential cottage garden. Perfect!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks!

  18. VikkiVA 12/05/2017

    Stunning garden Nancy! Thanks for sharing all the beauty. Vikki in VA

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thank you Vikki!

  19. user-6536305 12/05/2017

    You certainly have a beautiful garden year through out the season Nancy! Love your plant and color combinations. Love Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud' and it is so dark in purple and so beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks Lilian! And thanks for such a great explanation on how to find old posts in the comments below!

  20. cheryl_c 12/05/2017

    Nancy, I echo others in admiring your photography and your planning the beautiful combinations you've created. I have gone back several times now to really look hard at that second photo - I kept wondering how those differing colors managed to all go together so beautifully - and, of course, the answer I now see is the epimedium which introduces both the yellow and orange of the daffodil, but also, in bud, the bright plum of the (barberry?) bush behind! So the only really contrasting one is the brilliant blue of the pulmonaria. Amazing. Thanks so much for sharing these!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks Cheryl. Good eye identifying the barberry just budding out!

  21. btucker9675 12/05/2017

    What a wonderful garden - I would never go indoors!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thank you Beth!

  22. Meelianthus 12/05/2017

    Such stunning combinations Nancy. One can tell that you have a love of many wonderful colors and use them creatively. I really enjoyed all of your photos and always enjoy your gardens. :)

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks for your kind comments!

  23. anabowers 12/05/2017

    Nancy, your combinations are so wonderful! Your garden has such a nice flow about it. I truly enjoyed it. Thanks!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Thanks!

  24. Luvfall 12/05/2017

    Nancy your plant combinations are fantastic, especially that it’s not just two or three plants together but plays into the background plants and shrubs as well. I’ve taken several screenshots for inspiration next spring. Could you give some more information on the other plants in the agapanthus photo. Do I see a blackberry lily in that picture?

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/05/2017

      Hi, I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. I would be happy to give you the plant names. The variegated shrub is Cornus 'Hedgerow's Gold' (shrubby dogwood). The yellow flowers in the foreground are Solidaster 'Lemore'. The crocosmia (yellow-orange) is 'George Davidson'. It looks similar to a blackberry lily. The pale lavender is Aster frikartti 'Monch' just starting to come out. The orange daisies are Helenium 'Mardi Gras'.

      1. Luvfall 12/05/2017

        Thanks so much. The crocosmia isn’t reliable in zone 5 but the solidaster is something I will look for. It’s a great shade of yellow and looks like a prolific bloomer.

  25. carolineyoungwilliams 12/05/2017

    Nancy, I just love your Agapanthus & Helenium...they are so beautiful together. Thanks for sharing.

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/06/2017

      Thanks Caroline! Glad you enjoyed them!

  26. greengenes 12/07/2017

    Oh Nancy! How wonderful are your gardens! So bright and contrasting and yet so well blended! My favorite photo is the snow on the camellia! Hope for next spring to come! Thanks for sharing!

    1. OregonGardenGal 12/07/2017

      Thanks Jeanne! It has been inspiring to see photos of your garden here and on Facebook. I wish I had space to grow as many beautiful trees and shrubs as you do!

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