Yard Crasher #10: Grace's Garden

I could not be more excited to be sharing photos from my most recent Yard Crashing expedition.

My mom and I hopped in the car Saturday morning, and headed south to Albany, where we met Grace, who a lot of you already know from her gardening blog, Grace In The Garden. We spent the entire day following her through Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, and other little towns I had never even heard of, in search of plants. We hit four (five?) nurseries, and she was gracious enough to walk us through her own personal garden, live and in person. I only wish I had taken more photos, but I was distracted by chatting, oohing, ahhing, and asking 900 times, "What's this?!" She'll have to identify a lot of her babies in the comments, because my brain, in serious plant overload, just couldn't retain all of the names. This picture perfect pose, of the resident kitty, is what reminded me that I left my camera in the car. I ran back to get it and he is how we shall start off our tour.

Looks like a perfectly cozy bed to me. If you read her blog, you'll recognize this as the area where she removed the lawn last year. I'd say it filled in quite nicely.

The sea of green is Creeping Thyme. I think I need some of it in my life.

This bed is back behind the kitty sleeping area. Remember that Allium I posted the other day that looks like fireworks? She had like four or five of them. You can see one here on the right hand side.

She had SO many pretty roses. And not a single one had blackspot or rust. They were all so pretty and healthy.

Check out this Hosta. Holy moly, it was awesome. I've seen 'Sum and Substance' in a zillion photos, but never one in real life.

If I had found this Comfrey in our nursery travels, I would have snatched it right up.

She had these Wild Impatiens (I don't recall the name) everywhere. It reseeds like the one I have, as in, all over the place. I am SUPER excited to have brought some home, and now they can spread all over my own yard.

Looking back the way we came.

Persicaria ('Red Dragon'?) and more of the Wild Impatiens.

Nectaroscordum siculum. I'm definitely buying more of these bulbs this fall. Especially after having both of mine broken off before they were in full bloom. :(

This rose was amazing. In the visual and olfactory department. Rosa 'Rhapsody In Blue'.

This was one of my favorite spots.

We were being tailed. I'm punny, aren't I?

Another pretty rose. ('Knockout'?)

I neeeed this Heuchera in my life. I need to steal a piece of that Campanula from my mom's yard, as well.

A very cool Hydrangea.

This is what my Astrantia wants to be when he grows up. This one is 'Ruby Wedding'.

Clematis.

A sweet little pink Rose bloom.

The prettiest California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) I ever did see.

She will now be known, to me, as the Geranium Queen. I have never seen so many hardy Geraniums in all my life. You can probably find one peeking out in every single photo. I swear she had dozens of different ones.

This made me really want a pond in my life. He was hiding from us, but there's a resident froggy living in here.

The very first buds on her Acanthus mollis, aka, Bear's Breech, since putting it in ten years ago.

The infamous Podophyllum, 'Spotty Dotty'.

It's too bad she keeps her pretty flowers hidden.

Another water feature. This one was babbling.

A couple pulled back shots. There's that Comfrey again.

I LOVE this urn full of succulents.

My Mukdenia is about 1/16th of this size. I don't know what the heck is going on with it.

I can't remember what this vine was.

Sweet pink Nicotiana.

Another pulled back view.

And last, two plants that I can't remember the names of.

This one reminds me of Loosestrife.

And that concludes the tour. There are so many things I didn't take photos of, (including the gardener!) and I'm bummed. I guess that gives me an excuse to go back. :) I hope my photos did her gorgeous yard justice. I'm just happy I got the chance to see it in real life, and to share it here. I left my camera in the car for all our nursery visits, but she had hers out. I'll let you know if she does a post with any of them. In the meantime, you can find her, and her garden, here: Grace In The Garden