Since my trip to Germany, Austria and Switzerland was canceled this year I decided to visit Oregon and see my brother, his family and gardens and nurseries in the Portland area.

Seven Feathers rest area along Highway 5 south of Roseburg, Oregon.

Conifer Kingdom Nursery in Silverton, Oregon specializes in dwarf conifers and Japanese Maples.

Here are examples of plants that they sell mostly on mail-order:

Dwarf Spruce (Picea omorika ‘Peve ‘Tijen’) grows 2-5″ per year.

Dwarf Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica Little Diamond’) grows 4′ wide and 2′ tall.

Dwarf Korean Fir (Abies koreana ‘Kohout’s Hexe’) grows 1/2″ to 1″ per year.

Geisha Gone Wild Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Geisha Gone Wild’) has unusual twisted and variegated leaves.

Autumn Moon Maple (Acer shirasawanum ‘Autumn Moon’) has beautiful new growth in the sun and wonderful fall color.

Red Filigree Japanese Maple (Acer japonicum dissectum ‘Red Filigree’)

Twombly’s Red Sentinel Japanese Maple (Acer japonicum ‘ Twombly’s Red Sentinel’) has a columnar habit and red leaves.

The nursery also grows larger plants that can be used as specimens.

On my way to Portland I stopped along the highway to take pictures of hops growing on a string trellis.

This is my brother, Doug and his wife, Ruth in their beautiful garden where I have come to work this week. My job is to irrigate all the plants on the decks and the rest of the garden and do some pruning.

This is the result of the pruning:

On the weekend I made a trip to visit my nephew, Ben, and his wife, Rachel, and my new grandnephew, Izaak.

They live in a beautiful house in a vineyard out in the country near Carlton.

They both have jobs working for wineries but because of the new baby they bought a house closer to grandma in Tualatin.

My brother and I took a short trip to Gates, Oregon to visit the Lamb garden which is only 3 years old.

At the entrance is this giant waterwheel that was restored by Mr. Lamb.

The centerpiece of this 3 acre garden is this large circular pond with a 20′ tall fountain powered by a natural creek on a neighboring property.

The plantings are a beautiful mixture of grasses, Carex and perennials under the dappled shade of Douglas Firs.

On our way back we stopped at a very unusual nursery in Tualatin.

They had many baskets on stands and hanging baskets filled with Million Bells and Supertunias.

This nursery sells plants for roof top gardens, miniature gardens and dwarf conifers.

On Sunday Doug, Ruth and I went to Old Germantown Gardens in Portland.

This is a 2-3 acre garden on a 5 acre piece of property in a wooded valley in NE Portland.

There are over 2000 species and varieties of plants here and many are unusual and rare.

The owners, Bruce and Jerry, started this garden 30 years ago and did all the work by hand including hauling in tons of rock and gravel for the pathways.

There are many flowers in this garden including Roses, Phlox, Dahlias, Rudbeckia, Lilies, Rhododendrons.

Video from house deck right side.

Video from House deck left side.

Sebright Gardens, Salem, OR photos (August, 2022):