Happy Holidays from illahe Nursery and Gardens

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why"
Mark Twain

I have been notably absent from the blog for a bit, It seems the Holiday season crept right up on me without warning and before I knew it we were in the thick of it. This time hasn't passed without some fun and adventure however. I spent a fun day for my 42nd birthday cruising around Portland with my daughter Anya. We hit the Lan Su Portland Classical Chinese Garden to admire how well the asian landscaping holds up in the winter season. It's really a spectacular garden with something to see throughout the year. 

I love architecture in plants and the Loropetalum was not only showing off it's great form, but the bark was interesting and it even sported a few flowers to boot. 

The interesting bark of the Loropetalum brings us back to the gardens at Illahe for a moment, This is a seed grown Arbutus xalpensis var. texana going on 7 years old now. It's seemed to weather the winters here well and so we will see how it matures if it makes to a ripe old age this one is a winner for it's lovely bark. 

The Kiddo and I enjoying a day at Lan Su. 

Of course no trip to Portland with Anya is complete without a stop at Powells books, she really is a kid after her dads own heart and book stores and gardens are a perfectly awesome way to waste a day. 

The Mahonia lomariifolia was starting into its winter bloom and that was a treat. 

I was inspired to try to add some walking paths through the gardens at Illahe but not sure if I have the time or resources to put in something like this, absolutely marvelous work makes an ordinary path a work of art.

It has been on the mild side here really, the snow pack hasn't built yet, as evidenced by the lack of a cross country ski trip and we are already towards the end of December. We did have a couple of inches of rain come down the last few days which was fun. I got the ditch cleaned out just in time for it to fill up with the ensuing downpours, still we need things to cool down if we are going to get some snow in the Mountains. I've been sowing some seed orders in the greenhouse and watching the South African bulbs under grow lights for signs of flowering. I'll be sure to post the obligatory Winter Solstice flower bloom  post as we do have a Narcissus or two in the greenhouse flowering now. 

Cheers to you and yours and a wishing you all a wonderful holiday season from our family to yours,  

Mark, Anya, Keta the Labrador Retriever, Sam the cat, and Gilbert the Tiger Oscar.