Queen Anne Hill, Seattle, Washington

I just got back from a trip to Seattle for my boyfriend's dad's 80th birthday. We stayed in Queen Anne. Here are some snapshots selected from a two-hour walk around the neighborhood with an eye toward garden/landscape interest.

All the traffic circles have lovely plantings.





Are those the best containers for Phormium tenax? Probably not. But when everything is so luscious and summery, it hardly matters.



These people deserve some kind of prize.

UPDATE: Thumbing through an old issue of Pacific Horticulture (2002, Vol 63, No. 1), I find this garden featured on the cover! The article credits Glen Withey and Charles Price with the design.









I had this dahlia last year. I know. That dahlia is so last year.





Block after block of beautiful trees.





These huge rocks figure prominently in the Seattle's residential hardscape. I wonder what their story is.





A protest march sign cum landscape element.

















Those radio towers in the background loom over the whole neighborhood.









Cytisus scoparius, the dreadful Scotch Broom. It's naturalized around in and around Seattle. In California, we worry more about Cytisus monspesulanus.



Buddleja.









Conifer orgy.





Araucaria.









A lot of Seattlites use this Yucca. I like it best massed like this.





I'm happy when people let their lawns go. Good! Now, go ahead and plant something real there.



I love the juxtaposition of conifer, succulent, and fern.



Three planting elements are all you need. Baby bear, mama bear, and daddy bear.



Really nice color combinations.







Apple espalier.



I saw very little garden sculpture. This was practically it.



***

More coming soon, including my trip to the Bloedel Reserve.

A walk around my neighborhood here.