So, What's Happening in Les Brake's Garden?

An earlier post about the garden of green magician Les Brake revealed a sumptuous visual feast miraculously situated in zone two. Since our visit, Les and I have stayed in contact via email and he has sent me periodic garden update images.  I love seeing them but all of the drooling on my keyboard is probably not a healthy thing for the computer.

So beautiful!  I love the touch of yellow (guessing Ligularia) on the right!

Les was a friend and devotee of Graham Stuart Thomas who advised that red should be used sparingly.  How beautiful it is here with an echo in the purple foliage and a foil in the grey foliage behind.

A soloist singing with a chorus of stars.  I've always followed that adage "If a little's good, then more's better." Les's restraint here illustrates that sometimes less truly is more.

Orange!  I was once told that if one simply eliminated orange flowers from the garden everything else would work just fine but I like orange flowers and am delighted to see them in the garden of this amazing garden colorist.

Poetry Break, this time by Robert Lax:

A Problem in Design

what if
you like
to draw
big flowers,

but what
if some
sage has
told you
thet
thr is
nothing
more
beautiful

nothing
more
beautiful

than a
straight
line
?

what should
you draw:
big flowers?
straight lines?

i think
you should
draw

big flowers
big flowers

big flowers
big flowers

big flowers
big flowers

big flowers
big flowers

until

they become

a 

straight 

line

So I'm happily planting my jungle of big leafed plants and perhaps someday it will magically become something as tasteful as this but don't hold your breath, bowling ball edging takes a while to remove!



"What's an Alaskan gardener to do when his delphiniums are still in full bloom, and yet the lions of Kruger* are breathing down his neck?  Off with their heads (the delphs, not lions),  and put out a blue petal path to the pond... By the way, we refer to the pond as the Alaskan birdbath."

*Les was anticipating his trip to South Africa. 

What a flair for incredible beauty!  Thanks for sharing this, Les, it's breathtaking!  I wonder if they walked on the path?  Could you?  I don't think I could bring myself to decapitate delphiniums in full bloom but as Robert Service reminds us, "There are strange things done in the midnight sun!"  How lucky we are of that!

Being a Tourist in Downtown Anchorage

 

Fun Facts:

Alaskans eat more ice cream per capita than any other state.

Anchorage is the northernmost city in the United States with more than 100,000 residents and the largest community in North America north of the 60th parallel. With a population of approximately three hundred thousand people, Anchorage is home to forty percent of Alaska's population.

 

We decided to drive into town, wander around and do some shopping.   One way to get height in a planter.

Long before the green roof was a trend folks had roofs like this one on the visitor's center/cabin.

Remember when we used to se municipal plantings like this one more often.  In Alaska, these annuals will look beautiful all summer.

Someone asked about a previous post how they kept bear from entering stores.  Here we see that they sometimes don't and unwary tourists can become victims.  He was told to stay in a group, make noise, and wear a bell but did he listen?  NO!

 You may recall a winter visit to Town Square Park here.  I think you'll agree that it looks much different in July.  I'd forgotten how joyful giant swaths of bedded out annuals can be.

Planting for winter interest would be silly in beds that will be covered with snow for months so we get to revel in the intensity of everything blooming at once.

It's all about the flowers!

Imagine, kale/ornamental cabbage looking great in the summer. 

It's interesting how combining these same orange tuberous begonias with blues and purples changes the mood so much from the earlier planting with yellows, pinks and other oranges.

Another fun fact for all my garden blogging pals in Texas:

Don't feel to bad as Alaska's land mass is 1/5 the size of the entire continental U.S.

So, back to the park.   Bold colors!

Hope you enjoyed our little walk and the Alaska garden visits!

Don't Try This at Home!

Do you ever wax nostalgic about the family driving vacation, stopping by every roadside attraction and staying in quaint motels along the side of the highway?  Perhaps some of these Alaska roadside attractions will help.

Had to stop by Miller's for "The Best Ice Cream In Alaska!"

 

 

Some things are just not meant to go together.

 

On to Gorilla Fireworks.  The gorilla-suited dancer who usually appears on the platform above this groovy van was on a break.  You'll have to visit yourself sometime to see him perform!

More interesting yard art.

Because one location simply isn't enough...

 

Let's see, who has a VW bug?  Hmm.

 

And where do they store all of those fireworks?

 

 

Now, you kids quiet down back there or I will STOP THIS CAR! 

The Palmer Visitors Center, A Summer Visit.

You may remember my November visit to the Palmer, AK visitors center in November when it was about 15 degrees F. outside.  To see that post, go here.

 

 

Life-size replicas of the giant vegetables for which this area is renowned.

Hydrangea macrophylla is supposedly hardy to zone 4 but I know that the branches would be frozen to the ground each year.  I wonder if this is being used as an annual or if it's a special variety that will bloom on new wood.

Big splash of color!  This sure looks different when it's not frozen!

It was the first week of July and some things had just been put out.  The long days will cause all to quickly mature beautifully.

The "it" plant this year is even growing here.  Purchased at a local nursery, this Isoplexis, hardy to zone 8, will definitely be an annual here.

 

Old pal Astilboides tabularis is hardy here and this one looks considerably happier than the one in my garden!

Rosa glauca

Clematis erecta purpurea.  They must have cleverly supported theirs somehow.  I finally got rid of mine because it didn't retain it's purple foliage color and flopped all over everything.  Joy Creek Nursery has one that stays purple so perhaps I'll see if they have it for sale in the spring.

Warm border!

Lovely when full of plants, the structure of the beds in this area add winter interest when they're not covered in a few feet of snow.

Scarlett and purple/blue are always a winning combination.

 

 The rock gardens no longer look like graveyards!

 

 

Sedum  kamtschaticum

Lychnis chalcedonica

Fireweed is a great companion for Rosa glauca.  Here, they wouldn't bloom at the same time but the foliage of the rose is a nice foil for the magenta fireweed.

 

 

 One way to get height.

Another view of the explosion of color!

I've never seen the fir trees so full of cones.  Local wisdom says that this means that they'll have an especially cold or long winter.

 

 Yikes! 

 Speaking of height, wouldn't you love to have this view from your garden?  (Well, maybe not the truck.)

 

This is a great demonstration garden for visitors to experience and word has it that locals enjoy visiting as well!  Next time you're in Palmer, do stop by!