This past weekend my hubby Steve and I stayed at The Oregon Garden Inn. It was pure heaven, being treated like royalty with gourmet food and cushy mattress. Another cool perk is the plants. Ooh the plants! They were everywhere! The first one I spotted is one that I've been coveting forever.
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| Stachys officinalis 'Pink Cotton Candy' or ?? |
It is a lusciously pink Stachys officinalis. Because I couldn't find a plant label, I'll assume it was either: S. o. 'Pink Cotton Candy' or 'Pinky' or 'Rosea' 'Rosea Superba' At any rate, the common name is Betony and it's a beauty.
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| Stachys officinalis 'Pink Cotton Candy' |
My photos fail to do it justice. About two feet tall with stems that carry scads of tiny pink bee-attracting blossoms, it's perfect for any sunny garden.
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| Another photo... |
Actually, I found and purchased two one gallon containers of S. o. 'Pink Cotton Candy' last April but, although green and healthy they're shy about blooming. So I took a bazillion photos of the ones abloom at the Oregon Garden Inn. Next year, mine will do this:
Of course we toured the Oregon Garden. Below are a few of the hundreds of photos I took. I'll keep my comments brief so you don't have to spend your entire reading and scrolling.
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| Ptilotus 'Joey' |
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| Salvia sp. (Envy, envy) |
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| Cannas |
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| Coleus |
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| x Chitalpa tashkentensis 'Pink Dawn' |
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| Rosa something or other |
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Teucrium chamaedryas
There was a lot of this planted and the bees were in heaven. |
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| A tiny Clematis species. |
Just a few Echinacea photos. They were in their prime:
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| Echinacea |
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| Echinacea among the Rosemary |
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| Parking "hell-strip" planting. |
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| Amaranthus and Echinacea |
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| Echinacea |
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| Achillea |
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| Phlox paniculata |
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| Dianthus or Sweet William |
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| Hydrangea macrophylla 'Invincible Spirit' |
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| Lacecap Hydrangea NOID |
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| Artichoke Flower |
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| Artichoke flowers |
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Dwarf Plumbago Ceratostigma plumbagino
It seems way too early for this to be blooming already. |
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| Ooh what's that pretty thing up ahead? |
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| Oh, it's a hardy Fuchsia! |
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| Fuchsia 'Santa Claus' maybe? |
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| Corokia cotoneaster looking FABULOUS |
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| Up close |
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Monkey Puzzle Araucaria araucana
I took this photo looking up. The patterning is fascinating. |
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Chocolate Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate')
More envy! |
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| I like the detailed signage. |
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| Why didn't I grab a few seeds? |
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| Pretty grapes |
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Oregon Grape (Mahonia sp.)
I've never seen an Oregon Grape with so many berries. |
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Salvia argentea
More envy. With our lack of rain, this would have been the year to try growing this. |
I love the way Wire Vine is employed in this garden:
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| Wire Vine (Muehlenbeckia axilaris) |
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| Bye-bye Fescue. :) |
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This is in the Children's Garden.
That there is a man-made cave. Too cool!
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| This is my favorite section of the garden. |
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| I love this little rest stop for the four-legged fur-babies. |
And the art pieces:
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| I wanted to steal this. |
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| My sister Laura used to have a bike exactly like this one. |
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| I want some of these rocks in my garden. |
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| To bring out the kid in us all, this would be so fun on a hot day. |
Fortunately the weather was perfect for us.
How is your weather?
