We have really been enjoying this weather! Sure the mornings have been a little chilly, but the afternoons and evenings have been nice and comfortable! This has been a weird weather year anyway so why not roll with the punches and enjoy the pleasant days when we have them... It makes all our garden activities much more pleasant. The long range forecast is for hotter weather to come (but who knows), so enjoy the coolness while you can.


This week we featured...

Garland Art & Wine in the Garden

There is nothing better on a warm summer day than to wander through a nursery looking at art and plants while sipping some wine! If you are looking for something of interest in your garden that doesn't require watering, you may be thinking of garden art. The local garden art scene is packed with talented people and you can see many of them this weekend at Garland Nursery (1-800-296-6601) in Corvallis. We stopped by the nursery to chat with Lee and visit with some of the artists that will be displaying their works this weekend at the nursery. The first artist we visited with was Dan McKenzie from Welding Wizardry and he showed us some of his great metal art. We really like his Whale Tail sculpture which looked like a whale diving into the landscape. Next we talked to Barb and Rod Merritt from Northwoods Glass and Wood Art (541-926-0107). They are a tag team of talent. Rod makes bird feeders and hand paints them and Barb is a master of stained glass. Finally, we chatted with Cathy Turley of Native Glass Studio and discussed the process of making her fused glass artwork. Very cool and unique! There will be artists displaying all types of art including paintings, metal work, stained glass, wood carving and stone work. They will also have wine tasting on both Saturday and Sunday from 11-4. If you are down in the Albany or Corvallis area, stop and check it out.

Garden Hoes

One of the most popular tools in the garden is the hoe. But we were amazed by the variety of different hoes that we found at Red Pig Tools (503-663-9404) in Boring, Oregon. Bob Denman, the tool craftsman at Red Pig told us about the 3 types of hoes there are. The first is a 'push' hoe. This one cuts on a pushing motion. The 'draw' hoe, which cuts on a pulling motion, is most familiar to people. The one that Bob focused on was the 'scuffle' hoe. This type of hoe cuts on both the push and the pull motion of the tool. The scuffle hoe has many variations. The ones that people may be familiar with include the 'Winged Weeder', the diamond hoe and the 'Hula Hoe'. Most of these tools can trace their heritage back to the earliest days of gardening and have had only slight modifications since then. Bob has found lots of these different styles of hoes and now makes them for the new gardener. If you want to see some unique and incredibly functional tools check out their website or stop by the store in Boring.

Summer Roses

A lot of flowers are looking tired in the garden right now, but there are some flowers that are showing off in spite of the heat and the poor spring that we have had! We stopped by Heirloom Roses (503-538-1576) to see a few roses that are loving the weather and to learn about solutions to those problems from the wet spring. Cheryl told William that black spot has been seen a lot in the garden this year. How do you combat those nasty spores? Cheryl recommends keeping your plant clean. Pull the infected leaves off the plant once you see them. Also, keep the ground around your plants clean. Dispose of the bad leaves and do not compost them; that will just spread the spores next year. You can also spray your roses. They use a spray in their garden to keep the roses looking great and they have a recipe at the Gift Shop that you can take home and try. We also talked about summer pruning and how to make the right cuts so you can enjoy more blooms in just a few weeks. If you love roses as much as we do this weekend was made for you. Heirloom is having their annual summer clearance sale. You can get some of their roses for up to 50% off this weekend. They will also have people there to answer all of your rose questions. Some other tips for keeping our roses in shape during this time of year... give them a boost of a balanced fertilizer and lots of water. If you are looking for more information you can always give them a call, or better yet stop by during the big annual sale this weekend, August 6-8, for a deal on some great roses.

Dinsdale Garden Path

We are always looking for 'structure' in the garden. Hardscapes like paths and trellises are beautiful and functional at the same time. This week we met up with Alfred Dinsdale from Dinsdale Landscape Contractors (503-925-9292) to learn how to install a garden path. A lawn area was being replaced with more planting beds and the path was just one of the things that were being worked on. To get started, we first sprayed the lawn with Round-up to kill the grass. Then we roto-tilled the dead grass into the beds to add organic matter to the soil. This grass will break down over time and add nutrients that the new plants will need. Once that was done the path was marked out with stones to get a feel for the width and that is when Alfred and his crew came by to install the path. They first removed the stones and set up string and some metal railings to mark where they were going to install the path. Next they removed the loose soil down to the hard compacted soil. This soil was very compacted and that is what we needed to make sure that there was no settling of the soil (which would make an uneven path). Next, crushed gravel was brought in and spread out over the base of the path. This will allow for good drainage and provides a good solid base for the next layer of sand. The sand is leveled, using the railings as a guide and now we move to the artistic part of the project, the laying of the stones. We selected a Pennsylvania Blue Stone, which had been tumbled to soften the edges. These pieces were twisted and turned until they fit into place. It takes quite awhile to get them to fit into the nice tight pattern. Once they were in position metal strips were placed along the edges and staked into place with rebar. The Rebar was welded to the strip and it created a strong 'box-like' structure to hold the stones in place. The cracks were filled with sand and the project was done. This path looks great and because of the expertise of the Dinsdale crew it will last a long time! If you want to build your own path simply watch the video or you can do what we did and call Dinsdale Landscape Contractors!