Bucket List

Last weeks article Mimi and I had made it Bainbridge Island north of Seattle. We visited 2 gardens on the first day of our vacation. We packed up and left our quiet house in the woods. This would be the day that Mimi has dreamed of for many years. Mimi started following and keeping up with a plantsman named Dan Hinkley. Dan is a horticulturist, a naturalist, a teacher and a steward of Heronswood Gardens and Windcliff gardens, at his home high on a bluff over looking the Peugeot Sound. Dans mission in life has been to travel the world seeking plants that work for cultivation in the gardening world. A part of this collection of plants yet to be introduced in the nursery world is safe, sound collection of seeds and cuttings and to be sure that he wouldn’t be introducing invasive species. Monrovia Nurseries is among the finest of cultivators in the world, they sponsored Dans search across the globe and has a line of plants named The Dan Hinkley Collection. You can go to their website to see some of the fantastic plants that have been tried and tested for years at Dans gardens.

His explorations took him to China, Myanmar, New Zealand, Vietnam, Chile and Tasmania. You can see by the vast differences of these places geographically how diverse of a range the plants offer, there is something for any plant zone in the world. We started buying plants from Monrovia and specifically The Dan Hinkley collection every chance we got over the last 20 years. These plants have opened doors in the plant world that we never dreamed possible and have led us to be more experimental in our gardens at home. We have won some and lost some in our envelope pushing trials but we know for sure that just because someone says or a plant tag lists the plant for an iffy zone that it can’t be done we pay it no mind and try it anyway. The placement of a plant can make all the difference in the world. A barrier between the north wind and a plant or some amendments to the soil to make the plant feel more at home, purposeful watering technics and a lot of praying have warped some of the things that we have been told all our gardening lives.

We have had success with Blue Atlas Cedars, Deador Cedars (native to the Himalayan region) and lots of Agaves and succulents to name a few. Hinkley opened the doors of Japanese Maples for us, that is a big world to experiment with and has become one of our favorite part of our garden. Some plants that we have tried did great for a few years just to fade away in the heat or humidity when they came from a Mediterranean Climate. Some of the plants that gave us enjoyment for a few years got clobbered by an ice storm when they came from a zone that just can’t shake that much cold for prolonged periods. As we know with gardening you will win some and you will lose some.

Mimi and I watched as my sister started experimenting with non traditional plants, mostly tropical, at Northpark Mall when they first opened. She was given free reign as to the plants used. At first I thought she was crazy, no one had taken it so far with such broad strokes. It was a risky move that worked, the outside of Northpark looked something out of Tampa and I had learned an important lesson, you never know unless you try. That was about the same time that Mimi and the kids wallpapered the ladies restroom at Garden Works with cut out magazine photos of Dan Hinkleys work along with other folks that Mimi considered her plant heroes. Flora Grubbs from the west coast is her ultimate dream of how plants should be cultivated and sold, The Big Red Sun in Austin and Los Angeles has had a huge influence on her style. The wallpaper is still on those walls left there as a reminder to ourselves to be brave and try anything plant wise and every other wise in life. Mimi sent an email to Dan Hinkley asking if we could meet him and have a private tour of his back yard, a brave move that worked. He was very gracious and said he would be happy to accommodate with our time as we passed through the area on Bainbridge island. Mimi has tried and succeeded at other such tomfoolery that worked.

Years ago The Grateful Dead were going to be playing at a venue that we could get to easily. The night was the same as her birthday so she decorated an envelope with her own art work and wrote to them that it was her birthday, she sent them her expired drivers license to prove it. Whomever the powers to be are in that club appreciated the humor and sent her tickets on the 3rd row right in the middle and wished her a happy night. It was an unforgettable birthday night for us both as we watched them grind out another show from up close and personal. As we approached Dans house we parked where he told us to and started walking up the steep hill to his garden gate where he and Robert Jones ( the architect of the two) met us and talked with us for a while the allowed us to move freely through this magical place. We would see them on the other side for more discussion at the nursery where they propagate cuttings and germinate seeds, they also offer plants for sale, uh oh. We had already decided we wouldn’t allow ourselves to be tempted, we had a long journey ahead of us. I don’t know what to call their style of gardening, it wasn’t quite “botanical garden style”, it wasn’t really what I would call wild and woolly. I guess controlled chaos would be the words, whatever it was it worked.

The garden draws the spectator in deeper and deeper with crowded paths that were leading in all directions yet nowhere in particular. The plants that we were looking at to me jumped all over the zones. There were lots of Agapanthus varieties, giant Knipfofia, Yucca Rostrada in full bloom, ornamental grasses mixed with Sea Holly in bloom and lots of succulents and agaves holding down the fort. The view of the Peugeot Sound in the background helped the colors seem even more ablaze with that azure blue and it was a rare sunny day to make it all even ore surreal. We spent a slow few hours wandering around, one of the two guys checking in from time to time to answer questions. Mimi was in heaven as she could now check off number 1 on her bucket list, later in the trip she checked another big one. That’s a tale for another day. One of the most striking combinations to me was the Lucifer Crocosmia along with Verbena Bonariensis dancing with Rose Campion, all of which we have had great success at our home garden, we shall be emulating that hot mess. As we got towards the end of the tour we dropped down into the nursery area where Dan was taking 100’s of cuttings while he stood in the shade and chatted with us while doing what he loves most, propagating more plants.

I got to poke around the nursery trying to gain any insight that I could from these two geniuses. Their propagation methods and plant covering and protection from the cold methods is what I gleaned mostly from my kicking around. I fell in love with their PVC A-frame mobile row covers. They were light weight, inexpensive to build and can be wooped out as quickly as late cold snaps can surprise us. I will have pictures of these simple and useful structures along with some of the garden on our website this week. When we had said our thank yous and goodbyes we headed down the road in disbelief that that had just happened, Mimi was pinching herself and so happy to have seen with her own eyes and meeting two of the most influential people in the plant world, dreamy. We had to boogie on to make it to Port Angeles by a certain time to get on the ferry to Victoria so we could stay as close to Butchart Gardens as we could so we could start that tour as early as we could the next morning.

We crossed over into Canada with lots of others that looked like they were rigged up to do the Trans- Canadian highway all the way to Alaska, that looked like a blast and something we talked about doing in a sprinter van later in life when we would have more time on our hands. We found some great seafood and stayed at a cool hotel just down the road from the Butchart entrance. We drove through Victoria and saw how beautiful the colorful plantings around town were. We would have more time to spend in Victoria on the return part of our trip. So far the trip had proven to be a great one. We were on a pretty tight schedule for these first few days of the trip with all these garden visits. After Butchart we planned to go into serious slow motion while we hiked and combed the rocky pacific beaches while watching for whales while we chugged farther north. It had been a big day as bucket list check off days can be, we rested well.