View full sizeJimson weed (Datura stramonium)
View full sizeCastor bean (Ricinus communis)
View full sizeVoodoo lily (Dracunculus vulgaris)
View full sizeOleander (Nerium oleander)
View full sizeSago palm (Cycas revoluta)MEDIA CENTER
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Danger Garden Blog
OVERALL RATING ***
Plant addicts will be both comforted and enabled at the
-- comforted that someone else has a habit as bad as yours, enabled by not-so-innocent encouragement to feed it.
Loree Bohl, the Northeast Portland woman behind the blog, knows her way around a camera ... and then some. Photos, mostly glamour shots of plants, are plentiful. Scrolling down is like descending into a secret garden that you have no inclination to climb out of, unless it's to race to a nursery. Spiky plants, especially agave, are an obvious obsession with Danger Garden (her tagline is "Careful, you could poke an eye out"). No worries, though, there's something -- actually a lot -- for everyone.
The writing is down-to-earth and often very funny, as in this excerpt about the desire to sort of steal an
Opuntia
(prickly pear cactus):
"Finally I summoned all of my garden courage and walked up to the door. Ignoring the no soliciting sign (because after all I wasn't really soliciting), I knocked. And again. And rang the doorbell. And knocked (desire is a strong motivator). Finally the owner came to the door. I held up the broken (
Opuntia
) paddle. 'This has been lying in your parking strip for a week or so, and I wonder, if you don't have anything in mind for it ... might I take it?'
"(ok I am feeling like a real jerk ...)"
I decided I wanted to get to know the woman behind the blog. When I did, she shared some thoughts about her blog and gardening. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity (although not much).
Q:
Where and when did your plant lust begin?
A:
Odd that you should use the phrase plant lust, as it's the name of a new online plant resource that I and two other Portland-area gardeners just launched called
-- a seriously simple way to search for plants and places to find them. But to answer your question: I trace the beginning of my plant lust to moving to Seattle in the early 1990s. I grew up in Spokane (Zone 5), but Seattle was an entirely new climate (Zone 8) with so many fabulous plants to discover. I went crazy. Never mind that I was living in an apartment with zero ground to plant in, I still enjoyed every minute of it. I visited
almost every weekend.
Q:
Why an obsession with danger ... er, I mean spiky plants?
A:
Good question! The second big discovery in my formative years as a young gardener was a business trip to Phoenix, Ariz. I remember the shuttle ride from the airport to the resort; I couldn't take my eyes off what I was seeing. A few years later, my brother moved to Phoenix. During my first visit, he had a list of landscapes to share with me. Fields of prickly pear and cholla, front gardens with rows of barrel cactus and, of course, the agaves, so many agaves! For two kids from Spokane, it was so foreign and amazing. Then he started to plant around his house. We visited nurseries, and I discovered spiky-plant heaven. I brought back agaves on the plane. This was pre-9/11; I doubt they would let you do that anymore. Well, at least not carry-on. My brother still brings me agave pups in his checked baggage.
Q:
You're a fabulous photographer. Did you study professionally?
A:
No, not at all, but thank you.
Q:
Can you describe your garden for me?
A:
It's equal parts a collector's garden, a plant addict's garden and a "designed" garden (not meaning professionally designed). There are parts where I attempted to be very "sort of modern" in the way the plants were laid out. The last two winters, of course, have killed off the cordylines and phormiums, which were the backbone of the design.
I've rethought things and planted
Cotinus
(smoke tree),
Ceanothus
(California lilac) and
Arctostaphylos
(manzanita). It's all new structure this year; they're small and will take a few years to make the statement I want them to. I am trying to be patient.
In the back garden, the collection part kicks in. We are fortunate in that we have a backyard with a grade change; it steps down about 2.5 feet at the back half. There was an original, crumbling retaining wall that we replaced. We turned it into an "L" shape rather than just a straight wall. In the lower area we removed the sod and created a large patio with 24-inch-square concrete slabs. That's where the containers take over.
The agave collection, other sun lovers and "annuals" such as papyrus,
Ensete
(banana) and echium spend the summer here. My husband built a shade pavilion (rain pavilion in the winter months) on the south end of the "L," which provides space for the plants (and humans) that want to be out of the direct sun in the summer. In the winter it keeps the cold-hardy agaves dry. They huddle under cover, patiently waiting for the rains to end in the spring.
Very few plants remain from the original garden (we bought the house five years ago). The ones that have made the cut are either sentimental favorites like the hydrangea and camellia, or provide structure like the two very large rhododendrons and the privet. I am not one that enjoys getting rid of perfectly healthy plants, but the daisies, roses and azaleas (along with a lot of lawn) simply had to go.
Q:
How much do you spend on plants every year ... haha, just kiddin'.
A:
I plead the Fifth.
Q:
If you were on a deserted, or rather never-inhabited, island, what five plants would you want? Assume anything would grow there.
A:
That's easy.
Ricinus communis
(castor bean),
Datura stramonium
(jimson weed),
Dracunculus vulgaris
(voodoo lily),
Nerium oleander
(oleander) and
Cycas revoluta
(sago palm). All plants I adore, and all poisonous. Because life wouldn't be worth living if I only had five plants and no one I loved on the island with me.
Q:
What are some of your favorite nurseries?
A:
This is a dangerous question! How much space do you have? Here goes:
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