There had been a few avid gardeners here before me and I hope there are more after me. The land we live on is never truly ours. We borrow it, tend it, and hopefully continue to plant for the future. When I arrived here, there were fruit trees a plenty, vines galore, areas forgotten to invasive weeds. This was an absolute gift to my ambitious visions. So far, I have used cardboard and arborist chips to lay out paths and rock on site to outline planting bed areas. I have moved almost every plant moveable into a new spot. I've removed holly trees, laurels and diseased fruit trees that were just not in the best place.

I've slowly started to add some new things in new places but mostly experimenting. I like to try new trends and plants I'm unfamiliar with. I plant a lot of natives on the Portland Plant List to learn and observe so I can incorporate into designs as appropriate. That means it's not as cohesive as the gardens I design for others. It's a lot of ground to cover and a full time job in itself. The wildlife is amazing. Owls, hawks, bunnies, song birds, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds along with the usual crowd of squirrels, mice, rats and my friends, the crows.