Garden Blogger's Fling, Portland: Rhone Street Gardens

Beloved Rhone Street Gardens, home and garden of Fling organizer extraordinaire Scott Weber, is next on our tour of Garden Blogger's Fling gardens. Tucked away in Southeast Portland, Rhone Street Gardens is a special oasis. 

Sited on a 50 x 50 square foot lot; it's significantly smaller than most by Portland standards. It did not, for some reason, feel small. It felt like a private meadow, something intimate and welcoming.

If I close my eyes and picture Rhone Street Gardens, I see electric purple, sizzling pink and soft grasses that add structure. I feel as if I were a child exploring a hidden garden with something to surprise me at every step. The character of the garden is contemporary in its structure (galvanized tubs and siding and an eco-roof), with a sophisticated selection of plants in a billowy setting. It's literally a meadow on a street corner; what lucky neighbors!

 Scott has created a wonderful eco-roof, less than a year old and already looking well-established.

The south side of the house with a little peek down the path, a few garden bloggers taking it all in.

Every plant harmonizes with the others, Nothing felt out of place. This garden is one for the heart, one I could have lingered at the longest, but, ironically, it is also the smallest of the gardens we visited.

Fellow blogger and plantswoman Anna of Flutter and Hum.

When I think of Rhone Street Gardens, I also think of persecaria. A lot of persecaria.

Aaah, Pennisetum 'Vertigo', which Scott turned me on to this year. I love this for structure, height and color contrast.

Texture, foliage and subtle color everywhere.

Here's a perfect example of what I mean by contemporary structure and sophisticated plants.

Verbena bonariensis sprinkled throughout the garden glowed on this overcast and rainy day. I love this plant and wish it reseeded as much in my garden.

Two tubs, two similar shaped plants, two salvias, two different foliage colors. That is sophisticated and deliberate good gardening in my book. Repetition and variation.

Geranium 'Rozanne' no doubt breezing about. Electric purple.

The sweet front entrance: some grasses and sumac for structure
and a pop of echinacea in a color found throughout the garden.

Echinops, still interesting even after its bloom cycle has completed.

Structure, again - this time in the form of a waterfall.

Sedum 'Matrona', my favorite upright sedum.

Some bloggers getting into the action.

There's Norm and Heather! Heather was also a volunteer for the Portland Fling, and another extraordinary gardener and blogger at Just a Girl with a Hammer. We'll see her garden in a few weeks.

Boots showing me how it's done.

Like this!

A beautiful agastache, another prominent flower at Rhone Street.

Spent alliums are also contributing to the overall vision at Rhone Street with their structure and contrasting color against many shades of green.

Foliage! It all harmonizes.

Fellow bloggers Jane of Mulchmaid fame and Jason of Garden in a City.

Agastache and persecaria, a lovely combination.

Hi Pam! That's Pam of Digging fame, she who started it all! Thank you, Pam!

Aaaand what Portland garden would be complete without the neighbor's chickens visiting?

Hello, Miss Hen!

Such a sweet vignette. Scott's sense of color and design shine through again.

Rhone Street Gardens packs a punch in a tiny area. My hat is off to Scott for his amazing ability to create a sense of place on this street corner in Southeast Portland. What is also amazing is that while he opened up his garden to 80+ bloggers from around the world, he also was key in organizing this year's Fling - from hotels to catering to buses and beyond, he is definitely a multi-talented gardener and I for one appreciate all of his time sacrificed.

It was a joy and a treat to finally be able to see it in person. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Scott and Norm (and Boots the cat, too)!

That wraps it up for this week, stay tuned for more Portland gardens next time.
Happy gardening!