High-end WOW (Why oh why)

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to speak to the Portland Garden Club and see some absolutely gorgeous private gardens.  But alas…even in the midst of such botanical riches I still managed to find something to make me shudder.

Now I have nothing against garden remodels – or boxwood hedges (though I generally find them unimaginative).  But here’s a good example of shrub salvaging gone horribly wrong:


Deadwood boxwood

And again

It will take a long time for these boxwoods to fill in.  If you’re going to spend the kind of money that’s going into this remodel, why get chintzy with the hedge plants?

Maybe green spray paint is in order?

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Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

4 thoughts on “High-end WOW (Why oh why)”

  1. On one hand, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve always thought people should be required to spend at least 10% of their home value on their landscaping (sick of gigantic houses with 1 gal Azaleas as a foundation planting).

    On the other hand, I’m not so sure these aren’t salvageable.
    How long do you think it will take them to reflush from the old wood? I’m a VA boy, so I don’t have a feel for how fast things flush out in Portland (aka The Land of Milk and Honey). A 15″ Suffruticosa in these parts wholesales for roughly $25 if purchased in volume. Retail plus landscaper markup…you’re starting to talk BIG bucks.

  2. I’ve always thought that people should have to spend some time learning how to maintain a hedge like these — that might cut down on the numbers of them going in!

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