The Wonders of Laurel Hedge

This past Sunday, mom and I piled into the car and headed to Estacada, Oregon to see the open garden at Laurel Hedge.

The description in the HPSO booklet sounded great and I took a peek at their website, so I thought we were in for a wonderful surprise. It's always a good thing to be able to show mom a new and fun garden she's never seen before and a car ride out into the country was just the ticket.

Somehow, I managed to get to Estacada without getting too lost.

Torii Gate

White Garden

One of the owners, Matt, met us at the parking lot, said hello, and gave us the lay of the land. We met the other owner, Darin, in the gift shop after our tour. Both very gracious hosts. My mom couldn't stop telling both of them how much she loved the garden.

We started out with our map in hand and immediately fell in love with this two-acre garden. The scale of the garden is impressive and even more impressive that just the two of them take care of the house, garden and retail shop. 

Outhouse

 

Wheelbarrow art!

Greenhouse

This garden has everything we love.

A charming greenhouse, rustic and formal statuary, bird houses, a pond and hillside stream, lots of cute outbuildings and different seating areas to enjoy the garden.

Many of these items created from reused materials, salvaged items or antique objects. It makes me wish I could actually use a tool and make something!

Three Door Arbor

Matt said these arches were made from stair forms?!?

Some of the garden reflects a more designed sensibility with low formal boxwood flower beds and a white-flower spiral garden. Other areas are wilder, with trees mixed with perennials. The closer to the house, the more formal the garden became.

I asked Matt if he had a favorite plant and he said that he enjoyed trees the most in the garden and combining their reds and yellows together. Matt said that Darin loved any of the white flowered plants. 

A pair of owls.

White Spiral Garden

I mentioned that I thought the grass was well tended. Turns out that Matt mows the lawn and Darin does the lawn edging. There was barely a weed to be seen in the grass and the edges were crisp. That's my kind of lawn!

Grass Stepping Stones

The pond and adjacent hillside stream are especially lovely with an elevated seating area with fireplace overlooking the pond.

Lake House with fireplace overlooking pond  (Love the "Wine" sign!)

 

There are some gorgeous sweeping views of the garden from near the house

The small gift shop behind the barn has interior design items for sale, so be sure not to miss that. There was an abundance of cute stuff to take home.

We ended the day with lunch at the Viewpoint restaurant. The view of the Clackamas River and Mt. Hood from across the road was the icing on the cake of a perfect day!