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I spent the last few days of summer in Seattle

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I spent the last few days of summer in Seattle

When I made plans to drive up to Seattle for last week’s Hardy Fern Foundation “Ferns of Miller Garden” class I didn’t realize it meant I’d be spending the last few days of summer up in the Puget Sound area. It does seem fitting though, I kicked off spring by visiting gardens in the Bay Area, and I wrapped up the 2025 growing season visiting gardens in Seattle…

I left home bright and early on Thursday, September 18th arriving at the Miller Garden for the 10am tour…
This was only the third time I’d visited the Miller Garden, or more properly the Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden. Since the garden is located in a gated community—and visitation is limited to just 500 people annually—all visits to the Miller Garden are by (highly sought after) reservation with a staff member as a guide. This class was a tour through the garden’s fern collection led by Del Brummet, Head Gardener at the garden, and my friend Emily Joseph, Nursery and Sales Manager for the Hardy Fern Foundation (as well as as well as Retail Sales Manager and Assistant Nursery Manager for the RSBG). 
Of course there will be a future post all about the ferns I saw, but here’s a favorite; Parablechnum novae-zelandiae (synonym Blechnum novae-zelandiae).
After the tour wrapped up I visited my friend  nearby, a highlight was seeing the pair of large tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) she’s planted.
Of course there were also agaves! (and there will be a future blog post)
This was an unexpected find, the Neukom Vivarium…
Headed to shop  I passed the building and noted the foliage pressed up against the windows. I’d never heard of it, but of course I had to check it out (yes, another future blog post).
If you follow  on Instagram then you probably have an idea how amazing his garden is. I got to visit on Friday afternoon and I took a lot of photos, which I will be sharing. 
Thanks to Paul I tasted Holboellia coriacea (sausage vine) fruit for the first time. You don’t eat the seeds but rather the gel-like substance around them. It was good!
My final stop, on the trip back to Portland, was at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden. 
I didn’t plan to take photos, but of course I did.
I also bought plants, which I suppose was inevitable…
Rhododendron yuanbaoshanense, a newly named species with large round and very thick leaves.
Rhododendron pseudochrysanthum, I’m hoping the second time around for this compact plant goes better than the first (dead, fairly quickly). Gosh this is a horrible photo, it’s really a gorgeous plant.
And a very random purchase for me, but I loved those long trailing stems, Aeschynanthus sp. “pendulous evergreen perennial related to African violets”… is it hardy? Dunno… doubt it.
I didn’t plan to do a haul post, but since I’ve not been very good at updating my plant list I find myself referring to these posts when hunting for a plant purchase or name, so here we are. This little cutie (another bad photo) is Ilex crenata ‘Dwarf Pagoda’ from the Pat Calvert Greenhouse. It’s just a tiny thing now, but hopefully it will grow up to look like this or this.
Friends have told me stories about the bargains they find on the “get it before we toss it in the dumpster” rack at this big box store, so I since I was driving by I stopped to take a look. Nothing on the sale rack was interesting, but there were two Athyrium niponicum ‘Regal Red’ in the pile by the dumpster in the parking lot. How could I just leave them to the trash?
It’s surprising how good they look once I cut away all the dead stuff.
I’d never heard of this agave until two weeks ago when someone was telling me about it. Agave parryi ssp. truncata ‘Bed of Nails’ from Windcliff Plants via Ravenna Gardens.
Paul kindly dug up a couple of Agave lophantha pups for me—love those red teeth—from a plant in his garden that came from Bryon Jones of the Pt Defiance Zoo. I’ve potted them up and will plant them out in the spring.

Last, but certainly not least, another big box of tillandsia from my friend Matt. He doesn’t have the space to overwinter these beauties so I said I’d give it a shot. Granted I haven’t started the Great Migration yet this year so I’m still feeling optimistic. Had he hit me up a month from now who knows?

Besides some big (not blurry in real life) tillandsia he also parted with these handsome Hohenbergia…

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Wild Adaptation

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Wild Adaptation

 

Miller’s General Store in Blackwell hosts an Air B&B apartment downstairs – a lovely place to rest up!

We’d hiked 12 miles, just two days in. I checked Amos’ paws that evening as I frequently do when we are on a long trek and found an abrasion on his right front paw. We’d cover this distance at home under normal circumstances on our daily runs and treks. I was concerned but not too concerned. He hadn’t shown any discomfort. I smeared some ointment on it and hoped it would look better in the morning. 

We’d hiked a rough trail that day, following the North Link Trail, connecting us from the Susquehannock Trail to the Black Forest Trail in Tiadaghton State Forest. The North Link Trail is little traveled, nor meticulously maintained. The signage alone told this story.

Entrance to the North Link Trail – notice the tilted sign half-missing on the lefthand side

Still, this isn’t my first rodeo nor Amos’. The trail started out surprisingly lovely, following an old railroad grade. We wound around the edge of a mountain with views of the sky through towering trees as the embankment dropped below us. However, after a few miles, we hit the bramble. And we walked off the map. Thorns ripped at my arms as I led the way, Amos ducked his head behind me. We met four women out for a hike who desperately wanted to know how much farther the bramble would continue. I told them it had just begun, which could only mean I had a long way to go till we were through it. 

Before the bramble, Amos in the lead

When we reached the other side, I was flustered but thought little of it. Then I looked at my arms, streaked with blood, my legs sliced to the thigh. I checked Amos over, he looked fine save for a twig or two in his harness. I sorted out just where we were, and we carried on. The late afternoon was hot and sunny, and I wondered once more at the cold weather gear that weighed in my pack. Next, we traversed a path rutted with deep hardened tracks from horses that had passed through in wetter conditions than todays. My feet slid this way and that, and Amos’ did too. Perhaps these conditions contributed to his sore foot? Or perhaps he was already vulnerable given his skin sensitivities we’d been battling since last autumn? On last year’s hike, I packed a can of antifungal mousse to resolve an infection. 
Beehive Spring on the North Link Trail

We camped that night not far from Beehive Spring, just a couple miles from the end of the North Link Trail. I pitched our tent on a bed of moss. Coyotes howled in the distance. Amos snored lightly. In the morning, I inspected his foot, it looked better. I decided to keep an eye on it and take a look again at a major road crossing at the start of our miles on the Black Forest Trail. If we had to we could hitch off the trail there.

The Black Forest Trail

Stepping onto the Black Forest Trail was like stepping into a dream. The path was a bed of softy rusty needles. Towering pines and birch saplings lined our path. Great big boulders sat sentinel in the woods. We crossed a quiet creek one, two times, I lost count, on rusted metal bridges. We stopped at the first camp available. I checked Amos’ feet. Still good. I sat about and ate lunch while Amos tugged at his tie-out, ready to keep going! So onward we did. Two miles later, we found an equally lovely camp, this one high atop the ridge overlooking mountains painted for autumn. 

View from camp

Camp on the Black Forest Trail

I checked Amos’ foot. It looked angry. A short day or not, we would stop. I purposely had carried an ungodly amount of water in case we needed to stop at any moment. That night the foot grew angrier. Amos limped a bit as he wandered from his snoozing spot beneath a tree into the tent. I shot an email to the vet. Of course it was a Sunday. I laid in our tent, gazing at our boy, so thankful to have him with me on this journey and wondering just how this injury had erupted. I had loose plans to meet up with Pete Fleszar, PAW Mega Loop Committee member, just one of his many roles in the hiking community. I’ve known Pete since back in my Finger Lakes Trail days, and then again when I hiked the Mid State Trail (Pete is Regional Manager of the Tioga Chapter) and we have remained connected throughout the years through our shared appreciation for the trails. I texted him and asked if he might be able to give us a lift from the nearest road. Amos needed a break. He responded instantly, even offering to retrieve us that night. Amos was already tucked in, as was I, and 2.5 miles from the nearest road. We made plans to meet the next day around noon.
The vista from Francis Road, where we awaited our pickup

Pete Fleszar to the rescue! A great big thank you, Pete!!

We sat on the side of gravel Francis Road, admiring what was probably the most epic view we’d seen yet. Amos pulled on his leash, whining to keep hiking. I assured him, he needed a break, even if he didn’t think he did. I worried about him and how we’d resolve this sore spot. I wondered just how we might get back to this point on the trail. I wondered if we might have to alter our plans. I wondered how after just three days of hiking, only 18 miles in, we found ourselves here awaiting a lift back to our car. Amos has hiked hundreds of miles on long-distance trails with me. He’s hiked the 330-mile Mid State Trail, the 250-mile Tuscarora Trail, 200 miles last fall in these very same PA mountains, Florida’s Blackwater Trail, and trail runs and hikes daily with me. But hey, seasoned or not, sometimes you start a trail and you still get a blister on day one. I guess it was Amos’ turn. So now, we rest.
Pine Creek in Blackwell, Pa

We lazed about Cross Fork, took a night at a lean-to on the Susquehannock Trail, and decided to still make use of the luxurious accommodations at Miller’s General Store’s Air B&B (see photo at top of post). If you’re hiking through (or biking on the nearby Pine Creek Rail Trail) absolutely book a night at their apartment below the store. It is clean and quaint and funky. I would happily move in here. And even Amos, after some anxiety, decided it was quite fine. There’s a covered porch overlooking a large lawn that stretches all the way to Pine Creek. Say hi to Anne and Ruth Anne (Ruth, whom I remembered meeting when I hiked through here on the Mid State Trail) are welcoming as can be and love pups. 
Amos on the Pine Creek Rail Trail (he still insists on short easy walks while we’re resting)

And so, it hasn’t been all bad taking some time of the trail. And Amos has good timing – it’s been raining for days. We’ve downed some good grub, enjoyed driving these windy mountain roads speckled with cabins and creeks and barns and pastures that climb up hillsides, laid on a ridge watching the treetops dance in the wind and been lulled to sleep by rain hard as nails on a tin roof. I’m not quite sure where our path leads us next. It’s up to Amos. But if there’s one thing all these years of long-distance hiking have taught me, it’s less about powering through and more about adaptation. You can power all you want, but if you do, in the end the mountain will conquer you. Remain wild. Adjust and adapt as all the other creatures do, despite your expertly crafted human plans. Open to the moment, who knows what it may have in store for you. 
Oh, and I must share some images from our first day on the trail, after our long climb up from Ole Bull State Park. Our first night was a spooky one! STAY TUNED to see where our path leads us next.
Spook Hollow on the Susquehannock Trail. Sign reads: Keep to the center of the trail. Stay within sight of companions. Refrain from looking back. DO NOT TRY TO RUN.

Spook Hollow Shelter 

The STS shelters are by far the most lovingly maintained shelters I have ever encountered. Each one is complete with decorative touches, which sometimes includes a battery-operated candle and calendar lawn chairs or picnic table, and often jugs of fresh water

A not-so-spooky vista from the ridge atop Ole Bull 

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Sunchokes vs ? For 2nd line deer defense

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Sunchokes vs ? For 2nd line deer defense

I completed the sheet mulch of my spring 20×20 annual garden area (6 4×8 beds) and am trying to find some permaculture inspired 2nd line deer defense.

I am going to to fence the area with 4-6 ft fencing on T-posts but know that is +/-. I am considering bordering the entire fence with something deer will love, can feast on and then move on. I heard sunchokes are good for this but also heard they are impossible to manage? I don’t want to be screwed if I want to expand the garden area in the future. Any other ideas?

I am also planting fruit trees for start of food forest behind this and will proper T fence those as well but don’t want to enclose the entire forest so may use your thoughts for that perimeter as well.

Other info: I am just getting started so not sure how intense deer pressure will be but clearly they’re around. Hunting not ever an option.

Tia!

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Willow Living Fence as Sheep Fence?

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Willow Living Fence as Sheep Fence?

We have a small farm, we want to have sheep in the future, starting with 2 and at the maximum have around ~6 sheep.
We are looking into fencing the perimeter and one of the options we came across, is to use White Willow as a living fence that can be woven into various shapes and densities.

Does anyone have any hands on experience with a living willow fence for sheep ?
how long did you let the fence establish before introducing the sheep to it?
does it survive well and handle well the sheep feeding on it?
Any other advice?

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