Every plant we use in the gardens we design — listed with bloom time, mature size, water needs, and which Wren-style gardens they show up in. We update it each season as the gardens mature.
A native Oregon iris that wants exactly what most yards refuse to give: dry summer shade, well-drained soil, and the patience to be left alone. In return, it offers ten weeks of pale lilac and butter-yellow flowers from late March through June.
This year we're planting Iris tenax in three Wren-style gardens as a low-maintenance border alternative to the more familiar bearded iris. It pairs unreasonably well with western sword fern, and the foliage stays green into November.
Native Oregon iris, ten weeks of bloom, dry-summer-tolerant. Pairs with sword fern.
Late-summer pollinator powerhouse. Three-season interest with seedheads holding into winter.
The PNW shade-garden default. Evergreen, structural, two-foot fronds in maturity.
Native bulb that turns spring meadows pale-blue. Naturalises gently. Pollinator favourite.
State flower. Evergreen, holly-like leaves, yellow late-winter bloom, blue summer berries.
Northwest native bunchgrass. Soft summer flower-heads catch every angle of light.
Drought-proof, butterfly-magnet, ferny foliage, flat flower-heads in cream or terracotta.
Native multi-stem maple. Lacy spring leaves, fire-orange fall colour, sculptural in winter.
Hummingbird beacon in early spring. Pink dripping racemes against bare wood.
The first of the month, we send a thousand-word note about one plant we're paying attention to — what it's doing, where it likes to live, what to plant it with. Started in 2017. Sent every month since.