Lauren Hall-Behren is a stylish young garden designer in Portland, and her home garden is one of my favorites anywhere. Somehow Lauren has managed to create a garden both dramatic and quiet, restful and flamboyant, yet still so practical it's featured in my last book "The New Low Maintenance Garden."
By repeating evergreens and groundcovers, planting in sweeps, and using plenty of hardscape Lauren has designed a garden both spectacular and relatively easy to care for. For a plant addict, that is. Lauren shows restraint as well as a keen eye for plants, shape, color and form. Her modernist aesthetic is both sleek and simple, yet lush with old-fashioned plants, like roses and hydrangeas as well as cool semi-tropicals, grasses and succulents.
Take a look - here are flourishing banana trees, a stately white brugmansia, a variety of grasses, and the welcoming paths of Lauren's own garden, called LilyVilla and featured in this Seattle Times article, and on Lauren's website.
Black mondo grass, Japanese forest grass and in the distant a dwarf yew hedge line the curve of path beneath the banana trees.
A look through toward the pergola-topped terrace behind Lauren's hundred year old house - the garden started out as an old, grassy orchard...
How's this for garden atmospherics?
Lauren's garden is a favorite, such beautiful and exciting space to explore.
Posted by: Loree / danger garden | September 26, 2011 at 02:41 PM
Nice! But wait, did you switch your Euonymus out for yew? Holy cannoli, you have been busy Lauren! I love your garden.
Posted by: kate | September 26, 2011 at 03:30 PM
Thank you, Loree.
Nope, Kate you are right... that hedge is Euonymous 'Green Spire'. The Taxus hedge is on the other side of the garden. Yes, its been a busy garden season!
Thank you for such a lovely post, Val!
Posted by: Lauren Hall-Behrens | September 26, 2011 at 05:20 PM
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for the yew/euonymous correction and for sending "Plant Talk" such great photos of your garden...
Posted by: valerie Easton | September 27, 2011 at 08:51 AM
I tell you, it's enough to make an ordinary mortal want to go back to bed and pull the covers over her head.
Posted by: DariaW | September 27, 2011 at 01:54 PM
Oh wow, very nice. I'm drooling over the awesome Metapanax delavayi! Can't wait for mine to get that large! Very well kept and well positioned plantings.
Posted by: Riz Reyes | September 29, 2011 at 12:45 AM
Oh wow! Thumbs up for Lauren's garden! Everything looks nice and beautiful, I'm sure a lot of hard work and maintenance was done for that wonderful outcome. Great job!
Posted by: Sam Nicole Gray | October 03, 2011 at 06:10 AM
This is really attractive garden. We can find Here flourishing banana trees, a stately white brugmansia, a variety of grasses, and the welcoming paths of Lauren's own garden etc. Your post helps to know about the designing and planning the garden. Thank you very much for share this valuable post. I enjoyed visiting this post.
Posted by: Garden Design Sydney | October 07, 2011 at 05:19 AM