On the Friday before Labor Day weekend, Nigel only had to work for half a day, so instead of making him wait till the late afternoon to get the first train home, I drove into Seattle to meet him for lunch, and then drive him home. I decided to leave the house early and stop for an hour or so at PowellsWood, a lovely private garden in Federal Way that is often open to the public. Check out the website here, and if you're on Facebook, you can check out the garden's Facebook page here. Amazingly, this 3-acre garden was built on the site of a former dump, on ground covered in concrete, asphalt, old cars, and used tires. The soil was so poor, even weeds would not grow. Monte and Diane Powell bought the property in 1993 and spent the first two years simply amending the soil. Since 1995, when the first hedges that define the garden rooms were planted, every year has seen changes to the garden. Most recently, the garden just outside the back of the house was replanted, because of damage caused by the ice storm of 2012 (I myself lost a pear tree in that storm, which was the impetus for tearing apart and replanting an entire bed). I started there, in the House Gardens at the back. Enormous hardy bananas, which spent the winter covered in bubble wrap and burlap, anchor the bed Spent Allium seedheads with a dark-leafed Dahlia, backed by the twisted stems of an ornamental Corylus. More bananas, barberries and palms Cimicifuga flowers waving, with Canna musifolia (I think) and 'Tiger Eye' Sumac. A simple wooden bench mirrored by another through the archway Senecio mandraliscae planted in the ground (presumably being used as an annual) Looking back from the wooden arch to the patio just outside the house Schefflera taiwanniana Gorgeous! The stems make a striking pattern From there I headed into the Spring Garden, an area of grass paths and perennial beds under cherry trees (I bet they're fabulous in bloom!) A Podophyllum pleianthum on the left I'm not positive, but this looks like another Schefflera (delavayi?) Wonderfully architectural tree limbs Begonias and Hostas under cherry trees that look like they're being bent in a gale force wind Lovely old lichens Oliver, the friendly neighborhood cat, greets me noisily I'm secretly pleased to see molehills in the almost pristine lawn, I guess they plague everyone who gardens Rhododendron with orange tomentum Mahonia berries aka Oregon grapes A dry stream winds through the shade garden A large arbor covered in several different kinds of Clematis (this one looks like Clematis armandii) Perennial borders in the distance A fig tree leans over the grass path, backed by a hedge of Leyland cypress, pruned to within an inch of its life Fuchsia flowers about to open A stream runs through the lower garden Darmera peltata, Gunnera tinctoria and Caltha palustris, all love the boggy soil along the edge of the stream The stiff fertile fronds of ostrich ferns line the stream The monumentally large flowers of hardy Hibiscus moscheutos 'Dave Fleming' A view up the stream past wavy grasses and Joe Pye Weed A quite large Mahonia 'Arthur Menzies' is one of this border's anchors A closer look at Mahonia 'Arthur Menzies' Bench, Joe Pye weed, and the hardy bananas in the bed near the house in the upper garden There were quite a few of these stone basins throughout the beds Rhodie and fern make great companions Rhodie and Astelia also make great companions Palm reflection in a stone basin A view from the entry garden, through the wooden arbor into the house gardens, where I started my journey PowellsWood is open to the public from Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am to 3 pm, April 1 through October 31. Admission is $5 and payment is on the honor system. No pets allowed.