The
Humbolt
Garden

This large corner property in the Overlook neighborhood of North Portland, with its vintage craftsman home, sits on an oversized lot that was once completely overgrown and consumed by decades of neglect. The new home owners were motivated to wipe the slate clean and envision a truly exceptional garden with a variety of new, sophisticated gathering spaces for friends and family, as well as a lush planting that was eclectic and colorful.

The diversity and abundance of the plantings in The Humboldt Garden is pretty special, featuring a wide variety of perennials, shrubs, trees, ornamental grasses, and unique specimens throughout.

As you move through the various spaces, there are areas of this garden where you might feel immersed in something entirely tropical or woodland, with multiple shades and textures of green. A few paces away is grassy meadow with a profusion of colorful perennials … and then, with a slight turn of the head, you’re gazing upon a combination of sun-loving, Mediterranean Garden plants.

For as much as we love the abundant plant diversity for this project, the collection of custom hardscape elements serves to complete the overall picture.

A rustic, timber-frame porch with Western Red Cedar overhead and an Ipe hardwood deck below opens up to the verdant garden on all sides of the backyard. Adjacent to the deck is a hammered copper water feature with aquatic plants. A naturalistic rain garden weaves through the plantings to manage stormwater from the covered porch.

In the hub of the garden is an elegant steel pergola for outdoor dining with crushed basalt gravel underfoot. A mix of stepping stones, concrete pavers and bluestone pavers connect the various outdoor rooms. And edging the garden beds throughout are curved steel retaining walls and edging.