Revisiting Loree's danger garden: front

On my Portland trip in early April, I had the pleasure of staying at the house of my friend Loree Bohl, the creator of the popular blog danger garden and author of the book Fearless Gardening, and her husband Andrew. This gave me plenty of opportunity to photograph Loree’s garden at different times of day. As is so often the case, I took far more photos than I can possibly show you. I’ve tried hard to edit myself, but there’s so much to see — as you know very well if you follow Loree’s blog.

This post is about the front garden. I’ll cover the back garden in a separate post, maybe even multiple posts.

Front garden as seen from the sidewalk, April 2026

On her blog, Loree has written extensively about her garden. This post from August 2025 has photos of what the property looked like when they bought the house in 2005. Take a look at this: The front garden was pretty much all lawn, with some foundation shrubs up against the house. Compare that to the photo above. The difference couldn’t be more profound.

Loree loves bold textures, architectural forms, and spiky plants, above all agaves. The front garden has all of that, sometimes in startling combinations. How often do you see manzanitas underplanted with agaves? Or a Himalayan flowering shrub next to a Yucca rostrata? Loree’s property isn’t large, about 5,000 sq. ft. in total, but she has created a masterfully designed garden that reflects her unique vision: original, innovative, and eccentric in the best possible way.

On that note, let’s take a closer look. As I mentioned earlier, these photos were taken over three days, so the lighting varies from pre-sunrise shade to full sun.

Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’...

...and Yucca rostrata next to the front door

Another photo of this vignette, just because it’s so beautiful. Euphorbia rigida in the front.

Wider view of the walkway to the front door

Another beautiful Yucca rostrata

The frothy blob in the lower right is Pittosporum anomalum, a shrub native to New Zealand

Pittosporum anomalum was in bloom during my visit. The flowers are tiny, but they have a powerful scent.

Lots of succulents...

...on both sides of the front door

The taller plant is a juvenile Tetrapanax papyrifer, maybe a shoot from the large plant on the far side of the house? Tetrapanax papyrifer is notorious for sending out runners.

The big agave in the middle is Agave ‘Baccarat’, on the right Agave americana var. protoamericana, and on the left Agave parryi ‘Notorious RBG’ (Loree’s name for an unidentified agave purchased at the Ruth Bancroft Garden)

Agaves are awesome (and Loree is the Queen of Agaves), but they’re somehow even cooler paired with ferns, like this Pleopeltis lepidopteris ‘Morro dos Conventos’

Another fern and agave pairing

In pots, Agave victoriae-reginae and Agave schidigera ‘Royal Flush’

Hypertufa pots planted with agaves, sempervivums, ferns, and more

Agave ‘Blue Glow’ (or, more likely, the green form of ‘Blue Glow’, fittingly called ‘Green Glow’)

Yucca rostrata in the back, with six Agave stricta ‘Nana’ in the front

Agave ‘Mateo’ in front of a dryland fern

More agaves, and even a fan aloe (Kumara plicatilis)

Yucca linearifolia

Another beautiful Yucca rostrata and an Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Nanjing Gold’, a shrub from the Himalayas, just finishing up flowering

I finally got to see Loree’s Little Free Greenhouse built by her husband Andrew in the summer of 2023. Many neighborhoods have little free libraries, but little free greenhouses? Not so much. If I were handy, I’d build one myself.

The Little Free Greenhouse was mostly empty (early April wasn’t peak gardening season yet), but I bet it has been put to good use since then

Even plant tags — how thoughtful is that?

And finally a few photos near the gate to the back garden:

Aeoniums outside the door to the kitchen

Hanging pots on the front of the garage: small, but impactful — and both featuring agaves

Closer look at one of them

Wider view of these two pots — and the gate to the magic that awaits in the back garden.

The agave gate was designed by Loree’s husband Andrew. More details in Loree’s post from October 2015.

Check back in a few days for photos of Loree’s back garden.

© Gerhard Bock, 2026. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.