This is the second video in our ongoing series documenting the same walking path through our Zone 9A Pacific Northwest garden each spring. Over time, these annual walks reveal how the landscape changes — not just through growth and design, but through challenge, loss, and adaptation.

This second year brought a new and unexpected reality: significant deer pressure reshaped many of our original plantings. Some areas thrived and began to establish structure, while others were heavily browsed and forced into reconsideration. This walk reflects that turning point: when a garden stops being just an idea and starts responding to its environment. Rather than a finished vision, this is a record of adjustment: what survived, what struggled, and what we are beginning to rethink as the garden evolves.

In this video:

Year 2 garden walk in the Pacific Northwest
Zone 9A garden transformation over time
Deer pressure and plant loss in a developing landscape
Successes, failures, and adaptive planting decisions
Early structure beginning to emerge in the garden
Slow garden evolution along a repeated walking path

Plants introduced or established this year:

Cryptomeria: Cryptomeria japonica ‘Yoshino’ Japanese Maples: Golden Full Moon Ukigumo Osakazuki Emperor I Seiryu Bloodgood Mikawa Yatsubusa Fireglow Ryusen (Weeping) Autumn Moon Hogyoku Magnolia: Sweetbay Magnolia Moonglow Magnolia Little Gem Magnolia Crepe Myrtle: Tuscarora Hopi Heaths / Heather: Pink Heather White Heather Kramer’s Red Cornus (Dogwoods): Cornus controversa Red Twig Dogwood Satomi Dogwood Wolf Eyes Dogwood Camellia: Sadaharu Oh Marie Kirk April Snow Pink Perfection Yule Sasanqua Jack’s Camellia Grasses: Hakone Forest Grass Willow: Dappled Willow Juniper: Wichita Blue Burley Blue Blue Star Distylium: Cinnamon Girl Redbud: Oklahoma Redbud Rising Sun Redbud Fir: Balsam Fir Fraser Fir Douglas Fir Spruce: Blue Spruce Fat Albert Spruce Sequoia: Giant Sequoia Wisteria: Snow Showers Amethyst Falls Cedar: Thuja plicata ‘Virescens’ Deodar Cedar ‘Gerard’s Weeping’ Other: Mountain Pepper Loropetalum ‘Carolina Midnight’ Barberry ‘Orange Rocket’ plus additional fruit trees in the orchard