Alice Doyle's New Tomatoes

My guest (show of 5/11) Alice Doyle from Log House Plants, is the supplier of these new tomatoes.  She will be speaking as part of The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon Gen(i) us Series which will be on Tuesday evening, 7pm, Multnomah Arts Center, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy (Portland).  Fee; $5.00 at the door.  She will have plants for sale.

Add your comments below
Display Name:
Headline:
Comments:
|

Garden Conservancy Open Gardens 2013

This year’s Garden Conservancy Open Gardens for metro Portland includes five private gardens in the Lake Oswego/West Linn area plus the Rogerson Clematis Collection.  The Garden Conservancy is a non-profit national organization created to help maintain public and private gardens throughout the US.  My (Mike Darcy) own garden is included this year and I hope that many listeners will visit.   

The gardens included this year are the Darcy Garden which has many new featured added since our last open garden.  We have new water features, many new containers, new garden art and a children’s garden.  Across the street from us is the Ervin Garden which in addition to a spectacular view of Lake Oswego and Mt. Hood (on a clear day) has an emphasis on urban food sourcing.  There are raised vegetable beds, aquaponics, chickens, ducks, bees and a small vineyard.  The Tuttle Garden (also in Lake Oswego) has extensive plantings of fuchsias, hydrangeas, clematis, fruit trees, vegetable garden and many new iron structures.  In West Linn, the Sheng Garden overlooks the Willamette River and is lushly planted offering vignettes of plants and garden art as well as water features and metal plant structures.  Just outside the city limits of Lake Oswego is the Bates Garden which is a collector’s garden that has been developed for over 70 years.  It has many unusual and not often seen plants as well as a hardy fuchsia collection, many native plants and a Chilean garden.  The Rogerson Clematis Collection is part of the tour this year and this botanical garden showcases one of the most complete collections of the genus Clematis in North America.

 

The date is Saturday, June 29, 2013 from 10am-4pm.  Tickets are $5 per person per garden or 6 tickets for $25.  Tickets are available from The Hardy Plant Society of Oregon, www.hardyplantsociety.org or the Garden Conservancy www.opendaysprogram.org         

Add your comments below
Display Name:
Headline:
Comments:
|

12TH ANNUAL PLANT NERD NIGHT

The 12th Annual Plant Nerd Night will be held on Friday, March 8.  The location will be the same as the past two years; Lake Bible Church, 4565 SW Carman Drive (corner of Kruse Way & Carman Drive) in Lake Oswego.  Doors will open at 6pm with presentations beginning at 7pm.   There will be six specialty nurseries presenting their new and favorite plants.  Each presenter has twelve minutes for their presentation.  Each presenter will also have two tables with plants for sale both prior to the beginning of the program and then afterwards.  There has always been some kind of entertainment half-way through the presentations and this year will be no exception.  It will be different than what we have had in the past but promises to be equally as entertaining.  This has been an extremely popular event drawing capacity crowds.   Many people arrive early with coffee and chairs and waiting in line can be a festive time.  

Mike's Special
Each year I try to select a plant that might not be well known and so perhaps might be a new plant for many.  My special plant this year is Taxodium distichum ‘Peve Minaret’.  This is a dwarf Bald Cypress that is slow growing and will reach about 6 ft tall in ten years.  It makes a great container plant and I have had one on our deck for several years.  People are drawn to the soft to the touch delicate foliage.  It is a deciduous conifer and so the plants (one gal size) look like sticks but will soon leaf out.  I am very pleased to offer this at $10.



The six presenters for this year are listed below.  Each presenter has one particular plant on special in limited quantities and I have listed that plant and the price (SP= Special Plant).  A partial listing of other plants they will be showing and selling is also listed.

Cistus Design Nursery
22711 NW Gillihan Road
Sauvie Island, OR 97321
603/621-2233
Sean Hogan
(SP) Cyclamen Silver Leaf
        3" pots, $5, 3/$12
New Manzanita varieties
Magnolia maudiae
Schleffera delavayi
Quince 'Mandarin'

Dancing Oaks Nursery
17900 Priem Road
Monmouth, OR 97361
503/838-6058
Leonard Foltz & Fred Weisensee
(SP) Epimedium davidii
        4" pots, $5
Gillenia 'Pink Profusion'
Dicentra 'Valentine'
Crambe 'Maritima'
Daphne 'Wilhelm Schacht'

Far Reaches Farm
1818 Hastings Avenue
Port Townsend, WA 98368
360/385-5114
Sue Milliken & Kelly Dodson
(SP) Iris unguicularis    
        'Mary Barnard', Qt $10
Glaucidium palmatum
Sinopodophyllum hexandrum
Euphorbia mellifera
Agapanthus 'Timaru'

Gossler Farms Nursery
1200 Weaver Road
Springfield, OR 97478
541/747-0749
Roger Gossler
(SP) Nandina filimentosa
1 gal, $15
Magnolia 'Wiesneri'
Adiatum venustum
Pieris 'Passion Frost'
Chamaecyparis 'Melody'

Northwest Garden Nursery
86813 Central Road
Eugene, OR 97402
541/935-3915
Marietta & Ernie O'Byrne
(SP) Arisaema taiwanense
4" pots, $8.50
Cyclamen 'Something Magic'
Podophyllum hybrids
Hellebore 'Winter Jewels'

Rare Plant Research
13245 S Criteser Road
Oregon City, OR 97045
503/780-6200
Burl Mostul
(SP) Yucca rostrata
1 gal size, $10
Hedychium (Ginger')Tara'
Musa sikkimensis 'Red Tiger'
Musa 'Mekong Giant'
Dahlia imperialis
Olives

Add your comments below
Display Name:
Headline:
Comments:
|

Holly

Often times when we think of a holly plant, we think of the common evergreen English Holly, Ilex aquifolium which is sometimes considered an invasive weed.  However, there are many different types of holly plants that grow very well here and are not well known.  Thanks to my guest (December 29) Sean Hogan, we learn about some varieties that deserve to be better known.  One often surprising fact for many is that holly plants are not necessarily evergreen.  There are some deciduous types and these can provide some wonderful winter color with their bare branches covered with red berries.  Another surprising fact is that not all holly plants have red berries.  They can be various shades of red, orange, white and yellow.  Many varieties of holly need both a male and female plant to produce fruit so keep that in mind when buying one.  The holly shown in the photo is Ilex verticillata (Winterberry Holly) and it does need a male pollinator.

Add your comments below
Display Name:
Headline:
Comments:
|