Plants (and metal) I brought home from the Fling

Before I share any photos of the gardens we visited during the Puget Sound Fling, I have to share pics of the plants I bought, "the haul"...

Our first plant buying opportunity was on Saturday, at the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, and their onsite nursery. Since that day was also my birthday I felt duty-bound to buy a few things, first up Rhododendron 'Golfer' (another dumb plant name!).

I've admired this plant in the garden several times so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make it mine.

I regretted not buying Parthenocissus henryana "a relative of Virginia Creeper and Boston Ivy, this species hails from China and features blue-green leaflets in whorls of five with prominent silver veining – quite striking. A vigorous climber that will ascend a large tree with little effort on your part. This deciduous species typically has nice fall color. A feature in the RSBG Stumpery" on my last visit, this time I didn't hesitate.

A couple photos of it in the garden, the base (photo from this visit)...

And way up in the tree, photo from my late May visit.

The 3rd and final plant from the RSBG, a Dan Hinkley wild collected begonia species that goes by the catchy and informative name DJHAP#18003. Is it hardy? I have no idea. Why did I buy it? I blame my begonia crazy friends Ann and Heather. Also, it was on sale.

Moving on, we're now in Camille's garden (yes that Camille, the one that led the Fling org team AND opened her gorgeous garden to the group), where Fling sponsor Monrovia set up this plant display. The generous Kathleen Hennessy told me to pick out a birthday plant so of course I did! What did I chose?

A fern! Athyrium otophorum, Jurassic™ Pterodactyl Eared Lady Fern. I have a few Athyrium otophorum and love their coloring, I am excited to add this one to my garden.

Here's a close up of a frond—just because.

I'd be remiss to not share this stash of plants from Little Prince of Oregon, another Fling sponsor. I brought them up with me from Portland, they were raffle prizes during the Fling Banquet on Saturday night. Here they are hanging out in the shade at Camille's garden. 

Truth be told, there were so many plants to transport that a handful never even made it up to the Fling, they stayed behind in my garden. Yes I had the blessing of the fine folks at Little Prince to keep a few plants that caught my eye, like this Echeveria 'Trumpet Pinky' (isn't it crazy cool?)...

Eucomis ‘Freckles’

Syngonium wendlandii (a houseplant).

And this crazy business, Athyrium ‘Aubergine Lady’...

Moving on, now it's Sunday we're at Windcliff, Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones' home and nursery in Indianola, WA. There's a lot to love in this photo! The dramatic schefflera on the left, the collection of square planters, and the odd Pseudopanax ferox growing at the back.

We were allowed to shop the nursery during this visit and I was still thinking about the pseudopanax when picked out my purchases, the Pseudopanax crassifolius container on the left (with three seedlings in it!) and a native ginger (on the right).

You can see the mass of seedlings I had to chose from in the background of this photo...

There is very different foliage on the seedlings at this stage...

I hope I can successfully separate the three plants.

Here's a close-up of the ginger, Asarum hartwegii HSIS 20045: "There are few native evergreen groundcovers, this found in the Siskiyous of southern Oregon, I feel are as overlooked as this species, for striking heart-shaped leaves etched in pewter, forming dense mounds to 4”. Secretive flowers hidden beneath the leaves. Tolerant of shade but resentful of overwatering and heavy soils. Utterly superb."

I failed to capture the curious magic of this container grouping at Windcliff, but seeing it sent me back to crab another pseudopanax. You see I was recently given a stash of those tall rolled-lip terracotta pots and suddenly I could see a grouping like this in my garden.

This one is a little insurance in case one of the other three doesn't make it when I tease their roots apart.

Now for the metal. The Fling visited a sweet shop/restaurant for our lunch break on Saturday (VanLierop Garden Market—lots of photos to come) and I was quite taken with this pair of metal benches, aka plant tables. 

So taken in fact that I drove out of my way (to Sumner, WA) on my way back to Portland on Monday afternoon and bought one of them, this one actually. They're pretty much twins but this is the one that spoke to me. I've got plans for it and hope to be sharing a photo of it in my garden very soon...

I'll end this post with our 2024 Fling group photo taken at the Brindley garden, there are a few people missing, but this is a great representation of our fun group.

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Looking at plants...

My birthday was last weekend and I received a fresh batch of vintage plant and people photos from Andrew. Also, I'm just back from the whirlwind Garden Fling in the Puget Sound area where spent a lot of time looking at plants, so this one seemed like a good picture to share today. Of course none of those plants were cholla, but there were agaves, a few cactus, and many gunnera and hydrangea. Most importantly there were a lot of fabulous people!

I've never been one to rush home and start posting about the Fling gardens, in fact I still have adventures from last year's Fling in Philly to post! But I'm sure the 18 gardens (and one cool garden market) I visited over the 4 days of the Puget Sound Fling will work their way into my posts over the coming weeks and months. Meanwhile, I've got some plants to water! (huh, I don't think I've ever gotten a vintage photo of someone watering their garden...)

If you're curious about the Garden Fling read more on the Fling website, here. Next year will be held in Memphis, TN on June 5-8, maybe you'll be there?

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Concrete wonderland, a NE Portland landmark

Today's post is a little different.

I'm taking you on a walking tour around a corner lot in NE Portland. 

I have driven by this collection / installation / neighborhood eyesore / concrete wonderland (one man's junk is another man's treasure) so many times before. This time I had a few minutes to kill before an appointment nearby, and there was a parking spot, and the weather was perfect. You could say the stars aligned.

There is so much to see. 

It's a wonder there are any concrete bird baths anywhere else in Portland.

As I mentioned it's a corner lot, so there are two hellstrips, both quite wide. Here's part of one...

I was fully expecting someone to come out of the house and ask why I was taking photos. I was actually kind of hoping they would, so I could ask what inspired this. No one did.

Are things secured on the wall? Or just balanced there? I have no idea, I didn't want to risk anything falling so I kept my hands to myself.

I have to say that upon closer inspection the whole thing was a lot more interesting than it appeared to be just driving by.

Ha! I grew up with one of those donkey and cart sculptures in the garden. A few years ago a friend told me she'd thought my family was kind of worldly or cultured to have such a thing.

I wonder if the person behind the collection ever adds water to the bird baths? I took these photos on July 3rd, and the last rain fell June 18th, they were all very dry.

This concludes the walk-about. I hope you enjoyed it, go big, or go home!

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Garden Duet VI, and a fern find!

I'm a frequent shopper at ReClaim It (a local shop "devoted to reducing waste & promoting creative reuse in our community"), so when I saw a poster for their late June Cracked Pots event in two Portland Gardens, I bought a ticket. The Cracked Pots event at Edgefield (here's a post) was a fun "must-do" every summer up until COVID put an end to it, this seemed like a  small scale revival.

While I love to upcycle and plant (mostly) metal pieces in my garden most of the items sold as "garden art" send me running in the opposite direction, fast. So I wasn't hoping to find any thing to buy, so much as wanting to support the organization and hoping to see a couple of interesting gardens. As luck would have it, I hit the jackpot.

The first garden I stopped at belonged to Fred Nilsen and Theresa Garcia.

There were so many people moving around the garden, and so much stuff there for the sale, it was a little hard to focus on what the garden would be without the various distractions.

Still, I was able to tell that a real plantsperson was at work here.

Afterall, there was a nice Pyrrosia sheareri...

The deck cut-outs allowing for sunken pots were a genius touch.

When I saw these trough planters...

Specifically this one...look at that foliage! 

I knew I needed to talk to the gardener, thankfully a Cracked Pots volunteer led me to Fred and he was up for a chat.

The plant, labeled as Hepatica (Poulett Hybrid) came from Heronswood in 2006. As luck would have it there were a couple of potted up seedlings sitting near by, I asked if I could buy one and Fred didn't hesitate for even a minute before handing me one and saying "I don't sell plants".

Moving on I was quite smitten with this sizable in-ground patch of Pyrrosia sheareri.

Moving around to the front.

That's a nice clump of Pyrrosia hastata on the left.

More ferns, a large Asplenium trichomanes on the left, and several Polystichum setiferum (I believe). 

I love that they're located on the path side of the rocks.

Haberlea rhodopensis

Rhododendron chamaethomsonii, which would appear to be an excellent substitute for my much lusted after (and twice killed) R. forrestii.

On the sunny side, a dasylirion (I think wheeleri?).

And agaves! (yes the dog was part of the garden art sale)

Do you see the ferns? 

I did and I was very curious as to what they might be. They were obviously sun lovers, but not one I recognized. I went back to find Fred and asked, he didn't recall the name but promised to look it up and email me. We got to chatting a little more and I learned Fred used to manage Portland's Forest Park, Hoyt Arboretum, and other areas for the City of Portland Bureau of Parks and Recreation. He was also part of the early days of our local chapter of NARGS (North American Rock Garden Society) and we knew a couple of people in common, like Sean Hogan and Panayoti Kelaidis.

So I did get an email from Fred just a day or two later, with info: "The fern was acquired from the old Bayless (and maybe a reference to her is a red flowering currant named 'Pokies Pink'). I got the fern labeled Ceterach officinarum, but now named Asplenium ceterach." I did find an online reference to Portland plantswoman Pokey Bayliss (and the currant) but that's not a name I've heard before. The best part of the email though was that Fred said he'd dig up a fern for me! (more on that below)

Leaving Fred Nilsen and Theresa Garcia's garden headed for the second location I spied an interesting bamboo fence and an explosion of bamboo just up the street, I had to look closer.

Tetrapanax too...

My takeaway from the second garden I saw that day (belonging to Cindy McEnroe & Joe Coletto) was that deer fern, Struthiopteris spicant, syn. Blechnum spicant, can get WAY bigger than I ever imagined.

Note the legs standing behind the plants for scale! 

So now we've fast forwarded to my garden and where I planted the hepatica that Fred shared with me.

And here are the two Asplenium ceterach he brought me when he came over for a garden visit. How generous, thank you Fred!

Naturally I started researching this new-to-me fern, and that's when I discovered our paths have crossed before. Here's a screen shot I took during a webinar last March from the Hardy Fern Foundation, I think maybe it was Ferns of the Azores with Fred Ramsey.

On the Wikipedia page for the fern I learned it's common name is rustyback fern, due to the "dense layer of pale reddish-brown scales" on the underside of the fronds. That same page had an image of this Russian stamp with the Asplenium ceterach on it...

Guess what I have! Yep, that same stamp, and four others (a stocking stuffer gift from Andrew one Christmas).

So that's the story of a garden visit I went to as part of a fundraiser—and on the off chance I might see an interesting garden—and where I met a like-minded gardener with an interesting plant past AND I ended up being given an obscure fern, that I'd lusted after enough to take a screen shot of it during a webinar and hang on to it. Crazy cool eh? Now here's hoping I can keep the ferns alive...

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.