Monday, April 18, 2011

The Leach Botanical Garden plant sale

After last weekend’s big Hardy Plant Society of Oregon plant sale I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to this event. But then the possibility of the unknown (what amazing treasure might I miss?) got to me. After all the spring garden show/sale season is almost over… better enjoy it while I can. This sale is small. Held in a middle school gym the lighting and air circulation leave a lot to be desired. Still it was better than being outside in the misty rain so who am I to complain, right? Acalypha reptans, Trailing Chenille. Didn’t get the name of this one…just loved the electric blue color. Last year’s highlight nursery, Northwest Cactus and Succulents, wasn’t at the sale this year. I was very disappointed. Thank goodness the Leach Gardens table had a few nice things for us succulent lovers and at very reasonable prices too! I left these Parodia mammulosa, or Tom Thumb Cactus, behind. At $5.50 they were a deal but I was sticking to the under $5 succulents (a couple of deals follow at the end of this post). Love the purple and chartreuse planting combo. Here was the highlight of the sale for me; this is the first time I’ve ever seen Furcraea for sale anywhere in Portland besides at Rare Plant Research, and there were so many! Odd spelling on the sign though. Giving them the benefit of doubt I looked it up online and could find nothing with their spelling of Fucrea/Furcraea, or one called 'aureopicta'. Plant naming is really such an inexact science. Here is my small flat of treasures…of course I had to get a Furcraea, after all it is my duty to support those nurseries bringing in the fun odd stuff. Working counterclockwise from the Furcraea, an Agave neomexicana (from the Leach Garden table). It will be hardy here as long as it gets good drainage and was a steal at $3. Also from the Leach table an Aloe ‘Walmsley’s Bronze’ and only $3. And last, a little out of character for me, an Oriental Poppy…‘Royal Wedding’…big white flowers with a black center. Pretty cool! If you're in Portland and wishing you would have known about this sale here’s a little advance warning for next weekend’s event: “On April 23, the Portland Japanese Garden will hold the extremely popular Asian Plant Sale. This sale gives garden enthusiasts an ideal opportunity to browse a wide selection of plants native to Asia as well as plants found in Asian gardens. The general public is welcome from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at no charge. A portion of the proceeds benefit the garden.” It looks like a good group of vendors: http://japanesegarden.com/events/plant-sale/

12 comments:

  1. So sad I didn't make it to the sale this year :-( You got some great little treasures, though! I think that plant with the blue flowers just MIGHT be Ryan's coveted Corydalis. I remember last year I got a bunch of Oxalis oregana, for a little woodland patch I'd been planning at the sale...was thinking of getting an Erythronium this year...oh well.

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  2. Thanks to an email alert from Scott, I was there and got some great things, too. I might do a post about them, so I won't divulge here. I can say I got nothing that needs special handling in winter. Weren't the Leach tables wonderful? And beautifully priced, too!

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  3. Corydalis! The blue flowers are corydalis... I don't know what species, there are a bunch of gorgeous blue ones. You should have gotten some, if for no other reason than that basically only you pacific NW people CAN grow them, and we'd all be wild with jealously if you had a lovely clump of them.

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  4. Is that Gilbert -- or I think it's now called Alice Ott -- School? All the way out here in Colorado, it looks a lot like the auditorium of a school I attended close to 50 years ago, when Alice Ott was actually principal! Maybe I'm mistaken about this. But back in the day at Gilbert, there was nothing near as fun as a plant sale going on.

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  5. yeah, what Joseph said. did they have brown leaves? My C. 'Blue Heron' has big flowers that color, they look great at dusk and dawn, when they look like they give off their own light.

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  6. I also went to the sale, it is the one sale I do not miss. I bought a couple great plants, Agave Americana and a nice pot of yellow Trout Lilies.........

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  7. scott, will you go to the Japanese Garden sale next weekend?

    MulchMaid, funny to learn that you were there as at least twice I started to talk to someone that I thought was you only to see that when they turned they were not! Please do post about your treasures! I love to see what others buy.

    Greensparrow, well...me thinks I'll be in the doghouse with Ryan too (for not growing the Corydalis)...I appreciated them setting there looking all bright but I can safely say not for one second did I think about purchasing them. Sorry!

    Patricia, actually the school is called Floyd Light Middle School, it may have had a different name years back...I'm not from Portland so I know very little about the schools here.

    Ryan, wow...if I had known I'd have called you! Well, if I had your number in my phone. We should all exchange numbers for situations like this. Well, if I had red the tag I mean. The color was amazing...but the plants are so not me, yes they did have brown leaves.

    Steven, I think we stood in the line to pay at the same time. Unless there were multiple guys buying variegated A. Americana early in the sale. In fact if you sat your flat down on the table next to the Leach table for a few minutes I fondled your agave! I know how wierd huh? It was so cute and I was so happy for it that it was getting a home.

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  8. I want me one of those Furcraeas, too. They are so dramatic and the coloration is more intense somehow than the variegated Agave americana. Nice choices. You did good!

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  9. Now that's discipline--a box full of only spiky plants! You did great, and the pickings looked terrific. Nothing better than a plant sale held by plant fanatics.

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  10. No worries about missing the Bloedel sale when you have ones like this in your own backyard!

    Hey, I just bought a Royal Wedding poppy too. I've added it to the collection of Oriental poppies that I threaten to rip out every year when the rain ruins the flowers (which is every year). I didn't even think about the real royal wedding happening this year...I feel so trendy!

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  11. It's kind of like Spirea/Spiraea. The correct spelling is the latter but you see the former all over the place. Great finds! Glad you went aren't you? :)

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  12. The Corydalis is probably C. flexulosa.

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