Friday, June 17, 2011

The Friends of Manito Plant Sale

Last weekend we took a road trip up to Spokane to visit my family. We could have any weekend to visit but I picked this one because it was the Friends of Manito Plant Sale.

This sale holds a special place in my history. I went faithfully when I lived, and gardened, in Spokane. The last time I attended the sale (7 years ago) was the very day I decided to follow my husband to Portland. We weren’t married then, the company he worked for had been sold and he had an excellent offer to relocate. It was the morning of this sale 7 years ago that he decided he was going and asked me to come with him. My mom arrived at my house shortly after that (we attended the sale together whenever possible) I was in tears while telling her that I was moving away. In less than two months I packed up and sold my house, and we arrived in Portland just after midnight on July 31st 2004. It’s now 2011 and I finally got to go back to the Friends of Manito Plant Sale…time flies when your life is filled with passion (gardening in Portland…and the marriage)! Truth be told I was a little concerned that the sale I remembered with such fondness wouldn’t be “all that” anymore. Had I been spoiled by the fabulous plant sales and nurseries in Portland? And Spokane is 2 zones colder than Portland, those two zones cut out a lot of exciting plants! Would there be anything good to buy? On the other hand anything that I discovered here was bound to sail through our winters…no zonal denial to be found living in zone 8 and shopping in zone 5. Turns out I had no trouble finding a cart load of plants to buy.

I passed up a baby Paulownia tomentosa for only $9… But fell for this crazy “Joint Fir” (Ephedra minuta, on the left) while my mom scooped up a (about ready to bloom) Foxtail Lily (Eremurus, on the right) I also had to have 3 Yellow Gentian (Gentiana lutea) when I saw the picture of the crazy stacked yellow flowers. Looks like my mom has a thing for big leaves too… that's her checking out the Alocasia and Colocasia in the "houseplants" section. And her "haul" (the Foxtail Lily is in there somewhere, hidden by the big leaves). This sale featured one advantage that the prior ones did not. I had a dedicated plant hauling assistant, my nephew Trent (being only 5 yrs old when I attended my last Manito Plant sale he wasn’t up for joining us. At the ripe old age of 12 he was much more interested). It was fabulous to find my hands full with plants and then have them magically whisked away to the cart (I know! An outdoor plant sale with shopping carts!?) by a willing assistant. So here is my haul…(in addition to the Joint Fir and Yellow Gentain mentioned above): a huge Astilboides tabularis, and an equally large Darmera Peltata (Umbrella Plant), Rodgersia aesculifolia, a fabulous thin ruffled leafed Alocasia ‘boa’, and (finally!) a Rheum palmatum (Ornamental Rhubarb). Not bad eh? So just what is “Manito” (as in the Friends of Manito Plant Sale), well just the best park ever! I did a post back in 2009 on a visit, but this park is such a wonderful gem that it deserves another go ‘round. First things first…it’s pronounced “man it toe” not “man eee toe” that’s how the locals can tell if you’re from out of town. Secondly it’s huge, 90 acres to be exact. In addition to plenty of open green space the park is home to 5 different gardens (Perennial, Rose, Lilac, Japanese, and the formal Duncan Gardens), plus a fabulous Conservatory (with Agaves!) and a duck pond. Since we had spent so much time at the plant sale I can’t properly document the entire park but here are a few pictures to give you an idea how wonderful it is starting with the formal Duncan Garden above (recently planted for summer). And then going into the Conservatory, where future Spokane danger gardeners can catch the spiky plant bug! Look at the smallest little Joshua Tree! (so said the label) And finally a few pictures from the Joel E Ferris Perennial Garden. I didn’t realize that Plume Poppies were hardy in Spokane, now I’ll have to be sure to save some of my seedlings for my mom! It seems every time I visit I fall in love with these Pasque Flowers (Pulsatilla Vulgaris ‘Papageno’) seedheads. Then I look up the plant and realize the flower itself is actually a little, well, “too much” (ugly). Okay back home now…time to plant my new plants!

15 comments:

  1. Other people's plant sale visits are the BEST. I get nearly all of the enjoyment but none of the expense! Drool over the Alocasias.

    Good that your nephew is getting exposure young to the wonders of plants. May it be a lifelong joy for him.

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  2. Wow, that place looks awesome! I am surprised I have never heard of it before. Also, that plant sale looked great, even more so when I consider that a lot of those plants should actually be hardy here in Zone 6 southeastern Michigan. What used to be my favorite plant sale around here, at Matthaei Botanical Garden in Ann Arbor, has been changed this year into a number of separate events, each focused on a specific theme such as "peonies" or "container plants". Unfortunately that meant that the huge selection of unusual and hard-to-find selection of perennials and shrubs that I used to go for has been left by the wayside...

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  3. What an extra-emotional plant sale! Nice to see your mom and nephew joining you. Your take on pasque flowers is a hoot -- wish I could grow them!

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  4. There's nothing like a box of new plants....even other people's plants! Now you get to go home and admire them, research them, think about where they're going to live, look at them again... It's great!

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  5. Hoover, kind of like watching someone else eat dessert? The nephew is also quite the cook...and he prefers fresh herbs!

    C Gardener, it really is awesome. Spokane is often over looked and it really has some wonderful places! Everything except the Alocasia would definitely be hardy for you...and wow...what a horrible story about your plant sale! I am sorry!

    Denise, for the flower or the after? Not only mom and the nephew joined me but the husband and dad went a long too (although they hid under the eaves when the rain started to fall).

    Chris U, spoken from experience it sounds like!

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  6. First off, I'm crazy jealous of your Darmera…I have to admit that I don't have room to do one justice…but it's another plant I totally lust after. They look amazing in the fall…you're gonna LOVE it! So glad to see you got another Rhubarb, I hope you have better luck with it…and hopefully yours is more red than mine (barely any red…boo!). Love that you're adding another Rodgersia…you can't go wrong with them! I never imagined Spokane to have such great plant sales...score!

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  7. Great plants. Great place. How fun it must have been to reminisce with your mom.

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  8. I lived in Spokane for 5 years and loved Manito Park. I really loved escaping from my college life to visit this wonderful park. I didn't garden then, but I do remember how great the plants were.

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  9. Dang, I should have gone, even if I had to bring my 3 kids in tow! I would have come home with Astilboides and Darmera, too. In fact I just ordered Darmera from a catalog instead. Maybe next year . . .
    And I think pasque flowers are kind of of ugly, too, and the seedheads are better looking!

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  10. They all look wonderful and entirely unwilling to root inhere on the southern east coast. So enjoy! Glad the sale was a good experience for you.

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  11. Great tour, as always. I especially enjoyed the romantic back-story. I would want a 'Flaming Sword' for the name alone, but what a stunning plant. Just what I need: something else to jockey for an indoor spot in the winter months.

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  12. I like hearing a bit of your history. I had a similar experience, but without the tears, when I moved in with my future wife. I had no family in Charleston, nor did I have to sell a house and leave a garden behind. But I had a real hard time leaving such a beautiful place. BTW, Paulownia is on our state's do not plant list, very invasive here.

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  13. What a sweet, emotional history, Loree and how heartening to hear your homecoming to the plant sale was so rewarding - great plants, too! It looks like the conservatory had to be a factor in the development of your spiky plant love. That's one thing Portland lacks, and I wish we had a conservatory every time I visit or see another city's!

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  14. scott, I was really quite pleased to discover how good the sale was, and I forgot to mention the best part...CHEAP! None of my purchases were over $10

    Grace, I miss being able to plant shop with her, it was fun!

    VW, seems like they have a fall sale too...never as much fun though.

    Compost, I am sorry to flaunt my foliage wealth.

    ricki, you need to build a green house! (I know easier said than done).

    Les, you understand then. Moving is heard enough when you initiate the change yourself but when you're doing it so fast and to follow someone else...wow.

    MulchMaid, I really don't understand why we are without a conservatory here in plant loving Portland...doesn't make sense!

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  15. Hey, I have a Vrieswa splendens - It's a house plant.

    I found it in a discarded pot of otherwise dead bromeliads. This one makes a daughter plant when it blooms and just keeps keeping on...

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