Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Doing the Kitsap Peninsula: so many nurseries, so little time…


Last Saturday my friend Erin and I hit the road from her place in West Seattle bright early, intent on doing a big nursery loop around the Kitsap Peninsula. I really wanted to return to Dragonfly Farms Nursery and, since I’d never been, I hoped to squeeze in a visit to Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend. In my dream world we also would have made it out to Sequim and The Desert Northwest but even I had to admit that was a little too much to cram into a day trip.

Our plans were altered early on with the crazy Rock-n-Roll Marathon closing most of the roads around downtown Seattle (who knew?) and causing us to miss the early ferry. I think I was still rattled by that experience when we made our first stop at Valley Nursery in Poulsbo, WA as I didn’t even pull out my camera to document the stop (this turns into a somewhat consistent theme for the day…). Our next stop was Dragonfly Farms (pictures above and below) and we were in luck as the owner Heidi was there, running around answering questions.

I had forgotten about the Bocconia frutescens (Tree Poppy) I saw and fell hard for last summer in Heidi’s garden so I wasn’t sure this was the same plant until I asked Heidi about the price and she confirmed it, remembering that I had asked about in her garden.

Spiky goodness here, on both the leaves and the stems of this Oplopanax horridus (Devil’s Club)…

I was hoping that one of the huge Schefflera delavayi would magically be for sale at a price I could afford, but no such luck.

Crambe Maritima…I came close to buying this crazy little plant, but did not.

At Heidi’s urging we abandoned our next stop and instead visited Celestial Dream Gardens. I’ve been emailing with Jeff, the owner, about getting his plants on plant lust and had no idea they were so close. If you’re nearby (like perhaps visiting the Heronswood open garden next weekend) you should definitely stop in. They’re small but have a great selection of very healthy plants and a wonderful display garden…which unfortunately I didn’t take a single picture of. Why? The sky opened up just as Jeff was touring us through, and (this is the most important reason)…we were very hungry, low blood sugar = scattered thinking.

Which leads me to our next stop…lunch! I felt like a food blogger pulling out my camera to snap a shot of my salad...but look at those crazy things on top! Rat-tail radishes (Raphanus sativus 'Caudatus'). Have you ever seen them before? I hadn’t and they were amazing. Kind of like a mellow yet peppery radish. I want to grow them!

Next stop…Far Reaches Farm. I knew the owners, Kelly and Sue, were unfortunately going to be out of town, so I was prepared for that. What I wasn’t prepared for was shopping in heavy rain showers. It definitely curtailed my photo taking.

At first I thought we could seek cover inside here…

But the roof is only lath, providing shade but no protection from the rain.

So lush!

For those of you who receive the Far Reaches email newsletter some these plants will be familiar, here is the Paris japonica clump that Dan Hinkley reportedly called “almost the best he had ever seen”…

I didn’t get the name of this one, but love the way the blooms cluster under the whorls of leaves.

Cardiocrinum giganteum (Giant Himalayan Lily), pracitically impossible to get a good photo of…

Mertensia maritima…

…evidently quite in demand since they have such a lovely patch of it growing in their garden. Unlike mine, which failed to return from last winter.

Wouldn’t you know it as we headed towards Bainbridge Island and the ferry back to Seattle (having abandoned our last planned nursery stop since we were running out of time) the skies cleared and it became a sunny evening.

We were stunned to be the lucky ones that got the front row parking spot on the ferry; this was the view from our car as we approached the city, not bad eh?

And here is our haul for the day…

That sexy Melianthus is my friend Erin's...not mine...(sad)

I bought the Bocconia frutescens, how could I not?

And this fabulous Aloe came from our first stop, Valley Nursery. The price was right and it looked like it needed a good home.

This was my purchase at Far Reaches…Curculigo sp. JSM

I can’t be sure, because I can’t find a photo, but I think I spotted this at the NW Flower and Garden Show last February. Then I thought it was a palm seedling but now I know it’s something entirely different… “Ornamental species of unknown hardiness collected by Josh McCullough in North Vietnam. Broad pleated leaves with yellow six-petaled flowers clustered near the leaf bases. A lot of the plants coming out of the mountains there are proving hardier than thought. This would likely survive in a mild garden here but surviving and looking good are two different things. Best to treat this as the outrageous container plant that is bringing it inside for the winter. A cool sunroom is fine. This carries an aspect of tremendous refinement and would cause any container designer to salivate.”

They had a couple of plants which were blooming but I didn’t choose one of those because they weren’t “the best”…and then of course I neglected to take a photo of the flower. If you would like to see it click on over to the Far Reaches website where they’ve got a photo.

Our stop at Celestial Dream Gardens yielded a couple of fine Eryngiums, first E. paniculatum…

Love those spikes!

And E. pandanifolium…

As the title of this post alluded to there were so many other nurseries we didn’t get a chance to stop at. I’m already scheming for the next trip…

25 comments:

  1. Oh, I love those Eryngiums! Thanks for giving me a preview of what I'll see in a few weeks. I think you were at Far Reaches at about the same time I was at Crescent Lake, that rain was crazy. We had bright sun right after too.

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    1. I look forward to you report on what you find on your Far Reaches adventure!

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  2. I'm so jealous...I really want to go to Far Reaches someday...just have to trick Norm into going someday ;-) I think your mystery plant is some sort of Polygonatum (verticillata or something like that). I remember seeing it (or something like it) on their website this spring when I was looking for plants to ask them to bring with them..hahahahaha!

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    1. You're gonna have to really work to get Norm all the way up to Port Townsend! But it will be worth it, I can see you arriving with long lists of plants you want to see/buy!!!

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  3. Yay for the bocconia frutescens!!! that thing is insanely cool. Looks like a good loot despite the crazy weather. It was a rather unfortunate weather weekend. But it looks like today is shaping up to be a good one up this way, hopefully for you guys too! Oh, and the ernygiums ... epic!!!

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    1. Yesterday was amazing weather here in PDX, and even though today wasn't predicted to be so far so good (meaning there is sun!). There was another Eryngium I wanted at Far Reaches, but I passed it buy...(what was I thinking!?)

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  4. The Devil's Club grows wild out along our two little stream beds...wicked! Your road trips are enough to inspire wanderlust in the most sedentary gardener.

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    1. Maybe you can appease your wanderlust with a short little trip to Cistus?

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  5. Love the Aloe - looks like it is either Aloe 'Fire Ranch' or a close relative. Must have been getting lots of sun or stress to get those nice red highlights.

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    1. Good eye! Yes it is 'Fire Ranch' and it was setting on a shelf baking in what ever sun happened to shine, reflected heat all around too. Hope I can maintain the color!

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  6. So Loree, Dragonfly Farms ...vs Celestial Gardens, if you had to pick one to take a group of out-of-state , very serious gardeners to, which would you choose ?

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    1. Both!!!

      Okay I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but they are very close to each other! Dragonfly is much larger with more established gardens. Celestial is new and smaller...so small it would be a quick stop!

      But since you asked me to choose I would vote for Dragonfly simply because there is more to see there and with a large group that might mean a better chance of everyone finding something that speaks to them.

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  7. Your visit to Far Reaches is my heart's desire. Maybe it's the fabulous descriptions of the plants and fun copy Kelly comes up with, but I always think it would be a kind of plant nirvana. Wet or not, I think you scored! I remember that Curculigo sp. JSM at the NWFGS: I actually thought it was a coconut palm seedling! What a cool plant!

    Scott and I need to take a field trip, I think...

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    1. Oh maybe a Portland Garden Bloggers field trip! Of course we'd need a bus big enough for us plus all of our plant purchases...

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  8. Sounds like a great plant trip/nursery adventure! Despite the rains you managed to still get lots of pics to share, more importantly a great haul too. Curguligo would make a great plant for pots :)

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    1. And that's exactly what I did with it, it's in a sweet little yellow/green pot!

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  9. Wow, looks like you had a blast! And you came home with so many beautiful plants. What a beautiful place that was and I still can't get over that crazy spikey devils plant!

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    1. The Devil's Club was actually a soft sort of spiky, if that makes sense. Cool plant, I wish I could have thought of a place to put it.

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  10. Nice haul. I mail ordered a few cool things from Far Reaches Farm. Looks like a neat place. We are right at the height of the dry season so rain seems alien to me right now.

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    1. I think most people across the country could say the same. We here in the PNW seem to be the only cool and wet spot...I am trying to feel fortunate.

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  11. Small-world extra! Today's entry at UBC's Botany Photo of the Day is Bocconia frutescens:
    http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/potd/2012/06/bocconia-frutescens.php

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    1. Thanks Jane! That snippet along with the accompanying PDF look to be very informative...I'd better get reading...

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  12. Love this post. Your trip sounds wonderful, even if it rained. Great plant choices.

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  13. Your unidentified whorled leaf plant looks like Polygonatum kingianum. Once again your plant purchases make me ridiculously jealous!

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  14. I could spend all day here looking at the plants! I do want to follow the links to see the places you stopped. Thanks for sharing!

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