Friday, April 17, 2015

Greening Portland, the rural and urban versions

Last Saturday was a day of extremes. Bright sunny skies followed by intense downpours, repeat, repeat, repeat. Such is spring in the Pacific Northwest. Andrew and I made a quick trip out to visit a plant sale at Westwind Farm Studio during one of those sunny times. The lady in red (pink?) below was our hostess.

Attendees to the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling in Portland spent a warm, sunny, July afternoon here. I did not since Scott and I needed to get back to the hotel to set up for the dinner later that night. In other words, this was the first time I'd been here...but with much anticipation of how wonderful it would be.

And it was! Thanks to the owner and hostess Maryellen who broke away from the sale to give us an impromptu tour of the garden.

The greenhouse was our destination, so many good things happening inside.

I am jealous. There, I said it.

Such fabulous plants.

There's a shady side too...

This big beauty was a remnant from earlier days, a planter extraordinaire.

Heading down to the pool area while looking back up at the greenhouse.

I could hang out there.

I love the horsetail, I know many don't. Maryellen shared that they've resigned themselves to it.

Walking back towards the sale area this arbor was worth stopping to gawk at.

Back at the sale...

Lots of great plants.

Some from Xera...

Others they'd propagated onsite and others from Blooming Nursery. I bought a sweet pair of echeveria. The next event will be the Lavender Festival, 2nd weekend of July, reports are there will be many cactus and succulents available for sale during that event. I'll probably need to be there.

So that was the rural, later in the evening we were back in the city and headed to meet a friend for dinner. The skies weren't so blue anymore, in fact there were raindrops falling as we stood outside and waited for a table. Luckily there were some interesting "green walls" across the street worth staring at.

The Woodlawn boasts all sorts of "green" attributes, in fact..."The Woodlawn is the epitome of green living in Northeast Portland" and among other things (which you can read about if you click on the link) it has "1100 square feet of living wall siding, The Woodlawn seamlessly blends the best of modern architecture with all of the benefits and aesthetics of natural flora." They think a lot of themselves!

I pledge to keep an eye on this installation and see how it fares over time.

Turning back towards the outdoor seating (risky under those skies!) of the restaurant we hoped to eat at Andrew noticed the "green roof" over the bike parking. Only in Portland...
Barrels cut in half and planted up.

The over flow water drains out the hole at the end and into a gutter, that then drains into another running perpendicular to the first. You can see it just above the street sign and the pedestrian crossing sign.

It then drips into a bioswale next to the street. I should have got a photo of it but 1) we were starting to make the folks sitting outside nervous with all our picture taking. And 2) our friend showed up and it was time to eat!

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

27 comments:

  1. Oh, fab greenhouse! I don't remember photos of it from Fling bloggers' posts. I really should post a few pictures of my greenhouse as it looks now, before I empty it for the warmer weather.

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  2. The greenhouse looks a lot fuller than when we were there, and looks like it has plenty of treasures too! It would have been interesting to see how those gutters fared during the heavy downpour, if there were any spillovers.

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    1. There was a beautiful cactus in bloom too, wish I would have gotten a photo of it.

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  3. I had forgotten you were absent at the Westwind Farm place...very glad you had the chance to see it again with a private tour. It's a wonderful garden. And these green roofs over the bikes, I have to laugh. I love them! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. I hope to be able to return in July, so I can see the version that you all saw.

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  4. First planted trash cans, now green roofs over bikes - the PNW certainly finds all opportunities to plant something!

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    1. So true! Planted up dumpsters have to be next.

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  5. I remember admiring that gorgeous greenhouse (among other things) at West Wind. Their prices were fairly low, as I recall...Second week of July, you say?
    The second part of your post made me laugh! Green roof over the bikes. Fun stuff!

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  6. Oh how I loved this garden ! I hope you do go back in July so you can see it in all it's summer glory .

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  7. Portland is über-cool. This post just proves it again.

    I just realized I still have a few Portland gardens to blog about. I took so many photos at some of them that the task of editing them seemed overwhelming at the time...

    Did you get that Yucca 'Blue Boy'? A very nice specimen at a good price.

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    1. I did not. I do love that plant but have mixed success with them. They live but develop a horrible case of yuccacne so that they aren't attractive.

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  8. Westwind Farms was such a tranquil place! I didn't see the greenhouses but they are definitely something to have envy over! The green wall...doesn't really do it for me but the creative green roof over the bikes is fun. Hope the dinner was the perfect end to a wonderful day : )

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    1. Honestly we ended up going somewhere else for dinner because the wait was so long! So much for visiting the hipster places.

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  9. Westwind Farm!!! it is interesting to see it in other time of the year. I agree, the greenhouse looks fuller than what I remember.
    Interesting roof garden, hehehe.

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    1. Maybe she's stocking up on greenhouse plants for the July sale?

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  10. Oooo, all those succulents all together! And the green walls--nifty! Usually we have the sun/rain every other day thing in April, too. But this year April has been more like May. Next week will be a little cooler, which should hold some of the blooms a little longer.

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    1. Every other day would be a little more workable. Every other hour is a little crazy!

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  11. Haha, I can imagine those people would've been getting nervous. The greenhouse is fantastic.

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    1. We were trying to be sneaky but after awhile they started to notice...

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  12. How I want that arbor thing at Westwind FS....! Plants are already cooking on the patio here, and it's only mid-April :~(

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  13. Looks like a fun trip! A corner of my outdoors looks like what's in the greenhouse, but then some of the green outdoors up there looks like what I can only have in my own greenhouse where I have a mister...

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  14. Is that a 'Monstrosus' Totem Pole in the greenhouse?! I want one! And is that arbor made of Corten? Want one of those, too! Neat place!

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  15. Too bad you didn't have "IRS Surveillance Van" for your phone's wi-fi name, too, if someone taking photos of plants scares 'em! I'll always remember the police officer across the street checking on an alarm, as I was taking photos in my own courtyard...

    A green roof over bike racks...now that's crazy.

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  16. I've seen lots of barrels sawed in half, but never lengthwise...pretty cool. I'm crazy about that tent thing over the sales area.

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