Friday, April 10, 2015

The rest of the day's nursery visits...

Continuing on with our visit to Corvallis, Oregon, and my tour of the local nurseries...after visiting Gindhart Nursery my next stop was Home Grown Gardens.

The rain was coming down pretty hard at this point so I made a quick tour around the outside areas (where I discovered this) and headed undercover.

A monster foxtail fern (aka Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers') was holding court over several smaller plants. I considered buying a few, but wasn't sure where I would plant them. I will probably regret this decision.

I think I was in the off limits area here ("employees only")...

Euphorbia 'Bonfire'

Fun to see the 'Plant Select' label up here in Oregon. These were Echium amoenum.

Moving inside to take a look at the agaves and other succulents...

This one was labeled Aloe conifera, San Marcos Growers calls it Aloe betsileensis. Either way I bought it.

Next stop Shonnard's Nursery...

To be honest I was a little taken aback by the prices. Here's a Pseudopanax laetus going for more than I paid in Seattle.

The new growth is so bright...

This was a big nursery, with lots to see.

Cistus 'Blanche' which I fell for awhile back. Still, I didn't pick one up, I'm not sold on it.

Phormium 'Tom Thumb' just may be my favorite phormium. Or at least one of them.

Still even I can't say yes to $24.99 for a small plant.

No matter how good the colors.

Love that rockish planting area atop a cement wall. Oh the agaves I could plant there!

Inside this group called for my attention. On the left that's Daphniphyllum macropodum and under it Grevillea x 'Noell'.

I hate to make it all about the price but these were going for $57.50. The same plant was almost $20 cheaper at my local nursery, Garden Fever, also in a Monrovia pot. What's up with that?

$45.00 for the grevillea.

Now we're at Garland Nursery. As you might remember all of the stops for the day were thanks to a list from Grace. I've read about her adventures at Garland Nursery for years and was excited to finally visit. This nursery is huge and very well put together.

Agave 'Silver Surfer'

These hanging containers were pretty magnificent. The only problem was their hanging chains were so tangled up that I couldn't lift just one out of the pile.

There was a nice display garden next to the nursery.

And many greenhouses, which provided a nice cover from the sky sprinkles.

This tree was as mossy was it was ready to burst into bloom.

The shade greenhouses were all connected, which was a bonus on a drizzly day.

Done with the nursery visits for the day, now I'm back in downtown Corvallis and meeting up with Andrew. On practically every street-corner there were trashcans with planting inserts.

If I'd had more time I would have walked a few blocks and photographed more of them.

I suspect the plastic inserts are filling a gap where ashtrays used to be, back in the days when smoking was de rigueur.

I want to say "this concludes my trip to Corvallis" but actually I did take a quick run up to Dancing Oaks Nursery the next day, It was an early visit, but still lovely. That visit will be covered next week.

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

29 comments:

  1. Cool trashcans, especially that one with the mosaic sides. Looking forward to your post about Dancing Oaks.

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    1. I wonder if those mosaics were done by people who just went for it?

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  2. I'm glad (am I?) high plant prices are not just a localized thing, although my immediate thought whenever I see what seem to be too-high prices is "they do it because people will pay it". On a positive note, I love connected greenhouses! It reminds me of the "forts" we used to build by throwing a blanket over a table as a kid -- find another table and a few chairs and your fort now has a new room! :)

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    1. I don't think I've ever had the chance to walk through connected greenhouses before, and your analogy is spot on!

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  3. The aloe you bought is gorgeous as is the mosaic on the trash can in the last picture! Plant pricing is a mystery to me. I've seen Monrovia's wholesale price list on a few occasions and am always surprised by the differences in retail prices. Of course there are breaks for larger orders/bigger buyers. I've been noticing the differences in prices of Little Prince of Oregon tillandsias at nurseries in these parts. The range of prices for the same variety is amazing. Some fun nursery visits! Looking forward to seeing Dancing Oaks!

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    1. I guess I could also assume perhaps Garden Fever and Christiansons bought at a lower price point since both were months ago.

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  4. I love those trash cans, too!

    Were all the high-priced plants Monrovia-branded?

    As for Aloe betsileensis vs. conifera, they're different species, though related. I picked up an A. betsileensis at the Ruth Bancroft Garden last fall and it's turned very dark in the sun.

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    1. Nope, the phormium was another brand.

      Bad me (again)!!! I see now (when I actually read the entire entry) that SMG says "We like this plant better as a landscape specimen than the closely related and more common Aloe conifera because of its bigger size, red teeth and flowers that are not hidden behind the bracts. Aloe conifera is also a worthwhile plant in the collection because it is one of the few fragrant-flowered species with an interesting fresh grapefruit aroma"...

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  5. I LOVE the trash cans. How long would you say your nursery excursion took? I need to get it on the calendar.

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    1. I wish I could give you a good idea. Since there were other activities sprinkled in (we only had one car and my husband's birthday was the focus of this trip, believe it or not) it wasn't completely focused. I'd guess to hit the 4 nurseries that I've written about took nearly 3 hours.

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  6. I thought you were going to try that asparagus as an annual ground cover somewhere. At, least, I seem to remember you saying something like that. The only nursery I've been to out of these is Garland. I missed the display garden. I'll have to check it out next time.

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    1. I was, you've got a great memory. When the time came though I just couldn't figure out where...

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  7. I love that Aloe, whatever it's name is. The trashcans were pretty impressive too. All in all, I think your Corvallis visit was time well spent.

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    1. Agreed. And as a bonus the birthday guy had a great time too.

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  8. Repurposed ashtrays: an idea whose time has come. Corvallis: a town to visit in the near future. Dancing Oaks: oh boy! something to look forward to.

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    1. My first car had ashtrays in the armrests. What fun it would be to plant those up!

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  9. Yeah, Shonnard's prices are ridiculous. They had a fantastic sale last fall which I hope they will repeat. I'm glad you saw one of the trash cans with the mosaic design. There are several. Downtown Corvallis is very hopping. Lots of fun eateries and shops. I hope Andrew got to take in The Book Bin and Browser's Books, and Grassroots Books.

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    1. The Book Bin and Brower's were both visited. In the time it took me to do all the nurseries I've posted about he made it through The Book Bin. The next day when I ventured to Dancing Oaks he did Browser's. He could have spent more time at both and wants to go back. I'll have to ask him about Grassroots!

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  10. love those foxtail ferns. and the A. Silver Surfer. and the hanging pots. (prices seem good on those. too bad about the tangle.) and all what I know about cost -- I always need to spend more than I should...

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    1. As Evan mentioned above I really had planned to scoop up some of those ferns when I saw them at a low price (these were $7.99 I think) but I couldn't for the life of me figure where I would plant them. The pressure of having to make the decision then and there was just too much. Of course now that I'm home I wish I would have bought a few.

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  11. High prices of plants is a sore point with me. When I first started ordering mail order plants in the late 80's/early 90's I could get thirty or more plants and the whole bill including shipping was under a $100. Now with six plants the bill is well over a hundred dollars. These are tube or linear size plants, one or two years old, that use to go for $1.50 but now go for $15, $20, or even $30. I wish my salary kept up with the increase cost of plants. I would now be making well into the six figure level instead of the mid five figure level.
    There are some deals though, at an Olympia nursery I picked up two one gallon Pseudopanax laetus for the price of those mail order tube plants. Good thing because even thought Dan Hinkley claims they are hardy to zone 7 I have been told on the CloudForest Forum that they aren't, and that deer love to eat them. I don't know about the zone, since this last winter was so mild, but deer do love to eat them. One of my plants was eaten down to a stub by them. Deer wander the streets of Aberdeen like cows wander the streets of India cities.

    John, Aberdeen WA

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    1. I am so glad SO GLAD that I don't have to worry about deer. Ugh. I've pretty much decided that my Pseudopanax laetus is going in a container, nobody but Dan seems to think it's even hardy in Zone 8. I wonder what it will take for them to change the label. Seems like a huge mistake to me.

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  12. Rain. You're killing me...

    Love the Aloe!

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    1. I want to share with you! Although I guess really before that happens we should share with the dry side of our own state, which is in a similar situation to yours.

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  13. You really have more than your share of great nurseries there in the PNW. Honestly, I can think of only three nurseries worth visiting within 45 minutes drive of my house.

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    1. No doubt we do, we're rich! These are a little over an hour and a half way though, not that I'm complaining!

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  14. Wow love that nursery! I would have yelled for someone to untangle those hanging green planters so I could buy one! LOL

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    1. I thought about it, but my main interest in them was as something I could leave out over the winter months. I wasn't sure they'd hold up to a freeze since the plastic was so thin.

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  15. I'd go nuts trying to visit the nurseries AND the bookstores. Love that aloe! And I really, really want the rusty quail behind 'Silver Surfer.'

    One thing nice about living beyond the pale of civilization is that plants seem to be cheaper here: Noell's grevillea, 5 gallon pot, $12.75 at the local chain nursery. (I took a photo back in January, after the snow. Cold hardy!)

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