Earlier in the month I wrote about my visit to Linda Wisner's garden
Flicker Farm, on Sauvie Island. That was my last stop as part of the official
HPSO Study Weekend, and I made sure to leave Linda's in plenty of time to visit Cistus—also on the island—before they closed. I hadn't shopped at the nursery for quite some time, but my real reason for visiting was to see the new rock garden
Sean and
Preston had put in...
Of course visiting at 4 pm on a bright sunny afternoon doesn't really allow for the best photo opportunities (see Sean's Instagram account, link above for that).
The shadier side has a mix of things...
Including several Lupinus albifrons x lepidus.
And Echium wildpretii...
But the sunny side is all spikes...
Well okay, not all spikes, but close...
The advantage of owning the nursery is starting with specimen size plants.
Those rocks weren't just hanging around though. Wouldn't it have been fun to see them dropped off and arranged?
Knowing Sean doesn't wear gloves I found myself wondering if he did these plantings himself.
Agave 'Royal Spine'? Or something else entirely? I'm going with something else, if only because of hardiness.
Agave utahensis?
Agave leopoldii, maybe?
Are you enjoying my guesses? Or are they annoying you? Sean was right there as I was snapping photos and I could have asked him...but sometimes it's better to just get lost in the beauty.
Mangave 'Whale Tale', I believe.
And I think these are part of the “Tim Hanis Western Treasures” collection at Cistus, I planted a couple back in May (
here).
I definitely hope to share future updates of this fabulous planting, as it grows and matures.
Agave parrasana 'Meat Claw' (?)
The Agave ovatifolia did not appreciate being planted out in a very hot, sunny day, thus the sun-scald spots.
My last photo of the rock garden, note the sun loving fern...
...before heading into the nursery and enjoying spikes there too...
I took photos of several of the tags, so I could identify the plants. Then I got them all confused. It was a very long, hot, day.
Fabulous though, aren't they? I mean assuming you like spikes.
And you wouldn't be here if you didn't, right?
Weather Diary, July 29: Hi 83 Low 60/ Precip 0
All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for
danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.