Friday, July 31, 2020

Nursery visit: Hughes Water Gardens

Each year I pay at least one visit to Hughes Water Gardens in Tualatin, OR—about 20 miles south of my home. This is where I first saw Euphorbia griffithii ‘fireglow’...

As you would expect, their display garden is basically a huge pond. This is the entrance...

Things aren't looking so good for that ram...

This! Ha. If I had all afternoon I would have stood right here and recorded it all playing out. I first encountered the slug as he was motoring along minding his own business. I had to run back to the car to grab my mask (it should be second nature by now, right?) and saw that he'd reversed his course in order to take a closer look at that, what ever it is. Another slug? A dried fish out of water? I'm not sure.

Moving along I admired the pond...


And then headed over to the greenhouses, which have huge ponds inside for water plants.

My focus on this visit was the tropical house...

Because exciting things were happening in there.

But first we pause to pay our respects to the orange bougainvillea just inside the door...

And gosh, seeing those body-less legs out of the corner of my eye was a little disturbing!

But we're here to ogle the tropical water-lily pads and the other blooming lilies, so let's get to it...





Equal time to the lotus...









Just a few more lilies before we step back outside.



That was pretty fabulous, right? Okay...let's go see what else they have for sale...

You'd think a fountain like this wouldn't fit my style, but I love them and would be happy to incorporate one into the garden if it showed up.

Cannas!


One of these variegated umbrella palms came home with me, Cyperus albostriatus 'Variegatus'.

Normally I'm not a fan of muddy variegation, but something about this one really called out to me.


The colors in this planting were pretty darn fabulous too.

And finally, if you're in the Portland area and you've been looking for a Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii', this is where they are!

Weather Diary, July 30: Hi 95, Low 65/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Thursday, July 30, 2020

You know it's been a good week when...

...your spouse expresses concern about all the new plants you've acquired.

Yes, it really happened. I was super excited about a new plant and made a point of showing it to Andrew (I don't always share new plants...I mean duh, that would be dumb), his response..."I'm starting to be concerned, where are these going to go?" Hahaha...

In addition to the birthday haul there have been other new plants that have made their way into my clutches this week, I thought I should catch you up. First of all, this Hylocereus megalanthus (dragon fruit) is the latest addition to my epiphytic cactus collection.

Always a welcome gift, my brother who lives in Phoenix, AZ, sent me agave pups for my birthday. They've been tucked into the tomato stock tank where they'll get lots of sun, heat, and summer water.

A trip to Secret Garden Growers last weekend (a garden bloggers gathering organized by the Amateur Bot-ann-ist) resulted in these plants making their way home with me...

Pteris cretica 'Ping Wu' aka Ping Wu Dwarf Hardy Ribbon Fern


Astelia 'Silver Shadow'... it's been awhile since I've dared grow a silver astelia. I hope I haven't just signaled the garden gods to send in a nasty winter. Maybe I'll put it in a container and they won't notice.

Coniogramme japonica var gracilis. Yes I already have one. No, I probably don't need another one. But I bought it, so there it is.

Loropetalum 'Jazz Hands' mini... it's supposed to stay 12" tall, and grow up to 36" wide. I need to find a nice sunny spot for this.

The final two plants were gifts from a Seattle Facebook friend who visited on Sunday. He brought me this "reject" cylindropuntia. He'd posted awhile back about how disappointed he was that it bloomed yellow/green rather than magenta. I said yellow/green was my favorite and he offered to save it for me. Not only did he save it, but he delivered it.

How wonderful, right? This guy originally came from Hillside Desert Botanical Gardens up in Yakima.

But then there was this! Agave bracteosa 'Daddy Longlegs', the Plant Delights website says: "Agave bracteosa 'Daddy Longlegs' is a superb Hans Hansen creation that we've grown since 2008, and are only able to offer for the first time in 2020. This sport of Agave bracteosa 'Calamar' forms a rarely-offsetting, 18" tall x 2' wide, rosette of arching, scabrous, but spineless leaves, each edged with a wide lighter green border."

I love green on green variegation and I love Agave bracteosa, this agave speaks to me, LOUDY. Plus it has great provenance. Not only did it come to me as a gift from a longtime blog reader/FB friend (Cotts Meery) but it also spent time in the care of Bryon Jones of the Point Defiance Zoo. Lots of good plant karma in this little guy...

Weather Diary, July 29: Hi 93, Low 60/ Precip 0 

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Wednesday Vignette; revealed!

Back in June I shared photos of a passiflora volunteer (aka sucker), and mused on it's possible identity (here). Well, the first flower opened yesterday and confirms that it's Passiflora 'Snow Queen'...

That's the sucker vine on the left...stretching to join up with it's mother vine on the trellis on the right.

It's grown a lot since I first spotted it, just a couple of leaves back then.

Now it's got multiple buds lining up to open.

Baby on the left, mama on the right.

I know I should be scared... but I'm not...

Weather Diary, July 28: Hi 89, Low 61/ Precip 0 

Wednesday Vignettes are hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum. All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.