Wednesday, June 30, 2021

My Hortlandia 2021 haul...

Hortlandia, the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon's huge annual plant sale (see here and here for examples) was cancelled in 2020, as with most events that year a casualty of COVID. The ever-resilient HPSO Hortlandia committee resolved to find a way to hold the sale this year and settled on an open air event that took place last Saturday. I'd signed up as a volunteer for set-up on Friday, and then reserved a 9am shopping spot on Saturday. I couldn't wait for this little slice of normal! 

Then the ankle-incident occurred. Another event that I had to miss. I tried to keep my chin up, at least I wouldn't be out there sweating in record breaking heat—and do I really need more plants? All in all I was coping pretty well until I looked at Instagram and saw this...

Hayden (@theperennial.victorian) posted several stunning images from the sale including the above photo of a heliamphora. I felt that tug... there it was, a special exotic...something I wanted and might of bought if I was at the sale, but I wasn't. 

Then this photo came up on the HPSO feed. That's my cute friend Nanthawat working at the Courting Frogs Nursery booth. A little light went on...

... I texted Nat to see if the the heliamphora were at their booth and if there were any left. He sent me this photo...

And delivered the plant to me the very next day.

And that's how I shopped Hortlandia 2021 without even leaving my house.

It's a Heliamphora heterodoxa x nutans. Heliamphora are native to the mountaintops of Venezuela and they don't like temperatures above 80, which of course we've been experiencing. I know the growers must have felt it would do okay at the sale or else they wouldn't have brought them, Nat also took care to keep it "cool" before bringing by my place.

Needless to say it's living indoors in the A/C. These plants like consistency in their growing conditions and our extended forecast stays hot, too hot to take it outside. I need to find a suitable pot for it, but for now I'm trying to class up the plastic with a nice Jonathan Adler saucer.

Isn't it fabulous? Those little tips are called nectar spoons, they'll eventually get a little larger and bend over a bit more closely resembling a spoon.

I may end up getting a small light for it too, something like what I use on the planters on our mantle.

Thanks Hayden and Nat for enabling my Hortlandia purchase! And hey, if you're shopping for some cool houseplants and other things check out Nat's online shop The Other Side Nursery He doesn't currently have this specific plant, but he has some other carnivorous plants.

In case you're wondering about that owl planter sporting sansevieria hair, it was a gift (filled with flowers) from a group who toured my garden a few years ago. Not usually my kind of thing but I really liked this guy.

—   —   —

All material © 2009-2021 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

13 comments:

  1. This is both sad (the darn ankle) and resilient (cause you got your plant). Going from the sale conditions outdoors to your AC may be difficult for a plant that prefers consistency, but hopefully it will get through this turbulence: the nectar spoons it sports are eye candies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I guess I'm testing it's abilities to cope right up front.

      Delete
  2. It's great to have friends in the right places! I'm glad you didn't have to miss out on the event entirely. I hope you're healing well after surgery and that the heat will cease to be a significant issue soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We've definitely cooled down, as I type today we're only at 66! However the humidity is way up and it's sticky!

      Delete
  3. I think your plant success is really the longterm result of a year of living Covidly. Think laterally, how can you do something you always did in a different way and voila! Great plant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely, "living COVIDly" is a great way to put it.

      Delete
  4. So glad you checked in today -- I've been reading everything I can find on the heat dome parked over the PNW. I'd say your new acquisition has as much of a chance with you as with the grower or anyone else, since the heat event covered such a vast area. Just getting the plants to and from the show must have been a logistical nightmare in the high temps. And that Nat is allright!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've never even HEARD of Heliamphora! So happy Nat was there to make it happen for you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's a good guy all around, and an A1 plant nerd.

      Delete
  6. So good to have friends in the right places! It's a beauty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed it is, enablers each and every one.

      Delete
  7. What a cool plant! You deserve each other. Glad to hear you have A/C. A broken ankle is hard enough to deal with in such extreme heat.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Comment moderation is on (because you know: spam), I will approve and post your comment as soon as possible!