My Hortlandia report

Last week I attended the HPSO's annual spring plant sale—Hortlandia—with my friend Nat. Since we were in the neighborhood (way the heck and gone west of town) we decided to stop at Blooming Junction, to see what agaves they had on offer. Unfortunately there wasn't anything to get excited about. As I feared, large agaves are going to be very difficult (if not downright impossible) to find in Portland this year.

However, since we were there, we hiked up the berm to check out their Agave ovatifolia patch. It did not disappoint...

I have been watching them for years now. Back in the spring of 2017 I filed a report on these, and the other agaves at Blooming Junction, including several that had succumbed to the evils of that bad winter—read that post here.

The only bad bit I saw this time was on this plant at the end.

This was the only non-ovatifolia in the area, think it's an Agave havardiana.

Back down in the display garden in front of the nursery entrance...

Maybe an Agave parryi var. parryi?

Agave bracteosa

And a tall Agave ovatifolia...

Inside the nursery I was kind of amused by these patterned trifolium which had me thinking of oxalis, the only weed I can't seem to purge from my garden.

Now we're really talking oxalis, this one Oxalis spiralis vulcanicola 'Sunset Velvet'.

Oxalis triangularis 'Charmed Wine'

I did buy a couple of plants at Blooming Junction, but didn't take a separate photo, I'll cover my purchases at the end of the post. 

Now we are at Hortlandia; where I ran into my friend Tim Batog proudly toting his major Hortlandia score, a variegated daphniphyllum...

As much as this plant cost (and it wasn't cheap), I think he could have turned around and sold it for a tidy profit without even leaving the building. Ditto for another friend, William Wong, who scored the other one (that's his Instagram image below). Well done guys!

This was fun. At the Secret Garden Growers booth I got to meet my Schefflera delavayi's kids.

A couple years back my plant produced seed and my friend Ann grew them on and now they're plants for sale! This made me really happy to see...

As did this! Another Instagram friend's major haul being wheeled out to her car. Go Kim!

My haul is much more modest, what can I say. From left to right: Billbergia nutans, Cassiope lycopodioides, Arisaema ringens, Pyrrosia lingua 'Variegata', Lewisia longipetala 'Little Mango'.

I've got several peachy blooming lewisia but decided it was time to expand into the yellows.

I've also got a few light green Billbergia nutans, but this pot was full of big fat pitchers and I've got plans for them...

Cassiope lycopodioides, I am amazingly consistent in my desires, even when I don't realize it...

Back in February when Ann and I visited the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden, I lusted after a plant mislabeled as Calluna 'Askival' but was actually Cassiope 'Askival'—identified as such by FB plant friend James Andrew Gould. 

I spotted these cassiope and quickly grabbed a couple, not remembering my previous cassiope lust. It wasn't until I bumped into that same friend at the sale that the connection was made. 

Of course the more I read, the more I'm worried about keeping them alive. From Heaths and Heathers Nursery: "A choice and rare alpine plant.  Needs protection from the hot afternoon sun.  A key to success is keeping the roots cool in the afternoon.  They need good drainage as well.  Northwest mountain native." We'll see what I can do.

I gabbed an Arisaema ringens because of my ongoing desire to have an odd number of this plant in my garden. Two have established themselves, the third is proving elusive. Wish me luck.

Pyrrosia lingua 'Variegata', because, well. It's HOT! And you can never have enough pyrrosia—even after what this winter did to my collection (because of what this winter did?).

Finally one that didn't make it in the initial haul shot, Aporophyllum 'Shirley'...

This is my second 'Shirley', she's a blooming fool and I love her for it, thus I was happy to add another.

So what's "the one that got away" for me? Not the variegated daphniphyllum, because I really like my plant, with the green on green variegation better...

Nope, it's this! Mahonia fremontii...

I lusted after it when I saw it in Texas, and my friends Heather and William both scored one—I'm jealous! Since I know where they got it though I'm on the hunt...

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