Wednesday, April 5, 2023

The shopping has begun (not that it ever really stops)

New plants have been showing up here in earnest over the last couple of weeks, I guess I really should catch you up—especially since the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon's Hortlandia event is coming up this weekend (=even more new plants).

Clematis ‘Pixie’ was a surprise find at The Gardener's Choice in Tigard (a Portland suburb). Andrew had an errand to run nearby so I zipped over to the nursery and found this!

I had no idea what a score it was, I just liked the green flowers and tiny foliage. I posted it on Instagram and lots of people wanted to know where I'd found it as they'd been looking for it for ages.

Here's what I brought home from my stop at Cistus (written about on Monday), as well as a stop at Means later the same day. For those with eagle-eyes there are also a couple of plants from friends on the far left, a Nicotiana 'Hot Chocolate' from Tamara and an Iris from Maurice.

I was feeling all sorts of nostalgic about my historic trips to Joy Creek, Means and Cistus (the Highway 30 Trifecta as dubbed by Peter). So even though Joy Creek is no longer, since I had enough time after leaving Cistus I drove on out to Means. My journey was rewarded with 7 pots of sempervivum and a pot of black mondo grass for less than $40, not bad!

Cistus had several Pyrrosia lingua 'Eboshi' on hand, and since I'm still recovering from how harsh this winter was on my pyrrosia collection, I said yes please!

Ditto for a Pyrrosia lingua 'Variegata'.

Especially since there looks to maybe be more than one growing tip? We shall see... 

I held strong against purchasing more aspidistra, well, until I caved and went back and grabbed a couple. Winter was rather harsh on my aspidistra as well and I really wanted to bump up their presence in the garden. This one is Aspidistra tonkinensis 'Spotty'.

And Aspidistra typica 'Old Glory'...
As I was checking out I had flashbacks to the bad winters of 2008/09 and 2009/10, when I foolishly replaced what winter had knocked down, only to see them hit again the following winter. Am I doing that again? Gosh I hope not. 

There was a bloom in the container of 'Old Glory'...

My final Cistus buy, Liriope muscari 'Silvery Sunproof'.

These next few plants are from Little Prince of Oregon Nursery (LPO), check out that combo! 

This is kind of like an unboxing video where the recipient is all gushing and excited about the gift plants they're unpacking, except I ordered these and went down to LPO and picked them up. Even better in my book cause they're all plants I want! 

Here Tricyrtis formosana 'Samurai' and Saxifraga stolonifera. Click on that link to see the crazy bloom on the toad lily (tricyrtis) which is a bonus on top of that already fabulous foliage. Also I've never seen Saxifraga stolonifera as big as these plants are!

There are several pots of Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' and Sedum spathulifolium ‘Carnea’.

Several jovibarba...
And there are also ferns! Clockwise from the top right: Pyrrosia lingua, Asplenium trichomanes, Athyrium niponicum ‘Silver Falls’ and Blechnum spicant.

Another blechnum, this one B. brasiliense, aka Brazilian tree fern. I love that colorful new foliage! This one's not hardy outdoors here in Portland, so I'll have to treat it as a patio plant, protected over the winter.

You might also be interested to know the fine folks at Little Price are carrying bromeliads now. They sent me home with a sampler pack to try out; included are Neoregelia ‘Cotton Candy’, Neoregelia ‘Red Waif’ and Neoregelia ‘Royal Burgundy’.

I also left with a houseplant, Philodendron mamei (Silver Cloud)...

I love a big unfurling leaf...
 
And the bumpy bits along the stem are pretty cool too, I tried to find a name for this phenomenon but failed. Thanks so much for the plants LPO!

After leaving LPO, since I was down south of town, I stopped in at Bauman's Farm and Garden, not realizing their Gardenpalooza celebration was set to kick-off the next day. They were offering dwarf cavendish bananas (Musa acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish') for just $5! I bought three. 

I had been thinking I needed to buy a few canna lilies to provide some tropical "je ne sais quoi" in the garden this year, but hey, when you stumble upon $5 bananas who needs cannas?

Speaking of tropical (looking), I spotted this Echium fastuosum ‘Star of Madeira’ at Thicket Nursery and grabbed it quick like. I haven't grown one of these in awhile and it will make a great filler for a spot that's open thanks to winter's destruction.

Just one more, Salvia africana-lutea...

I've wanted this plant for awhile, mainly because I've drooled over the interesting brown blooms on Kris' blog Late to the Garden Party. It's a Zone 9 plant, so not hardy here, but I chatted with the guy who checked me out at Portland Nursery where I bought it and he's successfully over wintered it in a container, so maybe that's what I'll do. 

Here are a a few blooms just getting started.

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll have another good haul to share after Friday's Hortlandia adventure...

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24 comments:

  1. Terrific haul! I especially covet Clematis ‘Pixie’.
    Exciting fern purchases; the new leaf of Blechnum brasiliense is a stunner.
    I'm most interested to see where those lovelies end up. You are due some healing time in your garden.
    Chavli

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    1. Thank you for that last sentence. Some sun, warmth and that gush of spring happiness is long over due.

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  2. That is one fabulous haul. I love those Pyrrosia plants. Remind me of Hart's Tongue ferns.

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    1. I have no success with hart's tongue ferns, but one grown well is a beautiful thing.

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  3. You got my blood pumping, it never gets old. Plant shopping is the best. Means has had some outstanding bargains lately. Glad you snagged some. That Blechnum brasiliense is stunning, by the way.

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    1. I was hoping for something more exciting than sempervivum and mondo grass but oh well. You never know what waits for you at Means.

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  4. Wow, you scored some really gorgeous plants for very reasonable prices. Things are just starting to trickle in here so itching to get out and see what's available. The Echium is particularly stunning.

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    1. I was so happy to spot that echium, especially when I saw one the next day at another nursery for nearly twice the price!

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  5. So many cool plants I could never grow. I particularly wish I could get sempervivums to survive, but they inevitably croak when it's 105°F in the summer.

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    1. Yep. That's one succulent you Californians can't grow...

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  6. Gardening is always a chancy proposition as one year's weather seldom predicts what you'll face the next year. I think jumping in head first is a healthy response to this year's winter woes. You have a great start and I can only imagine what you'll bring home from Hortlandia. I'm envious that you found an Echium 'SOM' as I've been looking for one to replace my current plant, which is on its last legs (and my initial attempt to grow it from cuttings failed). I'm glad you found a Salvia africana-lutea - I hope you get a lot of blooms.

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    1. Some years the only variegated echium to be found are in 4" pots, that would be an easy one to ship to you! This one however is in a gallon container and already branching...

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  7. What great finds! We are so lucky to live by such great nurseries. I’m picking up plants at Secret Garden Growers in Canby tomorrow. Super excited to see a new place. I bought my agave J.C. Raulston at Gardener’s Choice a few years ago, and have to get back there sometime.
    Jim N. Tabor

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    1. We are lucky in that regard, no doubt. I've got a trip planned to SGG next week, I can't wait!

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    2. One of these days I’ll run into you at one of these awesome nurseries. Hope so Loree, you’ve been such an awesome inspiration in my garden. Btw did thicket have any more of echium Star of Madeira? Had one years ago and it was a stunner, even as an annual.
      Jim

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    3. Thicket did have more of the echium. They're inside the greenhouse, or at least they were. We're definitely bound to cross paths at some point! I'll rely on you to say hi, since I have no idea what you look like...

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  8. Shopping...yes, I must start (continue?) thinking about that. Looks like you got some great finds! Enjoy!

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    1. I did...hope it warms up soon so I can start planting.

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  9. Those bananas are in #1? There’s so much plant and barely any rootball. (Love that enameled pan)

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    1. They're in a pint container! I laughed and then realized that would make them even easier to squeeze in somewhere. I'm impressed that you noticed the pan. It has it's lid still too!

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  10. What a wonderful array of plants! I had to smile at your wording in one place: "plants from friends on the far left ...Tamara and ... Maurice."

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    1. Ha! Thankfully I don't think either one of them would disagree! BTW your garden was looking quite fetching as I drove by on my way to Maurice's.

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  11. I picked up that Samurai toadlily when I saw it in leaf last fall, it's pretty great!

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  12. I have never really given thought to what an Aspidistra flower would look like. If I had been forced to guess, I would have been very, very wrong. Now I want mine to bloom so I can see them myself. Hoping that mine made it. They already looked sad going into winter. I am thinking I will have lots of openings for this year's garden casting call. So many new opportunities. If only it would stop freezing every other week.

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