At home and out and about...

Today is one of those catch-up posts with things I've been meaning to share but haven't, or things I just found interesting. We start with the blooms on my Orthophytum magalhaesii, a terrestrial saxicolous (growing on rock) bromeliad.

Obviously mine aren't growing on a rock, but I did plant them in rocky soil.

The fact the bloom spikes are topped with chartreuse bracts (the actual flowers are small and white) is an unplanned bonus. I had no idea when I planted them and arranged the chartreuse pots around them.

Late afternoon light amps up the drama a bit...

In the front garden I was admiring how much the Fuchsia procumbens has grown, when I noticed something odd about the agave sharing its pot.

Do you see it?

Got yourself in a bit of a pickle there don't ya?

I know these guys (katydids or bush crickets) eat leaves and a lot of gardeners aren't fans. I love their song and only dispatch the ones that want to mow down my basil.

Neither the agave or the fuchsia are actually planted in the metal container. I dropped their plastic pots in there this spring intending to come back and plant them, but never did. They are firmly rooted into the soil in the pot however.

I had a friend fly into PDX (our airport code) last Friday so I took the opportunity to check out the redesigned main terminal.

It's open an airy, light-filled—everything the old terminal was not. Plus, there are trees!

Sean Hogan and Cistus Nursery are behind the plantings.

I looked at them with a critical eye, wondering how they would hold up over time.

Aspidistra, Blechnum brasiliense...

I have no idea what the trees are...

I was thrilled to see someone caring for the plants, even this early in their life-span.

The wood used in the ceiling was all locally sourced, PNW grown.

I know nothing about the light-fixtures, but I love them.

There are video displays playing scenes over the lines going through security...

And seats for folks waiting to meet friends and family flying in. What a concept! No standing in a dark corner.

I'd heard from Sean there were going to be hanging plants in the terminal but I didn't see any. My friend Julie found them when she was flying out and took this shot for me.

I'd previously seen the great botanical mosaics near the bathrooms in the Alaska Airlines gates, as they were remodeled early—these similar ones are in the main terminal.

The outside "green-wall" at the airport is not new, but now it "fits" with the inside of the airport.

Pretty fabulous, right?

While my friend Julie was visiting we stopped at a Lowes, naturally I looked at the plants. I was surprised to see pyrrosia...

Not that you'd know that's what they are, since I couldn't find the word pyrrosia anywhere on the label. Maybe it was there, but I didn't see it. Instead I saw "Jurassic™ Triceratops Finger Fern"...

Why to plants have to be named something silly? I just don't understand.

My friend Emily visited Monrovia during the Oregon Association of Nurseries Farwest event this week and saw pyrrosia there too, she sent me these photos...

I am thrilled to think that pyrrosia may become more available to gardeners everywhere. I just wish they didn't have to be labeled with meaningless names.

(moving on)...Last weekend an unusual storm with thunder, lightning, hail, strong wind and rain passed through the Portland area. We don't typically get summer rain, let alone a storm with thunder and lightning. I took this photo from our dinner spot in Vancouver, Washington (on the Columbia River) that night once the storm had passed and blue-sky was on the horizon.

After dinner we walked out to enjoy the Vancouver waterfront.

Looking east-ish, that's the I-5 bridge between Washington and Oregon on the far left of the photo.

And looking west. It was a nice night out in the midst of a very busy plant filled week. More on that to come...

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