Friday, May 1, 2026

I'm selling plants and pots at the Dirty Diggers Plant Sale in North Portland on May 9th

If you're in the Portland area you may have heard of—or even attended—the Dirty Diggers Plant Sale. It's a good one, quality plants from some of my favorite plant people. 

I'm thrilled to be joining up this year and selling a few things. Here's a preview of what I plan to bring...

Pittosporum tobira 'Dr. Yokoi'. I bought this plant from Cistus Nursery at the Hardy Plant Society Study Weekend last June. I haven't been able to find a good spot for it in my garden, and so I decided it was time to move it along. 

From the Cistus website: "New and exciting pittosporum, shared with us by Ted Stephens at Nurseries Caroliniana, with spring growth emerging nearly white and, over the season, gradually fading to pale green. A low-growing form of this evergreen mock orange, to 3-5 ft tall and wide, with the same sweet, white flower in spring - hints of orange blossoms. Dappled to light shade in a warm, sheltered spot. Regular summer water where dry. Frost hardy in USDA zone 8." Priced at $10

I lost the name of this spiky agave beauty, so I'm selling it as a NoID, but I *think* it may be Agave salmiana var. ferox. It and another like it are going for $10.

Another plant I fell hard for, but the affair has cooled and I'm ready offer it up to someone who can give it the love it deserves; Brassaiopsis hispida. I purchased it from the Rhododendron Species Botanic Garden a few years ago, it now measures 26" tall.

RSBG description: "Another stunning and intriguing genus in the Araliaceae (ginsengs, scheffleras, aralias, etc.). This has the general appearance of a Schefflera species (an evergreen shrub or small tree with very large and ornamental leaves). This species features thorny stems and large and palmate, deeply lobed leaves with jagged margins. The flowers of Brassaiopsis are typically borne in long and pendulous chains of small "golf ball-like " clusters but I have not seen this particular species in flower. Native to lower elevation forests in the Sino-Himalaya and probably best as a container plant in areas prone to colder temps (less than 20F?)" The leaves are big! $15

The stem is indeed thorny...

A pair of Sedum takesimense, rooted cuttings from my garden. $5 ea

And a couple of × Fatshedera lizei (also rooted cuttings from my garden). $5 ea

× Fatshedera lizei ‘Annemieke’ with variegation...

Or if you prefer, without (cuttings taken from a couple stems that reverted).

Maybe my most exciting plant on offer, Edgeworthia chrysantha (yellow blooming paperbush), this one measures 15" to the Y and 42" tall to where the leaves start.

The deciduous foliage will get much bigger than this over the coming weeks. $45

Not pictured are Cynanchum marnierianum ("dead stick" plant) $5, Hoodia gordonii $5, Cylindropuntia cuttings (green blooms) $5, a pot with three Pilosocereus leucocephalus subs. Palmeri $10, an Agave 'Sharkskin' $10 and a pick-axe "planter" with Microsorum thailandicum (blue oil fern) for $15.

I'm also selling some pots and a birdbath (not the terracotta pots though)... the birdbath is 18.5" tall

And is two separate pieces, $25...

The metal "planter" is a vintage coal bucket, $10.

The blue glazed pot ($20) and two cement/resin pots ($10/$15) will also be available (they are two different sizes, something you can't really see in this photo, but you can 3 photos up with the birdbath). 

I hung onto this trio of brown glazed containers for years thinking surely I'd use them again, but it's time to let them go. These are good sized pots, I think of them as much larger than the measurements indicate.

They are very heavy duty, not the lightweight pots you sometimes see, $20 for the small and $25 ea for the larger ones.

I'll also be bringing a mix of small containers, priced from $1 to $5...




And this metal stand that originally held fireplace tools. I've used it to dry basil stems, and always thought I'd hang small containers from it, but just haven't ever got around to it.

So many possibilities! Yours for $5.

So that's what I've pulled so far, but there might be more added before the sale opens next Saturday. I'll be accepting cash and Venmo... come say hi!

When: Saturday, May 9th, at 11am
Where: 334 N. Baldwin St., Portland
Who: also at the sale will be Tamara of Chickadee Gardens, Maurice of (the now closed) Joy Creek Nursery, Jerry of Botanica ChaoticaAnna who started this fun sale, and many others—check out the group's Facebook page for seller profiles. 

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

14 comments:

  1. Best wishes to all with the pending sale!

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  2. AnonymousMay 01, 2026

    No upcycled, planted-up rusty bits? I always enjoyed your artfully put together pieces.
    The vintage coal bucket speaks to me, but the sale is way too far away. Good luck!
    Chavli

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    Replies
    1. Just one, the pick-axe planter with Microsorum thailandicum that I mentioned in the "not pictured" part. I need to up my inventory of interesting rusty bits before I can do another sale like that.

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    2. AnonymousMay 05, 2026

      I watched the video recording of your container webinar (379! 3.7.9!!!) It was great, but of course I couldn't ask questions. If I could have, I would have asked how you determine what would be a good container and are there any characteristics that are more successful? What have been the most problematic/successful strategies for you?

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    3. Glad you enjoyed the talk, but yes... it is so unfortunate to not be able to ask questions! Yours is a great one, but I'm afraid I don't have a good answer. Usually it's just something that I'm drawn to, or immediately see the possibilities in (an interesting shape that has a great planting pocket for example). There has to be a way to provide drainage, and if it's something that I'm going to mount I try to make sure there's going to be a way to hang it--that has been a problem in the past so I try to think about it up front. Also I look for a shape, color/material that blends with what I already have, something out of left field will stand out too much. See, not a great answer...

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  3. As I told you recently, I would love to come to this sale! I'm going to have to plan a trip to Portland around the sale one of these days.

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    Replies
    1. If you were coming this time there's also a NE Portland HPSO garden tour happening the same day.

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  4. Wow, I wish I could attend. What a cool event.

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    Replies
    1. You'll need to drive so you can take things home!

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  5. Jeanne DeBenedetti KeyesMay 05, 2026

    Lots of great stuff! Looks like it will be a great sale. I enjoyed it last year. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it. Would you hold the birdbath, both pieces, for me? I could come pick them up, at your convenience. You wouldn’t have to transport them to the sale! Thoughts????

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    Replies
    1. Hey Jeanne, I'm not doing any holds, as that seems unfair to those wo show up to the sale at opening, to find things already sold. However I'm happy to hold it for you if it doesn't sell in the first part of the sale. I'll send you a message to explain.

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  6. The last minute panic for me, trying to label everything and hoping that someone is interested in more regular plants like hydrangeas, spiraeas, hibiscus, peonies, and roses. Plus, I'll have a few other oddball plants. Nice idea about selling pots too.

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    Replies
    1. I'm sure your plants will be very popular... and your labeling will be 100%...

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