Road-trip to Mindy's! (Yamhill county's Martha Stewart)

Last weekend our local Garden Bloggers group (a laughable label at this point, since only a few of us post to our blogs anymore) made the trip down to Northrop Acres in Amity, Oregon, to visit Mindy Northrop and have our biannual plant swap.

We dropped our swapping plants off in front of the barn, before touring the garden proper. 

Folks, this isn't any old barn. I could have taken dozens of photos of the space with all of it's vignettes and hang-out areas, plus there were tasty snacks too (mango chutney dip with bacon and almonds, and sangria, for the win).

The barn is also where Mindy puts together her extensive floral creations for the many weddings and special events she lends her talents to, as well as lots of farm-fresh bouquets for the farm stand.

A little background for those of you who don't know Mindy. She used to live in Portland's Montavilla neighborhood. That's where she started her blog, Rindy Mae, and her family (husband and three amazing kids). They all moved to 12 acres in Amity, Oregon (rural Yamhill County, south of Portland) nine years ago. This property (Northrop Acres) is where Mindy was meant to be. Calling her Yamhill county's Martha Stewart sounds like a joke, but it's not. You guys, she is the real deal.

Martha has a whole crew of people to tend to the details while she sets about being a first class hostess, cook, baker, decorator, crafter, gardener, floral designer, etc... but Mindy does it all herself, while being a super-mom. You can follow her at Northrop Acres Farmstand to see some of what she's up to.

Several years ago I was there for another plant swap but I can't find a record of that visit. My 2018 post will have to suffice as the "then"... let's go explore the now! The Airstream belongs to a friend, but of course Mindy has styled it up to fit right in.

I think this is Campanula glomerata 'Caroline'...

The front porch...

One of several gorgeous Clematis.

I didn't get the name of this one.

The old potting bench made the move with them from Portland, now it's a side table on the patio.

Alan decided this was Clematis 'Phyllis Diller', which I thought was the perfect name.

Mindy later supplied the "real" name; Clematis 'Blue Light'

If I could grow clematis I'd definitely be tracking this one down.

My glass of sangria with one of Mindy's fabulous napkins.

This seating area was one of many around the property. In addition to dozens of comfy chairs in the barn, there are also numerous chairs and benches around the garden. I really wish I would have counted.

Cutting garden and inherited one-of-a-kind greenhouse.

Another angle.

Another task on Mindy's chore list, she's got little vignettes like this with tender plants spread all over the garden. Moving them each spring and autumn is no small task.

It's so fun to see big plants given all the room they need to shine.

The front side of the greenhouse complex (there's a storage room/ex-chicken coop on the non-greenhouse half).

Running between the barn and the home/garden are train tracks, and yes, the train still runs, right through their property. If you follow that driveway...

...you end up at Mindy's Farm Stand along the main road. Her lucky neighbors can stop by and buy fresh sourdough bread, herb salts, plants, flowers, and in-season berries and other produce.

Plants!

I scored a loaf of bread that Andrew and I quickly devoured, it was so good!

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

My, what big leaves you have

Walking down to the patio one afternoon I was surprised to see a fallen Paulownia tomentosa leaf laying across a paver. They usually stay in the far corner of the garden and dry-up there, so I never see their real size. I was shocked to see it almost filled an entire 2-ft square paver. That sent me out gathering other large leaves from around the garden to see how they compared.

Here's the Paulownia tomentosa leaf, pretty much 2-ft by 2-ft.

Magnolia macrophylla, a good 2-ft long

Schefflera delavayi, to be fair to the plant I must say this is a rare three-part, rather than five-part, "leaf." It was the only one I could find on the shrub that was yellowed, and I wasn't about to cut a healthy green one, so, poor schefflera gets represented by an undersized specimen.

Trachycarpus fortunei, much larger than 2-ft square

Tetrapanax papyrifer, also much larger.

Podophyllum pleianthum

And finally, Hosta 'Sum and Substance',

I'll have to do something similar with my small leaved plants someday, although that will be a bit more challenging to photograph.

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Weather Diary, Nov 3: Hi 59, Low 37/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

A visit to Sebright Gardens…

Last July when Andrew and I visited the Oregon Garden we drove right by Sebright Gardens. I really wanted to stop, but (1) There wasn’t time and (2) It was July, not the best time to buy a hosta! So when a friend suggested a visit in early September I jumped at the opportunity.

Blooming Caesalpinia gilliesii! (I hope mine blooms next year)

As luck would have it we ran into Thomas (one of the owners) who gave us a little behind the scenes tour. Have you ever seen so many hostas? And this was just a tiny part of what we saw!

Before we visited the sales area we had to wander through the display garden.

I wish I would have asked about the tree fern! How long has it been there? How do they protect it in the winter…

This scene gave me pause. If you look close that’s my beloved Clematis tibetana var. vernayi and it’s gotten a bit out of hand!

Those beautiful leaves belong to Quercus dentata ‘Pinnatifida’...

My current biggest plant crush.

Oh how I wish I could have bought this very one! (no, I don’t know how I’d get it home)

Okay, time to shop!

It wasn’t all hosta though, there were ferns…

Including this cute Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes).

And epimediums…

But the main draw is, of course, the hostas, no matter how ridiculous their names!

It figures ‘Andrew’ would be one of the expensive ones…

I’m usually pretty good at staying on task, but seriously…I was starting to get overwhelmed. I just needed two or three plants to replace a couple of older hostas I just didn’t love now that the hydrangea is gone and they’re more exposed.

Here’s what I’d come up with at this point. The two toned green leaves at the top belong to ‘Whirlwind’ – “Medium- Heavily textured, slightly twisted, very dark olive green leaves w/ white aging to lime green centers.” (all descriptions from Sebright) I wasn’t buying the white thing until I looked up this image.

The bright chartreuse leaves belong to ‘Little Sunspot’ – “Small- Thick, cupped bright gold leaves w/ irregular dark green margins & transitional streaking; Exceptional!” And finally on the right is ‘June.’ I fell for a sexy hosta at Wind Dancer last May, several commenters thought it was ‘June’ – thus when I saw it, I grabbed it. I hope this one grows up to be as remarkable. “Medium- Oh so pretty gold centers w/ blue margins & streaking; Excellent substance, truly outstanding! A Best!”

So that was three plants. But when I saw ‘Lakeside Cupcake’ I knew those thick quilted blue leaves (accented with that creamy center!) would look fabulous with my other blue-leaved hostas.

So let’s see that’s four hosta…and look! Two ferns also jumped in my cart… Pteris cretica 'Albo lineata' (White Striped Cretan) on the bottom shelf and that Phlebodium pseudoaureum (Blue Rabbit’s Foot Fern) was a steal.

You’d think I was done right? But then we wandered through an adjacent area and I started swooning over others…

I’m not a fan of the bright yellow/green leaf color; otherwise I would have bought ‘Jimmy Crack Corn’ just to say that name as many times as possible.

Big leaves!

Love the color variation on the sides…

Ditto.

After that little side jaunt I added ‘Dust Devil’ to my collection. A picture? No, sorry, didn’t take one and it’s raining too hard for me to go outside right now. Here’s the description “Large. Heavy textured, moderately wavy, dark green leaves w/ wide creamy yellow margins.”

So that’s how I came to buy 5 hostas (and 2 ferns, which are actually on marginally hardy side) when I only intended to buy 2 hosta. I am hoping by buying and planting the hostas now (rather than in the spring) they’ll be bigger and healthier come next year. How forward thinking of me! BTW if you’re in the area and thinking you might want to stop by Sebright do so soon and save 10%! (details here).

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.