Bearberry PDX, a new place for plants in Portland

BREAKING NEWS recently shared by Chris Hembree: "I decided to lose my mind and sell plants in my backyard this summer. Follow me at @bearberrypdx to stay updated. Hope to see PNW friends in the garden soon! I’ll be open for visits (by appointment only) starting May 20."

If you were a regular shopper at Portland's Xera Plants when they had their shop in SE then you probably ran into Chris Hembree, he worked there a couple summers between corporate jobs. Since leaving Xera he's been busy building a new garden in St. Johns and experimenting with Arctostaphylos propagation. Chris says when he got laid off from his most recent job he figured why not take the time to experiment with more propagation and start selling plants to fellow plant geeks and new gardeners alike. So this summer, he's officially open for business, selling his own plants as well as a ton of plants from Xera. 

I was part of a group invited over last weekend for a launch party to make it official, and as of today—May 20th—Bearberry PDX is open for business! This is the cheery landscape that greeted me when I arrived.

This too, how can you not love a carport with grapevines?

Heading down the steps along the side of the house, a view of the Willamette River and Forest Park comes into view. Not to shabby...

Turning to look back up the steps, the poppies were all sorts of wonderful (although I don't think I managed to get a single one in focus).

The plant tables are spread throughout Chris and and his husband Richard's back garden, it makes for a shopping experience like no other...

Just a couple of Ceanothus x 'Midnight Magic' sitting on a fabulous fungus covered log.

Philadelphus lewisii, maybe ‘Snow Velvet’? (I didn't manage to take a photo of the plant tag!)

Arctostaphylos for sale that day included A. viscida 'Sweet Adinah'...

...and Arctostaphylos pajaroensis 'Myrtle Wolf'.

What a place to shop for plants, it is off-the-charts fantastic! 

I was pretty tempted by this Eryngium petiolatum, having never met an eryngium I didn't love. In the end I decided the fact it loves moisture ("great for rain gardens") meant I should probably leave it behind.  

I was going to ask Chris for ID on the garden plants I wasn't sure of (I know this is a Callistemon, but which one?). Then I decided that was a bonus of making an appointment to shop, you get Chris as part of the deal and you can ask him ID on the plants around his garden that catch your eye. Fun right?

Okay I did ask about this one (because it's GORGEOUS!), it's Arctostaphylos glauca 'Canyon Blush'. 

I love it in combination with these Diplacus (Mimulus) 'Changeling'.

What? I'm falling for a monkey flower? Craziness. 

Moving on...there were so many different Arctostaphylos/manzanita planted around the garden. I should have thought to ask Chris just how many.

Fabulous place to sit for a moment and take it all in...

Propagation area...

Have I mentioned just how stunning the location is? 

No those dots in the blue sky are not splatters on your screen, they're just a few of the many buzzing pollinators all over this Ceanothus.

I only managed to catch one in action on the plant.

Yep, more propagation. 

At this point (if you're lucky enough to be local) you're probably wondering about shopping at Bearberry? Chris is now open by appointment (book one here) Wednesday-Sunday, 10-6 all summer. Plant availability is listed here.

Milkweed for days (not yet blooming)...

And more poppies...

I have to admit I lusted after this tan oak—Notholithocarpus densiflorus, that is if I got the ID right. Could those leaves be any more beautiful? 

A big thanks to Chris for inviting me over for a sneak peek and letting me help spread the word about Bearberry. In these strange days spending time in a beautiful garden so grounded in its place (did I mention that most of these plants are Western natives?) and getting to talk with someone so excited about plants that he's opening up his home garden to make them available to others, well, it just doesn't get any better...

The Bit at the End

Wondering about the name, Bearberry? From the Missouri Botanical Garden: “Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, known by a large number of common names including common bearberry and kinninnick…Fruits are technically edible for humans, but are generally considered to be mealy and lacking flavor. Meriwether Lewis described these fruits to be “tasteless and insipid.” On the plus side, bears, birds and small mammals love the fruits. Genus name comes from the Greek words arctos meaning bear and staphyle meaning bunch of grapes in reference to the fruits (often in grape-like clusters) which are commonly eaten by bears. The specific epithet comes from the Latin words uva meaning grape and ursus meaning bear thus bear’s grape, also in reference to the fruits serving in the wild as bear food. Bearberry nickname means the same thing, namely, that bears eat the fruits of this plant.” When I asked Chris why Bearberry he said “I figured I should choose something manzanita-adjacent, and since The Little Apple is already a grocery store at the coast, Bearberry won. Also, it's just fun to say!”

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

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 Chaotica, Anna who started this fun sale, and many others—check out the group's Facebook page for seller profiles. 

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To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note: these are sent from a third party, their annoying ads are beyond my control. 

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