Mayflowers, in the RTC

Back to the Reston Town Center, where we stayed during the 2017 Garden Blogger's Fling. I had a couple of hours, before the Fling started, to stroll and shop and find lunch. Imagine how excited I was when I happened upon Mayflowers. Doesn't it look promising with all that plantiness flowing out onto the sidewalk...?

Just inside the door I discovered this. Part fern table (with it's wooden framework), part Kokedama (with those root-bundled bits of goodness)...

I thought it was fabulous.

Another, similar, display with succulents. At first I thought they were fake, but no. Very real.

The back of the shop was filled with buckets of flowers, beautiful flowers. Staff was working on arranging them in simple and complex displays. I should have snapped a couple of photos, but not wanting to interfere I turned my attention to the side and this crazy bit of fakery. What is it supposed to be!?

Those (fake) leaves look like Agave americana 'variegata'...

But the bits meant to look like chooped leaves are more "Yucca-like"...

And page back up to see that ridiculously long trunk. Dunno. It's a little disturbing.

But still, every "mall" (aka Town Center) should have a florist or plant store. It's only right...fakery aside.

Weather Diary, July 9: Hi 84, Low 58/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2017 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Fake

I drive by this "lawn" on my way home from Xera Plants. While the rest of Portland's lawns have gone golden for the dry season (minus the hundreds of Dandelions which manage to remain green all summer) this one has stayed bight green.

Of course you can tell why...

It's fake!

On a bright summer day, driving by at 35-mph, you can still see the shine. At least there aren't any weeds, in the lawn...

We don't see the fake stuff much here in Portland, no one seems to mind letting their lawns go dormant, after all they spring to green when the rains return in the fall. While I don't (by any stretch of the imagination) advocate fake, I do hate the sight of all the dormant lawns. Summer is the most beautiful time of the year here...why front your house with a dead lawn?

I wonder if this river of pebbles will help to route the rainwater from the "lawn?" I'll have to do a driveby on a really rainy day and see if the "lawn" is a (stinky) puddle.

So how do you feel about fake? And are you seeing them much in your community?

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Low light succulents?

Making a quick run through Home Depot last week naturally I had to to visit the nursery area, where I was surprised to see they had a huge selection of succulents and sedum signed as being “low-light” houseplants. Low light succulents, who are they kidding? Succulents need light. Succulents soak up light, like these Crassula, at Cornell Farms.

Cactus love light too...

Except maybe these.

Too much light and they might melt, since they're plastic. Photographed at City Liquidators.

A clam-shell from Lotusland? Nope, fakery at Z Gallerie.

Living walls like this need bright, indirect, light to thrive.

Well, unless they're not living walls, like this. No light, no problem!

Agave wanna be, complete with a pineapple pruning.

Since tillandisias demand such extreme care it's good there are now fake versions of them available too.

Okay, kidding aside I get it. There are places where you want to put plants where they just won't be happy. Better a fake plant than a real plant that will die.

I guess.

In the right container I think this one could even fool me.

Untill I looked into the center. Has the person who designed this ever seen how a real agave grows? What's going on in there?

Real or faux? Real!

So fuzzy.

Faux.

But fun? Ya, I suppose.

Those graptopetalum (graptoveria?) are pretty darn realistic.

These last four were photographed at The Gardener's Choice in Tigard.

But let's end back at Cornell Farm, and with the real thing.

Ain't nothing better than the real thing.

Right?

Or do you appreciate the faux? Which this is not. If you were wondering.

All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Out and about...

Yes it's that time again, time to share a random bunch of disconnected photos, the only thing these have in common is the fact that they caught my eye...

Fake succulents are all the rage, want the look but don't have the light? Can't be bothered to water once a month? Fake succulents are for you. What I don't understand is why they're making them complete with some of the very things we hate to see happen to real plants. Look, it's a "pineappled" fake agave (blurry picture, couldn't do a close-up hence the arrow)...

And here they've poorly trimmed up some unattractive lower foliage Why???

How exciting is this!? Very exciting, at least to me. You all probably knew something like this existed, but I'd never seen it before. A waterproof cover for your patio umbrella!

I've dutifully hauled my canvas umbrella in and out of the garage (or under the shade pavilion) for years whenever rain was in the forecast, I didn't want it to get all dirty and gross. Now I can just slip this baby on and leave it on the patio! Only $7.99 at IKEA and they had a larger size too.

A couple of months ago I shared photos on Facebook of an unfortunate Opuntia massacre (both planters used to be as full as the one in the back). But guess what? Turns out the hacked on cactus gets the last laugh because it's coming back!

Maybe that's what she had in mind when she left the stumps in place? Either way I'm happy.

I was working in the garden one afternoon when I went to pick up a small twig on a leaf.

But then it moved! Turns out it's a stick caterpillar...I may have let out a little scream (just little one).

Last fall I shared photos of my plant lust partner Patricia’s garden, when I called it “The garden where everything grows faster, bigger, and better than mine…” I wasn’t kidding. Parts of it are only a couple of years old but looks so mature. Last Saturday team plant lust met up here for our trip to Rare Plant Research, this was the first chance I’d had to really look around since last fall...

Everything looked so amazing! Here’s the unbelievable part…they’re seriously thinking about moving, could you leave this garden? It would be hard. Very hard.

What would you take? What could you take? What would you leave behind?

All I know is a very lucky new owner is going to inherit a lot of cool plants, if you know someone whose looking for a gorgeous older home in NE Portland here’s your chance to make them very happy, just don’t get any designs on this eryngium cause I can guarantee I’ll be sneaking it out before the paperwork is even filed.

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