Masa fresh delivers, in more ways than one...

A few years ago I met with Trang Sharbaugh, she and her biz partner were looking to start up a business that has since become masa fresh. They call themselves the first "online farmer's market" and make it easy to shop the goods of over 500 farmers around the Portland area. They're kind of like plantlust.com, but instead of selling plants to go in the ground, they sell plants (and other goods) to eat. Trang recently offered to send me a box of goods from the PSU Farmer's Market, of course I said yes, here's what I saw when I opened the box...

This tamale didn't last the afternoon...

It was amazing! There's a family that sells tamales in a parking lot near us, we've bought from them occasionally, but this tamale was in a whole different realm. So good!

The strawberries were perfectly ripe and delicious (they're not quite all gone...)

Yum!

This lettuce and those carrots were almost too lovely to eat.

We haven't tried the cheese yet, but I'm curious if I'll be able to detect a difference from regular mozzarella.

Opening the bag I first thought these were eggplant, but they're peppers! Violet Sparkle Peppers grown by @farmerevanpdx who says "superior sweet pepper flavor! The color turns blue when cooking." We haven't eaten these yet, they're so pretty it's going to be hard to cut into them, but I will.

This was delicious!

These are gone already, I had fresh mozzarella left from another dinner so I made a salad to go with our salmon Saturday night.

Eggs!

Ya, I'm just odd enough to get really excited about the fact the eggs are brown and some are speckled.

Here's a little more info from their website: "Masa started in 2016 on a Catalina sailboat while two long-lost friends reunited and took an online class on human-centered design. Through countless interviews as homework for the class, we connected with farmers from all over the world who strive to produce the best goods, regenerate ecosystems and build vibrant local communities. Working with them brings back wonderful childhood memories with our mothers, a zoo manager and a biochemist who share deep passion for plants and living things. Like many Vietnamese moms, they buy fresh local produce and cook on a daily basis because to them, "freshness is king."

We believe in a world where anyone can have access to fresh wholesome goods and farmers are equipped to be profitable. Masa is the result of continuous efforts to answer a question: "How might we build an economy around local and regenerative agriculture?"

If you live in the Portland area you can pick and choose from their multiple vendors online, order by 11:59 PM on Wednesdays, and your order will be ready for pickup or delivery on Saturday—pretty sweet right? If you're not in the Portland area check out their Instagram feed where you'll get inspired by gorgeous photos and inspiring stories. Thanks masa fresh for the tasty treats!

(Disclaimer: I received the box of farmers market goodness free of charge, but of course wasn't required to say nice things if I didn't want to... )

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Weather Diary, Sept 7: Hi 91, Low 61/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Out with the Azaleas, in with the Agaves

What have you got planned for Wednesday evening, around 7 pm? Nothing? Why not attend a talk I'm giving for the Northwest Horticultural Society: Out with the Azaleas, in with the Agaves.

Originally scheduled as an in-person talk in Seattle, it's been moved to an online event, which means no matter where you are in the world you can attend! If you're a member of Northwest Hort the talk is free, the cost to join is $35, but they offer members a number of free lectures, like mine, and coming up in January: Life is Too Short for Boring Plants; The New, Rare, and Just Plain Weird from Mark Weathington, Director J C Raulston Arboretum—join here. You also get discounted pricing for other events like their amazing 2020 NHS Virtual Symposium in October (check that out here). If you want to attend my lecture as a non-member the cost is just $10 but you must register (here).

So what exactly will my talk be about? The making of my garden, with lots of "then and now" and how I got there shots. Here's a now...

And here's what I started with...

Hope to see you there! (well, you know what I mean...)

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Weather Diary, Sept 6: Hi 89, Low 56/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Trashcan lid planter with a staghorn, yes I did

You may have heard my claim that I don't care for staghorn ferns, it's true! I've never seen the allure. Well, that is until I laid eyes on this one at Bob Hyland and Andrew Beckman's garden here in Portland (thanks to Bob for letting me use his photo)...

Isn't it fabulous? And I love the way it's grown over the edge of the green hover dish it's planted in.

Of course I was suitably impressed by this absolutely monstrous version at a garden I toured in California...

I mean if you can grow one this large, well, that takes things to another level completely.

So when this creation from Max Cannon (which I shared previously on this post) had my heart going pitter patter, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. The fern is a stellar specimen and paired with his trashcan lid hanging planter creation it's reminiscent of Bob and Andrew's plant.

You know where this is going right? I found this small, shallow lid recently.

The patina on the inside was so fabulous that I really didn't want to cover it up. But the size was so perfect.

A 3-wire swivel hanger and I was ready to go.

My finished planter...

I realize this is an entirely different plant than the one I pictured at the top of this post. Bob and Andrew's is a Platycerium grande and mine are Platycerium bifurcatum ‘Netherlands’... in other words mine will never have the look of the one I first fell for. But then again...when it grows up maybe I'll like it even more?

It looks right at home with the other containers under the shade pavilion, don't you think? What? You can't see it?

There it is...

On the far side there's a large metal planter I purchased at Garden Fever (one of a pair I have) filled with a large rhipsalis, and providing a nice counterpoint to the trashcan lid, a hanging pie-plate planter...

Trashcan lids, pie-plates, it sounds like my garden must look like Goodwill doesn't it? I hope not!

On the side with the staghorn is the other large metal planter, this one holding a Nepenthes x Miranda and there's an orange hover dish planter with painted ferns.

I look froward to watching this little guy grow up, and thanks Max for sharing your idea!


Weather Diary, Sept 3: Hi 95, Low 61/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Project plans: bye-bye ceanothus...

April is when my Ceanothus 'Dark Star'...is at the top of its game. The buds are amazing...

...and the flowers live up their promise.

Here's an image from when both it and the Echium wildpretii were both blooming...

And here's what it looks like now, not very exciting eh?

Ya, not very exciting at all, and it's taking up a lot of space! Space that gets quite a bit of sun, something that's becoming more and more rare in the back garden. Here's an orange outline so you can better see it's size.

Currently under the ceanothus there's a Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica', Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Prostrata', a bit of Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop' and a small Hebe ochracea 'James Stirling', I'm sure they'd all love a little more sun...and I could definitely cram in a few other things.

And it's not the fact this plant is "boring" when it's out of bloom that has me thinking I'll get rid of it. Actually for years I've loved the foliage. This year it's just not looking its best though.

Dropping a lot of those little brown leaves.

And I won't lie, getting a better view of things like my variegated daphniphyllum wouldn't be a bad thing!

Yep, that's a lot of "nothing space"...

I think I'll get to work tearing it out later this fall, and then let the space settle over the winter. Spring plant buying will give me something to look forward to!

Weather Diary, Sept 2: Hi 91, Low 62/ Precip 0 

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Wednesday Vignette: tomato hand salad...

As much as I love to plan dinner recipes based on our Sungold tomato harvest, I like to snack on them when I'm working in the garden even more. Recently—as I reached for a dark orange pop of flavor—I heard my friend Laura whispering in my ear "hand salad...pick a hand salad..."

Laura is at heart a teacher who never misses a chance to engage a passer-by. She's long encouraged those tempted to snack from her Vancouver, Washington, hellstrip garden to do it up right and pick one of those, a bit of that, and make a hand salad. Hearing her voice in my ear I realized I was only getting it half right. I mean those tomatoes warmed by the sun are delicious, but why not pick a sprig of basil—growing in the same container—and double the flavor? Yes, it is really is a bit of summer in my hand. Thanks Laura!

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Weather Diary, Sept 1: Hi 88, Low 59/ Precip 0 

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

A mossy branch with benefits

Back in early July I needed to pick-up Andrew after a fishing adventure (his, not mine) and parked right next to a downed tree with a lot of moss on it. Our weather had been dry, so the moss was dormant, I grabbed some anyway figuring it would green-up with watering. There was one piece that was attached to a short bit of branch, I laid it here, at the base of our fence and as the moss started to turn green fern fronds started to unfurl...

At first there was just one...

But then others started to appear.

I believe this is our native Polypodium glycyrrhiza, aka Licorice fern. This fern goes dormant in the summertime, but reappears with the rains in the fall, it's often seen growing on the branches of trees. The tall metal rectangle is planted with a Holboellia coriacea 'Cathedral Gem'.

It's growing up this piece of expanded metal, but not showing any signs of flowering.

I figured the mossy branch would add an extra-nice bit of green at it's base, the ferns are an unexpected bonus.

Weather Diary, Sept 1: Hi 75, Low 58/ Precip 0 

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.