Happy Holidays (and don't steal plants, dammit!)

Recently I pulled up an old blog post from 2015; "Holiday cartoon déjà vu..." 

In that post I visited Marbott's, a local nursery with fabulous vintage greenhouses. The above and below photos are from that post.

Back then I'd happened to stop by the nursery when one of their greenhouses was filled with poinsettias—just like that I was magically taken back to this scene from the 1969 Rankin/Bass holiday special, Frosty the Snowman. I was so inspired that I wrote about it.

Hoping for a little holiday magic I stopped by Marbott's last week. It was late enough in the season I was pretty sure their poinsettia would all be gone, and I was right. No worries, wandering through their greenhouses is always a heart-warming experience. Except no. There were signs on a couple of the doors saying the growing greenhouses were closed. Bummer. I explored the rest of the nursery though, buying a few things and appreciating their gift suggestions...

Checking out (paying for my purchases) I mentioned that I'd hoped to wander thru the greenhouses and was sad to see them closed. Well what do you know, I was then invited to do so, score!

Of course we started talking about why the the greenhouses were closed. Dammit. Theft. People pinching pieces of the plants. It's a widespread problem, and not just here but at nurseries around town, like Tony's. Where it wasn't just "pinching" that happened...

From things I've heard, it sounds like a lot of these issues have to deal with the trendy houseplant collectors. I've always said that gardeners are good people... and included houseplant enthusiasts in that statement, but issues like this make me wonder. There was a recent article that made the rounds in Facebook groups I'm a part of; "The online plant community has a hoarding problem"

It's an interesting story. On one hand I think plants=good, on the other hand the insane mark-up that's occurring on (mainly) houseplants—and fueling the theft?—is criminal. My friend Evan wrote a nice rebuttal to that article on Instagram (here).

Referring to the story I linked to above, he writes: "The generosity of gardeners always amazes me. I received several cuttings in the mail the other day from fellow plant lovers and it made me so happy…

I debated about posting this, as it's not very glamorous or even a very good shot, but then I read an article interviewing several Instagram "plantfluencers" (ew) and there were a lot of comments about how expensive gardening is, with all the equipment and guides you have to buy (with supposed frequency), and how isolating gardening is. What? You're doing it wrong. You can grow plants in plastic cups for f*cks sake. Gardening doesn't take a lot of equipment if you select plants that will grow in your conditions, including indoors. I have tons of plants selected to grow well in the natural light of my windows, no artificial lights or indoor grow tents required. I do have lights, since I ran out of window space, but it's very easy to garden without going into debt. Stop buying "rare" plants that aren't even rare for grossly inflated prices. New plant on the market? Wait a few years and you'll find it for a fraction of the cost. Grow plants that you like and that grow well for you, not for online clout.

Lonely? Join a plant society! Or a neighborhood garden group. This is also a great way to get free or cheap plants, pots, tools, even lights and other equipment. And you'll make new friends who can teach you based on actual experience, or point you to verified information, instead of learning from fake "plantfluencers" or useless, generic puff articles online.

Start small. Learn as you grow. You will kill plants. We all have. Don't start with the expensive ones. Grow what you love, not what will give you the most likes."

So well said! That same day that I visited Marbott's and heard of their theft issues, a box of aeonium cuttings showed up on my backdoor step. A friend in San Diego mentioned on Facebook that his aeoniums were so prolific he'd started just throwing out cuttings. I said "don't throw them out, send them to me!" and so he did...

Over two dozen stems!

Are you still with me? This has been a very long and rambling post. What I'd planned to share as a throw-back to a happy holiday memory has morphed to a sad story of entitled people. Here's what I hope you take away from all this: gardeners are the best people, true plant lovers share their knowledge and their plants. Be one of those people.

I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season.

—   —   —

All material © 2009-2021 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

a Mother's Day nursery visit

After I hung up from talking with my mom I started to feel a little sad that I (once again) wasn’t with her on Mother’s Day. So of course I did what any one would do and got in the car and went off to visit a nursery! I’ve blogged about Marbott’s in NE Portland a time or two in the past. It’s a charming, if a little rough around the edges place, and it reminds me of a couple nurseries back in Spokane. Nurseries I would have dragged my mom to if I were there visiting her. Besides the sentimental pull it’s also about time to buy my annual Papyrus and Marbott’s is where I’ve always gotten them. As luck would have it they still had a few. You can barely make out four gallon sized containers between the big leafy green stuff on the left and the purple "festival" grass on the right. Actually I’m pretty sure I’m still buying from the same inventory as that first one 4 years ago, the plants just keep getting older and knarlier! It’s nice that they keep them tucked away just for me. I was also tempted by some very large Umbrella Palms, or Cyperus involucratus. Unfortunately this is where the “rough around the edges” part rears its ugly head. There was no price on them…it’s about a 50/50 chance at Marbott’s that something will be priced. Later when I saw one of the owners I asked and was told $9.95. Great! Only to be told $19.95 by his mother (it’s a family affair) when I went to buy it. She “kindly” offered to split the difference with me at $15.95 (even though actually splitting the difference would have been 14.95 right?). This kind of thing is frustrating and you have to be ready to deal with it if you shop here.

Last week I mentioned my trip to Joy Creek Nursery to buy Saxifraga macnabiana. Turns out I could have gotten it here! Bigger plants than Joy Creek and also more expensive. While most would probably grow this Rock Rose (Helianthemum hybrid, Henfield Brilliant) for the flower… I liked it for its foliage… I love the way they display their Hostas, not lined up in rows according to type but all grouped together. Every time I see it I want to buy them all and replicate this at home. There were several gorgeous Abutilons. But the black Petunias seemed to be getting all the Mother’s Day attention. I am a sucker for rich dark colored grasses. One of my favorite Ceanothus (I’ve bought two of them here), Pt. Reyes Ceanothus. You can look, but you cannot buy! Here’s another one of those frustrating bits. They reuse old pots and don’t always change the label. At least the old name got crossed out here…it would be nice to have the right name on there too! Hopefully nobody will mistake this Olive for a Japanese Maple. A similar issue has happened to me when I’ve went to buy something thinking it was the price marked ($9.95), only to be told no that’s an old pot, this plant is actually $11.95. You are probably wondering why I keep going back with stories like this? It’s the old time charm. This place is seriously old school. They aren’t slick, they are a family run business and they are working hard. They may have issues with their pricing and their container maintenance but they know their plants.

One of my favorite memories of this place was the day "the old guy" (as I hear everyone call him) was so excited about a new plant that he almost dragged me over to see it. Once we were standing in front of it all that there was to see were 6 or 8 plastic pots filled with soil and a sign they had made with a photo on it. No plant to be seen and they wanted $14.95 for them! Crazy. Well I love seeing someone so excited about a plant so I took a leap of faith and bought one. It was a Rodgersia pinnata 'Chocolate Wings'...the first time I'd ever heard of a Rodgersia and it wasn't until I got home and started researching it that I realized what a treasure I had been shown. I like visiting this nursery and I want them to stick around! Warts and all.

Ponytail Grass…I’ve never heard it called that, but it certainly seems to fit. Maybe even better than it’s more common common name Mexican Feather Grass! Besides my two Cyperus purchases (Cyperus papyrus and Cyperus involucratus) I seemed to be in a fire-dancing mood. Who knew? Both the rich dark grass (Uncinia, actually a sedge) which I bought a pair of… And the little Kniphofia hirsuta (at $2.95 I bought 3) were called Fire Dance. I didn’t realize this until I got home. What is the universe trying to tell me? Do I need to go fire dancing? Happy Mother’s Day mom, I wish we could have spent the day visiting nurseries together! Maybe next year?

Random Wednesday; summer scenes from three venues

Since I'm always taking photos it's only natural that I end up with a few loose ends that don't make a complete post, so today I'm doing a three-fer. We start in Dale Hickey's garden up in Vancouver, Washington. It was late May and I was there for our spring garden blogger's plant swap. Dale was working on a new crevice garden...

I fell hard for these Yucca aloifolia Dale had planted along the front of his house and was lucky enough to come home with one from the swap.

A few photos from Dale's beautiful back garden...

The see-thru shurb is a hakea, I think a H. microcarpa...

Its blooms...

Fast forward to August and I'm out on Sauvie Island for a little gathering at Rancho Cistus, the home of Sean Hogan and Preston Pew...

Callistemon some somebody, maybe C. pallidus?

I only have one photo from the always spectacular desert island bed, I was trying to make my way around the whole garden that evening!

Crevice garden in the distance.

And closer-up...

Back-lit cactus spines are always sexy.

Into the grasses and tall eryngium...

Agave magic.

Mahonia, palms and blue sky. Life is good.

It was fun to watch people discover this little gem. Thomas and Kirk from Sebright Gardens gave Sean this small variegated daphniphyllum, what a gift! It was admired by everyone who passed by.

Now it's September and I stopped by Marbott's Nursery. I was there because a friend had posted on Facebook concerned about how empty the place was.

Could they be closing?

In my eighteen years of shopping at Marbott's I've never seen these tables empty. Ernie, affectionately referred to by many as "old man Marbott" passed away last year (obituary here), truth be told I've been holding my breath every time I've visited since then, afraid I'd learn they were closing.

This greenhouse complex is one of my happy places, I wander thru when I need a lift. It's gorgeous in the summertime, and even more so in the winter.

I asked Larry Marbott if the rumors were true, and learned that indeed they would be closed for a few months over the wintertime. He was having surgery and didn't have reliable staff to run the place.

Would they reopen in the spring? I've returned a time or two since, and gotten even more vague answers. Most recently I was told that indeed changes were coming. 

When I asked who would care for the plants while they were closed I was told the elves would. But will they? It's not just the dwindling stock of outdoor plants that my heart worries about, but treasures like this NFS Epiphyllum oxypetalum.

There must be something in the works. I just pray it doesn't include the demolition of these vintage glasshouses...

To receive alerts of new danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. Please note; these are sent from a third party, you’ll want to click thru to read the post here on the blog to avoid their annoying ads. 

All material © 2009-2023 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.