Fang! A neighborhood garden shop opens for the season

I don't remember how exactly I connected with Rik Barr and his work with plants at Fang, but we've followed each other on Instagram for a couple years now so that must have been it? As he was deep in it—getting the outdoor garden shop at Fang ready for it's opening last Saturday—he invited me for a visit. A "sneak peek" sort of thing, I visited on March 3rd, the agaves were right up front...

Agave bovicornuta, this beauty has already sold—I know because a friend bought it.

Agave attenuata 'Ray of Light'

Agave americana, 'Mediopicta Alba'

Sweet little greenhouse in the corner. Rik says it gets very hot in the summertime, hence the shade cloth.

Colletia hystrix (yes, somehow I managed to leave this spiky beauty behind)

Tricyrtis formosana 'Samurai' (Toad Lily), I really should have grabbed one of these. By the time I was ready to leave I'd forgotten all about it.

Sempervivum!

Erysimum × hybrida Winter™ Orchid looking lovely backed by some Calluna vulgaris.

How hot is this combination!?

Blueberries look so pretty even when there are no berries.

Veggie starts...

I almost bought some sugar snap peas, but then remembered I promised Andrew I wouldn't plant anything in the driveway stock tanks this year as he wants to paint that side of the house without fighting plants.

Gunnera!

Blechnum gibbum 'Silver Lady' looked like it might have been nipped by our week of winter. It was still quite lovely however.

Pineapple guava/Acca sellowiana

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'Vancouver Jade' 

I thought it was rather lovely how they have the bags of soil and amendments covered. I get so tired of buying bags that are sopping wet (we're still quite in the thick of the rainy season here). This shot is also a great indication of the wide inventory of materials available here at Fang, they are definitely a neighborhood garden supply shop. Who doesn't need a place you can dash to quickly on that sunny afternoon when you're working in the garden and suddenly realize you need ____ (fill in the blank).

Euphorbia some somebody (I forgot to look at the tag, sure that I knew, but now doubting myself)

Tempting...

Ha! That yellow bloom, daring to be different.

One last look at the outdoor offerings...

A few just-arrived containers...

And then I decided to check out the indoor plant offerings, since I was already there...

Crassula ovata

Euphorbia milii

And finally a nice arctostaphylos branch with tillandsia.

If you're in the neighborhood (between Portland's Arbor Lodge, Kenton and Portsmouth areas) check them out! Oh and if you've got pets they're a pet-supply shop too!

Weather Diary, March 8: Hi 53, Low 40/ Precip trace 

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

Sad but also excited; removing my Grevillea rivularis

Damage from our quick week of winter is showing up around the garden. One of the first "oh no!" moments came early, when the foliage of my Grevillea rivularis turned brown, seemingly overnight.

It's a little hard to see, since it's kind of "ferny"—I outlined the plant in orange here...

It was about 95% brown when I went out to cut it all down.

I could have waited, to see if the damage was really fatal, but frankly I was worn down after years of listening to Andrew complain about this plant. His feelings weren't unjustified. Those spikes are sharp and unfriendly (as you would expect, after all = danger garden) and I'd planted it in a bad spot, right next to where he parks. In my defense I wasn't even sure if the plant would live, let alone grow from a tiny 4" baby to a sprawling mammoth beast 6ft tall and 4 or so feet wide. 

Brown against a blue sky...

As I said, there was still a bit of green in there...

Page up a couple of images and you'll see an opuntia leaning out, trying to escape from under the grevillea monster. I decided it had to go too. I cut and pulled and was thrilled to see this chunky root. It went on for quite a long distance but I decided ro chop it off rather than see how much I could extract.

Into the yard waste bin...

And other bits saved to replant elsewhere.

After the removal was complete.

So much empty space to plant!

Before...

After! Yep, those Agave parryi and the Aloe striatula (Aloiampelos striatula) were hanging out underneath for years.

Unfortunately now you can see the a/c unit, which is not a thing of beauty.

The shrub between the a/c unit and the driveway is one of my pineapple guava (Acca sellowiana) the poor thing has had to deal with the grevillea, and then being severely pruned when the front of the house was painted, hopefully now it will get a chance to recover.

So what to plant in the newly empty space? Well since those agaves and the aloe/aloiampelos did so well before I'll be adding a few more. Plus there's the random seedling that popped up under the Grevillea rivularis a couple of years ago. It's not in the best place currently, that's it circled in orange below...

But I think I'll get brave and move it up to the empty space. Will that be a repeat of a plant too big for it's space? I have no way of knowing. Right now this guy looks more like a Grevillea x gaudichaudii, than a G. rivularis.

One other bonus is that it's fun to see the  Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' blooms that had always been hidden by the now departed grevillea.

Here's one last poorly lighted before...

And an after...new plants ahead!

Weather Diary, March 7: Hi 50, Low 39/ Precip .26 

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

If it’s a good plant, you’ll see it here—at the Cactus Club Resort Garden Show and Competition

As published in the Desert Times—June 10th, 1947, Palm Springs, CA

The gardening cognoscenti are turning out in droves to admire the new look of desert-style gardening. For as long as we can remember cactus and other plants from the desert have been viewed as undesirable—dry, spiny and just plain ugly. When it was announced the famous Cactus Club Resort would hold their first annual garden show and competition this month—coinciding with real estate offerings for the latest housing development to surround the resort—many thought the small garden displays would be dull and dreary. “Why would anyone pay to see those dead looking plants?” asked a local landscaper, whom it must be said has made his fortune by laying down miles upon miles of luxurious sod. But pay they have, people lined up by the dozens for an opportunity to gawk at the cactus and agaves. 

To assemble these “gardens” plants were brought in and “planted” in sand and gravel bordered with rocks—no irrigation whatsoever—yet the show spanned a 3-week-long SOLD-OUT run and the plants didn’t wilt or demonstrate even the slightest sign of dehydration. It looks like dry-gardening just might be the wave of the future…

Two landscape designers rumored to be working on Frank Sinatra’s new home that's being built in the 

"desert-modern" style eye a small garden chock full of spiky plants.

  

Of course this is all a fabrication, I'm having fun with tidbits from an old b&w photo and a desire to create a tall tale...

—   —   —

Weather Diary, March 4: Hi 60, Low 38/ Precip trace 

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