Hortlandia gets the buying season off to a flying start. I had a cold. This is where gardening buddies are invaluable (as well as in many other ways). Loree asked if she could be on the lookout for anything for me. I immediately thought of a plant I’d been admiring in her Danger Garden, Acanthus sennii, above. True to her word, she looked, and she found. Woo hoo…add another star to Loree’s crown.
Means Nursery is so nearby that I can easily pop in whenever I have a special need. Two ipomoea batatis ‘Mardi Gras’ and one Coleus ‘Chocolate Drop’ filled the bill…
to fill this red pot that had been standing empty.
When it comes to plants, I can never stick to a list. I’ve been wanting a daphne, so Daphne odora ‘Mae-jima’ came home with me too.
Next up: the Oregon Bloggers’ Swap, with the welcome addition of several Washingtonians. Starting from the top, let’s go clockwise, skipping the two pots disappearing from the bottom of the photo. A nice flaming Euphorbia whose name I can’t remember…maybe Dixter?; Rubus lineatus; Pacific Coast Iris; Polypodium scaulen; Dicentra spectabilis
Sorry, that big pot still fails to show off Iris confusa, but believe me, it’s a beauty; Arum ‘Jack Sprat’; Pulmonaria; ‘Ron Davidson’; and a pretty little frosty Heuchera whose name escapes me (it’s ‘Snow Angel’. You guys are so good!). The bloggers are all true plant nuts, and they bring fabulous stuff to our swaps. By the time someone has spieled about a beloved plant, I’m a convert even if I never noticed that plant before. What a fabulous way to introduce new material into the garden. Somehow I failed to get photos of the nice big clumps of Polygonatum and Convellaria majalis, but they’ll be showing up in future posts, you can be sure.
Last Sunday, Linda and I met up at Joy Creek to wander the display gardens and shop for plants. Linda never arrives empty handed. This time she brought me a couple of primroses I had admired in her garden and a Hellebore to try. She says to plant it in sun, so that may be the problem with those I have (all in shade).
Heading to meet Linda, I stopped by Means to get a few things for porch pots: upright Fuchsia ‘Firecracker’ to put in a cachepot; two Impatiens and Lysimachia ‘Midnight Sun’ to spill from a wall pocket.
And finally, here’s my haul from Joy Creek: center front, Erodium chrysanthum; front left and right, Zauschneria ‘Everett’s Choice’; top left, Phlomis italica; top center, Oxalis ‘Klamath Ruby’ with purplish undersides to the leaves; top right, Oxalis oregana. I probably should have waited for cooler, overcast days to do the planting, but I’ll just have to be a diligent waterer until we get back to some Oregon weather. We will, won’t we?
You have to wonder. I’m loving this weather but I’m pretty sure my water bill is going to be through the roof. This is what happens when one decides to divide their perennials in March and April. One thinks the May rains will help the plants settle in.
I love your haul. Is the Heuchera ‘Monet’ or ‘Snow Angel’? I had both but they didn’t make it. Hopefully you’ll have better luck. I need me a Rubus lineatus. That Daphne is very cool. I love that coleus and a big friendship star for Loree. That Acanthus is awesome.
Thank you for your comment on my blog. I didn’t exactly shout my appearance at Powell’s from the rooftops. I have a little trouble tooting my own horn. I’m sure you understand. 🙂 However, I will say that my memoir is just days away from publication now. I’m totally psyched.
Enjoy this wonderful weather while it lasts. It’ll probably rain all summer. 🙂
Grace~’Snow Angel’ sounds sort of familiar. I’ll go with that unless Alison says it’s something else. A bit of rain would be fine with me, but we seem always to go to extremes. I would like to extract a promise from you to let me know the next time you do an event in Portland.
I planted my Salix and Verburnum ,they always look so much smaller in the ground …hurry up and cover that fence !
I planted ‘ Carmine’ in a copper beaker I had sitting around …perfect , thank you again for the lovely day ! Cistus next time?
“Means Nursery is so nearby that I can easily pop in whenever I have a special need.” I will not be envious of this wonderful woman, I will not be envious of this wondeful woman, I will not be envious of this wonderful woman. There, that’s out of my system.
How fortunate that you live in such proxmity to Means/ Joy Creek and that Cistus is mearly a hop, skip and a jump away. Looks like you’ve got some great additons to your plant collection and had a fantastic time with Linda! One might even say that it was a banner day. (Right, like you haven’t heard that one before!)
Oooh, that does like like ‘snow angel’. Lovely finds Ricki! Shopping is so much more fun with fellow plant enthusiasts.
Awfully nice of Loree to pick up plants for you and I sure hope we go back to some normal temps, but the extra calorie burn as I hand water all my new plant babies isn’t too bad at all 😉 Cheers, Jenni
Nice haul! Between you and Peter, I really want to get down to Means.
What a nice haul! I’m feeling the Means/Cistus pull…but two glorious sunny days in May spent indoors in the jury pool of Multnomah county will do that to a gardener.
That Heuchera is indeed ‘Snow Angel.’ You found some interesting plants at Joy Creek. Also, someone brought Rubus lineatus to the swap? It must have already been snagged by the time we got there. It’s a great shrub! I am sick of watering already, I don’t know what I’m going to do when summer comes. I was really counting on May rains to water in all the plants I’ve been moving around this spring.
Linda~Cistus! You read my mind (not an especially difficult task).
Peter~You and Alison have set such a shining example!
Jenni~Calorie burning: the Tao of gardening.
Heather~They are in Mothers’ Day mode, so I’d wait a week or two.
Loree~I’m meant to think this is a new feeling?
Alison~R thinks I’m nuts for watering. He even dug down to show me a spade filled with moist soil. I countered with crispy plants. The debate continues…
Some very nice and new plants you have there! And nice of Loree to get you the Acanthus 🙂 the strong variegation of Mae-Jima is lovely, as well as the strong coloration of the coleus leaves!
Mark & Gaz~There’s nobody nicer that gardening friends.
Pretty great time of year isn’t it? Very nice cool additions, and at least a couple of them (Zauschneria and Oxalis) get used a fair amount in nativescapes down here. It appears some Oregon weather made it down our way last week–more than a quarter inch of rain, in May!–so I hope you’re enjoying your California climate on loan. But for sure there’s a lot of watering that goes with that climate. Have a great rest of the weekend getting thing situated where you want them in the garden.
James~Always some drawbacks to even those climates some think of as ideal. Rain arrived last night and all of us webfoots were more than ready for it.