PLANTWISE - March 2010

Tulip Fest!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 29, 2010 at 10:29AM 3 Comments

I wanted to roll around in this field of glowy, sunshiny Tulip ‘Candela’, but it was too muddy. Fie! I settled for a bouquet.

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I wanted to roll around in this field of glowy, sunshiny Tulip ‘Candela’, but it was too muddy. Fie! I settled for a bouquet.

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Most of the rows are labeled so you can take notes if, like me, you’re so inclined.

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It was pretty rainy while I was there so some of the tents closed up shop. But all the kids stuff was happening and the wine was certainly flowing. Apparently it was jam-packed on the sunny Saturday before…

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Everything was fine until the rain hit. But five minutes later, it was gone… Handily labeled tulip display beds in the foreground.

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It’s nice to see different types side-by-side for comparison. As I mentioned, I’m a bit of a collector…

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Manning a booth at the Tulip Festival, these fellers from the local Mt Angel Sausage Co will soon attempt to create the Guinness Book of World Records’ longest wiener. Hopefully they’ll post it on their website when they do: http://www.ropesausage.com

I love getting out of town. After many years of living car-free, it’s still an extra-special treat to take a drive in the country or go on a road trip – however short a ride it may be.

If it’s for plant-related purposes, all the better.

This past weekend inaugurated the start of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm’s Tulip Fest. This Festival is a great excuse to get out of town and admire the rural beauty of the Willamette Valley. It’s a good half-day excursion that takes about 45 minutes each way from Portland.

I would have written this post yesterday but as soon as I sat down to begin, I got antsy, jumped in the car and – how sweet to have it! – hit the gas. I was turning into the gate at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm 45 minutes later, amidst waving fields of brightly colored tulips and late-flowering daffodils.

Running for a month, from March 25 to April 25 from 9 to 6 daily, the Tulip Festival is touted as a day of family fun. But there were people of all ages there, from young city couples and cyclists to car loads of families and people who had clearly been coming to the event for years and obviously knew where the fun was.

For the kids, there’s a cow train, hay tend, slide, and horse swings, as well as steam tractors and tram rides. On weekends, grown-ups can enjoy wine tasting and beer swilling, music and a crafters marketplace. I admired an elderly gent carving wooden shoes. Weekdays are toned down a little, without the craft booths, music and booze but with pony and cart rides for the kids and tulips galore for flower-gazers. Wooden Shoe’s blog provides more information about daily activities.

Not to over-share, but I get all fetish-y about tulips at this time of year and engage in embarrassingly detailed comparisons of flower shapes, colors, size, bloom time, foliage color and other qualities. For people like me, there is a sample garden with labeled examples of various tulips and daffodils they sell in their catalog. (See slideshow for some purdy images of all this.) You can also buy pots of forced bulbs for $8 each which can later be planted in your garden, as well as lovely, inexpensive tulip bouquets – bundles of which now adorn my place. The main business of Wooden Shoe, though, is their bulb trade. You can order bulbs for autumn planting now or wait until September or October to pick them. Buying them now ensures the best selection and they do run out of certain varieties every year, such as the gorgeous black tulip Queen of Night.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm is one of only a few remaining bulb growers in the Pacific Northwest. While most spring flowering bulbs sold today are grown in Holland, Wooden Shoe actually grows their own tulips, daffodils and other traditionally “Dutch” bulbs in the fields of their family farm.

Another wonderful thing about Wooden Shoe is their commitment to sustainable agricultural practices. They are one of only a handful of Oregon growers who are certified by Veriflora for adhering to sustainable practices throughout their business. I hope to see sustainability certification spread in the cut flower industry, which has a less-than-stellar record of minimizing toxic hazards, with dire consequences to workers, as well as consumers and the fields, greenhouses and surrounding environment. Support certified businesses and look for organic or sustainably-grown cut flowers and plants whenever possible.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm
www.woodenshoe.com
1-800-711-2006

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Tags: Gardening Events, Places to Go, Flowers, Plant Sale, Family Fun

It’s Spudtacular!

learn everything you need to know to grow the humble spud

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 19, 2010 at 10:47AM 0 Comments

Oh my goodness – I love this idea!

I recently got a press release from Livingscapes Nursery about an event they’re holding this weekend:

SPUDTACULAR! This Saturday March 20, 10 – 5

WHAT: Spudtacular! is a day of potato-centric activities for adults and kids – just in time for the spring potato-planting season. You’ll learn about the different varieties of potatoes, discover how to grow them, and take some home to plant – maybe even that afternoon, before the predicted rain comes late Sunday or Monday! (Although there are still a few good weeks to plant for an earlier harvest.)

WHEN: Saturday, March 20 from 10 – 5
(Music: noon – 5; potato info: every half hour; kids’ activities: ongoing!)

WHERE: Livingscape Nursery 3926 N. Vancouver Avenue, Portland, OR 97227

FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT: Steve Sullivan, 503.449.7644 – steve@livingscape.com

DETAILS:
SPUDTACULAR! will feature music and food that celebrates the potato and lots of educational activities that provide the information needed to plant a wonderful crop of potatoes this spring. Throughout the day, master gardeners will present information on how to grow potatoes. There will also be exhibits of over 25 potato varieties of all different types and colors, kids activities including plantable potato heads and potato stamps, a live Old Time music jam with some Irish fiddling (12-5), and drinks and potato snacks.

Livingscape Nursery is a sustainably-focused garden and kitchen store whose goal is to empower people to live more engaged lives – engaged with place, food, family, friends and community… all well worth supporting. I’ll be stopping by – hope to see you there!

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Tags: Gardening Events, Places to Go, Vegetables

Festival of Fragrance

Portland’s Classical Chinese Garden’s spring plant sale

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 17, 2010 at 08:41AM 0 Comments

Not a fragrant Camellia (pictured). But there are some sweetly scented species and hybrids worth hunting for. If you see the winter-flowering Camellia transnokoensis at the sale, snap it up! It’s gorgeous. Check it out in person (hopefully still in flower) inside the NW corner of the garden.

This weekend, the Portland Classical Chinese Garden begins a two-week celebration, now dubbed the Festival of Fragrance, with a plant sale and Camellia display from the Oregon Camellia Society kicking things off this weekend, and talks and workshops during the week.

Featuring more than 20 local specialty nurseries, the sale itself will take place outside the walls of the Garden (at the corner of NW 3rd & Flanders) this coming weekend. There is no admission fee for the sale. Inside the Garden walls, plant enthusiasts from the Oregon Camellia Society will be on-hand to discuss and showcase their camellias, as well as providing information for self-guided tours of the Garden’s camellia collection.

Some of the events over the next two weeks include aromatherapy talks, flower arranging workshops with fragrant plants, and tours with the Garden’s horticulture staff of fragrant plants inside the Garden. Go here for the schedule of events.

Plant Sale (& Camellia Society events): Sat and Sun March 20 – 21 from 10 – 3
Members First Pick: Saturday, March 20, 9 – 10 am

The sale focuses on plants of Chinese origin including orchids, rhododendrons, camellias, Edgeworthia, daphne, and bamboo – many found within the Garden’s own collection. The new format (with outside vendors) means there will no longer be member discounts but members get first pick on Saturday morning from 9 – 10 am. The sale is a benefit to support the plant collections at the Garden.

Arisaema candidissimum. Can’t guarantee you’ll find this there. But it is a Chinese plant. And there are sure to be Arisaema for sale. So, you might! If you don’t you can always order it later from Plant Delights Nursery (where I found this lovely image)

Vendors include some of the Willamette Valley and Southern Washington’s finest including Collectors Nursery, the Bamboo Garden, Dancing Oaks Nursery and more. I was excited to see that Woodland Way nursery will be in attendance (specialty Arisaema and woodland orchid growers). Ferguson’s Fragrant Nursery will be there (naturally), as will the magical Pomarius Nursery located in the NW Industrial District. There are some fantastic organizations offering plants as well including the American Rhododendron Society and the Oregon Camellia Society. For a full schedule of events and list of plant sale vendors, visit the Garden’s website.

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Tags: Gardening Events, Places to Go, Flowers, Plant Sale

Chicken Shirts

- going viral?

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 14, 2010 at 11:52AM 0 Comments

Karen Wolfgang and Isabel LaCourse, co-owners of Independence Gardens, LLC

If there’s anything a sluggish economy does, it’s make people crafty. By crafty, I mean arts-and-craftsy.

Take the Portland Chicken Shirt phenomenon. A couple of years ago, two women running a sustainable edible gardening business started screen printing some goofy chickens onto thrift-store t-shirts as holiday gifts for friends and family. Before long, other people wanted them and their creators realized they were on to a good thing. These shirts are fun, funky and come in great colors. I got one at Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply – and received another as a gift soon afterward! (Fortunately, a different color.) Now they’re making them in toddler and children’s sizes, too.

I was wearing one of mine under several woolly layers at a meeting recently and was talking with some folks about chickens. Before long, I mentioned my lovely chicken shirt, only to discover I was chatting with the shirt’s creator!

Since we in Portland are up to our ears in urban farming movement mud, it only makes sense that we want to show our chicken-love to the world… after all, once you’ve experienced the beady little eyes of your own hen staring at your hand and insistently pecking it because she thinks you have something to eat, long after you’ve opened your hand and shown her that you don’t, you’ll never be the same! And let’s not forget how adorable chickens look when they run… and roost… and sit on their eggs… Chickens are quite possibly the most endearing creatures on Earth. I’m sure that chicken-people are at least as proud of their friendly, charming, slug-eating, egg-producing pets as dog-people. And we all know how much dog-people love their dogs.

As long as chicken-people don’t start looking like their chickens the way dog-people morph into their dogs, I’m cool.

Bella – the perfect dog for a chicken-person! Same size, weight and fluffiness but regrettably, no eggs and she doesn’t usually eat slugs. Of course, chickens don’t retrieve tennis balls.

Chicken Shirts are available in children’s sizes S, M, and L and adults’ XS, S, M, L, XL, and 2X, as well as long-sleeve S, M, and L (brown and black only). They have just started producing “Chicken Squirt” onesies and will soon add hoodies. Click here to see colors and styles or to order on-line. Or buy then at Linnton Feed & Seed, Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply, or Wichita Feed & Hardware at 6089 SE Johnson Creek Blvd., Portland (503-775-6767).

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Tags: Chickens, Garden Stuff

Bishop’s Close Garden

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 09, 2010 at 06:00PM 3 Comments

Magnolia sargentiana var rubra

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Magnolia sargentiana var rubra

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Late flowering cherries and magnolias and early rhododendrons

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Spike winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata)

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I like the contrast between the clipped boxwood and sinewy trees and curving, informal paths

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The handsome and unusual Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana tree

The Bishop’s Close (Elk Rock Gardens) in the Dunthorpe neighborhood is one of the city’s best kept secrets. The garden and house – once in private hands, now housing the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon – date back to the beginning of the last century. The garden is beautifully maintained and is open to the public for visiting year-round.

Have you ever been?

I just returned from an impromptu visit and am again full of appreciation for the charm of the place. There are numerous ancient specimens of trees and shrubs – it’s a great place to see just how big various shrubs and trees can get in time. I’m thinking of the garden’s giant Japanese paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha ), which is at least six feet tall and eight feet wide, but there are hundreds of trees and shrubs, both rare and classic. It’s great to see specimens gaining stature in a park-like setting instead of growing through each other in the cramped confines of small city lots.

I didn’t have time to walk up into the native madrone woods on the hill beyond the garden – if you go, do allow at least an hour for the garden and the walk up the hill, which takes you to some spectacular views of the Willamette River.

Instead of giving you all the details, let me just show you a bit of what I saw today. (See slideshow.) Late winter is just one of many lovely seasons in this remarkable garden. It sparkles in early winter, when huge, lichen-encrusted witch hazel (Hamamelis sp. ) are in blossom on the upper terrace and, down below, the winter aconites shine in sheets of gold under the trees. Autumn is also spectacular, when the autumn leaves turn burgundy, red, orange and brilliant gold. I love the rockery in winter, when the conifers take on rosy or rusty winter hues. Now, it is magnolia season and there are some venerable old trees still in spectacular flower. Drink it in while you can.

The gardens are open to the public from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm daily – but are closed some holidays. For more information about opening hours, call 503.636.5613.

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Tags: Slideshow, Places to Go

Backyard Habitat Certification

I did it – you can, too!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 06, 2010 at 01:00PM 2 Comments

The fabulous duo of Gaylen Beatty of Three Rivers Land Conservancy and Karen Munday of Portland Audubon came out to my house on a cold winter’s day and gave my garden their stamp of approval for nurturing wildlife. But I still have a ways to go towards improving things. I’ve already started working on it, ladies – come back soon!

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Out with invasives! I may love my unusual white-flowered, cream-variegated honesty plant (aka, money plant, known to botanists as Lunaria annua Variegata Alba) but I’d hate to contribute to Oregon’s already bad invasive plant problems!

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This 20-foot tall and wide shrubby flowering quince (Chaenomeles sp.) straddles my and my neighbor’s yard. It’s wild and overgrown, just like the birds like it. Hummingbirds and songbirds nest in there every year and it offers safety from predators, as well. It’s nice to have some untamed, wild places in your neighborhood.

As anyone who’s met me lately at a cocktail party can attest, I rattle on a lot about the native insects in my back garden. (Ever since I joined the Xerces Society, I’ve been a total pest about bugs!)

So when I found out about the Backyard Habitat Certification Program, a partnership of the Audubon Society, Three Rivers Land Conservancy and the East Multnomah County Water District, I immediately signed myself up.

This program is designed to help Portland area homeowners restore native wildlife habitat in their yards – that means for bees, birds, lizards (if you’re lucky), and other creatures. Oh, and plants, of course! For $25, you receive useful educational materials, valuable resources to help you get started (low-cost plants, coupons and gift cards) and individual feedback on your garden’s habitat-friendliness. The focus is on removing noxious weeds, replanting Willamette Valley native plants, managing storm water and basically creating beneficial habitat for native wildlife.

It all starts with a home site assessment. For this, a knowledgeable backyard certification staff person comes to your yard for a site visit. Together, you tromp around and notes are taken on invasive weeds, storm water issues (impervious surfaces, whether IPM methods are used, etc). Any existing native plants are noted and, if you qualify, the level of certification for which you qualify is awarded on the spot and you’ll receive advice on moving up to the next level. If you aren’t quite there yet, you’ll receive detailed information about how to create more valuable habitat for wildlife so that you can be certified.

There are three levels of certification. Silver is the first level – this was my certification level because I have 5% native cover. When I increase the native cover in my garden to 15%, and take further steps to create still better habitat for wildlife (such as installing a water feature for birds and butterflies to splash about in – or an orchard mason bee house) I would certify for second level “gold” status. Platinum level certification is the “top” level.

The walk-through was fascinating! As we strolled and talked, it was observed that I had an invasive species in my garden – a rather lovely white-flowered, cream-variegated leafed money plant (Lunaria annua ‘Variegata Alba’). I guess I hoped they wouldn’t recognize it (I do remove the tops after they finish flowering) but Galen Beatty (of Three Rivers Land Conservancy) and Karen Munday (Portland Audubon) know their plants. True, it’s variegated and marginally less aggressive than the straight green leafed, purple-flowered form. (There’s a picture in the slideshow.) But I do notice that it throws out the occasional green-leafed reversion. So out it will come, in the name of good environmental stewardship!

After the site visit, I received a Home Visit Assessment Report which detailed my property and the watershed I belong to. It outlined everything we discussed during the site visit, including the wildlife-friendly qualities of my garden and the steps I would need to take to make it increasingly wildlife friendly over time.

I also received an amazing wealth of resources including a fat Naturescaping binder providing all the basic information needed to envision and then create a haven for wildlife in your garden. Why are native insects important? What kind of a garden design is most useful to native birds? This volume addresses these questions, and provides planting diagrams and plans and numerous plant lists.

In addition, I got a file folder with more resources and ideas for cultivating the four main elements of the program: removing invasive plants and cultivating natives, developing a stormwater plan on your property, and attracting and preserving wildlife.

I am now the proud owner a sign which I will post near the front of my garden so that people who see the sign will ask me how I got it! Their goal is to help Portlanders think about and work toward creating a rich and diverse habitat for native wildlife. I’m all for it. How about you?

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Tags: Habitat, Wildlife

Grocery Gardening

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 03, 2010 at 11:43PM 2 Comments

I recently received a review copy of Grocery Gardening, a hands-on guide to growing and enjoying fresh garden produce.

Portland author Jean Ann Van Krevelen wrote the book to help readers get started growing and preparing their own food. I liked the book and wanted to meet her so we went out for lunch after the Yard, Garden & Patio Show. I wanted to know what she feels is the “hook” that inspires people – especially young people – to garden – and eat from the garden. For both of us, gardening came to us through parents and grandparents who were avid gardeners. But not everyone has a family member who gardens and can model how simple it can be to grow your own food. That’s where an accessible how-to book like this comes in.

Think of Grocery Gardening like a substitute gardening grandma. An extra hip, fun-loving grandma who shows you how to start an organic food garden but never gets mad at you for not wiping your muddy shoes. And while the book doesn’t actually make delicious, home-cooked meals for you, it does offer inspiring recipes that will make you want to run to the kitchen yourself.

Grocery Gardening starts with “Gardening 101,” detailing the basic information needed to plan your food garden, amend your soil, start your seeds and deal with potential pests. Since part of the goal of growing vegetables and fruit is to eat all this delicious, organic produce, there’s a section on purchasing quality produce at the grocery store or farmers market. After all, you probably won’t be growing everything you eat the first year. I appreciate the list of the most and least contaminated foods – it’s worth growing your own or paying more for organics when buying peaches or bell peppers, for example.

The book then covers how to start and nurture 25 herbs, fruits and vegetables, with guidance on canning, freezing, dehydrating, and storing the produce. Several valuable recipes are provided for each herb, fruit and vegetable.

Now Jean Ann isn’t just a book author: she a veritable bundle of energy, writing blogs on food, on edible gardening, and on technology for entrepreneurs. The back-story to this book is that it was written in collaboration with three co-authors – none of whom had met in person. Instead, they were Facebook and Twitter friends and decided to see if they could put together a book about food and gardening in 60 days using recipes and ideas culled from their voluminous lists of social media contacts. This collaborative venture produced a lively, fresh book full of practical details that will help a total beginner get started – and inspire any food gardener with fun ideas and great recipes. A note to the computer-savvy – the authors are all still tapping away, writing informative gardening and cooking blogs – so the opportunities are there for continued interaction.

I was impressed by something Jean Ann said that afternoon when we plonked ourselves down for lunch (we hit one of my favorite quickie meal spots, Ole Ole on E. Burnside). When I asked her what really gets non-gardeners into gardening, particularly edible gardening, she said, “What it doesn’t take is an overblown idea of perfectionism. Gardening and cooking can be more relaxed, more accessible,” she said. “Gardening is too often presented as if it were an Olympic sport. It’s not that hard. We’re putting things in dirt, people!”

So let’s get past that all-or-nothing thinking. Don’t have the time or the space to dig a vegetable garden in your back yard this spring? Then plant some lettuce in a pot. Planting a seed is a metaphor for starting afresh, creating new life. It’s the easiest thing in the world and humans have been doing it for aeons. You can do it, too.

One pot with organic potting soil and a packet of seeds is all you need to start a vegetable garden. This pot’s big but you can start with almost any kind of container that has a hole in the bottom.

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Tags: Vegetables, Garden Stuff