PLANTWISE Blog

gifts for gardeners

Gifts for Gardeners, Part II (west side)

Shop local!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Dec 10, 2010 at 04:14PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

A wintry selection of shapely conifers in sweet pots at Pomarius Nursery

My first post on shopping local (Part I) listed Portland’s east-side garden and plant boutiques – here are west-side garden shops brimming with gifts worthy of any plant lover.

All of these nurseries and plant shops sell gift certificates – a wonderful solution if you can’t decide what your recipient would like best. What plant-lover can turn down plants for gifts?

SW, fairly close-in:

Pomarius
1920 NW 18th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Tel: 503-490-6866
- gifts you can find there now: many beautiful plants with character including exquisite, hand-clipped works of topiary or mossy urns planted with unexpected plants. Sizes range from tiny, aged terra cotta pots with cute little plants in them to, of course, pots as big as a tree.

Oxalis (no website)
1824 N.W. 24th Ave., Portland OR 97210
Tel: 503-206-8568
- gifts you can find there now: Okatsune pruners

Dig Garden Shop
425 NW 11th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97209
Tel: 503-223-4443
- gifts you can find there now: stylish containers, modern outdoor furniture, local art, and some small gardening items. There are a few plants, too.

The Audubon Society Gift Shop
5151 Northwest Cornell Rd, Portland, OR 97210
Tel: 503-292-9453
- gifts you can find there now: books on bird identification and supporting wildlife; excellent bird feeders and bird and bat houses; binoculars from inexpensive to extremely high-end; and quality bird feed.

Lan Su Chinese Garden Gift Shop
239 Northwest Everett Street
Portland, Oregon 97209
Tel: 503-228-8131
- gifts you can find there now: gardening books, gift memberships to the garden

SW, a little further out:

Cistus Design Nursery
22711 Northwest Gillihan Loop Road
Portland, OR 97231
503-621-2233
- gifts you can find there now: rare and unusual plants, winter-flowering plants including showy hellebores, gorgeous evergreens for winter displays. And, of course, gift certificates.

Joy Creek Nursery
20300 Northwest Watson Road
Scappoose, OR 97056
503-543-7474
- gifts you can find there now: rare and unusual plants, winter-flowering plants including winter-flowering clematis and hellebores, evergreens for winter displays… and of course, gift certificates.

What’s your favorite little plant nursery, garden boutique or nature- or garden-related non-profit gift shop on the west side? If there is a small, local shop full of interesting plant or garden-related treasures that I’ve missed, let us hear from you!

Add a Comment »

Tags: Garden Stuff, Nurseries, gifts for gardeners

gifts for gardeners

Gifts for Gardeners, Part I (east side)

this holiday season, support local shops when looking for gifts for gardeners and plant lovers

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Nov 30, 2010 at 05:00PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

The Wall o’ Tools at Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply in Sellwood. Image courtesy of Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply.

This year, challenge yourself to give the most local holidays gifts you can manage to your Portland friends and family.

That’s pretty easy when it comes to gifts for gardeners. Nearly anything a Portland-area plant buff or gardener could possibly desire can be found nearby – and probably within just a few miles of where you live. If you think your prospective giftees would most relish plants, pure and simple, you can always give them a gift certificate, which will come in handy when the plants start pouring in to the nurseries in spring time.

To get you started, here are some of the city’s most accessible small plant nurseries and garden and nature shops on the east side of town – and my suggestions on some of the more delectable, gift-worthy treats they carry for people who love nature, gardening, the birds and the bees, and plants. (Next up: West side.)

SE, close-in:

Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply
2500 SE Tacoma St, Portland OR 97202
503-517-8551
- gifts you can find there now: a wide array of gardening and urban farming books, quality gardening tools, manure, compost and mineral mix (every serious gardener’s dream), chicken and goat supplies, hardy edible plants. (Dec 1 is their one-year anniversary sale.)

The Urban Farm Store
2100 SE Belmont St., Portland, OR
503-234-7733
- gifts you can find there now: canning materials, bee hives, cheese making kits and beer brewing supplies, books, chickens supplies.

A couple of handfuls of beautiful terrarium-making materials to be found at Artemisia on SE 28th Ave. Image courtesy of Artemisia.

Artemisia
110 SE 28th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214
503-232-8224
- gifts you can find there now: exquisitely made terrariums, hand-assembled kits and raw materials for making terrariums, unique houseplants, and nature-inspired art.

NE, close-in:

Buffalo Gardens
728 Northeast Dekum Street, Portland, OR 97211
503-288-0220
- gifts you can find there now: gloves, high quality Japanese tools including several models of my favorite hori hori, a variety of edible and ornamental plants.

Livingscape Nursery
3926 N. Vancouver Avenue, Portland, OR 97227
503-248-0104
- gifts you can find there now: useful and beautiful kitchenwares from old-fashioned moulis and metal counter-top compost bins to dehydrators, tools, camping and hiking gear, and ongoing classes like “cooking for dudes” (‘though everyone’s welcome!).

Pistils
3811 N. Mississippi Ave., Portland, OR 97227
503-288-4889
- gifts you can find there now: lovely houseplants and terrarium-making materials; garden art; worm composting set-ups, and a variety of ornamental and edible plants.

Garden Fever
3433 NE 24th Ave., Portland, OR
503-287-3200
- gifts you can find there now: a fine design and gardening book selection; tool belts; organic soil amendments; gorgeous winter-interest plants in small to large sizes; pots and planters; recycled outdoor rugs; colorful rubber boots.

Of course there are some far-out east side specialty nurseries, too – way far out… a conifer-lover might enjoy a trip to Porterhowse Farm in Sandy to pick out an unusual conifer. (Late winter is a great time to visit, when many conifers turn lovely hues of burgundy, orange or purple.) Many small nurseries sell gift certificates. If they don’t, you can make your own i-o-u for a nursery jaunt at the appropriate time of year. What plant-lover can turn down plants, especially when accompanied by a field-trip?

Am I missing your favorite little plant nursery, garden boutique or nature- or garden-related non-profit gift shop? If there is a small, local shop full of interesting plant or garden-related treasures, drop me a line. The next edition of local shops with gifts for gardeners will focus on Portland’s west side.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Garden Stuff, Nurseries, gifts for gardeners

profile: good businesses

Ferguson’s Fragrant Garden Nursery and Heirloom Garden Roses

An easy half-day jaunt in the St. Paul, OR area

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Sep 13, 2010 at 02:47PM Speech Bubble 2 Comments

Ferguson’s Fragrant Garden Nursery display garden

View Slideshow »

I was out in the Aurora/Donald/St. Paul area for work this weekend and decided to poke around a bit afterwards.

Turns out it was a big weekend for garden centers in the valley: GardenPalooza was going on (September 9-12 2010) and I was smack-dab in the middle of it. There were scads of gardeners driving to the various nurseries for sales, talks and hands-on classes.

But my goal – apart from finding a fantastic burrito at a cart in Carlton (correction: NEWBERG!!), which I did – was to visit a nursery I know and love – Heirloom Garden Roses – and one I’d never been to – Ferguson’s Fragrant Garden Nursery, both in St. Paul, OR.

I love to visit Heirloom Roses because I’m crazy about the scent of old-fashioned roses. I sniff my way through the extensive display gardens, as focused as a professional wine taster, trying to figure out all the elements of each rose’s scent. Because I like to pick roses and keep them nearby, scent is incredibly important to me. Yes, I really enjoy certain rose plants in the garden, but it’s the scent that usually drives me to shell out the bucks for a plant. Heirloom’s roses are all own-root, which means they are not grafted on a different, faster-growing root stock. Their plants are small when you buy them but grow better in the long run, as they take off quickly and you never have to worry about pruning them below the graft union (’cause there is no graft union!). All their roses are $16.95, although they have near-constant sales on certain categories of roses if you sign up for their email newsletter.

I’d never been to Ferguson’s Fragrant Garden Nursery but a nursery devoted to deliciously-scented plants could only be a wondrous thing. And indeed, it was! The selection of fragrant plants and their companions was excellent. The display gardens were lush – maybe a bit too lush in places (leaky irrigation pipes will do that) – and they were planted with an ebullient mix of perennials, shrubs and trees.

It’s a beautifully tended and handily organized nursery. And the employee I hammed it up with was knowledgeable, helpful and genuinely friendly. Impressive!

There were some hot-off-the-presses plants and everything last weekend was on sale at 40% off – that’s about as great a deal as you can get at a retail nursery these days. The crazy-good sale’s over but starting tomorrow there will be another sale – 25% off through the month of September – that will usher in the autumn. Check their website for details.

And all this within a 45 minute drive from Portland. Add in the Mexican food carts in Carlton (no! NEWBERG!) and surrounding towns and you’ve made a fantastic day trip of it! And check out the slideshow (above) to get a taste (virtual sniff?) of what I experienced. Too bad I forgot to get the name of the AWESOME food cart…

Add a Comment »

Tags: Gardening Events, Slideshow, Flowers, Nurseries

garden tours

Porterhowse Farms

colorful conifer cones

Posted by: Kate Bryant on May 07, 2010 at 11:26PM Speech Bubble 2 Comments

Acrocona Norway spruce (Picea abies ‘Acrocona’) with gorgeous hot pinky-purple new cones

View Slideshow »

I recently visited Porterhowse Farms, a small retail nursery – nestled in a surprisingly large arboretum and garden – specializing in conifers and conifer companion plants. Porterhowse Arboretum has well over 2000 conifer species and cultivars in the collection and a lovely selection of those plants are for sale in the retail area.

Winter is the best time to admire conifer foliage – conifers really “pop” visually once the deciduous trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves and the wintry monotone landscape provides the backdrop. Many conifers also develop rich colors in cold weather, turning gorgeous shades of smoky burgundy, rust, brighter yellow, or more powdery blue. But spring is the best time to see conifer cones because you can observe the distinct and often colorful male and female cones in their springtime colors.

All conifers species have male and female cones. (See this link to note the difference between male and female pine cones.) Both male and female start out small but the males never really grow and are fairly inconspicuous – once they release their pollen, they are shed from the plant.

The first to appear are often the male (pollen-bearing) cones. They are usually orange or tan but are sometimes red or purple. Female (seed-bearing) cones grow large after pollination. On some species, they start out dramatic red, purple or hot pink in youth before turning green, then age to the familiar dry, brown cones we know and love. If you’re unsure which is which, you can gently shake the cones: when mature, males release a cloud of yellow pollen. (Don’t try this if you suffer from conifer pollen allergies!) Maturation time can range from months to years, depending on the species. Mature female cone size can be less than a quarter inch long to over 2 feet in length.

Most conifer species produce male and female parts on the same individual plant but a few, including yews and junipers, appear on separate plants. Yews and junipers actually don’t produce cones: instead, their seed lies within a fleshy covering called an aril. I remember squishing juicy red yew arils when I was a child. (They are reputedly poisonous.)

There was a wild diversity of brightly-colored, prominent cones on the conifers at Porterhowse Farms when I visited. (See Slideshow for some dishy examples – if any aren’t identified and you want to know what they are, email me – or just wait: I’ll be loading the names presently.) But I’m sure my photos do not do them justice – and some of the more dramatic purple female cones were just too high on the trees for me to sensibly photograph.

There is much to learn and love about conifers. Many conifers are tough and drought-tolerant plants, as well as providing year-round interest and a diversity of colors and forms.

For more information on the morphology of the cones and how conifer reproduction takes place, there’s a nice, quick introduction on the American Conifer Society’s conifer introduction page.

A fantastic and informative conifer blog can be found here.

For information on specific conifers, Porterhowse Farms has a database of plants in the arboretum, with descriptions and some photos, as well as an availability list and a links and publications page with a link to the American Conifer Society.

Porterhowse Farms is about an hour from Portland in Sandy. Visitors are welcomed by appointment only – just call to arrange a time to visit. You will need at least an hour to visit the garden – we took over three hours and shopped afterwards. Retail offerings include unusual conifers in sizes ranging from small tubes (I got a tube of silvery cultivar of the lacebark pine, Pinus bungeana ‘Silver Ghost’) to specimen-sized plants. There is also a surprisingly good collection of Sempervivum and Jovibarba (hens-and-chicks) in ruby, burgundy, and nearly black shades, as well as green and red-rimmed green.

To arrange a visit the nursery and arboretum, contact Don here.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Slideshow, Nurseries, Trees, Conifers

plant files

Hellebore Season

it’s prime time!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Feb 26, 2010 at 02:20AM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Three particularly nice hellebores growing right next to each other at Honeyhill Farms Nursery

View Slideshow »

Hellebores produce some of the most treasured flowers of winter and early spring. There are many species and hybrids available, each with particular assets in the garden. Breeding efforts particularly focusing on the Lenten roses (Helleborus x hybridus) seen at left are creating ever-richer colors and the forms are increasingly refined every year, with doubles, semi-doubles, more pronounced nectaries and larger, more upward-facing flowers. Other types of hellebores offer beautiful, marbled, sheeny-silver and markedly serrated or plum-infused foliage. There’s even a double Christmas rose (Helleborus niger ).

Yet for all the apparent delicacy of the blossoms, the plants themselves are adaptable and tough garden plants. They are quite drought- and, shade tolerant, deer-proof and – best of all – they flower in winter, when we are longing for color and signs of life in the garden.

There are so many gorgeous hybrids that it can be hard to choose between them. But now is the time to do it – for within a few weeks, the flowers will have faded. And then, sadly, the opportunity to choose just the right color and flower shape will be gone until next February/March.

Local nurseries carry many beautiful varieties, from seed strains (these are the least expensive, as they are very variable in color and form – it’s especially important to select them while they’re in flower) to tissue-cultured varieties that are consistently identical. Helleborus x hybridus cultivars that are tissue-cultured tend to cost more – usually about $20 for a gallon plant. But they are so lovely and precious, you may discover that it feels truly worth it. I adore my plants so much! And pick bouquets from them all winter.

It’s nice to go to a retail nursery where you can find a wide array of hellebore species for sale – the tough, lacy-leaved bear’s foot hellebore (H. foetidus ), the sun-loving, green-flowered Corsican hellebore (H. argutifolius ), the rare and slightly tender Helleborus lividus with marbled silver and green foliage and shell pink flowers, the pure white, very early blooming Christmas rose (H. niger ), and the colorful, exotic Lenten rose (H. x hybridus ), as well as myriad hybrids between all the of the above. But you’re likely to find the best array of colors and types if you head directly to hellebore breeders and specialists.

In the Portland area, my top pick is Honeyhill Farms Nursery in the Raleigh Hills area. Jim and Audrey Metcalfe run this nursery attached to their home year-round but it is only open to the public during hellebore flowering season, usually late January, February and early March (depending on the weather). Jim Metcalfe bred two valuable hellebores, Honeyhill Joy and Honeyhill Peace. (Their photos and descriptions can be found on their website, here.) This lovely hillside is home not only to a variety of hellebores but also a gorgeous array of Cyclamen coum, a late winter-flowering hardy Cyclamen. (See slideshow for a pic.)

Another fantastic Hellebore breeder is Northwest Garden Nursery, which holds open house weekends during hellebore flowering season. Upcoming hellebore open garden days are: February 27-28 and March 5-7 from 10 am to 5 pm. Other open nursery dates are listed on the website. Ernie and Marietta O’Byrne used to sell all variety of woodland plants at their nursery and have turned their focus towards wholesale hellebore breeding in recent years. Their extensive display gardens alone are worth a trip to Eugene. They are responsible for the Winter Jewels TM series of hellebore hybrids.

Last but not least, I recommend a trip to Dancing Oaks Nursery in Monmouth to see the hellebores and many other winter flowering plants. Fred Weisensee and Leonard Foltz’s display gardens are carved out of a scenic hillside surrounded by native oak woods. It’s an extraordinary site. They hold their Winter Bloomers Open House Feb 27-28 from 10 to 4 pm. Dancing Oaks is a retail nursery and is open year-round. But the hellebores are only in flower for a couple more weeks so head out there soon. It’s a great trip and you can visit a winery or two on the way out.

Have fun!

Add a Comment »

Tags: Flowers, Outdoor Gardening, Nurseries

Well Hello, Sweet Pea!

it’s pea-planting time in Western Oregon

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Feb 20, 2010 at 08:21AM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Black Diamond sweet pea from Fragrant Garden Nursery

Wise old salts say you should plant your sweet peas – and edible peas, while you’re at it – around Presidents’ Day in our region. But there are still many good weeks of planting time. It’s just that, the later in spring you plant, the fewer weeks you’ll have to enjoy the results. Late March is usually still good… but mid- to late February is perfect.

Sweet peas are easy little annual vines. They grow during the cool, wet days of spring and flower in late spring and early summer. By the time the heat of July hits, they usually peter out. But they are so gloriously fragrant and beautiful that it’s all worth it. They are also incredibly easy to grow.

So pick up some packets of sweet peas. I say “packets” because who are we kidding? The pictures are gorgeous and sweet peas really are picture perfect in the garden. Why stop at the Royal Family mixed colors when you can also try the heirloom Painted Lady (hot pink and pale pink bicolor), Cupani’s Original (purple and mauve bicolor) and the indescribably lovely Saltwater Taffy Swirls (white stripes on apricot, purple and pink)?

Chocolate Flake sweet pea from Fragrant Garden Nursery

Fantastic local sweet pea vendors include Fragrant Garden Nursery (Roseburg, OR), Nichols Garden Nursery (Albany, OR), and – a little less local but still fabulous – Renee’s Garden (Felton, CA). You can order them directly on line too but most local nurseries carry a great selection.

You can lightly sand the seed coat and/or soak the seeds for an hour in warm (110 F) water to help soften the seed coat but it isn’t necessary. Also, some people start them indoors. I usually plant them directly in the ground.

To plant sweet peas outdoors, here’s what to do:

* get your sweet pea seeds. Also, a sack of mushroom compost or composted cow manure (or use your own home-made garden compost) and some non-toxic, pet-safe Sluggo slug bait to protect sprouts from slugs.

* grab a shovel and a trowel. Maybe a pair of gloves.

* find a spot that receives at least a full morning of sun and where there’s something for the sweet pea plants to climb. This could be a trellis, chain link fence, or other plants (sweet peas will scramble up a sturdy shrub in a loose, rambly kind of way). If your fence is flat surfaced, drive nails on the top and bottom and tie rough string between the nails so the vines have some thing to climb. Or – after digging (next step) – make a bamboo stake “tee-pee” with rough string encircling it so the tiny tendrils can cling to something.

* dig up the ground at least a foot deep and wide – more if you’re planting a whole packet of seeds. Sweet peas really show off if you enrich the soil – so pile on the compost and dig away! Do chop up native soil clods so the soil feels nice and crumbly and is dark with the fresh compost you’ve added. Space seeds about two inches apart.

* Press the seeds in with your fingers, about an inch deep. They are pretty large and easy to handle. If the forecast predicts rain in the next 24 hours, you don’t even need to water them in.

WIthin 10-20 days, your sweet peas will sprout. Scatter some Sluggo around the sprouts when they come up. It’s amazing to watch how quickly they rise out of the ground so keep an eye out!

This is what my dining room table looks like every February. (Sweet peas are front and center!)

Add a Comment »

Tags: Vegetables, Outdoor Gardening, Nurseries, Gardening Tips

plant files

Air Plants

wierd and wonderful pineapple relatives

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Feb 17, 2010 at 09:21PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

I spied these unusual air plants (Tillandsia ) at the Seattle garden show and made a bee-line for them. Turns out the grower, Owens Gardens from Monroe, WA was at Portland’s Yard, Garden & Patio Show, too.

Tillandias are made up of spidery green to gray rosettes of foliage that can be fine and grassy, spidery and twisted or thick and fleshy like a succulent. Blossoms emerge in flattened bracts that range in color from pale pink or lavender to orange or sizzling hot pink, sometimes with contrasting blue and violet flowers at the tips.

Air plants come by their name because they do not root themselves in soil. Instead, they attach themselves to rocks, trees and sometimes, in urban areas, buildings and phone lines. From these positions, they draw the moisture and nutrients they need from rain, runoff and ambient humidity using tiny hairs growing on their leaves. Air plants are tropical and subtropical “epiphytes” and most come from Central and South America. If you’ve been to the Southern US, you’ve probably seen another type of air plant, Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) trailing from the branches of evergreen oak trees. Air plants’ roots exist solely to anchor them to rocks and trees.

Hopefully this spot will provide all the bright light, good air circulation and humidity these plants need. Tillandsia medusae (center), Tillandsia aeranthos (on right) and Tillandsia stricta (on left)

Caring for these odd little treasures is easy. They require bright, indirect light (no blasting afternoon sun). And they need to be drenched with a squirt-bottle 1-3 times per week (depending on ambient humidity and heat). If you fertilize them 1-2 times per month in spring and summer with 1/4 strength, high phosphorus fertilizer, you should be rewarded with flowers. Since they are tender, they should be protected from frost. While they live indoors all winter, they do appreciate summer vacation outdoors. Just drench them with a hose a few times a week.

I’ve seen them in shops, artfully nestled into beautiful shells and wee baskets, affixed to stones or pieces of pottery, and tucked into small glass terrariums. (This latter idea isn’t so good for very long, as they do require brisk air circulation.) But I just settled mine in the shower caddy in my sunny bathroom next to a window. It required no effort on my part to set up and I get to regularly admire them up close and personal. All I need to do is douse them with water (cold, of course!) a couple of times a week and give them fertilizer a couple of times a month in winter. Easy!

Owens Tillandsia Nursery doesn’t have an online store but they do sell directly at garden shows and plant sales. Call them at 360-794-6422 for more information. Locally, try Artemisia Garden Nursery and PIstils Nursery.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Nurseries, Gardening Tips, Indoor Gardening

The Chicks Are Coming!

local resources for urban chicken farmers

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Feb 03, 2010 at 10:00AM Speech Bubble 4 Comments

This lovely poster was designed by local artist Joe Wirtheim and is for sale, along with some others, at the Urban Farm Store

View Slideshow »

Ten years ago, when I first kept chickens, there were few places in Portland to buy supplies. Driving out to Foster Feed on Southeast Foster & 103rd (Tel: 503-777-2967) was something of a pilgrimage from the city — there weren’t many of us with chickens yet then – and I’d often ride out with one of the few other chicken-o-philes I knew so we could pool resources and buy big sacks of grit and oyster shell, feed (there was no organic feed available then) or bedding. We chicken people stuck together.

Now, we have numerous small farm stores in the city limits where urban chickeners can buy their supplies. Baby chicks are available throughout spring and early summer, along with the organic feed, bedding and other supplies needed to keep them healthy and happy. You can even buy some rather spectacular pre-fab coops!

Since we’re in the final countdown to the start of chick season (mid-February), here’s a survey of my favorite places to find chicks and all-things-chickeny in Portland:

Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply store, now open for business

First, the brand-spanking new Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply, located at 2500 SE Tacoma St, Portland OR 97202, right on McLoughlin (Tel: 503-517-8551). This store, run by Naomi, her husband Neil and her mom Mary (just don’t call her “Mother Mary” please!!!), sells chicks, feed, soil amendments, fertilizers, books, seeds and plants. Also, some adorable chicken t-shirts and – my favorite – a beautiful little barn and fenced run where you can meet and greet their little flock of farm animals including miniature goats! Naomi has honed her knowledge of soil and organic amendments and fertilizers after managing for several years at Concentrates, Inc., a feed and fertilizer supply store at 2613 SE 8th (Tel: 503-234-7501). Naomi now teaches classes on all variety of urban farming topics but is particularly helpful with chickens, goats, organic gardening practices and soil issues from organic nutrition to soil tilth.

Co-owner Mary helping the new rat terrier rescue dog acclimate to his new surroundings…

The Urban Farm Store opened last year on SE Morrison and has just recently moved down the street. Now located at 2100 SE Belmont, Portland, OR 97214 (Tel: 503-234-7733), this shop sells chicks, feed, coops, straw bales, organic vegetable starts and fruit trees, seeds, beer and cheese making supplies, and more. Owner Robert Litt is well-schooled (literally and figuratively) in the ways of sustainable agriculture and design and is a superb resource for all things chicken, farm, and agriculture.

Several small plant nurseries also sell chicken supplies and sometimes chicks – and are themselves quite “chickeny,” with hens wandering the aisles while you shop for plants and owners and employees who are avid and knowledgeable keepers of chickens. These include Buffalo Gardens at 728 NE Dekum, Portland OR 97211 (Tel: 503-288-0220); Pistils Nursery (503-288-4889); and Livingscape Nursery at 3926 N. Vancouver Ave between Shaver & Fremont (Tel: 503-248-0104). Check before visiting to make sure they have what you’re looking for, as quantities of various breeds wax and wane throughout the season and supplies can sell out during the busy season.

Have I missed your favorite chicken supply shop or urban farm supply store? Let me hear from you!

Add a Comment »

Tags: Chickens, Nurseries

PLANTWISE

Gifts for Gardeners, Part II (west side)

Gifts for Gardeners, Part I (east side)

Ferguson’s Fragrant Garden Nursery and Heirloom Garden Roses

Porterhowse Farms

Hellebore Season

Well Hello, Sweet Pea!

Air Plants

The Chicks Are Coming!

Recent Posts

Archives

Saga City Media, Inc.

Subscriber Services:

Email Newsletters:

Website Services: