PLANTWISE

Portland Audubon Native Plant Sale

Posted by: Kate Bryant on May 09, 2011 at 05:30AM 0 Comments

Trillium ovatum, the native wakerobin

Portland Audubon is holding its annual Native Plant Sale this weekend, Saturday May 14 and Sunday May 15, 2011 from 10 am to 4 pm.

Over 100 species of Oregon wildflowers, shrubs, and trees will be available, suitable for gardens, wetlands, and wooded areas. There will be special lists of plants suitable for shade, sun, butterflies, and hummingbirds, as well as on-site plant experts to answer your questions.

There will also be educational sessions:

-Why native plants benefit habitat
-How to design a native plant area
-Planting and care of native plants

The sale, and the educational sessions are all free and open to the public. Proceeds benefit Portland Audubon programs such as nature education, wildlife sanctuaries, and wildlife rehabilitation.

For more information: 503-292-6855 × 106

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Tags: Plant Sale, Native Plants

Planty, Gardeny Events This Weekend

An amazing plant sale, a very good garden tour and a really valuable volunteer opportunity

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Sep 24, 2010 at 10:15AM 0 Comments

Osmanthus x fortunei ‘San Jose’ – an acquisition from a past Cistus Design Nursery Sidewalk Sale. In case you’re wondering… this plant is a tough, cold-hardy, broadleaved evergreen shrub producing clusters of small, intensely fragrant flowers in September and October. A fantastic shrub to tuck into a nook near a doorway or path where it’s scent can drift around and surprise you!

PLANT SALE:
Cistus Design Nursery is having their “tough-love parking lot sale” with all kinds of great plants in need of a good home and for really inexpensive prices; 1g plants @ $2, 2g plants @ $4, 5g plants $10, etc. The sale kicks off Saturday, Sept 25th at 10:00am. And please, no early birds for the sale!

GARDEN TOUR:
Green on Green fall garden tour, Saturday, September 25th from 11 am to 4 pm.
Cost: tickets are $20 – available at Garden Fever and other nurseries and on the Reading Foundation website. – all proceeds from the tour help support the foundation, which hires experienced reading tutors for first through third grade student in Portland Public Schools.

The gardens, from Eastmoreland to Burlingame, include:

• Rosemary and Walt Ellis – Mahar’s neighbors with a lovely, English-style garden

• Jane Coombs and Peter Dowse – a garden designer’s garden

• Susan and Craig Latourette – another garden designer’s garden!

• Tom Masic and Joe Koutney, whose original garden layout was designed by Wallace Huntington

• Paul Beal and Michael Burns, with a fabulous, steep hillside garden

Prior to the tour, there will be a special morning presentation by Linda Beutler on Fabulous Fall Floral Arrangements from the Garden from 9:00-10:30am at Dulcy Mahar’s garden. Tickets are limited for this event — at $10 apiece — and you must be signed up for the tour to attend. Preregistration required. This event includes light breakfast treats and coffee.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY:

Saturday Sept 25 8 am – will take about 6 hours.

Here’s an opportunity to support Oregon’s agricultural and farm workers through support of PCUN (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United), an organization devoting to promoting equity in the lives of the Latino immigrant agricultural workers upon whom Oregon’s nursery industry depends.

Slow Food Portland participates in Dig In!, Slow Food USA’s national volunteer day, by helping construct a green building to be utilized as a training, education, and meeting space for Oregon’s farm and nursery workers. Volunteers will work alongside staff and members from PCUN prepping, painting, and pounding the walls of their new Leadership Training Institute.

Meet at 8am on Saturday, September 25 at the Conway parking lot in NW (1717 NW 21st Ave Portland, OR, 97209). From there, volunteers will carpool to Woodburn, OR, spend a few hours getting dirty, and then feast on a spread from a local Mexican restaurant.

Please RSVP here if you plan to attend. Bring a pair of work gloves and wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. And have fun – it will be great to mingle with PCUN and SLOW FOOD PORTLAND people and to learn more about what work these two organizations are doing.

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Tags: Plant Sale, Volunteer, Garden Visits

HPSO Fall Plant Sale, Queen of the Sun (Bee Film) and More

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Sep 17, 2010 at 08:48AM 0 Comments

Sean Hogan of Cistus Design Nursery dispensing his usual blend of wicked and wonderful horticultural wisdom from the Cistus booth o’ treasures at last year’s HPSO Fall Plant Sale and Garden Festival

Some interesting horticultural stuff to do this weekend!

HPSO Fall Plant Sale and Garden Festival
First, the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s Fall Plant Sale and Garden Festival takes place this weekend: Saturday & Sunday, September 18 & 19, 10 am-3 pm. All the most wonderful Oregon and Washington specialty plant nurseries will have booths brimming with interesting plants, plus there’s a garden art area (furniture, recycled art, glass baubles, pots, etc) and a full roster of talks and seminars by local gardening smartie-pantses. Plus unhealthy yet tasty junk food like hot dogs and Ruffles potato chips at the Expo Center cafeteria-like windows. I love that stuff! (About once a year, anyway.)

BEE FILM
An exciting and long-awaited film project, Queen of the Sun, a documentary on bees, directed by Taggart Siegel (award-winning director of The Real Dirt on Farmer John) opens tonight, Friday September 17, at the Hollywood Theatre. Plants from Cistus Design Nursery will be raffled off during intermission. Learn more about the film here.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER FOR FULL-MOON WALK
Today – Friday September 17th @ 5 pm – is the deadline for reservations for the Wednesday September 22nd Moonlight Garden Walk at Dancing Oaks Nursery in Monmouth. If you haven’t been to Dancing Oaks Nursery, this would be an incredible time to visit. Show up early and you can shop for plants from one of the Willamette Valley’s premier specialty plant nurseries. (If you’d like to meet the lovely owners of Dancing Oaks and check out their plants, they’ll be at the HPSO Sale this weekend.) Tickets are $25 and include catered hors d’oeuvres, Airlie wines for tasting and sale, music by harp guitarist John Doan, and of course a moonlit walk through a deliciously-scented, scruffily romantic country garden at its late summer peak. Please call the nursery to register: Dancing Oaks Nursery, 17900 Priem Rd, Monmouth, Oregon. Tel: 503-838-6058

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Tags: Gardening Events, Plant Sale, Garden Visits

Planty, Gardeny Things to Do This Weekend

Swan Island Dahlia Festival, seed-saving class, plant your winter veges and score some good sale plants at your local retail nurseries!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Aug 27, 2010 at 09:55AM 1 Comments

Japanese Bishop Dahlia. Photo courtesy of Swan Island Dahlias.

Looking for fun/interesting plant- and garden-related things to do this weekend? Here are some ideas:

Swan Island Dahlia Fest in Canby, OR
When: Saturday Aug 28, Sunday Aug 29 and Monday August 30 plus next weekend, too: September 4, 5, and 6 (Sat to Mon) – 10 am to 6 pm daily.
Where: here
Admission: Free
All variety of food, fun, clowns – hopefully not scary clowns. You can also order dahlia tubers for next year and go home with buckets of gorgeous cut flowers.
Phone: (800) 410-6540 OR (503) 266-7711

Take a class on seed Saving with Vern Nelson, The Hungry Gardener columnist, and garden consultant. Long-time vegetable gardening expert and cook will explain how to save seed of your favorite crops for next year. He’s a great teacher and most enjoyable speaker.
Where: Portland Nursery, 5050 SE STARK
When: Sunday August 29 at 1:00pm

Plant your fall and winter vegetables, if you haven’t already done so. I’ve been a slacker (working on a book – more on that soon!) so I have some seed-starting to do myself this weekend. There’s time to plant greens still and I might try carrots and beets, too, although it’s getting a bit late. But I’ll be stocking up on vegetable starts from my local nurseries, too – must get that purple-sprouting broccoli in the ground asap!!!

And while you’re out and about, scan nurseries’ sale tables now. This is the time of year when plants that suffered in the recent heat spells are showing up on the 50% off tables. I’ve seen some fantastic plants with minor cosmetic damage on sale tables lately. There are also lots of pots on sale (thanks for that tip, Lauren Hall-Behrens!). In short, it’s a great time to shop at retail plant nurseries, particularly if you’re looking for late summer/fall blooming plants like asters, salvias, and those tall, statuesque perennial lobelias. And within a matter of weeks, it will be an idyllic time to plant, as the fall rains are just around the corner.

Planning ahead: here’s a future weekend event (sign up now, as space is limited and it’s likely to sell out):

Chicken Coop Building Workshop.
When: Saturday, September 25 from 10am-3pm
Details: Learn how to build a secure, happy home for your hens in this hands-on workshop with John Carr of The Garden Coop. Participants will build The Garden Ark mobile chicken coop. At the end of the workshop there will be a drawing and one lucky participant will go home with the coop. All participants will go home with a copy of the plans and the hands-on know how to build a coop.

This workshop is in partnership between “Growing Gardens”: and Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply

The cost of the workshop is $40 and the deadline to sign up and pay is Monday, September 20. Proceeds from the workshop benefit Growing Gardens’ programs. For more information or to sign up contact Rodney Bender at 503-284-8420 or rodney@growing-gardens.org

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Tags: Gardening Events, Flowers, Chickens, Plant Sale

Waterlily Festival, Tour de Coops, Chicken Class and 40% Off Plants!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jul 23, 2010 at 08:42AM 0 Comments

A (tiny) bucolic scene from Hughes Water Gardens

There’s a bunch going on in the gardening world, starting tonight.

This weekend, Hughes Water Gardens is holding their 8th Annual Waterlily Festival and Invitational Art Show. The artists’ reception is this evening from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Stroll through the water gardens, meet the artists, and enjoy music, wine and appetizers. Address: 25289 SW Stafford Rd., Tualatin OR 97062. Events continue on Saturday with talks, tours and sales and information booths devoted to garden restoration, on Sunday with artists’ demonstrations and more events, and into the week that follows.

The Tour de Coops is happening on Saturday July 24th from 11 am to 3 pm. Twenty-five chicken owners around Portland open their yards so you can see their coops and meet their chickens. This benefit event for Growing Gardens consists of a self-guided tour with stops all over East Portland – you can decide where to start and finish. Cost: $15 and there’s a raffle for two stylish chicken coops, as well as gift certificates donated by local nurseries and feed stores.

A happy chook at Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply this spring

Buy your tickets today at Concentrates, Inc., Garden Fever!, Livingscape Nursery, Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply, People’s Co-Op, the Urban Farm Store, and Whole Foods Market in Hollywood. And 20% off if you have the 2010 Chinook Book and buy your ticket at one of the above retailers. On Saturday, head for the parking lot at Westminster Presbyterian Church at 1624 NE Hancock to buy your tickets, as well as chickeny books and resources, organic breakfast treats and such.

On the chicken theme, Naomi Montacre of Naomi’s Organic Farm Supply – along with Lisa Ewing of the Avian Medical Center – will be teaching a PCC class – Chickens 201 – from 9 – 11 am at the store. Issues tackled include predators, health and behavioral issues, introducing new birds to the flock, and other chicken challenges. Sign up here. Cost: $29.

Finally, if you’re just dying to go on a mad plant-shopping spree, you might want to stop by Ferguson’s Fragrant Garden Nursery this Saturday July 24. They are closing their Lake Oswego store and in the consolidation process, are putting everything on sale at their St. Paul store, all while throwing their annual Midsummer Night’s Dream Fragrance Festival. Forty percent off is nothing to sniff at. The sale runs all day on Saturday and from 5 pm on, there will be light appetizers and wine and “inspirational music” plus tours and talks on cultivating fragrance in the garden. Directions here.

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Tags: Chickens, Plant Sale

Hedgerows Nursery to Close

…last chance to pick up some of their fantastic plants at 50% off

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jun 20, 2010 at 04:21AM 0 Comments

From a visit in the autumn of 2007 – sweet fall colors at Hedgerows Nursery, McMinnville, OR

David Mason and Susie Grimm opened their small but beautifully curated retail nursery in the early 1990s. They traveled nearly every year to England in search of superb new plants that would thrive in Western Oregon – with a particular eye out for drought-tolerant plants. Their small nursery display gardens were a pleasure to explore, as David also practices garden design and has a magical way of creating structure with plants. I enjoyed the tall, semi-formal hedges of wild lilac (Ceanothus) between the garden and driveway, and the 15-foot tall rose hedgerow screening the nursery from the house – so English but with a good Pacific Northwest twist. Best of all, their plants were impeccably grown in deep pots with hefty root systems.

I’m sad we are losing this wonderful resource run by two unique and lovely souls, but wish them the best in their next foray in life and horticulture.

Hedgerows Nursery – no website but directions here – will be open for one final weekend:
Friday June 25 to Sunday June 27th from 10 to 4 both days. Plants will be for sale at 50% off.

To get to Hedgerows from Portland, Oregon, take I-5 to Highway 99 west exit. Take Hwy 99 to Hwy 18 (the signs say: Ocean Beaches). Go 16 miles to Belleview/Hopewell road (the sign points to Amity). Take the first right on Deer Creek Flats Road. Turn right on Christensen road (about a mile). Hedgerows is the first house on your left.

David Mason & Susie Grimm
Hedgerows Nursery
20165 SW Christensen Road
Mcminnville, OR 97128-8811
(503) 843-7522‎

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Tags: Gardening Events, Plant Sale, Drought-Tolerant Plants

Upcoming: Nature Writing Class, Garden Tour, Plant Sale!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Jun 16, 2010 at 06:50AM 2 Comments

Three great events popped up on my radar this week – all look so good to me, I could eat them.

First, this weekend: an Open House at Rare Plant Research – a chance to buy super-sexy succulents, tropicals and just take a joy ride in the country. (Anyone who lives in Oregon City would laugh at my ridiculously urban perspective on “the country” – but then again, I watched a mare give birth to a foal in a field across from Rare Plant Research last spring. So it really is the country!)

What: Rare Plant Research Open Garden & Nursery Event The nursery and garden surrounding the house – which is a replica of a 12th century Catalonian monastery – will be open for wandering. And to boot, plants will be 10% off.
When: Saturday, June 19th from 10 am to 1 pm (just three hours!)
Where: here

Next up, the following weekend, a garden tour and art sale…

What: Fifth Annual Seeding Our Future Garden Tour & Art Show – a benefit for the Foundation for Tigard-Tualatin Schools. This tour of eight private gardens located throughout Tigard and Tualatin kicks off with a garden art show with 40+ Northwest artists selling garden and garden-inspired art.
When: The Garden Art Show is Friday, June 25, 2010 from noon to 8 pm and Saturday, June 26, 2010 from 9 am to 3 pm. The Garden Tour is Saturday, June 26, 2010 from 10 am to 4 pm.
Where: The Art Show is at Fowler Middle School, 10865 SW Walnut St., Tigard OR 97223 and is free. The Garden Tour takes place in Tigard and Tualatin area gardens – details are available once you purchase your ticket.
Tour cost: $20.

I get a preview tour this week and will give you a taste of what’s to come, should you be in need of inspiration. Tickets are available here or at Al’s Garden Center, Dennis’ Seven Dees, Ferguson’s Fragrant Nursery, Gardener’s Choice, Hughes Water Gardens, McCann’s Pharmacy, The Garden Corner, Tigard High School, Tualatin High School and the Foundation for Tigard-Tualatin Schools office – or call 503-431-4024.

And finally, in mid-July, an excursion/writing class offered through the Multnomah Arts Center:

What: Writing “Nature” – taught by writer Allison Cobb
When: Saturday, July 17 from 10 am to 2 pm
Where: Lower Macleay Park (entrance to Forest Park); meet at the picnic shelter.
Cost: $20.

Allison Cobb

Here’s the class description:

— "What does “Nature” mean to you? How does the concept of “Nature” inform your writing practice and your lived experience? We’ll meet at one of the most popular entrances to Forest Park and begin the class by exploring our own first experiences of nature and the natural world. We’ll also consider how other writers have navigated the “nature” vs “culture” divide. Then, we’ll walk the Lower Macleay Trail (a short hike of less than one mile on relatively flat ground), to the WPA Stone House. Participants will be asked to notice, along the way, what to them represents “nature” and what “culture.” We’ll also pause for writing breaks. At the Stone House we’ll take a writing, lunch, and discussion break, and participants will share their impressions. Then, we’ll head back down the trail. We’ll reconvene at the picnic shelter to conduct a final writing experiment and process our impressions.

Allison Cobb is the author of Born2 (Chax Press) a collection of poetry, and the just-published Green-Wood (Factory School), a work of poetic nonfiction about New York City’s famous nineteenth century Green-Wood Cemetery. The book chronicles the loss of the American forest in the nineteenth century and the rise of the garden cemetery movement.

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Tags: Gardening Events, Plant Sale

Plant Sales, Garden Tours and More

Posted by: Kate Bryant on May 12, 2010 at 10:40AM 6 Comments

A swallowtail enjoying the nectar from an invasive plant, butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) – learn about both the butterfly and the butterfly bush, this weekend.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday hold some fantastic garden-related events: you can buy quality native plants, train to identify invasive weeds, tour ten fabulous Naturescaped gardens, and – my favorite – learn about native pollinators at a seminar at the Zoo.

Xerces Society’s Pollinator Workshop
Friday May 14 from 9 – 3:30 Seminar at the Oregon Zoo (directions here)
This seminar will cover pollinators and pollinator conservation including native bee biology and identification and choosing plants and creating habitat to support pollinators around your home, garden or farm. Register on line. The cost – $33 – includes lunch and zoo admission. For more information, contact Melissa Protz: 503-226-1561 x5868.

Multnomah County Weed Watchers Free Weed Training
Friday May 14 and Saturday May 15 from 12 – 2
Metro Regional Center
600 NE Grand Ave.
Portland, OR USA 97232
Help protect Oregon’s landscape by preventing the spread of harmful invasive species. You’ll discover tips to identify, locate and report invasive species before they become a problem, with live and preserved invasive specimens to examine. Details here; register here.

Naturescaping for Backyard Habitats Garden Tour
Saturday May 15, 11 – 4
Organized by the Backyard Habitat Certification Program and East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District’s Naturescaping program.
Visit 10 Certified Backyard Habitats – tour the gardens, chat with garden hosts, and gather ideas for naturescaping your own yard to create habitat for native creatures including birds and insects. Register on line here. If you’re interested in turning your own garden into a Certified Backyard Habitat, sign up for a home visit here.

Portland Audubon’s 14th Annual Native Plant Sale
Saturday May 15 and Sunday May 16, 10 – 4
Audubon Society of Portland
5151 NW Cornell Road
Portland, OR 97210
For information about this and other Audubon events, go to the Audubon Society’s calendar.

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Tags: Gardening Events, Plant Sale, Native Plants

A Trio of Garden-Related Events

- enough to keep you in horticultural heaven all weekend

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Apr 29, 2010 at 06:50AM 0 Comments

Cute as a button, huh? I needed a picture for this post and this was the sweetest little thing I could find.

Three interesting garden events coming up this weekend:

1.
What: Clackamas County Master Gardeners Spring Garden Fair 2010
When: Saturday May 1 from 9-5; Sunday May 2 from 9-4
Where: Clackamas Event Center and Fairgrounds
Why: over 185 Pacific Northwest nurseries, as well as planting accessories and garden art. Free plant check lets you shop with abandon if you wish. Educational presentations include new plant introductions, Master Gardener educational clinics, soil testing (scroll down this page for details on what to bring if you want soil sampled), a raffle, plant auction and food vendors.

2.
Butterflies, Bees & Bats Class
What: Experts from the Xerces Society and Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife will talk about a decline in pollinators and what we can do to make our yards attractive to them.
When: Saturday May 1, 2010 from 9:30 – 12 noon.
Where: S.W. Community Center/Multipurpose Room, 6820 SW 45th Avenue, Portland
Why: You’ll learn how to create backyard habitat for butterflies, bats and bees, that’s why! You’ll also construct a bee box which will help protect bees during inclement weather.

Registration required. Please register here

3. Let ’er Bloom
What: The Portland Garden Club 2010 Flower Show
When: Saturday May 1 and Sunday May 2 from 10 – 5
Where: Oregon Historical Society
Why: Visitors can view flower arrangements, horticulture displays of miniature gardens, jewelry made from botanical elements and a special exhibit titled “Farm to Table”. This year’s show celebrates the anniversary of Oregon’s own Pendleton Round-Up, coinciding with OHS’s new exhibit, Tall in the Saddle: 100 Years of the Pendleton Round-Up.
$11 admission.

Given the currently fragile financial situation of the OHS (see PM editor Randy Gragg’s Editor’s Note in PM’s May issue), this would be a good opportunity to visit – and support – the OHS.

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Tags: Gardening Events, Plant Sale

Things to Do – Plants to Buy

plant sales going on every day for the next week

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Apr 12, 2010 at 10:29PM 1 Comments

Take your pick – or maybe go wild and pick both.

There are two great plant sales coming up – one running Monday through Friday this week and the other running Saturday and Sunday.

COMMUNITY TRANSITION CENTER’S SPRING PLANT SALE

When: Monday April 12th to Friday April 16th from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm daily. Where: 6801 SE 60th & Duke St. in Greenhouse #1

This plant sale features an array of perennial, annual and vegetable starts grown using organic methods, at fantastic prices (cash or check only) – for example:

- Canna lilies, chrystanthemum, gal. pot – $3
- Foxglove, oxalis, licorice fern – $1-3
- Daylilies, assorted colors – $2
- Flowers including sweet William, California poppy and phlox plus vege starts including broccoli, kale, lettuce, collards, chard, sorrel,
spinach – 6-pack tray $2

The Community Transition Center is a Portland Public Schools program for young adults focusing on vocational experience and life skills. Students in the program are responsible for starting, caring for, and maintaining the plant stock in the greenhouse. Purchases support the greenhouse program.

For more information, call 503-916-5817 or email sgoforth@pps.k12.or.us

HARDY PLANT SOCIETY OF OREGON SPRING PLANT SALE & GARDEN FESTIVAL
The other plant sale coming up takes place this weekend – it’s the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s wondrous and amazing Spring Plant Sale. Held at the Expo Center (readily accessible by light rail), this Queen of Oregon’s Spring Plant Sales runs from 10 am to 3 pm Saturday April 17 and Sunday April 18. It is the premier gathering of local specialty nurseries from all over Oregon and Western Washington. It’s also a marketplace for locally made garden art. And, this year, there’s a gardening book shop where you can find relevant, regionally-appropriate gardening books – some written by local authors.

If you take light rail, bring some of those fabric grocery bags. You’ll be amazed by how many plants you can fit into those things.

Details of Spring Plant Sale & Garden Festival:
When: April 17 & 18, 2010 from 10 am to 3 pm both days
Where: Portland EXPO Center – Hall C. The Interstate MAX Yellow Line goes right to EXPO. See TriMet web site

No wagons, strollers or carts in the sale – the aisles can be tight. There is a hold area, though, so you don’t have to stagger around loaded down with plants unless you have a particular need to wave your brilliant scores in front of other possibly covetous shoppers.

You can go to the website for a list of vendors at the sale (many, many!) and for a map of the site.

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Tags: Gardening Events, Flowers, Garden Stuff, Plant Sale

Native Plant Sale & Green Gardening Fair

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Apr 09, 2010 at 10:47PM 0 Comments

Long-lasting Western wake-robin (Trillium ovatum) flowers nestled in tough, evergreen western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) – a fantastic combination for a native woodland garden.

TUALATIN HILLS PARK & RECREATION DISTRICT is sponsoring the Green Gardening Fair and Native Plant Sale.

When: Saturday, April 10, 10 am – 2 pm
Where: Tualatin Hills Nature Park Interpretive Center

This is a day of gardening workshops and demos focusing on sustainable techniques for composting, water conservation, minimizing pesticide use, growing native plants, insect pollinators, pruning, tool sharpening, and more. A schedule of events can be found on the event website.

A native plant sale will offer over 100 species of native trees, shrubs and perennials. A free bag of potting soil comes with every $35 purchase.

Exhibitors include landscape designers, mason bee suppliers, garden art, sustainable stores and services, and some governmental agencies.

Hosted by Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District
http://www.thprd.org/facilities/naturepark/nativeplantsales.cfm

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) – its hot pink flowers serve as important hummingbird fodder

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Tags: Gardening Events, Places to Go, Plant Sale, Native Plants

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.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

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

View Slideshow » Illustration:

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

View Slideshow » Illustration:

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…

View Slideshow » Illustration:

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

View Slideshow » Illustration:

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

View Slideshow » Illustration:

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