Mystery plants

Friday 6 August 2010 - Filed under General

I spotted this thorny character at a nursery last week, but couldn’t find a tag identifying it. Whatever it is, I like it. Any guesses?

Same situation with this crazy fern.

The other mystery I recently had on my hands has been solved, if you use flickr for photos on your blog you might run into the same issue. I use flickr to save and organize my plant photos, and I grab the html off flickr to put photos on my blog. Flickr just did a redesign, and I couldn’t figure out where to get the HTML code for a while. FYI, if using flickr, it is now under the Share this button. It’s actually quicker and easier than where this info was before, now that I finally found it.

12 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-08-06  ::  megan

…and we are live!

Tuesday 3 August 2010 - Filed under plant lust

We have launched plantlust.com, ahead of schedule even! So far we have around 700 plants in the system – enough to try it out and search for some drool worthy plants. I was really excited to find enough photos for Betula albosinensis var septentrionalis to show off what I want plant lust to do – let people look see all the important stuff about a plant.

This is what I need to know about a plant when I’m on the prowl: what it looks like in summer, in winter, far away, close up, how big it gets, and what conditions it grows in. We’re working away to get lots more plants in the mix.

This is step one of a million or so more, but a big step nonetheless. Feel free to poke around, and I’d be thrilled to hear what you think.

9 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-08-03  ::  megan

Drum roll please… announcing plant lust

Tuesday 3 August 2010 - Filed under plant lust

It’s no secret that I love plants. I love looking at pictures of plants, shopping for plants, reading about plants. I never get tired of walking through nurseries and reading tags or flipping through the pages of garden books with big glossy photos. Every day I read gardeners’ blogs: which plants they’ve fallen in love with, how their own plants are behaving or misbehaving, what inspires them. I think we’re damn fine record keepers – some of the best around.

There’s something I don’t love though: searching for plants online. It’s the last place I look, after I have come up empty in books, catalogs, and nurseries. If you know exactly what you’re looking for, you have an okay chance searching and finding something useful. But if you’re looking for ideas for that patch of dry shade in the corner of your zone 8 yard, not so much. I don’t like it – it should not be a chore.

For, well, forever, really, I’ve been thinking about what I want out of an online plant directory. I want to be able to search any which way I dream up on a whim. I want to be able to quickly scan my options and see what plants look like, learn whether I have the right conditions to grow them, read those delicious descriptions I so love on plant tags, and find a nursery that stocks the plant. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

I design things like this for work, but I never had the free time for such a big undertaking on my own. Early last year though, when my former employer laid off my entire department, I took it as a sign from the universe: time to make this thing happen.

Around the same time, Karen commented that I should write a book titled “plant lust.” It was, well… just perfect. A name that captures the passion that garden lovers experience when they find the right plant. I simply could not let such a good title go to waste.

As I started planning, I realized that my goals are not modest. There are so many cool things we could do with a really great plant resource, and I want to do them all. I learned pretty quickly, if I wanted to do it all, I was going to need to team up people who could help make plant lust go.

I’m beyond thrilled to announce that Loree of danger garden fame is joining me on this adventure. Her talents in scouting fabulous nurseries and hot plants are no secret to any of us who have followed her adventures in gardening. Along with undisputed fanatical gardener credentials, Loree’s marketing and communications experience is instrumental in growing plant lust into the thriving resource we want it to be.

The whole reason that I wanted undertake this project is that plant research online is far too difficult. You want to read up about a plant, and suddenly you find yourself with a browser window open to 6 different tabs, surrounded by a collection of heavy books, and you still find yourself asking: how the heck do I get my hands on a Schefflera taiwaniana, will it grow in my garden like it does in the pictures, and can I keep it alive? I want plant lust to change all that. However, to get it to that point, somebody still has to do the routine with six browser tabs and a collection of books, just to find out the basics of a plant. While it is a joy to research and learn about plants, this is a crazy amount work. I am unbelievably lucky that I know someone who has the tenacity and diligence to take on this challenge and get the job done right. My mom Patricia is not only a skilled researcher, she has also worked as a Business Analyst, whipping complex product catalogs and gobs of data into shape, and she’s joined plant lust to work her magic here. Some day when you are looking up a plant, and find just what you wanted in no time flat, that’s thanks to Patricia’s work upfront wrangling scads of information into a uniform organization that makes it look easy.

The three of us make up team plant lust, and we have been quietly working away to get to a point that we could launch plantlust.com so we can show it off and let people kick the tires. We are finally getting close and expect to launch within the week!

We wanted a fantastic catalog of plants to start out with, and Gossler Farms graciously agreed to let us use their catalog to get started. When we launch, we will have their entire plant catalog loaded, so you can see what it’s really like to search for plants this way.

We’ll have at least one photo of most plants when we at launch, but we’ll be gathering many more as time goes on. The idea is that we’ll find other people online who are willing to share their plant photos, so you can see many views of each plant. What we really want to show is an example of all the things people might love about a plant: form, foliage, flower, and any special features like peeling bark or amazing fall color. Gardeners have been enthusiastically capturing these images forever. We want to bring them together in one place so you can see what a plant will really do in the garden.

If you try it out and have thoughts, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to be candid. We mean for plant lust to be as useful as possible, so if there’s anything that would make it even more useful, we want to hear it. We’re in this for the long haul, and this is the first of many steps to follow. We’d love your thoughts as we plan what comes next.

I’ll post a link as soon as we go live.

7 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-08-03  ::  megan

Reliable Sources

Friday 30 July 2010 - Filed under General

A few weeks ago I had a to drive up to Seattle for a conference. I figured there surely must be an opportunity for some plant ogling along the way. Loree tipped me off to a place she’d heard of – Jungle Fever Exotics in Tacoma.
They don’t have a website, I couldn’t find hours online, I wasn’t even sure they’d be open on a Sunday. For my Seattle friends who may be able to visit, I noted their hours: Mon – Sat 1- 6, Sunday 11 – 5, April – August. I found someone’s blog from 2008 raving about a January visit, and even then, it was an inspiration. Nurseries you can count on for a wintertime pick me up are worth their weight in gold. I’ll definitely stop by again when I visit the in laws in the area over the holidays.

Uncertainty aside, with a name like Jungle Fever, it was worth the gamble. Clearly there is a passionate gardener at work. Really, even if it had been closed, it wouldn’t have been a disappointment. The garden that spills out of the fenced nursery is reward enough.

The owner’s street garden behind it would definitely stop traffic if it weren’t hidden away off the main street.

You must remember, if you get a chance to stroll the sidewalk of this garden, to look up and spot the Tillandisias tucked into the tree branches.

And the gorgeous peeling bark of the eucalyptus.

I wondered how one could have such an enthusiastic, bursting at the seams sidewalk garden, without spilling into the walkway…

The secret appears to be creative use of rebar. Who was it who recently talked about their plantholderbacker? The entire sidewalk here is edged with plantholderbackers.

And oh yes, I almost forgot, plants you can take home with you. It’s not the biggest nursery around, but you can find plenty of plants to fall in love with. I had a soft spot for this opuntia potsii in bloom.

I like nurseries that stock plants that are utter curiosities, like the tapeworm plant, or more politely, the ribbon bush (Homalocladium platycladum).

Inside, there was tillandsia heaven. This one came home with me.

For extra fanciness, Jungle Fever is right next to the Point Defiance ferry terminal. We continued on our way to Seattle via Vashon Island, which includes two ferry rides and a short beautiful drive through the island, and it sure beats taking I5 through Tacoma. Business trip win!

8 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-07-30  ::  megan

Beach gardens

Thursday 29 July 2010 - Filed under Plants

The last two winters in a row took down almost all the New Zealand Flax in Portland, and most Portlander gardeners seem to be swearing off the plant for good. How’s that going, by the way? I’ve already caved on that resolution. However, it’s not one of those plants you have to travel to far to see in action. The Oregon Coast can grow New Zealand Flax like crazy, the plants over there are nothing like the ones we see in town. I would have thought it was California if I didn’t know better. I mentioned in a previous post that Lincoln City had towering tall, blooming specimens dotting the roadside in various parking lots. They were all so big, I couldn’t get a good look at the flowers. For those who live in more phormium-hospitable climates, it must seem rather common and mundane, but in Portland, despite the past popularity of the plant, it almost never blooms. I had several plants in my yard for years, and I didn’t even know they were capable of blooming until I saw one on business trip to California.

Down at Cannon Beach last week, I saw the Oregon Coast magic working on phormiums once again. This plant was polite enough to be short, so I could get a good look at the flowers close up. I just love the black stems. The picture is a little crummy and blurry. I had a bunch of in-laws in tow on this particular walk, and couldn’t hold them up too long looking at the plants, since I was the one who instigated a trip in search of a cafe with WiFi. I had a whole weekend without phone or internet access, it was killing me.

The flowers remind me of Kangaroo Paws. I wonder if they make good cut flowers.

My niece Olivia became fascinated with some daisies along the way. They’re not a plant I would ordinarily stop for, but I will always encourage a budding gardener, so we examined these for a while.

Olivia wanted me to get a photo of one of them, how could I refuse such a request?

The house we stayed in was right by Haystack Rock, which is designated as a Marine Garden, a term I hadn’t heard before, but I like it. Anemones must be the agaves of Marine Gardens – their graceful shape and dramatic beauty demands you acknowledge them as the focal point.

The starfish were looking especially vivid.

And in other beach life… we have a new member of the extended family. A couple months ago, I fostered a litter of four chihuahuas. Really sweet dogs, way more well behaved than you could reasonably expect puppies to be. The biggest surprise of my stint fostering chihuahuas is that many people really don’t like this breed. Of all the dogs I’ve fostered, I had only ever heard people talk about disliking pit bulls before, but amazingly, even more people say they dislike chihuahuas. I’ve learned over the years in both gardening and animals, never say never. You think you don’t like a particular plant or type of dog, then you see one you do like that wins you over. This little one here did exactly that, won the hearts of my brother in law and his girlfriend. They recently lost a very sweet Staffie, little miss Paris. She was a tough girl, went camping and climbing, and all the outdoorsy things Matt and Michelle love to do. Imagine my surprise when they set their sites on this 1 pound pipsqueak.

Puppy and her new owners all seem very happy, and I get to keep another one of my foster pups in my life. I love it when that happens.

7 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-07-29  ::  megan

Plants to go

Monday 26 July 2010 - Filed under Plants

I spotted these adorable takeout containers in a restaurant on a recent business trip to Seattle. Of course I had to stop for dinner, just to get close enough to get a picture.

4 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-07-26  ::  megan

Operation neighbor’s garden: an update

Friday 23 July 2010 - Filed under General

Notice anything fancy? Do you see it? I am typing this post from what some might call My New iPad. But I call it Purse Computer. In case it is not perfectly clear, I am a serious nerd at heart. I love the gadgets. Ever since laptops have been a thing, I have rarely been spotted without a computer bag in tow, but it is a new day. With the arrival of Purse Computer, I am now a nerd incognito. How do I look?

Earlier this year, I staged a takeover of the neighbor’s front yard. Not because I coveted their sunlight that I don’t have in my own yard, but because I’m HELPING. Really. But as a totally innocent comparison, I tried to plant lettuce in my own yard. 5 months later, I have come to accept that nothing edible will come from my own potager. However, in the neighbor’s garden, it worked. I made lettuce. Ta Da!

Gardening next door had me more budget conscious than usual, and for the first time ever, I planted most of the garden from seed. What do you know, it works! I got a few little cilantro plants going. It seems very fancy to be able to go pluck a few leaves for a quesadilla, without having to make a special trip to the store, and without throwing away most of the bushel when I can’t get through it in time. As I’ve heard is typical, the cilantro quickly bolted, but it’ll reseed itself now, won’t it?

I’ve been really excited that people have been guerilla gardening in my guerilla garden. First lanterns and birdhouses mysteriously appeared, but now there are plants in there that I didn’t plant. At first I thought it was the actual neighbors working in their own yard, but I asked and it wasn’t them. Who knows what it is, some oniony garlicky looking bulbs, not my area of plant identification expertise.

Not all volunteer additions are winners however. Someone is apparently concerned that the peas don’t have anything to climb on, and some makeshift stakes have been added. I had read somewhere that native americans planted corn and beans together, and used the cornstalks as the support for beans, so that is why I haven’t provided anything for the peas to grow on, but I might have to replace these particular additions with some bamboo stems for a bit more natural look.

More mystery plantings. While the neighbors aren’t the ones doing the new planting, they are getting into taking care of the garden. I went to water one day and found the ground already moist. It appears they bought a brand new hose, and I’ve been seeing them sitting outside as a family, while the little girl that made the birdhouse waters the plants. I’m hoping she’s falling in love with gardening as a hobby, and in fall we can plant up the garden with cool season crops together. One day in winter I was working on some fence repairs for their dogs, she came out and helped me for hours, so she appears to have the patience of a gardener.

I haven’t had any actual success with any sort of crop. Maybe I got started too late, or maybe the morning shade is too much, but I still have hope something will happen. The peas are flowering. That’s a good sign, right?

It looks like we will get ONE blueberry this year. I hope next year we get a slightly more generous yield.

And there is sign of an actual edible fruit: one Tomato. Here is where I out myself as the total jerk that I am. As a non-tomato eater, while I know that tomatoes are one of the most popular plants grown, I have always found them to be the most boring of plants. I never understood what the big deal was. However, now that I have planted one of my own, I’ll admit it’s pretty much a miracle that something is happening on that plant. Behold, I have made Outside Food.

5 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-07-23  ::  megan

The denial garden

Wednesday 21 July 2010 - Filed under Plants

Some people name their gardens. I have a hard time even naming pets. I have to let their names come to me, otherwise they never fit, and some weird nickname sticks. How else could you explain a dog named Pants? I’ve never thought of any particular title for my garden but if it were to name itself, it would have to be denial. Drought tolerant plants next to thirsty ones. Sun lovers next to woodland plants. You will not find any trustworthy source that recommends my planting schemes. Today my post is dedicated to the sun lovers that are performing in spite of my overly optimistic planting.

I got a craving for kangaroo paws after a Germinatrix post last year softened me up, and then there was this beauty at the HPSO sale in spring, and I couldn’t resist. I’ve planted it in a spot that I thought might be my sun garden. In reality, it gets a little morning light, then shade the rest of the day. The soil is terrible, chalky and rarely watered, topped with a little compost. It won’t survive our winter, so this is it – one beautiful summer. It’s not as big as the plants I’ve seen in other people’s garden, with proper sunny conditions, but it looks good. It’s probably going on my spring shopping list from here on out. My only regret is not buying more than one.

I think I see now why they’re called Kangaroo paws. Do you see it?

I bought several Eucomis bulbs. Some are sited more appropriately than others, but the only one that bloomed this year is in the same shady bed as the kangaroo paw. Is this one of those stress blooms, only blooming because it thinks this is it’s last chance? Maybe but it was an exciting discovery nonetheless.

My flower blinders have started to fall away, I’ve been admiring Eremerus from afar over the last year. I like them, as far as flowers go, because they’re tall and skinny, and don’t demand a big footprint in the garden. And the 7 ft tall white ones – wow! I really wanted those. I’ve read you should plant them in the fall, so I tried my best to resist until a fall shopping trip out to Dancing Oaks, but when I found one in spring at the the HPSO show, well, these words come up too much when talking about plant sales, but again, I couldn’t resist. It’s also in that shady garden. The bloom had to reach out sideways toward the sun, but it was still a beautiful show.

The Eremerus, after the flowers have gone. I almost like it more now. When I cut down a couple dying trees next year, the newly sunny spot in the garden is going to get a bunch of these.

Hesperaloe parviflora, or red yucca. Same shady spot, but doesn’t seem to be complaining. The flowers are growing sideways, but I think they do that anyway, don’t they? I got it for the foliage, but I haven’t yet had the impulse to cut off the coral flowers, they’ve really grown on me. If I can believe the plant tag, it’ll start blooming in early summer, with continuous rebloom for nearly year round flowers. Surely “nearly year round” is an exaggeration?

I’m completely in love with Echium wildpretii right now. I found myself wandering the garden, little plant in hand, trying to find the very best spot for such a sun lover. I’ve come up with a place, on the edge of some dappled shade of a birch tree, where the afternoon sun filters through the wood slats of the fence. I’m sure it would be bigger and better in more sun, but it’s tripled in size since I planted it a few months ago, and doesn’t look like it’s complaining. It may be my favorite new plant this year.

Sometimes my denial planting works out just right. I got captivated by the cobweb covered leaves of Tradescantia sillamontana and grabbed it up as a last minute impulse purchase. Not til I got home, did I realize that it gets magenta flowers most of the summer through fall. I’ve said I was softening toward flowers, but I don’t think I’m ready for magenta. I’ve let enough reds, yellows, and oranges creep into my garden, the thought of magenta clashing with them makes me cringe. But many times, while my sun lovers survive their shady positions, they don’t always flower. Maybe I’ll get lucky and keep it just happy enough to produce lots of velvety leaves.

8 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-07-21  ::  megan

Even more Cistus?

Monday 12 July 2010 - Filed under Nurseries + Plants

Too much blogging about the plants at Cistus Nursery? Not possible. Either you are lucky enough to be able to visit frequently but you can’t get enough, or you aren’t able to visit, and it is our duty as Portlanders to share the experience.

You must always stop and visit the mature tree fern. We rarely see them large enough around here to appreciate the trunk. It looks like a checkerboard, no? King me.

Bromeliad Fascicularia pitcairnifolia (with correct spelling of the genus this time, thanks Loree). Leaves are divine as is, but as a bonus, it gets sky-blue blossoms surrounded by burgundy leaves. As much as I’m in love with agaves, it’s so hard to find a good sunny spot for the sun worshipers in my yard, and I’m a big failure at overwintering non-hardy plants indoors. Fascicularia says it takes some shade, likes cool conditions, and has recovered from 0F in zone 7. Now that, I can do. I made the trip looking for a Yucca Rostrata, but didn’t find one that was big enough to enjoy, yet small enough to afford, so I got a Fascicularia instead.

Another terrestrial bromeliad – Dyckia choristaminea. It says full sun for “best color.” Do you suppose that means I can get away with it on my mostly shady patio? It’s supposed to be hardy to upper zone 8, but a plant this tiny, just a few inches tall and wide, that wouldn’t be so hard to overwinter in a bright window.

Puya venusta shares that spiky form, spiky leaf combination of the Fascicularia and Dyckia. From the tag: “This is one of the most dazzling of the Puyas with clumping 3 ft rosettes so glaucous as to appear nearly white, and on this form the deep blue-black flowers were supported by 6-8 ft stems of nice pink.” Also hardy in zone 8 with well drained soil.

Back to plants I have no business looking at – Agave ornithobroma. The leaves are soft and cylindrical, almost like a thick leaved rush. Hardy to zone 9/10, although the tag says they’ve been growing it here in the ground and it has survived the last few years, so if you were inclined to press your luck, maybe this is a candidate.

Uncommon leaf color on an uncommon plant, that’s my favorite combination. Black leaved Jack in the Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum ‘Black Jack.’

I forget sometimes what a fantastic fern collection they have at Cistus. Lots of really interesting unusual varieties. Phlebodium pseudoaureum (blue rabbits foot fern) is a small one, about a foot tall. The tag says the fuzzy glaucous leaves make good cut foliage. Some day we really must talk more about the ferns.

7 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-07-12  ::  megan

Finaly found – Saruma henryi

Friday 9 July 2010 - Filed under General

It was love at first sight with the velvety ground-hugging perennial at the Chinese Garden, that nobody seemed to recognize. Finally I got a plant name – Saruma henryi. A cousin of the Asarum (wild ginger) – the name is an anagram. Of course, in plant hunting, knowing the name is only half the battle. Some plants keep you looking for years. I’ve been on the prowl for Saruma henryi since 2008. I did see it last year in the Plant Delights catalog. I would have ordered it, but every time I go to their site, I wildly fill up my shopping cart with way more plants than I ought to be buying, and then I chicken out.

Last weekend, I was out at our local cult favorite nursery, Cistus, and there it was, tucked into the greenhouse. I guess I’m a true plant nerd, emphasis on the nerd, because my little plant discovery had me hollering to everyone in earshot “oh my god! I found it!” There were apparently no fellow plant stalkers around, because nobody offered me a high five. They mostly attempted to avoid eye contact with the crazy lady.

Heart shaped fuzzy leaves, for shade. And I have one of my very one.

My ever-eroding position on flower snobbery is on even shakier ground now, the plant is topped with yellow flowers spring – summer. There’s no way I’m cutting them off prematurely like I do with a lot of my flowers. Plant delights tells me I’ll have a few self-sown seedlings after the plant’s second year. In a plant that’s been so hard to track down, any volunteers I can coax are welcome in my garden. The worst part about being an obsessive plant collector, is that the thrill is in the chase. Now that I’ve got it, I need to find a new plant to stalk. Any ideas?

12 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-07-09  ::  megan