What can we say? We are here because we love plants. You’re probably here because you love plants. We talk a lot about the plants we love, covet, admire, have watched grow happily in our gardens, tried and failed, the ups and downs of tending our own gardens and visiting others. It’s a happy place here, join us.
Occasionally, Xera Plants in Portland hosts a plant sale from Gossler Farms, which means we get to shop two excellent nurseries at once. Gossler Farms is worth the trip, but it's a two hour trek from Portland, so I don't get over there as often as I might like. It's...
My birthday is the Ides of March. So perchance you'll forgive my proclivity to ignore warnings. Have you ever fallen head over heels with a plant despite other gardeners' cautions? Tis indeed the case with Fen's Ruby Cypress Spurge. I've got it bad for this little...
Last week I shared the spiky side of the Kennedy School gardens, but there is so much more to see! Walking the grounds is always a mix of checking in on old friends, to see how they're doing, and discovering new things. Sometimes I have a pretty good idea what they...
Just another warm sunny October day here in Portland. The usual. When I travel, I always meet people who say "Portland? It must rain all the time." Or my favorite, "You probably get snow year round." I wish. I'm soooooo tired of watering plants. Maybe later this week...
Do you ever get a wrong idea stuck in your head? For instance, I decided when I bought this plant that is was an Ernygium. Megan said, "this is a fabulus Acanthus. You should buy it." Which, of course, I did with all due haste. Because my kids don't ever steer me...
I've been lying. Many a time, I have said, "pppffffftttttt, flowers, they don't do much for me. I like leaves!" And what am I doing now? Screeching to a stop to go photograph and pet the blooms on the grasses. Nothing makes me lament my shady lot quite as much as...
Like it or not, the calendar, indifferent to our preferences, announces the final day of summer today. Me, I love this time of year. The heat loosens its grip on our days, and my favorite plants are peaking. Grasses are blooming, the big leaves are at their biggest....
The big winter weather joke around the Pacific Northwest is a forecast calling for "snow on the valley floor." That's the Willamette Valley we talking about, and we hardly ever get snow, at least on the northern end. Those of us who grew up here are always rooting for...
Q. How do you know you when you've crossed the line and officially become a plant collector, rather than "just" a gardener? A. When you buy a plant just because it’s so darn bizarre and the words written to describe it, "truly a plant magnet for the plantaholic,"...
Have you noticed a trend of stylish shops with stylish plants on display? I'm seeing a lot of good plants in new places, and I like it. My stepfather was stationed in Germany when he was in the military, and always remembers coming across a sign which read "Grün ist...