{"id":856,"date":"2014-10-01T08:37:10","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T15:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogadmin.plantlust.com\/blog\/?p=856"},"modified":"2024-01-24T06:15:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T14:15:50","slug":"nursery-visit-cistus-design-nursery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/garden-nurseries\/nursery-visit-cistus-design-nursery\/","title":{"rendered":"Nursery visit: Cistus Design Nursery"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of our primary goals at plant lust<\/a> is to support the fabulous independent and specialty nurseries which grow (as well as discover and then propagate\/or breed) the plants we lust after. While you can always peruse their offerings on our website<\/a> a visit to the actual nursery is a special treat and one we intend to share occasionally here on the blog.<\/p>\n

Today we\u2019re visiting Cistus Design Nursery<\/a> on Sauvie Island, just 15 miles from downtown Portland. The folks at Cistus have been enthusiastic supporters of plant lust since (practically) the very beginning and we certainly feel the same about what they\u2019re up to. Here\u2019s a little background on the nursery: \u201cCistus is a unique micro-nursery founded in 1996 by Parker Sanderson and Sean Hogan. The nursery has a strong botanical foundation drawn from the pair\u2019s professional backgrounds; Parker having been Horticulturalist at the Arboretum at University of California at Davis and Sean a Curator at University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley. Their exciting collection of treasures, gathered around the globe with brilliant plantspeople, quickly outgrew a 100-year-old greenhouse in North Portland so the nursery opened to the public on Sauvie Island in 2000, expanding in 2003.\u201d<\/p>\n

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These photos were taken on a visit in early September, on a glorious sunny day – but I find a mid-winter or early spring, visit even more rewarding. There is inspiration every where you look…<\/p>\n

The all-season display gardens feature \u201cWest Coast natives and Mediterranean plants, architectural desert plants for the \u201cdry garden,\u201d Asian specimens, shade plants, and a dazzling mixed border of summer showstoppers \u2013 gardens that echo the pavilions and courtyards in retail itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the retail, well let\u2019s just say hours have been spent wandering through the Big Top\u2026<\/p>\n

And exploring the outdoor tables and pavilions, temptations are everywhere!<\/p>\n

Here are just a few plants I thought were looking especially lovely the day of my visit…<\/p>\n\n\t\t