A first for me, A pot of Notholirion thomsonianum, of course!
Oh, to live and garden in the North West…….someone please find me a job here!
A basket of select miniature Narcissus by Cherry Creek Daffodils, at the first day of the plant sale at the NATIONAL ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY’S WESTERN WINTER STUDY WEEKEND.
It’s Friday, and people are arriving at the Double Tree Hotel here in Portland Oregon, and rushing out to the parking lot where there are in impressive about of plant vendors with tables of the most incredible plant material that any hortiphyle can imagine. Gosseler Farms, with rare shrubs, magnolias and perennials, Cherry Creek Daffodils with amazing miniature daff’s all in bloom, Bovees Nursery with Vyreya and Rhody’s, Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery, Mt. Tahoma Nursery, Hedgerows Nursery, basically every catalog I have sitting on my coffee table at home, has a table out there…..what was I ever thinking bringing myself to a west coast plant conference, and believing that I would leave empty handed! Actually, I did bring an empty suitcase, just in case. It’s full, now!
A potted Fritillaria bithynica in the plant show.
Fritillaria eastwoodiae
I am so impressed with the growers here in the N.W. Of course, thisis Frit country, but the members of the host chapter of NARGS, the Columbia-Willamette Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society really have their, um…Frits together on this weekend. The speakers, the plant vendors, the location, even though I keep being told that the best NARGS chapter in the world in apparently the Rocky Mountain Chapter ( someone still needs to prove this to me!), this host chapter has really raised the bar on how to kick off a weekend for us crazy plant people. I can’t wait to see what’s next. The plant show looks like an AGS show, in England. Very impressive.
and then it got better and better! It finished Sunday noon with another round of superb speakers and open gardens. Everything was 4-6 weeks late into bloom which disappointed us from Alaska as we still had knee-deep snow and were ready for FLOWERS. We also went with empty suitcases and even had to get another and pay extra freight on it! It’s madness and I wouldn’t miss it. Next one is in Medford, Oregon in 2010.