It shouldn't be, but it is...

Many gardeners here in the Pacific Northwest are still tallying the plant losses from the one week storm that wreaked havoc in an otherwise benign winter. Just this last week I've discovered my 10 year old Maytenus boaria 'Green Showers' is dead, ditto for three established Callistemon (Melaleuca) 'Woodlander's Hardy Red' and why isn't my Amsonia hubrichtii (hardy to Zone 5!) coming up?

So when a plant nobody considers hardy here makes it thru the storm with zero protection, and is putting on new growth, well, that's something to get excited about. The plant is Lomatia ferruginea, here's a photo showing the mild foliage damage it sustained.

And it's colorful new growth...

Near as I can tell I brought this little guy home from Cistus Nursery in September of 2017. I doubt I planted it until the following spring, since I don't plant borderline hardy things in the fall. Lomatia ferruginea is thought to be hardy to the mid 20's F, my garden saw an ultimate low of 12 F last January and was below freezing for over 150 consecutive hours.

If it's not regarded as hardy here why would I have planted it at all? Well because I was encouraged to try by my friends Mark and Gaz (of Alternative Eden fame) who had success with it in their garden. They were here in Portland visiting and were the ones who talked me into trying it.

Funny thing, I found myself crushing on this same plant when Andrew and I walked the Queen Elizabeth II Flower Market during our trip to Paris in January of 2018. I took a photo of the plant tag.

From Argentina and Chili it's a member of the Protea family and is related to Embothrium coccineum (the Chilean firetree) which is thriving in my garden just a couple of feet away. 

It's planted at the base of my Albizia julibrissin 'Summer Chocolate'. Just to the right is a Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash' that didn't make it through the winter and nearby are various aspidistra and pyrrosia that were toasted. This is not a protected spot!

I do have a second Lomatia ferruginea, this one much larger and growing in a container. It's a plant that's been around the neighborhood, starting life with Evan, then moving on to Patricia, and living with me for the past few years. The foliage is ferny, and quite attractive.

This one spends all but the coldest days out on the patio.

I have considered putting it in the ground, based on the success of it's little sister. Then again I would really like to see blooms someday—neither one of my plants have bloomed—so I will protect it until that happens.

My other lomatia, L. tinctoria was zapped pretty hard with the frigid temps and wind during January's storm. I cut back several branches that were dead, others are hanging on to grey leaves...

While other branches have leaves that are green.

Back in the the years of milder winters it was a reliable bloomer, but it's been a couple of years since I've seen those flowers—mainly because I've done a lot of spring pruning to remove damaged branches.

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 All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Opening day! (at Secret Garden Growers...)

Last Thursday was opening day at one of my favorite local nurseries, Secret Garden Growers, You know you've arrived when you see the witch crossing sign... (pardon the bad photo taken from inside my car)...

The day had been marked on my calendar for awhile, it was a good excuse to go for a drive (45 min to an hour from my house), see friends who work there (Ann and Evan) and of course a fine opportunity to ogle the plants...

Variegated Daphniphyllum

I want to clean out the pine needles and plant something in that cool slab. I forgot to ask if they had plans for it.

Lots of 'Spotty Dotty' (podophyllum)

Love the vibrant backdrop for the Schefflera delavayi. 

That gunnera is wasting no time waking up and putting on some growth.

Aquilegia viridiflora Chocolate Soldier’

I bought one of these here last year that's up and blooming in my garden, but that didn't stop me from buying another on this visit.

Lathyrus vernus (spring vetch/perennial sweet pea), darn cute!

Everybody needs a rodgersia or two.

I thought I needed this euphorbia as well (Euphorbia polychroma 'Bonfire') but it doesn't need me. I've lost it more times than I can count.

OH MY GOD! More moss than foliage. I should have bought this! (I think it's a barberry?)

The SGG Yurt. I've never been inside.

Asarum caudatum will definitely cover some ground.

I quite like those flowers too. I recently posted a photo on Instagram of one of mine in flower  and someone called it "ugliest flower in botany"... no!!!!

Rhododendron 'Tressa McMurry', how is it even possible that a rhododendron in a 4" pot is blooming?

Moving into the greenhouse now (technically not open to nursery visitors) and looking at these Aloiampelos striatula I'm reminded that mine COULD resprout from the woody base. Could. But will they?

Hardy-ish begonias. I've grown both of these but winter finally did them in.

More of that fantastic Cyrtomium macrophyllum I scored at Hortlandia. Evan grew these plants from spore.

Sophora prostrata 'Little Baby'. My three oldest plants are still bare after the winter cold. Fingers crossed they leaf out soon.

Marked as Abutilon 'David'.

Canna 'Cleopatra'

Schefflera delavayi babies! (maybe from my plant? Ann propagated a batch from seeds I gave SGG).

Arisaema ringens

Bletilla striata 'Shi-Ran' 

Pyrrosia lingua 'Kei Kan', I believe.

I love that Pat (owner of Secret Garden Growers) shares my love of kinda obscure ferns.

Libertia some something. I love it, but it dies in my garden.

Finally I'll wrap this post with an obscenely large clematis bloom on a very small plant, Clematis 'Rooran' in a 4" pot. You go girl!

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Logs in the urban landscape

Every time I drive by this log-filled hellstrip I think "I really need to stop and take photos" but I'm usually headed home and don't have the time.

However, one cloudy afternoon last week I made the time. Unfortunately the view from my car is my favorite, and since capturing that view would mean standing in the middle of a street with a blind curve, well, you're not going to get to see it.

Instead you'll see it from the sidewalk.

I can't tell if these trees were felled on site, or if they came in from elsewhere.

They're used in many interesting ways though, and there are rocks adding to the upscale look of things. I hadn't seen the rocks from my car.

Briefly stepping out into the street so you can see the border of rounds and upright sections.

I love the woven sidewalk border and wonder if there are more plants on the way, or if this is the finished look.

Mud and a rock base make the end piece solid.

The stacked rock wall on the other side of the sidewall is pretty sweet too.

Another quick street-side view...

And just a couple more from the sidewalk...

I'm curious what this purpose-built niche is for. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

From the street I hadn't noticed the property's twig fence.

They're obviously reusing/repurposing every part of a few trees here...

It's a corner property and the other hellstrip is filled with a mounding conifer, edged with rocks.

Looking up at the home, which based on the two address plaques I saw must be a duplex.

Oh ya... now THAT is a wreath. Damn. I hadn't noticed that before.

A fitting adornment for over the large wooden door at the top of those grand stairs.

Last photo at this location...

And now were at another spot I drive by fairly regularly, a much smaller lot/home that is also repurposing cut sections of trees in their urban garden and hellstrip.

This one is perfect for planting up...

Hellstrip pathways...

It's a bit austere, hopefully more plants are on the way. 

I wonder if this (and the others) is a result of trees that came down during the January storm we had? So many trees fell with the wind and the ice. 

Plant that stump!

This log-scape is on a super-wide median in NE Portland. It's also home to a linear arboretum.

Each block of the median is very different, depending on the style and desires of the homes that border it and the people who tend to it.

My very small and very unscientific study tells me people are doing more to let trees naturally decompose on site and maybe provide habitat in the process. These examples are of people really making it happen in a big way, but I'm seeing it in smaller ways too. Heck even when I built my table planting on the stock tank I used branches and stumps that I'd cut here in my own garden. 

I'll wrap up with a screenshot from my friend Grace Hensley's Instagram. She'd asked to be reminded of the name of the guy who stacks logs decoratively, check out Nigel Dunnett's Instagram feed if you aren't familiar with him.

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All material © 2009-2024 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.