Showing posts with label phormium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phormium. Show all posts

Northern looks for Southern climates

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Holy moly it's been a long time since I posted! Please forgive me! I know many people get busy around the holidays, and I feel like I got wrapped up in the whirlwind earlier than most. Plus there hasn't been much going on in my own garden worth blogging about. But I'm back and I have some cool new plants to share with you.

Y'all may remember that I was in love with the phormiums that I saw in Portland. However, my friend and garden coach Erin told me that they won't grow here since our humid weather falls in the summer rather than the winter. Boo.

But Athens Select has introduced great phormium alternatives that they say are guaranteed to take the heat, humidity, and general punishment that the South serves up. Meet Pennisetum purpureum 'Prince' and P. purpureum 'Princess.' They're a cute couple, don't you think? (Zones 8-11, full sun, 2-6' tall)

Athens Select also has some great hibiscus varieties that look like Japanese maple--another plant that Northerners whine about not being able to grow once they relocate to Florida. Check out Hibiscus acetosella 'Panama Bronze' and H. acetosella 'Panama Red'. (Zones 8-11, full sun, 3-4' tall)

You can read more about these plants here (click on the links in the left sidebar once the page loads).

A few of my favorite things, Part I

Friday, October 17, 2008

Dahlias? Done that. What else did I see in Portland that was worth blogging about? Here's the first of several posts with the best things I saw in Portland.

Hands down, Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island has to be the most fantastical nursery that I've ever seen. If you're ever in the Portland area and have a taste for exotic or unusual plants, you simply must stop in for a visit. How you squeeze all of the plants you crave into your luggage is something that I will leave up to you.

Sign behind service counter

Succulents and sign at Cistus Nursery

Pindo palm
Click the photo to read the funny story behind where this palm came from.

Closeup of pindo palm at Cistus Nursery outside Portland

Phormium and ferns
Phormium plants are striking and appeared in almost every garden we visited in the Portland area. Apparently they like the dry summers and moist, mild winters. I've heard they would melt in hot, wet summers in Florida, but I haven't tried growing them myself.

Bold foliage at Cistus Nursery outside Portland

Yucca and agave

Garden scene at Cistus Nursery outside Portland

Kniphofia

Kniphofia at Cistus Nursery outside Portland

Brugmansia
This brugmansia appeared with many other tender plants in the Cistus Nursery "Zonal Denial" room.

Brugmansia at Cistus Nursery outside Portland

Cannas
How could I resist?

Kim and the incredibly tall cannas at Cistus Nursery outside Portland

Did I mention how tall these cannas were? Given, I'm only 5'2" so I'm not the best scale, but these must have been 12 or 15 feet tall. I believe that the tallest ones with the small orange flowers were 'Omega', but I'm not certain.

To see all photos I took at Cistus Nursery, click here.