Winter Visiting

 

A couple of  weekends  ago (before the fog took over) I decided to take the advice of many of blog pals and go visit a nursery (like I need any urging) to enjoy the many green offerings and see what's blooming this time of the year.

 

So, did we go to Holland?  No goofball, we just visited Windmill Nursery in Sumner.

 

There are a few interesting shops housed in the block of homes that the nursery bought and incorporated into their space and a cafe in a newly constructed building. I'd never wandered all the way to the back of the garden but was glad I did for there was this interesting green-roofed garden shed.  I can almost hear Miracle Max and Valerie (Princess Bride) arguing inside. 

 

       "Ever since Prince Humperdinck fired him, his confidence has been shattered." 

       "Why'd you say that name? You promised me you would never say that name!"
       "What, Humperdinck?"
       "Aahaahh!"
       "Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!"
       "I'm not listening!"

The garden is only MOSTLY dead. Besides, spring is a miracle and you rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.

Acer griseum is beautiful but I'm always tempted to try and clean it up.  

 You never know who you might meet in the bushes.  Geeze, put a coat on man, it's cold outside!

Windmill often has a nice collection of pots at fairly reasonable prices.

What treasures did I see?  Well quite a few and this Grevillia juniperina 'Lava Cascade' from Xera would have come home with me if it hadn't been in a huge section of the nursery filled with plants that weren't for sale.  Maybe these will be part of Windmill's display at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show?

Although Hellebores are everywhere this time of year, they still catch my attention.

 

 

This agave has grown considerably since last I visited it but I really don't need another big plant to haul inside in the winter.  Sigh.

 Echiveria 'Topsy Turvy' is a favorite.  This one is quite nice but I already have a few wintering inside my little glass room. 

This opuntia santa rita 'Tubac' is one of two that were at the nursery in June.  One came home with me and I'm leaving it outside as an experiment.  Mine looked fine until the latest few days in the mid 20's.  We'll see what happens.

Staghorn ferns look awsome in other people's collections.  They never call out to me to give them a ride to my garden though.

 There was another area  behind closed doors (unlocked though) with NFS plants.  It's always a good, if frustrating, thing when the lens of your camera gets foggy from the warmth and moisture of the greenhouse.

 Through another set of doors is an area, usually filled with vegetable and herb starts, which now contained quite a collection labeled "Wholesale Only."  gorgeous Aeonium 'Cyclops' had me wondering how to get a wholesale account.

 This Schefflera  grove from Monrovia gave me hope that there would be wider planting of these gems in our area.  By the way, all three of my Scheffleras have survived our week and a half of mid 20's weather without a blemish (so far, knock on wood.)

 

 

 

 

Hooray, I'm not the only one who doesn't vacuum the leaves from his plants as often as he should.

The part of Windmill that I always visit during the winter is the houseplant section.  This little water feature, surrounded by large specemins of tropical plants, always makes spring seem not so far away.  And on the bright side, there are no huge snakes hanging from the branches in this mini tropics.

 

Oh well, out into the cold.  This is an interesting sphere planting.  Topiary without the nearly constant trimming.  Hmmm.

This lion table base (I'm imagining) made me smile.  It was almost as if the cats were stretching to reach the sun.

 

Spring is only 54 days away!