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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Visiting Dragonfly Farms Nursery

After having a wonderful time at the Bloedel Reserve sale and enjoying a great brunch, Alison and I decided to visit Dragonfly Farms Nursery about which I've previously posted here and here. This place never looks the same two years in a row as Heidi,  Dragonfly's proprietress loves to change things around.  I love this nursery (o.k, I've never met a nursery I didn't like.) Dragonfly's combination of unusual (forgot to take a picture of the small potted grove of wollemia nobilis for sale.) plants, beautiful workhorses, and fabulous garden art make this place truly special.   

I wonder what kind of reception this thing gets?
Nothing unusual here but sempervivums & succulents always make me smile!

I nearly bought an Agave utahhensis but passed.


Can anyone ever have too many dragons in his/her garden? 
Heidi loves evergreens and they're growing on me.  Look at the great combination of shape, size, texture here all acheived with evergreens and  a couple of berberis. 
Mahonia's red foliage looking especially nice.
 
 
Chaenomeles  (flowering quince) 'Pink Storm'  looking rosey!

Spadus shovelarianum 'flore pleno' is the double flowered  form of this beauty which is sometimes confused with Cast Iron Plant.  This is one of the longer-blooming plants available and is surprisingly winter hardy in all zones.

Whenever I see Fritillaria imperialis in bloom, I swear to buy a few when the bulb catalogs come out but always forget. 
This purple stem/orange bloom combination is so lovely in the garden at Dragonfly!  This is going to be the year that I remember to plant some!
 
Face it, these guys are cute!  They could all come home with me!  I don't know where I'd put them...

Here is Alison delighted to find a primrose with leaves that match the brown of her sweater with blooms that match her top.  You can see the flower color better in the next picture.
Is this a designer plant? 

Here's what I picked up at Dragonfly:
 
I had to get one of the primroses pictured above that matches Alison's outfit.
 
Epimedium wushanense
 Persicaria 'Purple Fantasy' which looks fabulous now but will probably look way to much like a lot of the other persicarias I already have later in the season.  Syneilesis aconitifolia which I promise to treat better this time. Cynara baetica ssp maroccana and a couple of double red poppies.  the sempervivum, ceanothis and other stuff came from other green adventures.

Scilla peruviana.  Another that I keep telling myself to order when the bulb catalogues arrive but keep forgetting.


 Another common plant that I've been looking for but haven't seen it at it's usual haunts at the box stores, Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire' I love the bright new growth which retains that color for quite a while.  I now have another one of what the dangerous one might call "an old lady shrub."

By the time we were done with this nursery, all of us were tired and decided to head home.  However, there were a couple more nurseries on the way home and my car seems to automatically drive into the parking lot of any place that sells plants.  


20 comments:

  1. I'm so jealous...I've wanted to visit that nursery for years! I got some 'Purple Fantasy' last fall from Dancing Oaks...it's lovely...will be interesting to see how it ages throughout the year. The leaves themselves green up fairly quickly...but so far, that red chevron is still very prominent...I hope it stays that way ;-)

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    1. You must plan a field trip one of these days. I've never been disappointed when visiting Dragonfly as there are always great plants in abundance!

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  2. More pretty plants. That satellite dish garden is a wow as are the other garden sculptures featured. Reading about your growing interest in evergreens reminds me of a time not too long ago when I thought I would never have an agave or cactus in my yard, on purpose anyway.

    I know the feeling of stopping anywhere that sells plants, I've been known to spend time at the plant displays in the grocery store in a pinch.

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    1. You never know where some rarity you've been searching for will show up! It's really our duty to check out these places!

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  3. Glad you hear your car came with the auto-stop function for nurseries. It's so much easier that way!

    Congrats on your "old lady shrub" (or should that be old man?) and all the other fun plants. Quite the haul!

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    1. I wondered if the zingy new foliage might propel this from old lady/man shrub to kind of cool. Maybe aging hipster broad leaved evergreen?

      It's funny, I bought the car used so I wasn't able to specify what features I wanted. The previous owner must have been a plant enthusiast.

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  4. Oh, I should have stopped with you at the other nurseries. I was tired, though, and I really needed to reward Nigel for being so good (he got a ride on the ferry for his patience). Dragonfly is such a great place, it's a hard act for any other nursery to follow. I hope you don't mind me stealing that picture of me! It's one of the few that I actually like. You got some wonderful pictures of Dragonfly. I need that Fritillaria too. Maybe I'll order extra and we can share them. See if either one of us remembers. And Fie on danger garden for that crack about you being an old man.

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    1. I was pretty tired too and had to drag myself to the last two nurseries but I rarely see either of them this early in the year and wanted to check them out. Nigel was such a good sport about our shopping silliness! Feel free to steal my pictures-I'm glad you liked that one! I think that that wholesale bulb catalog that comes every year requires that one buy larger quantities but the prices are quite low so I'll be watching for it in the mail! As for Danger and the old man comment, it's only fair and you can call me just about anything as long as you don't call me late for dinner!

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  5. Nice plants and some very quirky garden ornaments there!

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    1. The garden in which the nursery sits is also an amazing experience to walk through! When you visit, it should be on your list!

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  6. That Scilla peruviana is fantastic! I must get some!

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    1. It really is amazing and there are more buds down in the foliage so I'm thinking that it has a fairly long bloom period!

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  7. You should look up the 'Katsura' Pieris. No one can accuse that of being an old lady plant.

    Deirdre in Seattle

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    1. One of my gardening friends grows 'Katsura' and it's gorgeous but I've got a soft spot for 'Mountain Fire'

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  8. During my trip out there last summer we visited some great nurseries but Dragonfly Farms was my favorite. One of these days I should post the pictures. If I had a nursery even remotely close to this near me I'd be broke. And Heidi-what a hoot! I hope she's been able to resolve her zoning woes and stays in business a long time.

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    1. I'd love to see your pictures sometime Sue! Heidi is pretty fabulous & I think that the zoning thing is easing a little. It's a good thing that Dragonfly is an hour and a half from me and that Far Reaches is 40 more minutes from Dragonfly because if they were closer, I'd have to get another job to support my addiction!

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  9. I wish we had nurseries like that here in Finland as well. But, we don't! All the nurseries here are similar.. Boring... Lucky you, Peter! Happy weekend!

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    1. You've shown some pictures of beautiful plants at nurseries in Finland. Since our nurseries are mostly open year round and we can do things in the garden through most of the year, it's different here. We are lucky but we miss out on all of that beautiful snow! Happy weekend to you too, Satu!

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  10. Marvelous pictures! That Spadus shovelarianum plant is a hoot!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.