One of the many things to love here is driving through the garden on the way to the parking area.
The many seating areas come in handy if you have a non gardener along!
Wish you had a nursery this fabulous nearby? The good news is that they do mail order so you can visit anytime! Check it out here.
Spiny creatures!
Those large Yucca rostratas are stunning!
Colletia hystrix is also known as Barbed wire bush for good reason. This is a seriously dangerous plant!
Pseudopanax discolor, an evergreen New Zealander is gorgeous but only hardy to zone 9 and my green house is already quite full in the winter!
The charms of Myrsine africana 'Scarlett Marglin' made me rethink that too full thing...
Wisteria is a grand plant in other people's gardens!
So many great plants. Lots of Fremontodendron in the foreground!
Blue and gold, a classic combination!
If you visited during the Portland Fling last Summer, you know that this is a place that sometimes makes it difficult to believe that it's in the soggy Pacific Northwest!
Musa basjoo from Japan, Rhodocoma capensis and Melianthus major from South Africa among others. Isn't it amazing how many plants are available to us these days?
And, um, this...
Alison and Vickie resting for a moment.
But then it was time to pack our purchases in the plant mobile and take off for more nurseries!
I think we sat on that exact same bench! Brings back so many great memories Peter :) and that place is a paradise for a plant lover!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it a terrific place?
DeleteIt was hot inside the Big Top that day! Where is that seating area at the top of your post? I don't remember ever seeing it.
ReplyDeleteThe big top does get a bit toasty! That seating area is in the hall of interesting shade plants that functions as an exit from the big top (opposite the cash register) and the entrance to the rest of the nursery.
DeleteI have a photo of you guys Mark and Gaz on this same bench. What a great nursery and great memories of the Fling. Thanks Peter for the tour!
ReplyDeleteIt's always a pleasure to visit Cistus. Actually, I went there looking for a plant I saw in your post about going to Cistus with your mom.
DeleteAll those great plants in equally great setting makes Cistus a must-see if I ever make it up that way. It amazes me to see more Yucca rostrata in nurseries there than here.
ReplyDeleteYou have so much fun on these adventures.
I'm surprised to hear that there are more Yucca rostrata here than there! Isn't that interesting.
DeleteWhat could be more fun than visiting nurseries with other plant enthusiasts?
Brings back memories. Mail order yes, but I want bigger plants (which cost a lot to ship)! My memory of that place was *hot*, both inside and out. So much to love, and seeing wonderful plants for the first time (like plume poppy -- cough, cough)
ReplyDeleteI think the "um" cactus looks a lot like organ pipe cactus Stenocereus thurberi but I'm no expert.
That area can get pretty hot in the summer! They're always at least ten degrees hotter than it is at my house! (I've got the box, the tetrapanax is dug and looking good, just need to rip some of those plume poppies out of the ground. I'm really far behind in the garden this spring.
DeleteI knew it looked like some sort of organ!
At first glance I thought Alison was picking thorns/glochids out of her palm! Now I see she's probably looking up a plant on her phone.
ReplyDeleteYour photos make me want to hop in the car and drive out there right now. It's been a month since I've been there!
Wow! A month? Time slips away so easily in the busy spring season!
DeleteI visited Cistus 8 years ago, before I knew of any of you PNW garden bloggers. Was very impressed at such nicely-done zonal denial...the highlight of a day-long Portland visit. Such variety to be sure.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it even then!
DeleteI tend to visit on days when the weather will not allow actual gardening to take place. Note to self: visit Cistus on a fair day.
ReplyDeleteThe big top can get quite toasty on hot days so fair and with mild temps is the best combo!
DeleteCistus looks as though it belongs here, in sunny, dry SoCal. They need to open Cistus South. I know, I know: mail order. It's not the same, though.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping for a Cistus North somewhere in the Seattle/Tacoma Area! Maybe it should become a franchise...
DeleteI am with Alan! I have ordered a few must tries from Cistus and David has been so helpful and they are all thriving! But I really wish I could just go shopping and drive home with a big specimen. Bit of a road trip! from Houston : ) Thank you for bringing back happy memories!
ReplyDeleteWe're so fortunate to have so many exceptional nurseries in our region! The fling was great fun!
DeleteSo much temptation in one place. Now that I'll have a greenhouse, it's even worse. That thing is going to be full the first winter.
ReplyDeleteWill your parents have any room in the greenhouse? (Silly question, I know!)
DeleteI have absolutely no idea how we lived before GPS either. Actually I do - I got lost all the time and kept tons of maps in my car. But I digress, too :) What an amazing looking nursery! I also did a double take, as in, this nursery is in Portland?! Such extraordinary desert looking plants! I can see where it would be difficult not to leave with treasures from such a place!
ReplyDeleteIt's so true about life before GPS. Stopping for directions, wasting all kinds of shopping time trying to find places. Crazy! It is a great place and always has lots of tempting plants!
DeleteI hope to get to Cistus sometime in the near future, if and when I get that Portland field trip figured out. I am not a collector of rare and unusual or tropical plants like you are, but they are fun to look at.
ReplyDeleteCistus is worth a visit! They sell a lot of very hardy things as well.
DeleteAaaah, what sweet memories! With any luck I'll be able to go back this summer--and maybe drive home with one of them Yucca rostratas, provided there's enough room in the car. Knock on wood!
ReplyDelete