Visiting Marbott's Nursery

Loree at Danger Garden has been posting about visiting Marbott's Nursery for years now.  See her posts here and here.  Imagine my surprise and delight when, on the way to the Portland area garden blogger's plant exchange I drove by Marbotts!  You know that after the exchange, the plant mobile magically found it's way into the nursery's parking lot. It has a tendency automatically find Dairy Queens as well.  Ice cream is a food group, right?  Oh please, this body doesn't just build itself, I have to work at it!  I digress.  Marbott's has been in business since 1930 and they still grow much of their own stock.

This place is all about beautifully grown plants so it's no wonder that the parking lot was full when I stopped by.  The sight and smell of deciduous azaleas greeted me at the entrance.

 Citrus plants seem to be everywhere these days, even in my own greenhouse.  What up with that?  This one looks especially sweet covered with tiny oranges.

Cryptanthus 'Pink Star' (I think) looked especially bright!

Birdbath with a grass fountain.  

Gorgeous Azalea in a corner by the wagons.  Poor thing needs to be the spring star of someone's garden!

 If I hadn't already felt silly for growing tomatoes from seed myself this year, the following would certainly convince me!

What, there are more?

and more...

And more yet.  Did they plant all of the seeds in their packets as well? 

Truth be told, it's been very gratifying to watch those little seedlings continue to grow into plants and it may just happen again next year.

Purple and gold.  Are you folks in Portland fans of the University of Washington Huskies? 

 Glorious tuberous begonias which were started from seed in November to get them to this size by April. There's no rest for folks in the nursery business!  Notice the papyrus on the left.  One of them came home with me.

While the foliage usually isn't anything to write home about, who could resist those big beautiful blooms?

More things growing  in a back greenhouse.

Kalanchoe uniflora 'Coral Bells'  somehow jumped into my cart.  The spent flowers dry and remain on the plant for a while and make a sweet sound when they collide with each other in the breeze on the car ride home.

Interesting area where they heve set up tiny garden vignettes.

Pretty pastels!

Walking into a huge greenhouse full of geraniums (Pelargonium) is quite an experience.  Looking one way.

and the other way.  These popular stalwarts of many gardens provide interesting foliage and mostly hot colored blooms all season long.  They always remind me of a sweet elderly couple in my home town who year after year kept  several  pots of red geraniums on their glassed-in front porch.

Not for sale plants always seem more tempting than those that are available for some reason.

Double Delights Freedom Hydrangea seems like a long name for this innocent looking thing. 

While Marbott's has been in business for years, has some cool old greenhouses and an old time nursery feel, they also carry enough interesting and unusual plants to keep lovers of the same intrigued.

Echium wildpretii  was very tempting but there's simply not room inside the fence for a huge tower of a bloom stalk and I'd worry about planting in one of the hell strips.  Oh well, one can't grow everything, can one?

Aeonium tabuliforme(dinner plat aeonium); a second sighting.  The first time I saw one in person this far north was at Hortlandia this year and now here at Marbott's.  Hope that means that this sweet thing will become more widely offered here. Isn't it interesting looking?

There was also a small selection of eucalyptus - hooray!

This fixture of Northeast Portland  is definitely worth a visit!