Visiting Tsugawa Nursery for the First Time

News Flash!  

We just shared the first tomato from the greenhouse.  It was a Sungold and probably picked a day too soon but it tasted marvelous!  Of course there were tiny tomato plants at McLendon hardware so covered with red cherry tomatoes that one could barely see the leaves (how do they do that?) so cheating was an option. At $4.00 for the 4" pot  that must have had at least a pint and a half of fruit, it would have been not a bad deal.  Really, these plants looked very sad but the fruit was amazing.  There was a whole shelving unit of them and tomatoes were falling all over the ground beneath.  Sorry for the digression.  Really excited about that first tomato. Three Early Girls are also starting to turn red.  Very fun.  As my blogging pal Jean (Dotty Plants Greenhouse Journal) says, "Gardening is cheaper than therapy -- and you get tomatoes!"

Tsugawa Nursery, in Woodland is visible from Interstate five.  When driving from Tacoma to Portland, the sign on the side of the freeway means that we're almost in Portland and lots of fabulous nurseries too excited to get to P town to stop but curiosity always elicits a promise to stop on the way back.  On the way back it's often past closing and if not, plant lust has been sated for a while and the plant mobile is full of treasures. Urged on by posts by Evan (The Practical Plant Geek) and Loree (Danger Garden.) I finally decided on a recent trip to Oregon that we'd leave early and make time to visit Tsugawa.  It was a good decision!  Here's a little of what I saw on our fast walk through the nursery:

From the road, it looks nice enough but I wasn't prepared for how large and well-stocked the nursery is.

The great conifer selection goes on and on.

Oh, and you get to park in a lot across the street and peruse a discount center the size of a small nursery. Lots of temptations!

Taylor's Gold Tip Pine seems to be following me around but I must remind myself that I don't really have space for a pine.  They tend not to like growing in the dark beneath a bunch of other foliage. Funny thing that.

Shrubs for any situation. 

Meanwhile, back in the conifer section the cones of Abies koreana 'Silberperle' were looking very sweet.

Abies koreana 'Silberlocke' is so tempting but they grow into trees for which I've no space.  How long do you think I could keep it fairly small in a pot?

Rhododendrons everywhere.  Don't remember the name of this one but isn't the yellow and orange combination gorgeous?  A background of ceanothus blooms doesn't hurt either.

Delicious!

And deserving of a second look. 

A little tropicalismo.

Opuntia 'Santa Rita Tubac' is so handsome with it's purple pads which are, unfortunately, covered with glochids.

Okay folks, what is it with just about every nursery carrying citrus plants that have to live inside during the winter?  I'm not faulting the industry, just wondering if this a new trend?

 The main indoor area is full of wonders.

Setcreasea dies to the ground in cold weather but in a mild winter like the one we just had, it resprouts.

Many beautiful begonias but these two were especially interesting. 

Begonia 'Elephant Ear' almost came home with me but there are already enough of begonias in the Outlaw collection!

 Pretty fuchsia.  The humming birds were urging me to buy more.

So what's the big thing about pot being legal in Washington?  These have been available in nurseries for years!  This is the only kind of pot that excites me. (okay, that's a lie, I also like plain terra cotta)

Is there a color, besides true blue, that isn't represented by a petunia?

Bonsai.

A whole building devoted to water gardens.

Water lettuce anyone? 

No fish in this large pond?   There were small koi for sale in a room behind the yellow wall.

More water.

Cute benches!

More annual fun!

This gravel path is flanked by hoop houses each containing great stuff.  Two are full of rhododendrons, a couple overflowing with veggies, etc.  This is not a nursery that one can easily breeze through.  

There was a Japanese Maple area, another devoted to fruit trees, yet another to shade and flowering trees.  This is a full service nursery with very little stuff and lots of great plants!  I won't drive by so quickly again!