The Fabulous Frondrosa Frolic 2014

An apology:  I so enjoyed this event that I forgot to take pictures of the vendors on the other level.  There was a great sempervivum grower who also had bulbs for saffron crocus.  Their farm produces saffron and it must be beautiful in the fall.  I also didn't take pictures of the artists present, maybe because my hands were too full of a flat of assorted sempervivum and  my latest purchase from Barbara Sanderson of Glass Gardens Northwest. Love her fiddlestix! My mule was there but was already busy carrying plants to the plantmobile.

That being said, the day was gorgeous, the setting, as always, beautiful and the plants - oh the plants!  Several of my favorite growers were in attendance.  The Frondrosa Frolic is, for me, kind of the last hurrah of summer plant sales.  The fall sales are fun but the frolic is a festival of high summer fun where it's easy to believe that the warm weather will last forever!

 Here we see some of the offerings of Celestial Dream Gardens.

The event was well attended and as you can see from the wagon (not mine) that people were happily buying plants!

Wind Poppy Farm and Nursery is a regular vendor at the frolic but I've never visited them.  Must rectify that situation!

Part of Far Reaches Farm area, fabulous as always.

The Desert Northwest had incredible xeric plants including some splendid Australians.

 

Here we see Sean of Cistus knighting a customer.   "You are now Sir Yucca Linearifolia!"

Kelly from Far Reaches entertaining shoppers.

The Frolic is as much about people (plant people, hurray) as it is about plants and it's fun to see folks from Washington and Oregon all together in this one place.  Once the sale closes, the vendors have dinner and most spend the night before heading home, great fellowship opportunity!

You never know who you'll run intohere!  This lovely lady is waiting to purchase plants from the Fern Madame herself, Judith Jones, the organizer of this fun event!

Alison, Nigel, Tom and I arranged to meet here, enjoy the Frolic and rendezvous at the Maltby Café (an unforgettable experience in large and delicious breakfast food - You must go!) before heading to Flower World to look at yet more plants. 

 

Judith's garden is full of mementos of her twenty six years of creating gardens at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.  Do you suppose discs are giant Sluggo pellets?

Judith is a fern grower/exprt and her garden has some lovely examples of those but she's also a plant addict (I say that with a great deal of respect and admiration) as is clear from her other collections.

 

There are several large greenhouses on the property of which only one was full of ferns for sale.  This one, into which I peeked,  houses Judith's growing collection of abutilons among others.   

This newest addition to her garden was from the garden,  Judith created for the 2014 Northwest Flower and Garden Show.   

Unfortunately, she says that this was her last year to create a garden for the show.  What a legacy of participation and creativity she's left and how wonderful for her to have mementos such as  this one of her many creations!

I've always loved chimney pots in gardens and these are very nice!

So many areas to sit and visit or simply ponder the meaning of life in this peaceful garden full of  interesting objects.

I don't remember seeing the bees in previous years but it's possible that I simply missed them.  It was great fun to stand and watch the busy inhabitants of these hives coming and going in a fairly predictable pattern.  I wonder if there are air traffic controllers on top of those rocks?

Another spectabulous memento of a NWFGS garden.  This could come live with me whenever they get tired of it there!

Banners adding a jolt of color to the otherwise green scene.

This area of the garden, where the roots of new trees grow down  from the tops of ancient stumps, is magical.   There are several of these.  Were the trees chopped down at some point?  Forest fire?  Curious. 

There are always surprises in this garden!

The back lawn where meals are served to vendors and friends.   

Tools being this well organized is a sign of a disturbed mind.  Or maybe they just knew that hundreds of people would be traipsing through the garden. 

One last look back at the sales area before we head out for brunch!

 

 There are lots of great businesses on the way to Gold Bar and, as has become our tradition, we stopped at a local grower's roadside stand to get our years supply of fresh peaches.  The freezer is now full of sliced peaches for smoothies, cobblers, and crumbles, and enough peach freezer jam to feed a third world country.  It's kind of pretty in there with the colorful jars of peach and strawberry jam artfully lining the door crammed into every nook and cranny available.  BTW, I found the best peach crumble recipe ever here. Just make it and don't skimp on the butter. 

 

Oh well, as another school year is about to begin and my carefree summer vacation draws to a close, it's fun to look back on another Fabulous Fronderosa Frolic and look forward to the next.  Do plan to attend!

 

See posts about previous Frolics here.   Happy Labor Day to my friends in the U.S.

 

 

Visiting Dragonfly Farms and Celestial Dream Gardens

The next stops on the Geek, the Nut, and  the Outlaw tour of cool nurseries (after Valley Nursery and Windcliff) were Dragonfly  Farms and Celestial Dream Gardens.

Where's Waldo Evan?  Watch out Vickie, that gunnera is trying to get you too!

Dragonfly Farms always has a great assortment of plants and cool garden art.  Notice the Wollemia nobilis in the black square container!  ( From Wikipedia - Wollemia is a genus of coniferous tree in the family Araucariaceae.  Wollemia was only known through fossil records until the Australian species Wollemia nobilis was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales, in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided sandstone gorge 150 kilometres north-west of Sydney.
In both botanical and popular literature the tree has been almost universally dubbed the Wollemi Pine, although it is not a true pine (genus Pinus) nor a member of the pine family (Pinaceae), but rather is related to Agathis and Araucaria in the family Araucariaceae. The oldest fossil of the Wollemi tree has been dated to 200 million years ago.
The Wollemi pine is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, and is legally protected in Australia. A Recovery Plan has been drawn up, outlining strategies for the management of this fragile population; the overall objective is to ensure that this species remains viable in the long-term) 

It's always exciting to see this "living fossil" tree.  Just to the right of the tree is another rare sight, Heidi, the nursery owner, actually standing still.  Heidi is so full of energy and enthusiasm for plants and gardening that she's most often leading a lucky customer to see a cool plant or keeping the gardens and nursery looking great!

At the time of our visit, the annual poppies were spectacular.  Such lovely and carefree plants!

Mosaic hat anyone?

These would make beautiful hose guards at the edges of beds!

The dish desert was in bloom!

If I had the space, this would be an idea that I'd definitely copy, maybe with a big agave in the center.

'Drama Queen' living up to her name!

 

 

Notice how few flowers are in this shot and yet how much color is present - masterful!

And, as Loree says, if you just believe hard enough, there's always an agave.  The great thing about the metal ones is that they're hardy in any climate and take our wet winters in stride!

Ditto for their cacti friends!

It's a joy to walk through the gardens and see what new scenes Heidi has put together.  This poppy field with a rusty piece of farm equipment was especially delightful!

The branch shadows make this area even more lovely.

Sweet and shy Lilium canadense var. coccineum from Edelweiss Perennials

has a surprising  interior!

Eryngium 'Miss Willmott's Ghost' which we'd later see in many of the gardens at the Portland Garden Bloggers' Fling.

Jeff at Celestial Dream Gardens was kind enough to open for us.  I was so busy enjoying the many cool plants that I forgot to take pictures of them (bad blogger!) That didn't stop us from buying quite a few!  Here's Jeff behind one of our boxes of plants.

It never ceases to amaze me that there can be so many fabulous nurseries in our area, each of them carrying slightly different inventory so that they all must be visited! 

Celestial Dream's Facebook page says that they'll be at the Fronderosa Frolic on August 9 so I'll start nagging now.  Do plan to attend this cool event which "has become the horticultural equivalent of Woodstock."  It's a great sale which includes independent growers and yard artists (some who only sell here)  from Port Townsend to Eugene!  Not only is the sale itself great but the setting is gorgeous and you are encouraged to pack a picnic and eat either at tables in a forest glade or on the sandy river bank below.  There are interesting produce/plant stands, antique stores, and yard art places on the way in (or out) and we always get at least one case of fresh peaches to freeze for the winter on this trip.  I hope to see you there this year.  Also, you can hit Flower world and Molbak's on the way back to Interstate five. (And Wells Medina if you still have the energy!)  Portlanders, come on up for the day,  spend the night and explore Seattle (Bedrock Industries, Swanson's Nursery, City People's, The arboretum, Sky Nursery) the next day before heading home!

Frolicing at Fancy Fronds Nursery

Each year for the last 13 or so, Judith Jones, owner of Fancy Fronds Nursery, hosts the Fronderosa Frolic.  What is a Fronderosa Frolic? 

“Fronderosa Frolic is a celebration of plants and summer…that has become the horticultural equivalent of Woodstock”.
- (Val Easton, Seattle Times, 4/8/04)

"A festival of rare plants, garden art, artifacts, scintillating botanical conversations with some of the Northwests premier specialty growers and garden artists. Specialty nurseries are rapidly disappearing due to the aggressive marketing done by the large wholesale growers. Many of the new plants introduced by these commercial growers are first discovered or grown by keen growers operating small specialty nurseries. Please support them if you are interested in a diverse range of plants that have been correctly identified and tested to thrive in your gardens."  Judith Jones

There is a raffle every hour of donations from our vendors to benefit the Equine Stewardship Center, NWESC. This non profit horse rescue and rehabilitation center also offers classes in equine care. Fancy Fronds has been using horse manure for garden beds and as a potting additive for over thirty years. Bring a bucket or bag and you can take away some of this "horsey goodness"!

You may remember my posts about last years Frolic.  If not, you can see them here, here, here, and here.

For me, this is the last hurrah of summer.  Sure there are a couple more sales in the fall but this one holds a special place in my heart because it happens while I can still believe that summer and thinking mostly of gardening can last forever.  Just a couple of weeks before the major tasks of planning for the academic/choral year and the business of working six days a week has me stealing a few moments in the garden again, this event celebrates the carefree joy of  the season.

One of Far Reaches Farm's tables filled with treasure.  The climbing aconitum on the far right is one of the several beauties that hitched a ride home with me. 

Salvia dombeyi is another.  Here's Kelly's description of the plant: "Salvia of the Gods. A small padded kneeling bench is handy to have in front of this plant to make it easier for garden visitors as they spontaneously fall to their knees. We forgive its need to be grown frost-free because the flowers rule. Immense red pendulous flowers from the huge calyces."

Among the vendors were many long time participants  and some newer ones as well. 

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Japonicum' showing off  soft seed heads.  Growing 4 -5 feet, and hardy to zone 6, this is one gorgeous grass!

 How cool to see Celestial Dream Gardens at the sale!  Such nice people (plant folks tend to be that way!) and cool plants!

Some of Celestial Dream Gardens' offerings.  Looks dangerous!

Another thing that makes this event special is the bucolic setting.  We don't see scenes like this at many plant sales.  Chimacum Woods nursery from Port Ludlow was lucky enough to use this as the backdrop for their fabulous selection of unusual rhododendrons. 

While unusual plants are the main focus of the event, there is also quite a bit of beautiful garden art and furniture  available as well.

Couldn't stop looking at this simple but effective succulent combination.

Another plant area.  While this is a big sale, the vendors are spread out through the large property so, even though there are a lot of folks in attendance,  it doesn't seem horribly crowded.

 The Desert Northwest tables contained an array of delights including this one which almost came home with me.

Look at those seductive blooms.  Can you imagine a tree covered with these in August?  Glorious.

And the foliage is evergreen, who could ask for anything more?

Ian brought with him Leucadendrons 'Safari Sunset' and 'Jester' (pictured) among other wonders including a couple of Grevillea x gaudichaudii that he brought just for Loree and me.  Hooray!

The Frolic is the brainchild of and is hosted by Judith Jones, an international expert on ferns, co founder of the Northwest Perennial Alliance, and participant in the Northwest Flower and Garden Show since its inception.   Here she is doing what she does best, sharing her expertise with others.   I came across a nice article about her titled, "Fern Star Judith Jones can take you way beyond swords and maidenhair."  Very clever!  To read more about the self proclaimed Fern Madame, check out the article here.

How nice to see that mine is not the only garden with plants in pots waiting to be planted.  My garden is much smaller and the job easier though so I have no excuse.

Oh my goodness, look what's just escaped from his cage!  Judith's garden is full of whimsy!

Hosta la vista baby!  This monster snail could eat every hosta in the state!  We were warned about storing that nuclear waste  at Hanford!

A few pots out by the garage.

An oft photographed part of the garden. 

And a cute detail or two.

Still love this gazebo!

Behind the house and back garden we walk down to the river.

Something's been here before.   Hmmm, wonder what it was?

Vendors camp out by the river, some in tents, others in more comfortable digs.

Tell me I'm not the only one who thought of Matt Foley, motivational speaker when I saw these vans down by the river.

Such a beautiful site, it might not be such a bad thing!

You are welcome to bring a lunch and picnic anywhere on the grounds and this area would be a lovely spot for such a thing.  There's also a trampoline so you can work off those calories.  Didn't notice the zip line across the river this year.  I wonder if it's been taken down or if I just didn't see it.

Now these are some Fancy Fronds!

You never know what you'll come across in this garden but no one would be surprised if the giant whose chair this is popped out of the forest.

More of those fancy fronds!

Awww, I didn't know that Big Bird had passed away. 

Fun fused glass pieces.

 

 

 

Wonderful blown glass by Barbara Sanderson of Glass Gardens Northwest.  These "fiddleheads" are some of my favorite things that Barbara creates.  Next year I'm going to get a few!

To see more of Barbara's work, go here.

 

Another of my favorite things about attending the frolic is all of the cool places along the way.  We always stop at this nursery/fruit stand to get delicious seasonal fruit.  I'm a big fan of peaches and since the frolic takes place during peach season, it's easy to decide what's for lunch.  I picked up a whole box of them as they are so inexpensive now and they freeze well. 

 

 

They also have more than just run of the mill plants like this beautifully-shaped pelargonium.

 

 

And always quite a variety of sizes of brugmansias. 

 

Fancy Fronds nursery in Gold Bar isn't far from Flower World and Molbaks, and just a hop skip and a jump from Wells Medina Nursery so there are a lot of great plant adventures to be had if you're contemplating attending the event next year.  Hope to see you there!