Jungle Fever Exotics - There's no place like home.

Sometimes we forget how lucky we are to have so many wonderful nurseries so close to us!

Jungle Fever Exotics, one of my favorites for years now, is only a 10 minute drive from my house. In the 1980's, long before the big tropicalismo craze, way before we had Home Depot and Lowes selling palms, before mainstream nurseries carried brugmansias and musa basjoo, when one had to buy hardy cacti, agaves, and gunnera from specialty catalogues, Jungle Fever owner, Jerry Cearley, was selling special plants, grown in and around his small home, at farmers markets.  After about five years of that, he and his partner Darlene, who makes wonderful artwork for inside or out, opened Jungle Fever.  This place played a major role in introducing cool exotics to our area and continues to carry great new, unusual  plants!  If you're in the area and wonder where to find eucalyptus, a wide variety of bamboo, palms, desert plants, hardy large leaved beauties, and even selected natives, Jungle Fever is the place to look.    Loree from Danger Garden has visited a few times and you can see her beautiful photographs of the place here .   I stopped by recently (o.k. I'm there a lot but this time I remembered my camera) and snapped a few shots of things I found interesting. 

Usually the first thing I notice about the place, having become accustomed to the oasis of palms and bamboos one sees from the street, is the fragrance.  There's almost always an intoxicating scent wafting over the place.  On this trip the perfume of Mt. Etna broom (genista aetnensis) mingled with that of the single creamy yellow climbing roses that ramble through the fence and there were some undertones of citrus and lily.  Tempting as it was to just sit in the parking area and enjoy that olifactory delight, the fever (a.k.a. plant lust)  pulled me through the magic gate. 

Rhodocoma capensis one of which came home with me earlier this year and has nearly filled it's new gallon pot home.

Loquat, citrus and guava hanging out with figs (hiding) and others in the fruiting plants area.

Looking sharp!

  Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor

Look at all those cute pups!  Manzanitas and yucca rostrata in the background.

Agaves and bowling balls, a classic combination originating at Sissinghurst, I believe.

What's that hiding in the background? Could it be?

Yes it is, a dinosaur lurking back there.  Lucky for us, this one's a plant eater.  They can be trained to eat only weeds.  What wonderful biological control!  But seriously, the head can reside in a water feature and is piped so that it can drool into your very own pre-historic swamp.  Add a fogger and you're practically paleozoic.  (Yes I know. Mesozoic, but I liked the alliteration.)

Do you need this?  (Louis)

Or these?

Or more of these?

How about this cute trachycarpus wagnerianus?

Grevellias in the mist

Opuntia basilaris sitting on a cool gunera leaf bench.  Dig the faces in the background!

Nice selection of water plants.

Including this lovely lotus

Phormium and phygelius, a great combination.

 

Brugmansia 'Miner's Claim' Love that multi-colored foliage!

Love the fragrance of these!

Who doesn't enjoy the clean, sweet scent of citrus blossoms?

 A shy abutilon flirts.

These folks seem to be enjoying their time at the nursery.

Walking through Jungle fever feels like visiting someone's garden except here, if you see something cool, it's not considered bad form to take it home with you.

Is this someone's non-gardening partner sitting patiently holding the wallet? 

Do you get the feeling you're being watched?  Could be this guy.

Might be this jungle cat that recently showed up.  Unlike some of the larger jungle cats one hears about, this one won't eat you.

Customers often say, "I've driven by this place for years and can't believe I haven't stopped before.  This is the coolest place in Tacoma!"

Even the floor inside the greenhouse has a great vibe.

This ceiba speciosa trunk looks spiky and dangerous!  Who might like plants like that?

Jerry has these all wired up and ready to hang in your trees.  He's had them make it through the winter outside in his garden.

 More of Darlene's artistry

Spanish moss for sale inside. 

 Jungle Fever always has a nice selection of carniverous plants. Step into my parlor said the Sarracenia to the fly!

Heading inside to pay, don't forget to check out the houseplant selection.

This cordyline was calling my name.

NOOO! Don't leave yet, make sure you check out Jerrys garden!



This is just a small tour of what is visible from the sidewalk.

 Love this!

This nursery truly is amazing, has a wonderfully funky vibe and always great, unusual plants and statuary!  Another benefit is that it's only a couple of minutes from the Point Defiance Park and Zoo and the Vashon Island Ferry...Hmmm.

One caution:  When you go to this place, you'll most likely catch Jungle Fever yourself.  Fortunately, this is easily cured with a carload or two of plants!  Two words:  GO NOW!

Has it been a year already?

It was a year ago today that I first hit the orange publish button on blogger and began my journey as a blogger.  I'd read a lot of blogs and even commented on some but didn't think I'd have much to say that would be of interest to other folks on a blog of my own.  At the urging of Ms. Danger, I started anyway.   A year and 276 posts later, I still don't know if I'll run out of things to post about but  for the time being, I'm having fun.  Perhaps in the future I won't post five days a week as I have this year.  The most interesting thing about blogging has been meeting other gardeners and feeling like a part of a community of like minded (and perhaps misguided) souls who love to get their hands dirty.  In reading blogs from around the country and world, I've gained a broader understanding of and appreciation for the differences in regional garden styles, plant palettes, and practices.  In reading blogs from my own region, I've learned about exciting new plants to try in my garden.  Thank you all for reading my blog, leaving comments, welcoming me to the blogosphere and helping me to gain more knowledge of plants and gardening!

 I was thinking of doing  a drawing for this post but will do that for my 300th post.   Instead, today I'll post about a visit to Jungle Fever, a nursery and plantsman (Jerry Cearley) who have been instrumental in my green education and formation as a gardener and plant fanatic over the last 20 or so years. 

Jungle Fever is a small nursery specializing in hardy exotics.  Originally I was drawn here by the huge fragrant flowers of brugmansias but came to love the many tropical appearing large leaved plants that are surprisingly hardy here.  Jungle Fever has always carried a lot of beautiful  Australian natives and desert plants from our own continent  like cacti and agaves.  It wasn't until recently that I started appreciating those and later than that that I began to like palms, another Jungle Fever staple.  A visit to this nursery, 15 minutes from my house, is like stepping into a mini tour of jungles and deserts of the world. Once inside, it's difficult  to remember  that we're just yards from a busy street!   When the big Restio craze hit, Jungle fever was there to supply our plant lust and on this visit, I noticed some great Rhodocoma capensis! Carnivorous and other bog/water plants play on the sales tables  along with a fairly specialized offering of  great annuals that you won't find at a box store.

Just outside the entrance was this grevillea  in gorgeous bloom.  Cisco Morris learned about this group of plants and their hardiness in our region from Jerry. 

Jungle fever also has some funky  garden art!

I'll shut up now and let you look around a little. 

Agave alba mediopicta

Spiky goodness

Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor'

Agave  parryi

Yucca rostrata

Some of the tables of small perennials and unusual annuals.

Hedychium 'Tara'

Schefflera delavayi

Cordyline

And a familiar cordyline admirer

Giant papyrus which came home with me.

Baby Tetrapanax

Clematis 'Early Sensation'

Tricyrtis

There's something here for everyone!  O.K. every gardener.

There's even a nice inside space with a collection of less than hardy beauties.

This keeps following me around!   I'll probably succumb eventually.

Roses and palms, what a nice combination!

Jerry's garden is just behind the nursery and a stroll up the sidewalk should not be missed.

The house sits on a corner lot.  On one side there are large plants that provide shade and on the other side is a dry sunny garden that looks more like something from southern California than it does a garden in the Pacific Northwest.

Beautiful 30-year-old Agave parryi

Details make all the difference!

We'll stop here to admire the remains of  last year's agave bloom stalk about which you can read here.

 

Also no longer  with us this year is Jerry's partner Darlene Allard who died suddenly just before Christmas.  It was she who created all of the exquisite mosaic, fused glass, and beaded work around the nursery.  Her sense of humor and talent will be sorely missed.

 

If you're in the area, especially during the summer, this is a special place and wonderful nursery not to be missed.  Thanks Jerry and Darlene for all these years of friendship, great plants,  education, and inspiration!