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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Fabulous Fronderosa Frolic Part Three

Shopping for Plants!


All of the plant vendors at the Frolic are growers.  One won't find a Monrovia pot  or Proven Winners tag here.  Judith started the sale to help specialty growers and many of them have been coming since the event's inception in 2000.
Steamboat Island is one of the growers that have provided us with Dichroa febrifuga for the past few years.  They specialize in eucalyptus, palms, and some years have grown some of the Restios which I adore!

Drawing a lot of attention was this Salvia uliginosa or Bog Sage.  Beautiful sky blue wands!

I don't remember which agapanthus this is but it sure is gorgeous!

Admiring some of the many crocosmias in  the Far Reaches area.

More plants to find.

Far Reaches brought this Lobelia giberroa that Linda Cochran blogged about here.  I think I'll wait and see how hers fare this winter before I get one myself.

River Rock Nursery had lots of cool stuff including these Embothrium coccineum.  My tiny seedling that I got in February has reached this size already. 

Bloom river always has a great selection of conifers and maples.

Sorry I didn't see a sign for this vendor but she had a lot of great sedum and  sempervivum varieties.

Ian from Desert Northwest brought some mouthwatering banksias.

and Optunia fragilis


A long-time infatuation of mine, this Oleria paniculata really wanted to come home with me but since It's died in the winter several times for me, I decided to wait.

So much green goodness.  Do plan on attending next year's event!

There were many more vendors at the show who had superior plant offerings! 

You simply can't beat this wonderful woodland/riparian setting for an event like this!


Someone else's cart full of some of my favorite plants!  Hooray for new plant purchases!





18 comments:

  1. Wow! That is so wonderful. I like the first people with palms and eucalyptus.... But hands down I would go ape for that embothrium coccineum!!!!!

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    1. I keep trying with embothrium but mine usually don't last very long. This time, I think I've got the right spot & mine has more than doubled in size since February and is now about three feet tall. This is faster growth than any of my previous victims ever thought of. If it keeps doing that each year, I'll have a tree in no time!

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  2. I almost bought one of those Embothrium. I was disappointed that Cistus and Dancing Oaks weren't there. Or could I just not find them?

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    1. They weren't there this year. Most years those two nurseries are there and were still on the list. Sorry I missed you at the Frolic! Next year, we could plan on a place and time to meet and perhaps we could share a picnic?

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    2. A picnic sounds like fun! We should definitely do that! Maybe Loree could come up to Washington, and we could all go.

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  3. So much fun...I'm becoming re-fascinated by Sedums again, for some reason...and wonder what they had for sale...hmmmm

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    1. The sedum vendor has been there for years & always has fun stuff! Maybe next year the Portland bloggers could all come to the sale & visit the several other nurseries in the area. I would suggest car pooling but you'd want to have as much space as possible for plants:)

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  4. A delightful setting for sure, and the selection of plants! Gracious! I don't think I would have been able to contain myself, especially when you teased me with the reference that Steamboat island Nursery is your enabler of choice for Dichroa febrifuga! I have been receiving Far Reaches newsletter for a while now, and am in constant awe of their specialty Crocosmia, though for the most part, I am too shady a character for them to grow well! Agapanthus is the new 'lets see if we can overwinter it here' craze in town! Not sure if I'm going to jump on that bandwagon of seek out a Dichroa from Thimble Farms in BC this fall! Great post!

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    1. Thanks! You'd love to walk through the amazing shade garden at Far Reaches! They have a great variety of meconopsis (lingholm, betonicifolia,etc.) blooming all over the place and seedlings of the same springing up in ditches all around. In addition, they have many unusual and FA-BOO shady characters!

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  5. This post makes me want to visit the great nurseries up in the Blue Mountains, which is where i ordered Salvia Uliginosa from a couple of months ago. All i am looking at is a few little sticks, which are looking deader by the minute. Oh well so much for mail order.

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    1. Sometimes mail order can be tricky! Hopefully your sticks will pull through so that Ben (or whatever monster sneeks into your garden, does damage and blames that cute dog) will enjoy them enough to leave them alone.

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  6. I so much enjoy reading your blog, there are a lot of nice nurseries where you are, your blog is so well set out and easy to read. The salvia is in the front garden, so i can't blame ben for it's death, maybe the neighbours cats, don't like salvia's.

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    1. I'm glad you are enjoying my blog. We are very lucky to have so many wonderful nurseries in our area! Sorry about the demise of your salvia. Will you try again?

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.