Winter Visiting

 

A couple of  weekends  ago (before the fog took over) I decided to take the advice of many of blog pals and go visit a nursery (like I need any urging) to enjoy the many green offerings and see what's blooming this time of the year.

 

So, did we go to Holland?  No goofball, we just visited Windmill Nursery in Sumner.

 

There are a few interesting shops housed in the block of homes that the nursery bought and incorporated into their space and a cafe in a newly constructed building. I'd never wandered all the way to the back of the garden but was glad I did for there was this interesting green-roofed garden shed.  I can almost hear Miracle Max and Valerie (Princess Bride) arguing inside. 

 

       "Ever since Prince Humperdinck fired him, his confidence has been shattered." 

       "Why'd you say that name? You promised me you would never say that name!"
       "What, Humperdinck?"
       "Aahaahh!"
       "Humperdinck! Humperdinck! Humperdinck!"
       "I'm not listening!"

The garden is only MOSTLY dead. Besides, spring is a miracle and you rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.

Acer griseum is beautiful but I'm always tempted to try and clean it up.  

 You never know who you might meet in the bushes.  Geeze, put a coat on man, it's cold outside!

Windmill often has a nice collection of pots at fairly reasonable prices.

What treasures did I see?  Well quite a few and this Grevillia juniperina 'Lava Cascade' from Xera would have come home with me if it hadn't been in a huge section of the nursery filled with plants that weren't for sale.  Maybe these will be part of Windmill's display at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show?

Although Hellebores are everywhere this time of year, they still catch my attention.

 

 

This agave has grown considerably since last I visited it but I really don't need another big plant to haul inside in the winter.  Sigh.

 Echiveria 'Topsy Turvy' is a favorite.  This one is quite nice but I already have a few wintering inside my little glass room. 

This opuntia santa rita 'Tubac' is one of two that were at the nursery in June.  One came home with me and I'm leaving it outside as an experiment.  Mine looked fine until the latest few days in the mid 20's.  We'll see what happens.

Staghorn ferns look awsome in other people's collections.  They never call out to me to give them a ride to my garden though.

 There was another area  behind closed doors (unlocked though) with NFS plants.  It's always a good, if frustrating, thing when the lens of your camera gets foggy from the warmth and moisture of the greenhouse.

 Through another set of doors is an area, usually filled with vegetable and herb starts, which now contained quite a collection labeled "Wholesale Only."  gorgeous Aeonium 'Cyclops' had me wondering how to get a wholesale account.

 This Schefflera  grove from Monrovia gave me hope that there would be wider planting of these gems in our area.  By the way, all three of my Scheffleras have survived our week and a half of mid 20's weather without a blemish (so far, knock on wood.)

 

 

 

 

Hooray, I'm not the only one who doesn't vacuum the leaves from his plants as often as he should.

The part of Windmill that I always visit during the winter is the houseplant section.  This little water feature, surrounded by large specemins of tropical plants, always makes spring seem not so far away.  And on the bright side, there are no huge snakes hanging from the branches in this mini tropics.

 

Oh well, out into the cold.  This is an interesting sphere planting.  Topiary without the nearly constant trimming.  Hmmm.

This lion table base (I'm imagining) made me smile.  It was almost as if the cats were stretching to reach the sun.

 

Spring is only 54 days away!

A Quick Run through Windmill Nursery

The other day after work I got to drive over to Alison's House to collect a plant (Erythrina crista-galli) that our pal Loree sent  from the Portland area bloggers' plant exchange for me.  Alison's garden is looking especially gorgeous right now  and I got to see her new greenhouse and "Alison's Folly" with my own eyes.  Her whole new front yard is fab!  It would be a shame to be so close to Windmill Nursery and not stop by for a visit even if there was less than an hour before they closed. Here's a quick spin through some  of the nursery.  (Visit many previous visits here.)

If I had a bigger garden, I'd grow Ekianthus  because they have such cool flowers.  This one, E. campanulatus, is sweet!

So nice to see Pernettya mucronata 'Rubra', one of my favorite shrubs for sale.  Beautiflul evergreen leaves, pretty pure white blossoms and truly beautiful big purple berries all winter long.  Mine is blooming now and still has berries and often hangs on to the old berries until new ones start coloring up.  This is a great small shrub with year round interest.  Every garden should have at least one!

The sight of a nursery overflowing with plants is one of those sights that makes gardeners very happy!

I rounded a corner and what to my wondering eyes should appear but this plant that Alison and I were so excited to find in Portland.  Maybe ten minutes from Alison's house, here sat several Alstromeria 'Rock n Rolls.'  Such nice foliage.  Sure hope it proves to be winter hardy here.

 Aren't Calceolaria calynopsis fowers fun?

 Cute animal plant pots!

Windmill has moved the arid plant section from an area further from their little indoor jungle  and along a weathered wood covered wall .  I like it back here and think that the plants go very well with the wood!

These huge Kalanchoe thyrsifloras from Monrovia are making an appearance at several nurseries recently.  So tempting.

So is this Opuntia microdasys which is Latin for looks really cute but will irritate the hell out of you if you get at all close to it.  I'm convinced that they can throw their glochids.  Once I dragged a hose by one and  it picked up a nice collection of glochids which my hands found.  Much as I like the way these look, I'm staying with Opuntias that are glochid free, well with the exception of the ones I already, ouch dammit, have.

I forgot the name of this but the rule is, "If it looks weird, it's probably a euphorbia."  so we'll go with that.

 Bright yellow variegated leaves and nearly magenta flowers.  Love this plant by Crayola!  Bougainvillea something like godthatsbrightiea

This little box of happiness just arrived.  Aren't these cute little Rex Begonias? 

Painted Paradise Impatiens.  What nice foliage.  

Speaking of foliage, these seasonal pots were very handsome without flowers.

there are some flowers and there will be more but they're not necessary for the success of the compositions.

On the way to the check out counter was this rather large fairy garden display with a poster advertising a make and take fairy garden workshop.  These things are so dang cute and a great reason for grown ups to buy doll house furniture.

From right to left, Birdhouse, UHO (unidentified hanging object) and possible addition to someone's hanging pot collection.  It wouldn't hold much soil but tillandsias would be happy to live there.

Obviously from a shop in Portlandia as someone put a bird on it. 

Made it to the front desk just in time for the "We'll be closing in 10 minutes, please bring your purchases to the counter at this time." announcement.  

In the display garden, the tulips were wondering what the heck was going on with the weather.  We had record breaking heat for that day in May (84 degrees F)

Still looking fresh and happy, they were real troopers!

Dig the cool red flame on the inside of the petals and the red line on the outside.  

 Getting a plant from a friend, a visit to another friend's garden, and a nursery visit was a pretty special way to end the day but, being greedy, I decided to drive home through Puyallup and check out a park that my pal, Vicki, told me about.  Tomorrow, we'll explore it together.

Windmill Part Two: Euphorbia pulcherrima Anyone?

The Massacre of the Innocents is the biblical narrative of infanticide by Herod the Great, the Roman appointed King of the Jews.  According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in the "Vicinity of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth had been announced to him by the Magi...Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."

So, as part of our Christmas celebrations, we annually kill huge numbers of evergreen trees and, according to another Matthew,  The Lents Farmer, "Bazillions of [poinsettias] are cultivated (and later murdered) around the world - just for Christmas."   And what's the most popular color of this plant destined to die?  Blood Red.  Coincidence?   You decide.

Anyway, poinsettias are everywhere this time of year and I have to admit that it's fun to see greenhouses full of them and marvel at such large swaths of bright color and enjoy the new varieties.   Without further ado then, here are some pictures, taken at a recent visit to Windmill Gardens,  of the soon to be dead, brightly-colored bracts of Euphorbia pulcherrima.  Enjoy.

Traditional red has been joined by lots of fun new colors!

 

 

I don't remember seeing names for the different varieties.  Just as well, it's easier to compost them if you don't know their names, right?

 

Perfect to go with that tie dyed t shirt!

 

 

 

 There were several greenhouses containing nothing but poinsettias.  What a festive or sad, depending on how you look at it, sight!

This one caught my eye because it was new to me. 

 

 

Kind of dreamy.

Not a huge fan of these as they look a bit as if they have a virus or something.

My favorites were in one of the houses marked "Employees Only"  in a section marked "Not For Sale - Wholesale Only." 

One was this red one with dark green foliage becoming chartreuse closer to the top of the plant and next to the bright red bracts.  Yum.

The other was this variegated variety that I'd seen in some retail outlets last year.  Love it and it might even be worth trying to keep alive just for the foliage. 

 

Do you decorate with poinsettias for the holidays?   They hold their colorful bracts for months if well tended and are a fun reminder during the bleak midwinter of the festive season.  Do you hang on to them until they become unsightly or do they go out the door with the Christmas decorations?