An excellent plant adventure; return visits to RPR and the BigJohn Hicks Oasis

Last Saturday was the annual Rare Plant Research open house, and naturally I was there. This is the 22nd year in a row I've attended this event, which is always held the 3rd weekend in May. How is that even possible? That I've been going for 22 years, and that I've been in the same place, on the same weekend (rain or shine), that many years in a row? Crazy. Burl (owner of RPR) mentioned he was going to be winding down operations, so who knows how many more years I've got?

I was rather taken with the flowers on this Euphorbia cap-saintemariensis, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't love the plant in its non-flowering stage—plus it was expensive. Thus I left it behind.

I was a rather subdued shopper all around, only picking out a couple things I went knowing I wanted, like another saracennia. One of mine has failed to grow new pitchers this spring, wonder if it had anything to do with the ginormous slug family I found living in the pot?

I love eavesdropping at this sale, listening in on the other shoppers. My favorite quote this year came from a lady who was thrilled to spot the bug-eating African violets (yes, she was talking about the saracennia).

Killing time hoping that the long line to pay would dwindle, we (my friend Scott—maker of this garden—was my partner in crime for the day) walked up to tour around the grounds of the house above the nursery, home for Burl and his wife Cyndi. We were rewarded with a blooming Agave parryi...

What beefy bloom spike!

The bromeliad vertical garden at the house is looking a little tired. Time to add some more plants to the mix!

Ah, nice ferns!

Matteuccia struthiopteris perhaps? (ostrich fern)

Okay, we're back down at the nursery now, and it's time to pay for our plants! Here's Scott's fabulous haul: Yucca rostrata, colorful bromeliad, a NoID brown plant with small leaves (perhaps Haloragis erecta ‘Wellington Bronze’), a sarracenia, Agave montana, and three very very very spiky opuntia.

My small haul: sarracenia, tillandsia, and a bromeliad.  

After we were done at Rare Plant Research we swung by Mike and Megan's garden, the BigJohn Hicks Oasis. I was there a couple of times last summer (post here) and wondered what it would look like in mid-May. Amazing is the word, it looked absolutely amazing...

Oh the tree ferns!

And the Polygonatum kingianum... (well I suppose the Impatiens omeiana deserves a mention to).

Mike has been busy putting together creative plantings, including these kokedama creations. I loved the combination of Arthropodium candidum 'Maculatum' and Pyrrosia lingua.

So good! (I wish my photos were better)

Rhododendron 'Ever Red'

More Arthropodium candidum 'Maculatum' (the San Marcos Growers website calls it "a grassy bulbous deciduous perennial from New Zealand").

I've got a couple patches of this plant in my garden now (thanks to Little Prince Plants), but Mike and Megan's plants are next level gorgeous. 

As are their Parablechnum novae-zelandiae (aka Blechnum novae-zelandiae).

These podophyllum! The were HUGE! I should have gotten a hand in there for scale. Mike said they came from Ernie and Marietta O'Byrne.

Oh look! More Arthropodium candidum 'Maculatum' and Parablechnum novae-zelandiae. Great combination.

*Sigh*... maybe someday I'll take the plunge and get a Podophyllum difforme -Starfish Form, so strange (in the very best way)!

More tree fern (Dicksonia antarctica) appreciation.

Damn! Astelia ('Red Devil'?) and Paris polyphylla var. stenophylla 'Luquanensis'. This combo gets me every time I visit.

I was so focused on the individual plants during our visit that I neglected to take any landscape images. This might be the most pulled-back shot I got. Can you believe their gunnera is so massive in mid May? The mild winter has certainly helped our PNW gardens start the season right. Sadly I keep hearing we might be paying for the odd winter with water restrictions later in the season.

The plant directly under the gunnera in the above photo, Scadoxus puniceus.

I didn't get the name of this bright happy bromeliad... isn't it stunning?

Okay, a few more new plants. We stopped at Mike and Megan's so I could drop off a plant, but ended up leaving with plants too! Schefflera  'Mato', Mike remembered I wanted one of these when I was last at Little Prince and he nabbed me one. It's not hardy here in Portland, but it will spend summer vacation outdoors.

The rest of my haul..."extras" Mike had at the house and offered up to Scott and I.

Abutilon 'Fairy Coral Red'

And a few Haworthia attenuata 'Concolor'  (green) and Gasteria 'Kaleidoscope' (brown, which may be a stress color, all the photos I saw online are green).

Okay, one last plant and it's a great one, Agave ovatifolia 'Orca', a gift from Scott. The poor thing has lived a rough life out there in the ocean (or rather being shipped across the country in a box) but from now on it's going to be treated like royalty. I'm so excited to have joined the variegated Agave ovatifolia club (one I'd been priced out of). Coincidently I believe one of the variegated agaves I featured towards the end of last Friday's RBG post (4th from the bottom) is an 'Orca'.

The Bit at the End

Do you know Niwaki? It's a Japanese company with all sorts of gorgeous garden tools and other things. They've just released a new line of garden clothing and accessories in a camo pattern, it's unlike any camo you've ever seen before, kinda fun... here.

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Visiting William's garden outside Eugene, OR

Last May I was invited to speak at a meeting of the Willamette Valley Hardy Plant Group in Eugene, OR. The day after the talk Caleb Melchior, Steven Garcia, and I visited William McKenzie's home garden in Springfield, OR. This was the view when we got out out of the car.

I thought I was going to visit William's acclaimed garden (quietly acclaimed, a small circle of folks in the know) back in 2023 (during this Eugene visit) but that didn't work out. I was thrilled to finally be there. William is old school and doesn't own a cell phone, so we wandered the garden hoping to find him.

Thankfully we did and the tour began.

William now lives in the same home he grew up in, but has made many changes to better suit his planty ways. We're about to enter those blue doors and wander the solarium addition.

The feeling of age and layering of plants was magnificent. The space was full, add in 4 people and navigating through was a little challenging.

It was all sorts of fantastic though.

That's Caleb walking out the other end of the structure into a courtyard enclosed on all four sides, but open to the sky.

Looking up up up at the back of the house.

William is part gardener, part collector, part propagator, part creator. His experience and knowledge runs deep and it's obvious he loves to live surrounded by plants. I was in heaven.

We soon headed back through this set of blue doors (not the same blue doors we first came through).

Back out into the garden, but admiring the green of where we'd been.

We never did make it into the aviary, if I remember correctly there was an issue with the doors.

Honestly I'd forgotten all about that missed space until I started going through my photos, there were plenty of other things to see.

Like this semi-enclosed space also off the back of the house, and with the aviary acting as the far side wall (visible on the left).

Tree ferns!

And carnivorous plants.

And fancy plants that look like moss.

Looking up at the house again.

Passiflora some somebody.

And out into another carnivorous plant spot.

Looking back towards the house.

While William, Caleb, and Steven were deep in conversation I wandered into an area covered with shade cloth.

There they are, still talking.

Oh! Look at those tree ferns...

There are entire worlds growing on the trunks.

Hi beautiful...

Okay, I'll stop here for today's post. Friday we'll explore in there...

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.