Visiting @vasyazub and his fantastic plant collection

On a Wednesday in late August Eric and set out to visit Vasiliy (@vasyazub on Instagram) up in SW Washington. I've followed Vasiliy online for years, but we'd never met in person. I was excited to see his greenhouse set-up, his plant collection, and put a real face to this online persona. I wasn't expecting this however, what a fantastic water garden...

The fountains were relocated from their previous home, where there was a devastating fire a couple of years back. The greenhouse is visible in the background, just down a steep incline.

A better shot of the greenhouse.

We have to pause here to appreciate the spiky plantings...

Pretty fabulous, and very dense. I hope they don't get many weeds.

Now we're inside the greenhouse, and I am in awe...

I wish I would have taken a photo as soon as we entered, but this view comes close. The right side (the side that's up against the succulent plantings we just saw) is planted and jungly. The left side gets more sun and mainly features sun lovers in containers.

On the left...

And back to the right...

This is cool business is a pinecone bromeliad (Acanthostachys strobilacea). I only know that because Vasiliy had recently divided his plant and sent both Eric and I home with a piece, more on that at the end of the post.

Trevesia palmata (snowflake aralia)

I thought about trying to organize these photos so I wasn't flipping back and forth between the jungly side and the dry side, but that became even more confusing. 

Spiny "dry" bromeliads, Deuterocohnia brevifolia and D. lorentziana.

Ginormous epiphyllum.

As we got towards the back of the greenhouse—near the bend visible in the ninth photo from the top—both sides took on a jungly feel, with lots of gorgeous ferns, palms, and plants I can only appreciate but not identify.

Musa x paradisiaca Ae Ae (or something like that, everyone seems to spell it diferently).

I've given up trying to grow that little gesneriad, the round plant growing in the bricks. It just doesn't like me. I still adore it however.

Aglaomorpha of some sort.

We've made it to the end, and are rewarded with this sweet pond/greenwall set-up.

That Ludwigia sedioides (mosaic plant) on the left is one of my very favorite pond plants, it's so fabulous!

The greenwall planting is fairly new, so it's just starting to fill in.

Check out all the different species Vasiliy included...

That's a happy nepenthes!

Retracing our steps back towards the door everything looked new again from a different angle.

The lack of ID/names isn't anyone's fault but mine. I simply could not keep up with all the cool things I was seeing.

Something else I need to mention—there was a whole room in the house devoted to terrarium plant growing, with frogs and insects too. I didn't take any photos in there, we'd just arrived and I hadn't taken out my camera yet. Trust me though, it was amazing!

I wish I could offer my bromeliads a place like this to spend the winter months, instead they'll be hunkered down in the basement, less than ideal conditions as far as moisture and light.

I dream of a greenhouse half as wonderful as this!

I'm back home now and here's the Acanthostachys strobilacea mount Vasiliy made and sent home with me (Eric got a similar one), isn't it wonderful? Tillandsia, a couple of Aechmea recurvata (at the top), I love it! Such a generous gift. Thank you for sharing your time, your knowledge and your plants Vasiliy! If you're reading and want to see more be sure to follow @vasyazub on Instagram.

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All material © 2009-2023 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

There was a garden show & other photos from up north

In past years my coverage of the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival was pretty extensive; photos of the display gardens, floral competition, plant vendors, and more. This year, not so much. The display gardens were less grand, and I was distracted by the fact I was speaking (twice). I also needed to minimize my exposure to people—a visit to see my parents followed on the heels of the show and I didn't want to be a COVID carrier. Nonetheless, I took a few photos.

This framed moss artwork wasn't at the show, but rather at a nursery I visited en-route, Watson's. 

I stopped there killing time after a quick visit to the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way, and on my way back to pick up Andrew at a Tacoma bookstore (our traditional stops on the way up to Seattle). After browsing the nursery I still had a little time, and inspired by the wall hanging I drove to see how Patrick Blanc's green wall at the Tacoma Goodwill Headquarters was doing. Here's a photo from 2010, borrowed from Mr. Blanc's website...

Pretty nice right? In case you haven't heard of Patrick Blanc he is the vertical gardening King, I saw some of his work in Paris, all marvelous. 

Sadly the Tacoma work isn't holding up well. 

I visited in the past and was dismayed at the wall's condition, this visit I was hoping maybe it had been spruced up. Definitely not.

I wonder if it might look at little better come springtime?

On to the NWFG Fest! My favorite part the show has always been the "City Living" small space display gardens. Sadly the displays this year were a mere shadow of their former glory. Part of the problem was they'd been moved into the main hall, up against a wall with cheap, ugly door as the backdrop. 

These displays are meant to evoke a balcony or patio, and that illusion had always felt possible when the displays were in the skybridge, with the sky as backdrop. Not so here. 

I'll share a couple images from two I liked, first up Patio Passion from Zenith Holland Nursery. There was an agave...

The fact they cramscaped was a bonus.

Next, The Living Workspace, from Rooted in Landscape. How can you not be charmed by a display featuring a cat hanging out in a lofty perch? It had me thinking of my friend Ann's cat Felix, who has his own Instagram account.

The brief time I stood there I heard several people admiring the small aquarium. A missed opportunity for someone to have a booth nearby selling them!

Over in the big display garden area I only took three photos, this one is from A Seekers Sanctuary done by Crazy Hill Garden & Botanicals. While there are several things I would like to change (adding plants dripping down the sides of the structure, strings of lights rather than a chandelier, painted steps...) I still think it's the best thing I saw in a display garden this year.

Well, next to this fabulous metal planter, in the same garden.

I'm not sure which garden this vintage stone bird (a flamingo?) was in—as I snapped as I hurried past—but I loved it.

As far as vendors went the always fabulous Ravenna Gardens was there.

Selling only the best in gardening books!

Christianson's Nursery & Greenhouse was also back at the show, with a booth full of wonderful plants and a green piano at the center of the booth.

The 2020 show included the debut of Fleurs de Villes. By all accounts it was a hit and the flower dressed mannequins were back this year.

This is the back of the creation shown above.

I loved everything about this one.

Especially the fern frond bodice and neck warmer.

I felt bad for this exposed mannequin. Somebody get her some knickers!

It's hard to tell, but that's not a skirt; it's hip-hugging hot-pants. All around fabulous design here.

I loved this, but wish the palm fronds had stayed green and pliable. 

The design just looks sad with them all crispy.

I only managed to catch one speaker, Brian Coleman, author of Private Gardens of the Pacific Northwest. That's my garden up on the screen! 

After my last talk on Friday I was ready get out and see some of the city, including a quick walk down to the Spheres to check on the plants. Seattle was hit hard back in December with extended below freezing temps and snow, I was curious if there would be visible damage.

The burlap-covered Pseudopanax are definitely taller then the last time I saw them in winter protection mode.

Hopefully all is good underneath the teepees.

The tree ferns were all toasted, but I bet after the old fronds are cut back in the spring lush new green will unfurl.

The Pyrrosia sheareri looked great.

Not so for the Ochagavia carnea. If they leave them I'd hate to be the person responsible for getting in there and cleaning them up, those babies are sharp!

All the agaves looked solid...

I wonder what's under that Martha Stewart worthy burlap cover? And how about the Sinopanax formosana next to it—looking grand.

As is this one. I'm definitely cutting my heat-dome scorched plant back this spring, in hopes that it sprouts new growing tips further down the trunk.

Finally, a very bright Edgeworthia in bloom, sunshine on a stick!

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.