I mentioned in a previous post that I went to the
Little Prince of Oregon Open House for Garden Bloggers/Writers last Sunday. Little Prince of Oregon is a wholesale nursery located in Aurora, Oregon that serves retail garden centers, wholesale nurseries and landscapers. For a few years now, Mark Leichty, who has been Director of Business Development since 2014, has been inviting garden bloggers and writers to an annual Open House to check out their growing operation and shop for plants.
And they feed us a delicious lunch!
I attended last year for the first time, but I didn't get good photos and never wrote a post about it. This time I came prepared to take my time, shop first, go back and take photos (and then, of course) I went back and shopped some more.
You can read more
here about the history of Little Prince of Oregon.
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| Their new office building, where we had lunch, must have had the windows open because as I wandered the grounds every so often a most delicious smell of food would waft through the air from the direction of the office |
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| I'm sure you recognize that frog in a crown symbol |
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| What could be more inviting than that row of open doors? |
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| Maybe two rows of open doors? |
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| All so neat and tidy -- oh goodness, look! More greenhouses in the distance! |
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| There were lots of Sedum tiles -- multicolored |
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| And red! |
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| Baby tree ferns (Dicksonia antartica) |
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| And here's the grown up version unfurling new fronds |
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| I don't remember what this blue grass was, but I love the undulating blades |
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| A sea of Bletilla |
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| Bletilla 'Yokohama' |
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| Mahonia aquifolium made a beautiful tapestry of color |
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| Agave parryi 'Cream Spike' |
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| Agave schidigera 'Shiro Ito No Ohi' |
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| Albuca spiralis |
They had lots and lots of Sempervivum, every conceivable size and color, and impeccably presented. Actually, all their plants were impeccably presented.
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| Sempervivum 'Pekingese' |
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| Look at all those babies! |
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| Sempervivum arachnoideum 'Forest Frost' |
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| Sempervivum 'Strawberry Ice' |
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| Sempervivum 'Cranberry Cocktail' (Can you believe those stripes!) is a Chick Charms Collectable Hens and Chicks cultivar selected by plant breeder Chris Hansen (the breeder of SunSparkler Sedums) |
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| Various bloggers have left their purchases lined up beside their cars |
So what did I bring home? First, the greenhouse dwellers.
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| Three new Agaves -- A. schidigera 'Shiro Ito No Ohi,' A. parryi 'Cream Spike' and A. ferdinand-regis |
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| Anigozanthos flavidus 'Bush Ranger' aka Kangaroo Paw |
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| Kangaroo Paw closeup |
That day at Little Prince was followed by three sunny, warm days, and the temperature in the greenhouse soared before I realized it, which meant the tree fern that I bought and put out there got a bit fried. But I think I managed to rescue it. It's now living in the kitchen.
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| Kitchen-dwelling Dicksonia antarctica - fortunately still alive |
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| Fried frond |
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| Eight Deschampsias caespitosa 'Northern Lights' |
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| A selection of interesting Semps -- (from the top, left to right) 'Cotton Candy (another Chick Charm), 'Cranberry Cocktail,' 'Strawberry Ice,' 'Forest Frost,' and an unidentified one that I neglected to get a tag for |
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| No ID, but beautiful |
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| Two new manzanitas (which join the four others still unplanted in my pot ghetto) -- Arctostaphylos hookeri 'White Lanterns,' Arctostaphylos edmundsii 'Big Sur,' and Grevillea rosmarinifolia |
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| Six Sempervivum 'Ruby Hearts' and two Sedum 'Voodoo' |
Many thanks to Mark and to
Little Prince for the delicious lunch and for opening your doors to a horde of garden bloggers!
