What’s your vision for your garden, and what makes you go to a particular garden center? Sometimes it’s helpful to hear what other gardeners do and consider for yourself what your approach might be.
Lisa Fuller
Lisa Fuller is an avid southwest Portland gardener who has gardened in her current location for almost 20 years. Lisa says her garden is mature now. She loves some of it but there are other parts she wants to change, but needs new ideas.
At garden centers, she likes to see display gardens that change with the seasons, masterful container plantings, and well-conceived displays. She wants to see eye-catching combinations of plants that complement one another, especially when trees and shrubs are the backbone, like in a real garden.
Lisa’s favorite plant this past season was not new, but was introduced in the last few years. It is Senecio candicans ‘Angel Wings’. Although winter tender (but fine if kept in an unheated greenhouse), it was a star in her part shade garden, where anything to lighten and brighten the palette is needed. This plant is a beacon of silver that helps lift all the other silvers and grays.
Ruth and Gary Clark
Ruth Clark and her husband, Gary, have a three-acre garden just outside Vancouver, Washington. The garden was designed around several gigantic walnut trees. Originally it was an open expanse of lawn, but there have been additions over the years, including beds and paths, retaining walls, garden art, and a shed.
Gary has a large shop and creates metal garden art that can be seen throughout the garden.
Ruth said that she really became a gardener when she moved to the Pacific Northwest 25 years ago. She likes nurseries that have unusual or hard-to-find plants, and she always enjoys a good gift shop.
“I will stop at any garden center that catches my eye, and I look for interesting plant selections, healthy weed free plants, and decent prices,” she said. “On an outing with friends, I might go to four or five nurseries in one day. We like to string together nurseries in one geographic area and are always excited to find a new favorite. We may go back to some of those nurseries every year after that.”
Jolly Butler
Jolly Butler has gardened in Portland for over 40 years. She considers gardening a great passion. Her garden is a private, calm place with shrubs and lots of flowers. She named it Millefiori, which is a combination of the Italian words, “mille” (thousand) and “fiori” (flowers).
When Jolly visits a garden center, she considers the outing in one of three categories: to get something new and unique, to perhaps visit an old friend by buying a familiar plant, or to experience a new adventure!
Like many gardeners, Jolly enjoys seeing seasonal displays at garden centers. Often such displays can trigger a new idea or new a plant combination. Jolly likes year-round interest in her garden, and often uses evergreens. Her philosophy is that flowers are often short lived, whereas evergreens last throughout the year and continue for many more years.
Michael Cushing
Salem gardener Michael Cushing has always been a fan of nature, plants and flowers. He got his first actual gardening experience when he was in his 30s and living in Juneau, Alaska. He said that Alaska has an extremely challenging hardiness zone.
“After 25 years of fighting darkness, ice, and slugs, I moved to the Willamette Valley where I discovered that gardening was an addiction, also known as a hobby,” he said.
Michael’s garden has moderate to heavy shade on a steep, north-facing slope. He has two major motivators to go to a garden center. One is to search for unusual and interesting plants that will hopefully thrive in his garden environment. The second is to see extensive and nicely designed display gardens that would invite customers to wander and experience the nursery’s plants in a garden setting.
Michael enjoys the luxury of often hearing presentations by garden center owners and their staff. He visits a variety of garden centers on a regular basis to get that one plant that he envisioned and coming home with five or more. A particular plant that did well in his garden this year is Tongariro orchid (Pleione ‘Tongariro’).
Tom Bland
Lake Oswego gardener Tom Bland started his love of gardening at the early age of 5. His mother was an avid gardener, and she gave him a plot of land to start a vegetable garden. His current garden has lots of shade, and that limits the plant palette.
To help compensate for the limitations of a shade garden for many annuals and for a vegetable garden, Tom and his wife, Diane, have a community garden space that gets full sun. Here he can grow annuals for summer color and have a vegetable garden.
Their home garden is a Certified Backyard Habitat, with a requirement that 25% of the space be devoted to native plants.
In the spring, Tom will buy lots of assorted annuals for summer color for both the home and community garden. After this initial garden center visit, Tom will visit a garden center with a specific plant in mind. His philosophy is that if he finds a neat plant, he will find the space. Plant selection is more important to him than displays. Tom goes through garden phases. Once it was rhododendrons, then daphne, and now bonsai.
Gene Rozenboom
Gardening has been a lifelong pursuit for south Portland gardener Gene Rozenboom. Gene began gardening in his teens and has not stopped. His garden has transformed over the past dozen years from an overgrown, neglected landscape to a beautiful unique urban garden.
Gene describes his garden as a formal, orderly, natural garden. He is always on the lookout for the unique and unusual, and especially plants that he has not seen before. He frequently visits garden centers for new ideas.
He loves seeing containers planted, because he has many in his garden and new ideas are always welcome.
Gene focuses on several different categories of plants, including dwarf conifers, Japanese maples, and ferns. He is always on the lookout for more! He has recently added a new perennial bed to his garden which opens a new area for plants. As the saying goes, there is always room for one more.