Asparagus

Monthly Top 10 Plants at Campiello Maurizio (June 2023)

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Summer has been flying by but I have to say it’s been a beautiful one. This year the garden has been easy to love and I’ve really enjoyed it for the first time in a long time.

There’s always great happiness when you find just the right plant. Rosa ‘Altissimo’ is a pleasure to grow.

One: This climbing rose, introduced by Delbard in 1966, is a jaw dropper when it’s in bloom. Sadly, mine needs to struggle a bit in the small and not-so-fertile bed where it is forced to live, so it’s been growing slowly, but at least it continues to put out those incredible blooms.

Heralded as disease-free, so far it looks great to me.

This Begonia aff. palmata was purchased from Shayne Chandler during a visit to the Olympic Peninsula a year or two ago with my friend Theo.

Two: As an act of kindness a year or two ago Theo decided to take me up to see Heronswood as a break from working so hard during the pandemic. It was great to see the garden, and it was even more fun to visit the home garden of Shayne Chandler. Long a fixture in the PNW, with his designs, and his public friendship with Dan Hinkley, it was nice just to spend a little bit of time talking to him.

And his garden, wow! (I don’t think I posted photos but maybe sometime soon I can get back up there and report here about it.)

It took me wwwaaaayyyyy too long to get this Pteris wallichiana from Evan’s old garden into the ground.

Three: Last fall my close friend Evan had to move away from the garden they’d lived in for many years. It was the family home, and it was time to downsize. Instead of throwing in the towel and just saying “Whatever, I’m out of here,” they jumped into action with organized lists of plants for folks to dig, as well as their own rescue plan for what they’d be bringing to the city. One of the plants on the list I knew I wanted IMMEDIATELY was this fern. Grown from spore, I divided a batch of them at Cistus last year, and I knew I wanted one then. So finally, after many months, this one is in the ground!

Mission accomplished!!!

A Cistus introduction from before my time there, Abutilon ‘Tiffany Sconce’.

Four: It’s not breaking news to say I have a thing for abutilons… This is one I reencountered while helping to inventory which ones we had at Cistus. It’s a lovely one, with a sheen just like the best art glass, and purportedly hardy-ish, so of course you know I wanted to plant one in the garden this summer—and so I did.

This goatsbeard planted itself here. I’m fine with that since Aruncus dioicus is one of my favorites.

Five: Not as many native plants this month, but I don’t think that’s a surprise. So many non-natives really shine as this time of the year.

Overall, so long as Aruncus dioicus is planted in the shade, you’ll easily be successful with it. Planted in swaths, it looks much better than this one does. We do have more of these at Secret Garden Growers so I’ll be adding a few friends soon.

Was happy to bring home this Pittosporum patulum home with me.

Six: A regret about leaving a job like the one at Cistus is that I will always be sad about the plants I DIDN’T try while I worked there. (My garden is just not big enough for much more though, and I honestly could not afford to buy a lot.)

That thought is absurd though since I can always go back to look for them, or even try something else now that I’m a civilian shopper and no longer a talented and beloved team member. Before I put in my resignation—a thing I didn’t want to do but had to professionally since there was no pathway forward for me—I thought long and hard about fun stuff that I urgently wanted to try, and I was so happy that this was available.

Have I planted it yet? Well… that’s another story… ask me in a few more weeks.

After several years in the stock tank, the Schoenoplectus acutus, continues to show how awesome it is!!!

Seven: A few years back I purchased this stock tank to change things up a bit in the garden. Having grown up on a creek, and then having had a family home on a river, I love water. If I’m not near a body of water, I feel a bit off balance in some way. It’s a comfort to me. One of the interesting challenges though has been to make this work year round, and to include more native plants in the blasting sun.

Tule grass for the win!!! With that tall vertical appeal, I don’t know why more folks aren’t using it. Lots of insects are attracted to it too and while I rest in the hammock nearby I enjoy watching them buzz right by.

Sideshow Bob or Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’?

Eight: One of my many collections is of asparagus plants. I love the edible sort as well as the ornamental, and the family fascinates me too. This plant is a common ornamental one, but this year, it feels especially pretty displayed on this plant stand in the big container.

I enjoy that it adds humor and amuses me. Laughter therapy is good.

A Holodiscus dumosus I grew from seed now happily planted in my front garden.

Nine: Years ago when I first started working at Cistus I was asked to go on a trip to Southern Oregon with Sean and Preston, another employee, and our mutual friends from England. It was during that trip I became more aware of this plant, one I’d seen before, but at that time I mistakenly thought it was some form of Holodiscus discolor instead of a whole different plant.

So, this my readers is Holodiscus dumosus, and it’s one I grew from seed. I grew a crop or two of these at Cistus Nursery but I can’t say for sure if any are available.

Be on the lookout for it though, and if you find one, plant it!

Last year I ordered a Pelargonium ‘Vectis Glitter’ and it didn’t make it. This year, I’m glad I tried again.

Ten: Pelargoniums are also mostly non-hardy plants I love but I don’t think they always love me back lol. Last year I was excited to buy this one from Geraniaceae. I LOVE the stellar forms. This one needs to grow a bit more yet, but I’m being patient with it.

The blooms were perfect, so I guess it was worth the hassle of waiting another year.

I’ve been slowly working on the site again over at Spiffy Seeds.

If you have any extra special seeds from your garden that you’d like to send me to include in my shop, I’d be grateful and can likely trade with you for something else. Just send an email to: ann@amateurbotannist.com

I’ll be posting about seed-related topics there too from time to time on the Journal page. You can read my most recent post here: Seeds Matter to Me

Cistus Nursery: Seed Grown Wonders Currently on Mail Order

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It has been a great week, but I’m exhausted, and I’ve not yet written posts in advance to make this weekly posting process easier. As usual, my commute back and forth to Cistus Nursery was pleasant and I continue to enjoy listening to audiobooks. There is so much change in the air this time of year.

One of the fun things happening at the nursery is that the City of Portland is regularly there for plants. I have no idea how or where they’re being used (most of the time), but I look forward to that tour in a few years once a few things have grown in a bit—especially the trees! Beginning there, let’s just say that there are many of our trees that I’ve grown from seed (or acorn) since I started. There are more than a few available now, but I cannot take credit for them all! We have so many wonderful things that we grow, and it takes a village to make that all happen.

Passiflora manicata Venezuela, a passion vine with a red bloom. It’s a zone 9 plant so for many of you it will need protection, or else it can be grown in a container.

Yes, online shopping at the nursery site is a bit old school, but we’re working on that. Until that changes, if there is something you’d like to order, sending an email works well, or else you can call directly to place your order over the phone. If we’re out, we can add you to a waitlist. For some of our very rare and super special stuff, it’s always good to get on those lists. Some crops are just small, and that’s the way it is, and this is how we’re able to offer so many incredible plant “flavors” at the same time.

Our waitlists also help us to decide what’s a propagation priority too! You ask and we listen!

Ferula communis ‘Gigantea’. If you’re like me and you like some dramatic foliage plants, this is the one for you.

Some of the plant crops we have are just plain A*M*A*Z*I*N*G. Nothing says: the gardener who lives here is just plain FUN—like a Ferula. Having seen these growing in the wild in Sicily I’m Forever a Ferula Fangirl.

Ferula communis ssp. glauca. If one is not enough for you, and you love to collect and compare, then here’s Ferula #2.

Nothing says “repetition” like a collection right? That’s why I have to have 10 of everything in completely different colors, right? #planthoard #gardenmaximalism #moreismore

And speaking of Maximalism, a design style that’s currently popular and one which I’m rather fond of, texture on texture, on texture, with colors thrown in, is what it’s all about. Cistus Nursery is a great place for the Maximalists out there!

Cercis occidentalis. A beautiful tree grown closer to home.

Folks sometimes confuse this native Southern Oregon/NorCal native with its more common relative Cercis canadensis. While it’s similar, it won’t do well being given regular irrigation during the summer. This tree wants to be a bit more on the dry side but you can irrigate it until it’s established. Just be sure to let it dry out between waterings.

Schefflera delavayi is not quite ready for mail order, but it’s close. I used to joke that I couldn’t keep this one straight with another but now they’re all straightened out in my mind. Growing these from seed has been quite an accomplishment and they’re simply stunning plants in the garden.

I jokingly avoided many plants from Cistus Nursery for ages because they were so popular with so many of my blogging friends. While I could have added them many times over during the last 20 years, I guess I’m a jerk and just needed to grow my own. It’s not meant as an insult to the other propagators that came before me, it just worked out that way! Once again I’m late to the party but I had to wait to fall in love with something. Being popular with my friends doesn’t always cut it for me but luckily we have something for everyone!

Sonchus palmensis is still available and they’re a bit larger than they were last year.

These seem a bit large for mail order, so keep that in mind. You’ll be getting a nice big plant. I grew these from seed last year, and they need some winter protection, but are otherwise a giant dandelion tree. No big deal. Kind of amazingly cool.

Aristolochia californica. We don’t have these in the catalog right now, but we have a crop of seedlings that was just potted up. We’ll have them again soon and I’d suggest keeping this vine in mind. It’s a wandering, scrambling, winter-blooming vine.

I’m adding a few photos of other favorite plants. I’ve been enjoying this vine in the parking lot for the last few months and soon I’ll be watching over its seed heads. We collect them there at the nursery, and then grow these plants from seed. Last year we lost the seeds to insects, but these are the wars we wage to do what we love.

Asparagus scandens var. deflexus. This one is not available, but we have a few different unusual choices for container plantings.

Lastly, I have this asparagus plant. I tent to love all of the ornamental ones, but this is a special favorite. It appears soft and fluffy as it tumbles out of containers. It’s a bit thorny though. I hope to have a new crop of it soon. I just needed to collect, clean and sow all of those berries.

No big deal. It’s just what I do.

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Hope you enjoyed this little greenhouse tour of a few of my favorites. There’s nothing new and earth shattering, but it’s fun to share the fruits of my labors with you.