Hear my talk on ORCHIDS!!! February 4th at Molbak's!

After years of visiting, purchasing from, and admiring the institution that is Molbak's Garden and Home in Woodinville, WA, the lovely Karen Chapman helped get my name through the door for me to finally stand on their stage and present a talk!



It's going to be about ORCHIDS!

The last talk I ever gave on orchids was a scientific talk in flasking techniques and micropropagation of assorted genera in the Orchidaceae when I was an undegrad, but this time, we have to simplify it a bit and introduce folks to a most fascinating group of plants that simply mesmerize and draw us to them.

Once rare and only the wealthiest and most powerful could ever dream of owning and growing one, the orchid has come a long way from Greek testicles, Chinese aphrodisiacs to symbiotic sexual acts with insects and prom flowers at Trader Joe's.

My talk will cover the alluring and interesting history of why such a family of flowering plants have captivated us over the years and how we can take this fond curiosity about them and nurture them to grow and bloom in our homes.



The talk will be at 12PM at Molbak's on February 4th. A Saturday.

I do hope you'll come and be inspired to own and grow an orchid.


Riz

Plant now for the best summer flowers!! Come to my FREE talk!

I'm trying to be better about tooting my own horn from time to time and I thought this would be a great opportunity to do so:



On Monday, November 21, at 7PM, I will be speaking at the Hardy Plant Society of Washington's fall program at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle, WA.

My topic: The Lure of Lilium. True lilies have been a strong passion of mine since I was a preteen when my brother and I bought a few bulbs of the very popular oriental hybrid 'Stargazer' and grew and flowered them with ease. Comparable to the more exotic (and expensive) orchids at the time, I was instantly hooked and wanted to learn more about these intriguing plants.


Lilium 'Scheherazade'

From that point, I wanted to grow just about every lily that was out there and my eyes widened considerable when I dived into learning about their classification, reproduction/propagation, and even laboratory techniques in advanced breeding of interspecific hybrids!! Total plant geek, yeah I am!

I've also had the privilege of seeing a handful of wild species when I traveled to China just a few years ago.


Lilium 'Silk Road' - Oriental x Trumpet Hybrid

My talk is aimed towards introducing newbies to this fabulous group of seemingly rare and exotic, but readily available and easy to grow plants; and it's also aimed towards those "know it all" gardeners who say they grow everything as I promise to share something new and exciting for all!!

So if you live around the Seattle area, please come and hear me speak! There will be quite an assortment of lily bulbs from my friend/mentor, Judith Freeman, of The Lily Garden and a few freshly dug selections from my own garden/nursery, Landwave Gardens.


Lilium 'Tiger Babies'

I also love to give away plants during talks so if you come, you've got a chance of going home with something special!

OH, BTW, did I mention...... Admission is FREE!!!!


R

A Young Chelsea Designer: Sarah Price

Before I flood this blog of all things Chelsea and UK horticulture, I want to shed some light on a young lady I had the pleasure of meeting at tonight's NHS lecture. While she wasn't at Chelsea this year, she's sort of a veteran with two previous gardens under her belt at the show and numerous other noteworthy projects.



Sarah Price is a landscape designer from the UK that's very quickly rising in the ranks, and according to fellow garden writer, Marty Wingate, she's only 29 y/o. We might be wrong, but she's definitely a youngin'!.

She came to speak about her design process and showcase some of the incredible work. Her list of accomplishments and high profile projects is unbelievable: She's designed 2 gardens for the Chelsea Flower Show, has won a gold medal at the Hampton Court Flower Show (another show I MUST see when I return to the UK!) and one of her current projects entails being a plant consultant for the landscaping being installed for the 2012 Olympic Games in London!


A design for the Chelsea Flower Show.

One of my missions being able to come to the Chelsea Flower Show this year was to observe potential up and coming gardeners. Sarah seems to define what I began to observe and she's just one of many who could lead and continue on a grand tradition that's just so much more recognized and respected over there in England.


The first garden she designed. Not too shabby, eh?

Sarah struck me as a humble, fairly composed young lady with a very strong art backround that she uses to great effect in her design and even in her random doodles, which she wasn't afraid to share even though she claims that they weren't very good, were actually very constructive and quite useful and elegantly done. Her emphasis on "the process" was great to see. Often young designers, or even seasoned professionals always what the high impact image of a "before and after", but seeing preliminary sketches and drafts of her work were actually very interesting.



Getting to chat with her afterwards, I think I might have overdone it with the enthusiasm as I was just so pleased to meet and see someone my age be so successful, talented, yet she also possessed a shyness and apprehensiveness that makes her a real 20-something year old who has a lot of room to develop and grow.

Some may argue, "too much too soon", but if you've got the experience, the drive, the talent and the work ethnic to pull off a veteran project, why not?! Her style is quite natural and she uses the open meadow effect with mass plantings intermixed with various forms and textures and there's a light and airy quality to it that's pleasing to the eye. She uses plants that are relatively common, but again, to great effect.



I wish her luck as they continue building the London 2012 site and I hope she visits the NW again so she can visit the mountains and natural areas here, visit more gardens and meet more of her fellow next generation gardeners!

R

Perennials in Portland!

Ok, FINALLY I'm getting around to sharing my experiences down in Oregon for the Perennial Plant Association (PPA) a few weeks back.

I figured a photo montage would be easier to follow rather than my rambles, but I do need to set the scene and provide a little intro.

So, I was encouraged to join PPA last fall after a bus ride chat with the fabulous Debra Prinzing. She said that I had to meet Steven Still and following my introductory letter to him, the PPA Executive Director, I was asked if I was interested in speaking at this year's symposium in Portland. Being fairly close to home and proposing a topic I've always wanted to speak on, but never have (perennials for tough spots/dry shade), I gladly accepted the invitation and began putting my talk together. It was a fairly large topic, but given my 45 min time slot, I had to find a focus and, hopefully, present something new and/or interesting.



New Introductions are always the hot topic at these annual conferences and the "New Plant Forum" was somewhat disappointing at best with WAY TOO MANY ECHINACEA AND HEUCHERA. I had many discussions with colleagues and growers about it and we seriously need to ask ourselves, "How many is too many?" It's so competitive out there that even the slightest "improvement" on a new variety is marketed to the fullest extent. Of the many fancy schmansy coneflowers out there, I actually kind of like this horrendous abomination of nature from the "Cone-fections" series called 'Hot Papaya'.


So the event was held at the Doubletree Hotel and five minutes upon arrival and registration, I ran into the lovely Sally Isaiou from T & L Nursery who I joined for dinner that night. Seeing a familiar face early on totally put me at ease and heightened my excitement for the event! Back at the hotel the hallways where the sessions took place were flanked with some of the most exquisite container designs.





Seeing this caliber of work was inspiring and also reassuring as I knew that I was capable of such quality!



NURSERY TOURS

One of the highlights of the entire symposium was the fabulous tour of nurseries. Sadly, I was stuck in the nose-bleed section of the charter bus right next to the lavatory that made me very nauseous, but by luck of a random coincidence, I was seated next to the wonderful Alice Doyle of Log House Plants who engaged me in a nice chat about garden travels and mentors.


Our first stop was in Scappoose at Joy Creek Nursery.



The perennial beds were just packed with outstanding garden plants.


Couldn't help but noticed that exquisite purple/blue. According to Alex LaVilla from Swanson's Nursery (actually pictured in the center of the photo above..hehe), this was Phlox paniculata 'Nicky'. Absolutely captivated by the color, Hans Hansen, a new colleague and plant breeder/discoverer extraordinaire who currently works for Walter's Gardens, recommended a similar, but improved cultivar called 'Blue Paradise' which now resides in a new perennial mixed border here at Landwave!!


Roses and hydrangeas were in full boisterous bloom...



...along with an eye-catching display of Rudbeckia that were to die for!


Next up was Cistus Nursery where my buddies Sean Hogan, Nathan Limprecht and awesome nursery staff welcomed and impressed us with the lush display plantings and remarkable diversity of plants for sale. I really wished that people made more purchases at this remarkable treasure trove in Sauvie Island, but I guess people were hesitant to carry around plants.




This was an eye-catchingly dramatic dahlia I have to seek out next spring called 'David Howard'.


And an appropriate companion to "Mr. Howard" is a form of the "Banana Canna" I've never heard before, but just HAD TO HAVE: Canna musafolia 'Rubra'. CRAZIE!!!! A RED LEAFED BANANA CANNA LILY! WOOT WOOT!!

I really need a separate blog post about my purchases at Cistus. I got so many wonderful things, it was friggin' dope!





A kind and concerned nearby passenger attempted to "freshen up" the lavatory with a little bouquet of Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) that she picked from Cistus. It sort of worked, but overall... =(


Cistus was followed by Blooming Nursery; which, in my personal opinion, produces some of the fullest, most robust nursery stock for retail garden centers.



Check out their operations:


State of the art facilities complete with solar panels.


Row after row of beautifully grown nursery stock


And ridiculously well organized.


Their plants can be found at local retail nurseries with their characteristic maroon nursery cans.


After Blooming Nursery, Alice met up with some girlfriends of hers who drove separately and graciously invited me to join them so we could escape the foetid and unbearable odor from the back of the bus.

Next stop, the infamous Monrovia Nursery in Dayton, OR.




This place was HUGE!!!!! Need any dwarf purple-leafed Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)?


The courtyard and office complex was remarkable. You can tell this is a multi-million dollar venture with these facilities and vast display gardens.

I had lunch with a fellow Filipino colleague whom I met last fall at the Garden Writer's Association conference in North Carolina.


Grace Romero, who took this photo of me with Hydrangea paniculata 'Unique' joined me for lunch and we chatted about new plant introductions and our insatiable craving for home-cooked Filipino food at the time.


Having a little too much fun...yikes.



Following Monrovia was a most pleasant visit to Bauman Farms. OMFG, we had such a blast here!!!!


Petunia Arbor with a view of the farm.


Petunia "Trees"!!!


Yeah, we were basically in Petunia land with outrageously colored baskets for DIRT CHEAPO!

The real highlight and treat however...






and I should mention a most delectable Marionberry Lemonade Smoothie!


On the itinerary was my second visit to the famed Terra Nova Nurseries.


Specializing in exquisite and absolutely mouth-watering selections of perennials with way too many Heucheras and Echinaceas, it was such a treat to see their display beds.






New Echinacea 'Coral Reef' with a lovely blue Agastache.


A rarely offered Persicaria 'Brushstrokes' with a seldom grown, but ultra fabulous Mukdenia 'Crimson Fans'


Here's 'Crimson Fans' backlit by the sun. OOOOhhh yeaahhhh!!


I was caught taking this photo and plant breeder Chuck Pavlich offered me a sample!!
This is Roscoea 'Cinnamon Sticks'. This is a genus I'm not really familiar with, but they have another introduction called 'Spice Island' with stunning bronze foliage and lavender flowers!


In the same color range and, once again, backlit by the sun, this Calla lily was to DIE FOR!!!




The day was capped off by a most pleasant evening gathering and dinner at Washington Park where we inhabited the amphitheater with plant geeks and nursery stock for sale from various specialty growers!!




It really is the Rose City!! WOW!


So, I reconnected with Alice as she had her staff set up shop with Log House Plants' wonderful selection of unusual annuals...


...and some things I just didn't quite get. LOL. A "Stick in the Mud"!! SERIOUSLY?



and a new line of GRAFTED VEGETABLES! Two varieties in one!! Read more about them here.

The best part about attending these symposiums is the potential for networking. I ran into so many familiar faces and friends along with some new colleagues I hope to stay in touch with and perhaps collaborate with in the future.

The tour definitely was a nice distraction from my talk the following morning. I broke my former professor's rule about making changes to a presentation the night before, but I was so caught up on making sure I represented each bullet-point and photograph in the best possible way. I pulled it together and come sunrise, I was raring to go:



So, how did it go? Well, I stressed about making sure I represented plant material that the majority of the audience would be able to acquire and grow successfully, since my topic was on perennials for tough places (with a focus on dry shade). The feedback and reaction from people afterward was quite positive and encouraging, but I later learned that a significant and important figure in all of horticulture was disappointed in my presentation. I don't know why this person didn't just approach me directly to give me some constructive feedback; I'm trying not to let it get to me, but I'm just trying to find the courage to email this person and see why they were displeased with the talk. I know I can't please everybody, but if it was a "fatal flaw" I committed, I need to know about it!

Later in the day, I was delighted to see this fenzy:


Several nurseries who were taking down their trade booths gave their plants away and what a treat it was to see people graciously share and hand out plants to everyone and anyone who walked by. Even the parking attendant was offered a plant and came back to grab another for his garden or whatever; it was awesome!!



R