Nerd Night - finally!

I'll set the stage for you...

Friday, March 18, 2011

Lake Bible Church, Lake Oswego - new venue

Doors open at 6pm

Event begins at 7pm

Having attended Nerd Night in years past (but not the last two) I knew quite well that lines begin to form at least an hour before the doors open. I arrived at 5pm - here's what I saw...

Line left

Line Right

I chose 'Line Right', obviously, right? Well, here's the catch...see that huge green mass of lawn? Well, that lawn is hiding pools of mud. Having experienced my fair share of muddy lawns, I walked around the lawn through the parking lot to 'Line Right'. Others, mind you, squished across the muddy lawn with some sort of wild abandon that I, actually, love and attribute to 'crazed' gardeners who must get a good place in line to wait for an hour to get a good seat in the audience to wait for an hour and buy their first of many spring plants lusts! Priorities!!

Line Left - 5:30pm

Line Right - 5:30pm

The doors open at 6pm and we, 'mooooo', made our way through to capture a seat and a look at this season's best new plants from Log House, Cistus, Far Reaches, Dancing Oaks, Seabrite and Terra Nova nurseries.

The scene from the stage...doesn't fully capture the 'crazzzzzed' feeling in the air!

I really can't shop in these environments but I love to move to a safe spot on the fringes of the room to watch and absorb the energy of the crowd - these folks are HUNGRY!!!! A hunger and excitement fills the air as we see the newest and the greatest! The unfortunate part of my inability to shop in these environments means that I don't have any plant pics for you but I do have some plant info!

The 'Chorus of the Goddess Flora' prepares for their performance

For the past 6 years, I believe, the Chorus has provided hilarious entertainment for the 'hort heads' at Nerd Night. They sing to music you may know but you won't recognize these lyrics. They are written by Linda Beutler and they are WONDERFUL!!

Mike Darcy, the host of the evening welcomes the crowd to the 10th Annual Plant Nerd Night!

Each nursery gets 12 minutes to talk about their favorite plants for the year and/or old favs. If they speak beyond their 12 minutes, they get the 'gong' which is the Chorus singing 'Goodnight, Farewell, until we meet aagain'...from the Sound of Music.

Here are some favs from the experts:

Log House Plants - tender Petunias in cool, new, colors like black! Petunia 'Pin Stripe', 'Phantom', 'Black Velvet' and Alice Doyle's new grafted vegetables; tomatoes, eggplant and more!
Cistus - Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Skies', Manfreda 'Spot', Agave ovatifolia, Choisya 'Whetstone' and Trachelospermum 'Theta' - named by Sean Hogan for his mother.
Far Reaches- a pink Cardiocrinum, Ajuga 'Frosted Jade' - super-cool yellow/green variegation with deep blue flowers and not as much of a garden thug as most Ajuga, Kniphofia parviflora.
Dancing Oaks - Ribes 'Vampire', Ribes lobbi - flowering gooseberry, Fremontedendron 'Ken Taylor', Darmera peltata.
Terra Nova - Acanthus'Whitewater', Cyclamens, Tradescantia 'Lucky Charm'.
Seabrite Nursery - Hosta 'Gentle Giant - 4feetx7feet!!, H. 'Sagae', 'Earth Angel','Fire Island', and 'Praying Hands' - great in a container for its form.

A GREAT EVENT!!! Put it on your calendar for next year and GET THERE EARLY!!!!!

Sun Breaks!

 The weather report called for afternoon temps in the mid-50's with sun breaks. I chose this afternoon as the perfect time to make changes to the entry garden.

Time for the other Hebe buxifolia to go. I had two matching Hebe but one succumbed to Verticillium. I'll enjoy the openness the entry will have without the Hebe.

 Last year I planted these cute little Cupressus 'Wilma Goldcrest'. The messy little green leaves that you see in this bed are Zauschneria 'Mattole Select' and Origanum libanoticum. I'm planning for more evergreen structure in these planting beds combined with the Oregano growing down the face of the concrete walls.

One bed cleaned out and tidy...

Cupressus 'Wilma Goldcrest' - smells good when you brush up against it!

Lifted plants that I'll pot up or re-plant.

Origanum libanoticum

Zauschneria 'Mattole Select'

That's a bit better! Pretend like you can't see the trash containers in the driveway...

Without the Hebe I can see all 3 of the Cupressus, even though they are still tiny.

Next, I'll remove the Styrax japonica that you see on the left. I'll replace it with an Arctostaphylos 'Austin Griffiths' and a mix of grasses at its feet.

Fixing the glitches!

Ah - ha! I've been making some changes to my website this week and continued encountering formatting issues, ugh!  Not being a 'computer person' the mysteries remained mysterious for longer than they should have. But I THINK I've fixed most of them. Give it a look, if you are so inclined, and please let me know if I missed anything. The main changes are the format of the 'Home' and 'Project' pages. I'll update content as the season progresses and I photograph more projects.

Now, Happy Spring! to you all, 

Lauren

www.lilyvillagardens.com

New, Modern building at Emmanuel Hospital

Since the first concrete was poured, I've watched this building grow. First, impressed by the concrete work - its texture, clean lines and consistency, then the brown steel corrugated siding and finally glasswork. 

All along, I wondered what this super clean, cool, modern building might become. As it turns out, It stores utilities. Well, I say 'utilities' but I really don't know what is inside other than huge ducts covered in insulation that remind me of a 1960's space-age movie which look like they come alive at night for a dance party. I assume from the enormous condensers on top of the building this is housing for some of the air conditioning at the hospital. 

You can't tell from this photo but the steel edging which contains the gravel at grade is wobbly which is one of my pet peeves! Why wouldn't they use heavy steel to make a crisp line rather than pre-made edging that always seems to fail? 

The glass slits (windows) reflect the line of Liquidambar across the sidewalk for a gorgeous effect.

See the trees? Isn't that beautiful!

Notice the corrugated steel siding is perforated.

Cool!