Welcome
to summer! The long cold winter is officially
over. As a gardener in the Pacific Northwest, now is
your time to shine.
This
week we featured:
Havenhill
Lavender Festival
We
paid a visit to Havenhill
Lavender Farm (503-873-0396) to help celebrate a
French Harvest Lavender Festival happening this
weekend. Trina Stoffel, owner of the farm,
told us about many of the events including cooking
demonstrations that are happening this weekend.
We even got to sample lavender shortbread.
Other events include antiques, lavender wreath and
wand making classes and live music. Trina also
told us about the different varieties of lavender,
how to prune it and which ones grow best in the
Northwest. If you love lavender, this is a
must see event.
Timber
Press – Wild Flower Book
Blooms
are not just limited to your garden.
Wildflowers in the Pacific Northwest are also
showing off. Tom Fischer from Timber
Press (1-800-327-5680) shared with us the
definitive guide to Northwest wildflowers.
“Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest” is an
easy to use, comprehensive guide to nearly all the
wildflowers that you will find no matter where you
live. The guide breaks down wildflowers by
color, structure and location. So if you see a
six petaled, yellow flower in southern Oregon you
can easily identify it with this book.
Beautiful color photos and detailed illustrations
make it an easy read. You can pick up this
book from Timber Press or your local bookstore.
Pick up a copy and take it with on your next
Northwest vacation.
Ferguson’s
Fragrant Picks
A
truly beautiful garden should appeal to all your
senses. We believe fragrance should be near
the top of the list. Danielle Ferguson of Ferguson’s
Fragrant Nursery (503-633-4585), shared with us
some of her favorites including Daylily
‘Ice Carnival’, Mock Orange ‘Belle Etoile’,
Hosta ‘Fragrant Bouquet’ , Hardy Gardenia
‘Kleim’s Hardy’, Bugbane ‘Hillside Black
Beauty’, Astilbe False Spirea. These are but
just a few of the many fragrant plants that you can
add to your garden this summer. To see more,
you can visit Ferguson’s for their “Festival of
Fragrance” happening this weekend at the nursery.
Wine and microbrew tasting, live music, educational
seminars make this a great weekend getaway event.
Kindergarden
– Rainbow Pots
The
key to getting kids excited about gardening could be
somewhere over the rainbow. With all the
colors available in your garden center, it’s easy
for them to create their own rainbow in a planted
container. Amy Bigej, from Al’s
Garden Center in Woodburn (503-981-1245)
had help from four young volunteers to create a
couple of beautiful containers. We were also
joined by ROY G BIV which is actually an acronym for
the colors of the rainbow… red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo and violet. Take your kids
to your local garden center and let them create
their own container of many colors.
Farmington
Plants
Farmington
Gardens in Aloha (503-649-4568) is huge, with a
ton of plants, trees and shrubs. Jon DeBoer
brought us another group of his favorite plants.
We saw Hosta ‘Red October’, Purple Fountain
Grass Pennisetum, Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’,
Climbing Hydrangea ‘petiolaris’ and Maple
‘Autumn Moon’. One thing we always find at
Farmington Gardens is a good selection of beautiful
blooms and/or fantastic foliage.
Farmington Gardens is deeply involved in the
community. Check with them about their
“Habitat for Humanity” benefit coming in mid
July.