28 Plants Added This Week

This was a big week for plant additions to our online mail order catalog.  We also had to remove a number of plants from the catalog that are too big to ship and are available only at the nursery during the summer months.


New Plant Additions:
Allium spirale, Corkscrew Allium, is a compact perennial with twisting leaves and pink flower clusters.
Androsace sarmentosa, Rock Jasmine, has tiny pink, yellow centered flowers and creeping rosettes of green foliage with red stolons.
Calceolaria biflora, known as Pocketflower or Sipper Flower.  This intriguing South America plant is an outdoor perennial that can be grown as an annual in colder climates.
Campanula rotundifolia, Harebell Bellflower, is a widespread native with delicate clusters of nodding, blue bells.
Gentiana sino-ornata 'Moonlight', a Wild Ginger Farm introduction of the Autumn Gentian with white colored flowers.
Geranium pratense 'Midnight Reiter' Strain is our seed grown selection of the Meadow Cranesbill with compact, very dark foliage and lavender blue flowers.
Penstemon linarioides ssp compactifolius is a small species Penstemon from Arizona with very compact gray-green foliage and lavender flowers.
Primula rusbyi, Rusby's Primrose, has pink flowers with a yellow eye and is grown from wild seed collected in New Mexico.

Previously Offered Plants Available Now:
Aquilegia chaplinei, Chaplin's Columbine
Aquilegia flabellata var pumila, Fan Columbine
Cerastium alpinum ssp lanatum, Alpine Mouse Ears
Codonopsis clematidea, Bonnet Bellflower
Heuchera alpestris, San Bernadino Heuchera
Jovibarba hirta x arenaria 'Belansky Tetra'
Mimulus lewisii, Monkey Flower
Ozothamnus 'County Park'
Penstemon serrulatus, Cascade Penstemon
Penstemon venustus, Beautiful Penstemon
Primula viallii, Poker Primrose
Saxifraga 'Apple Blossom'
Sedum ewersii
Sedum cauticola 'Lidakense'
Sedum oreganum, Oregon Stonecrop
Sempervivum 'Harlequin'
Sisyrinchium demissum, Stiff Blue Eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium angustifolium 'Nanum', Narrow Leaf Blue Eyed Grass
Thymus 'Elfin' - Creeping Thyme
Thymus 'Minor' - Creeping Thyme

Roscoe's Hardy Ginger

Roscoeas are among our favorite summer flowering woodland plants.  They emerge from dormancy in late spring and flower during the summer months after many other spring flowers have faded.

 Roscoeas produce colorful orchid-like flowers on leafstalks up to a foot high, making them ideal for the front edge of the garden.  Over time some species naturalize and produce drifts of color.  We currently offer 5 species at our nursery.  As I write this, the slender stalked, pale yellow R. cautleyoides are in full bloom while the R. purpurea, pictured above, have just begun to flower.  These will soon be joined by the vivid purple R. auriculata, large flowered mauve R. alpina, and delicate pale pink R. scillifolia.

Native to the Himalayas eastward into China, Roscoeas do best in our climate in light shade in moist, humus rich, well-drained soil.  They are solidly perennial and survived 0 degrees F without snow cover during last winter's severe cold snap.  

The genus was named for Sir Roscoe, an early British Plant Explorer.  Several years ago, we shipped plants to one of his descendants in the Eastern U.S.  We hope his family has enjoyed them as much as do. 

 

Saturday Class at WGF - *update*

A large and enthusiastic group turned out today for our class "Create a Rock Garden".  It was a diverse group that included both experienced and novice rock gardeners, some with small garden spaces and others with large expanses to fill.  The goal of this 'kitchen sink' class was to provide an overview of how to plan, build, plant and care for a rock garden.  It was a lot to cover and we hope each attendee took home a few nuggets of information appropriate to their situation.

Future class topics will focus on more specific areas such as rock garden soil, crevice plantings, the sunny hillside rock garden and the shady rock garden.  Suggestions for class topics are always welcome!

Our next class 'Create an Alpine Container Garden' will be on Sunday July, 11th at 1 pm.   Attendees can bring their own container or purchase a trough or container here.  The cost is $15 for three plants, potting soil and rock accents.  Pre-registration by phone or email is required. Visit our website for contact info.

Saturday Class at WGF

Join us this Saturday at 1 pm for a class on  Creating a Rock Garden featured as the Pick of the Week in this week's edition of The Oregonian Home & Garden Calendar.  The class will be a practical how-to session with demonstrations and displays of materials. Plan to attend rain or shine!  Call 503-632-2338 for more info.

New Plant Additions

One of the ways we want to use this blog is to keep you informed of new plants as they become available at the nursery and in our mail order catalog.

Recent Mail Order Additions

Acaena saccaticupula - Blue Goose Leaf
Creeping groundcover with blue-gray foliage from New Zealand

Lesquerella arizonica - Arizona Bladderpod
Small, dryland cushion plant with gray foliage and lemon yellow flowers

A whole slew of poppies from our Meconopsis Page including
Meconopsis betonicifolia - The incomparable Himalayan Blue Poppy
Meconopsis betonicifolia 'Alba' - White Flowering Himalayan Poppy
Meconopsis 'Lingholm' - Himalayan Blue Poppy Hybrid noted for its vigor
Meconopsis cambrica - Welsh Poppy with bright yellow flowers
Meconopsis cambrica 'Orange' - An orange flowering selection of the Welsh Poppy

Scleranthus uniflorus 'Emerald' - Mounding bright green cushion from New Zealand adds texture and character to the rock garden.

Talinum calycinum - Large Fameflower (also known as Phemeranthus calycinus)
A native wildflower from the Midwest with neon pink flowers

The Welsh Poppy

Subtitle:
A Tale of Two Poppies
The Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica) is another popular garden plant but it is unlike the challenging Himalayan Blue Poppy of the previous posting.  While both belong to the same genus, Meconopsis, the Welsh Poppy is much easier to grow.  It is an easy to please sun lover that produces an abundance of bright yellow flowers over a long period.  There are also orange and red selections.

The Welsh Poppy adapts to many garden conditions, is generally pest free and fairly drought tolerant.   It does have a tendency to self sow which some gardeners enjoy while others find to be an unwelcome trait.  We are members of the former group and don't mind performing an early season seedling editing in order to enjoy this cheerful garden addition.

Himalayan Blue Poppy

The Himalayan Blue Poppy is one of those plants that inspires major plant lust in many gardeners.  It's true blue color and large majestic flowers make it a true stand out in the garden.  Although it is considered one of the most beautiful of garden plants, it can also be one of the most challenging to grow successfully.  By learning about its native habitat, you can improve your odds of success.  Remember that growing conditions in the Himalayas are cool and moist while soils are rocky and well drained.  Keys to success include excellent drainage, protection from heat and regular summer water.  Read more about this wonderful plant on our Meconopsis Information Page.  It is also available for purchase in our Mail Order Catalog.

Announcing Wild Ginger Farm News Blog

Welcome Friends!
Are you tired of having important emails end up in your junk folder? We sure are. Experts estimate that only 40-50% of email messages sent by business like ours are successfully delivered into our customer's in-boxes. For those of you who have subscribed to our newsletter and never seen one, we apologize. We are making use of the latest technology to put you back in control. Today we are launching the WGF News so you can stay up to date on the latest happenings here at the Farm.

We will tell you about exciting new plants, special events and classes, garden tips and ideas, and to generally keep you informed of happenings at the nursery and on our website Wild Ginger Farm

We hope you will join us!