It is the middle of July and summer is in full swing. Everyone has an established routine and it is hard to get motivated to do anything! Especially gardening! Oh well, I guess all we can do is to pour a cold beverage and relax on the deck. Oh, how I love this time of year!
This week we featured...
International Rose Test Garden & Rose Garden Store
We couldn’t help but to stop by the Rose Test Gardens at Washington Park. The roses are taking a beating in the heat, but they still are overwhelming in the amount of color they are showing. Almost everywhere you turn there is more color! It is a great place to take a picnic lunch and enjoy the nice weather and the fantastic view! Penny Cruz also gave us a quick tour of the Rose Garden store (503-227-7033). The store has everything that has to do with roses. As Penny says ‘it has to look like a rose, taste like a rose, smell like a rose, have a rose on it, hold a rose in it, or be for or about growing roses’. Check them out for anything rose themed on your next visit to the garden!
Begonias
We found another one of those ‘grandma plants’ this week. Begonias are one of those plants that everyone has seen before, but we met with Dan Heims at Terra Nova Nurseries to see some types of begonias that would surprise even grandma. Dan has been working with begonias since the 70’s and he has seen lots of improved varieties since then. He showed us over a dozen different ones, some that are extremely hardy in our area! The ones we saw were ‘Madame Queen’, a new variation on the old style, ‘Richarsoniana’, ‘Cracked Ice’, ‘Swirling Fireworks’, ‘Black Taffeta’, ‘River Nile’, ‘Exotica’, with its deep red, waxy leaves, a delicate fuchsia looking one called ‘Fuchsioides’, ‘Mocha’, ‘Bonfire’, with its large fuchsia type orange flowers, ‘Pedatifiida’, ‘Kaylen’, and ‘Metallic Mist’. These plants vary in the type of care that is needed. So if you are looking to add one to your collection check with your local garden center to see which ones will work for you. You can also check out the American Begonia Society for more information.
Red Pig Tools
This pig can dig! After years of constant grumbling about the quality of hand tools available to the gardener, we were eager to meet with Bob Denman of Red Pig Tools (503-663-9404). Bob and his wife have a long history of developing and building hand tools. Bob is an expert blacksmith and he gave us a demonstration on how he builds a trowel. He explained how he reinforces certain parts of the tool so it stays stronger and lasts longer. He is also an inventor and showed us the different types of trowels he has developed. If you would like to see some of their tools you can stop by their store near Boring, Oregon off of highway 26, it is a cute old barn that Bob built himself. Or you can check out their website. Either way you will be very happy with the garden tools you will find.
Austin Daylilies
One of our new favorite plants is the daylily. The reason for that is because of Gail and Ken Austin (503-246-5747). They have a passion for daylilies that they love to share. In the past year they decided to retire, but that didn’t mean that they disappeared! Gail and Ken may not sell plants anymore but they love to share their knowledge of daylilies and gardening. We stopped by to look at what they have growing in their garden right now. The one thing we noticed is the lack of a lawn. They have planted their entire yard with an assortment of plants that include hostas, clematis, fern, Asiatic lilies, Japanese maples and other companion plants. The best part, you can take a tour of the garden on Saturday July 14th. For more information check out the website. Drop by and say hello and get infected with daylily fever!
Pest Patrol – Bird Deterrents
Your strawberries, blueberries and just about everything else edible is disappearing! The birds are taking everything in your garden, leaving little or nothing for you to enjoy. The same thing is happening to us, so we traveled to the garden center to see what they have to scare the flying felons away. The first thing we found was bird netting. This provides a barrier so they can’t get to the plants. Another item was holographic tape. This is a reflective tape that sparkles when it is hung by your plants to scare them off. The other product was the fake owl. Owls are natural predators of most small birds and that presence of an owl is sometimes enough to do the trick. Finally, we found the Scarecrow sprinkler. The Scarecrow uses a photoelectric eye to sense when you have an animal in the area, then it sends a blast of water to scare the critter away. This product works really well, but is also the most expensive deterrent. There are also some home remedies. You can hang tin pie plates, or old CD’s in your garden and they sometimes work just as well as the products in the store. There is one more tip to follow. Whatever you use, move it around your garden so the birds and other animals don’t get used to it!
